NEWS of the terrorist outrage in America broke just as I arrived at an RAF base in Kuwait on a fact-finding mission. Although surrounded by a vast array of weaponry, I still felt very vulnerable, 30 miles from the Iraqi border.
There can be no justification whatsoever for the barbaric attack on America. The perpetrators must be pursued and punished. Terrorism, however, must be fought, not only by force but also by eradicating the breeding grounds of extremism -- poverty, injustice and conflict.
On the final leg of my tour, I observed the three minute silence across Europe with British and Italian troops at an RAF base in Kosovo -- in a country where ethnic cleansing had killed thousands of innocent civilians.
Kosovo was devastated by racial hatred. We must not allow that to happen here. The attacks on local mosques must be condemned. At this time of crisis, we cannot afford to turn on each other because we are all in this together now.
No town, no city, no country, no continent is immune from terrorism. We face a stark choice. We act together to defeat it or risk ushering in a new dark age.
GARY TITLEY, Labour MEP for the North West, Spring Lane, Radcliffe, Manchester.
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