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Body of Evidence
Friday, October 5, 2001
The Broadsheets

"It is a sobering thought that better evidence is required to prosecute a shoplifter than is needed to commence a world war."

Blair clocks up the air miles as he attempts to go around the world in 80 days.

For now, Britain is getting on fine with America, and with Russia as well. The Times writes that during yesterday's visit to Moscow, Tony Blair "lavished praise" on President Vladimir Putin "as he launched his final diplomatic mission to strengthen the coalition for the war against terrorism and the conflict in Afghanistan."

"When we are battling something like international terrorism we need the Russians there as a partner and friend," said the PM. According to the Independent, Pakistan is more receptive to the idea of the coalition after accepting that "the evidence supplied to it by America blaming Mr bin Laden for last month's atrocities was conclusive."

Similar evidence was released in a 21-page dossier by Downing Street yesterday, revealing that bin Laden aides were told to return to Afghanistan for their own safety before September 10 and that bin Laden boasted just before September 11 that he was preparing a major attack on America.

The Government says that at least three of the hijackers have been identified as associates of bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network, but more specific evidence is "too sensitive to release." The dossier begins with a caveat that it "does not purport to provide a prosecutable case against Osama bin Laden in a court of law."

"It is a sobering thought," says Anthony Scrivener, QC, a former chairman of the Bar writing in the Times, "that better evidence is required to prosecute a shoplifter than is needed to commence a world war."
(More: The Broadsheets News Source)
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Dan