Waite calls for halt to bombing

Terry Waite has spoken out against retaliation

Terry Waite, the former special envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury and Beirut hostage, has called for an end to the bombing of Afghanistan.

And he has accused Western governments of failing to tackle a perception in the Islamic world that they are "rich and manipulative".

Mr Waite was speaking on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire prior to making a speech at Coventry Cathedral where he is a patron of the Centre for Reconciliation.

He said he had learned of the events of 11 September while at a conference for emergency planners where he had been due to speak on international terrorism.

What we have to do is base our policies not on reactionary politics but what is morally right and just and that is very difficult for politicians to do

Terry Waite

"My reaction was, like everyone else, one of horror and one of very deep sympathy for the people affected by it who'll be scarred across life undoubtedly."

But he said terrorism of the kind that had hit America was a "symptom and not a root cause of the problem".

He said: "What I find very difficult to appreciate is the idea that by bombing Afghanistan we actually will defeat terrorism - and we will not. I would say that quite categorically."

He said trying to kill Osama Bin Laden himself was "almost an impossibility".

"We know that innocent people will be killed in bombing raids and I said this immediately after the events of 11 September occurred, if we bomb and kill innocent people that will in fact produce more terrorists."

He said retaliation was not the way forward and that what was needed was a calm assessment of why the terror attacks had taken place.

"The root of the problem lies in part in vast inequalities in the world where thousands of children die of hunger and on that bed of discontent that gives the terrorist an opportunity.

"It gives the poor a voice, albeit a violent voice."

'Lack of impartiality'

Mr Waite said that what was needed in the long run was "a little more basic equality and justice" and to "clean up our act as far as international affairs are concerned".

The only way to achieve this was to reform and reinvigorate the United Nations, he said.

In the Middle East conflict between Israel and the Palestinians there had been a lack of "impartiality in the peace process", he said.

"There we see retaliation playing out year after year with no result.

"It would be better to support an impartial peace process with an impartial broker.

"What we have to do is base our policies not on reactionary politics but on what is morally right and just and that is very difficult for politicians to do."