The British Prime Minister said today that all the surveillance in the world would not be able to prevent people from going on to a tube or bus and blowing up innocent people.
Speaking on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme Mr Blair paid tribute to the "great resilience" of the British people in the wake of the London bombings. The Prime Minister said the response of Londoners had been "extraordinary".
And he promised the Government would act with caution and not bring in authoritarian laws in response to the tragedy. Mr Blair said all modern countries had to take extra measures to prevent terrorism. But he said there was no danger of Britain becoming an illiberal country.
In the interview, recorded yesterday, Mr Blair said: "You have got to be very cautious about it." He said plans including ID cards were "hedged around an enormous amount of restrictions on government power" and human rights protection.
He said governments could never make their countries 100 per cent safe against determined terrorists. "Probably with this type of terrorism the solution cannot only be the security measures," he said.
"You have got, as a government, to do everything you can to protect your people. But if people are actually prepared to go on to a Tube or a bus and blow up wholly innocent people, people just at random, to do the maximum death and destruction without any thought for their human rights or human life, you can have all the surveillance in the world and you couldn't stop that happening.
"That is why ultimately, although we have to take the measures necessary, the underlying issues have to be dealt with too."
Mr Blair welcomed Muslim condemnation of the attacks. He said it was vital to get rid of the "dreadful perversion of the true faith of Islam".
Mr Blair said he had no idea who was responsible for the attacks. But he said it was "reasonably obvious" a group like al-Qaeda was behind them. He denied the attacks were a result of British involvement in the Iraq war. He said people would have to make their own judgments. But he said Russia had suffered terrorism with the Beslan school massacre despite its opposition to the war and terrorists were planning further attacks on Spain even after the pro-war government was removed from office.
He also pointed to the September 11th attacks which took place before the war. "September 11 happened before Iraq, before Afghanistan, before any of these issues and that was the worst terrorist atrocity of all," he said. "People will have their views about that and they have to make their judgment about it. But I think this type of terrorism has very deep roots."
PA