Mr Tony Blair met Britain's Muslim leaders yesterday to assure them the international coalition led by the United States is fighting terrorism and not Islam. And, after his massive personal effort to build that political and military axis against terror, Mr Blair called for "a humanitarian coalition" to tackle the looming refugee crisis in Afghanistan.
However, Mr Blair caused surprise when he declined to join other European critics of the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, for boasting of the "supremacy" and "superiority" of Western civilisation, and casting the approaching military conflict as a clash of civilisations.
At a press conference surrounded by his Muslim guests, Mr Blair insisted he had not read the text of Mr Berlusconi's remarks and said: "People must make their remarks in their own way." However, he insisted the terror attacks on Washington and New York were condemned by "people of all faiths" and spoke of the "common heritage" shared by Islam and Christianity.
"Sometimes we forget that there is a common heritage, too, in many of our faiths and I think if we concentrate on that we should see how much we have to gain by stressing the shared values of our faiths," he said.
Mr Blair strongly condemned "despicable" attacks on some Muslim citizens and properties in recent weeks, identifying "a minority who are only too happy to use recent events as a convenient cover for racism", and declaring: "Such acts and such attitudes have no proper place in our country."
Mr Yousuf Bhailok, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, said Mr Blair had been "most reassuring" in drawing the clear distinction between Islam and the terrorists, and urged the media to be more forceful in getting that message across.
Mr Blair confirmed he would hold further talks with the EU External Affairs commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, and the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, about measures needed to cope with the influx of refugees, stressing the need for "a massive assistance programme going hand-in-hand with diplomatic and military options".
At the same time - while the military build-up continued, and while he prepared to brief a special meeting of the cabinet - the prime minister urged British citizens to proceed with their normal lives. Condemning "alarmist" reports, he reaffirmed there was no evidence of any specific threat against the UK, and said: "We will be vigilant but we must not let these events shake our confidence in ourselves, in our country, and in our way of life".
As anti-terrorist detectives continued tracking 100 names with possible connections to the US attacks, security experts yesterday suggested that some of the suicide hijackers who flew out of Britain earlier this year could have been missed because of a lack of shared information between law enforcement agencies and airport security personnel.
It is believed that 11 of the 19 hijackers left Britain between January and June of this year. Scotland Yard is seeking to establish how long they were in the UK, and under what identity, in addition to what they may have done between the points of arrival and departure.
The Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, confirmed the men had not been under surveillance by the security services and said it was possible their UK support network could still be in place.
Two people arrested last week in connection with the US attacks were still being questioned at Paddington Green Station in London last night. Another three are being held in Leicester in connection with an alleged plot to bomb US embassies in France and possibly Britain.