Bush speaks of transatlantic 'alliance of values'

US President George Bush today declared that the British and American peoples were united in an “alliance of values”.

In his set piece address in London’s Banqueting House, Mr Bush said that the alliance remained “very strong”.

“More than an alliance of security and commerce, the British and American peoples have an alliance of values. And today this old and tested alliance is very strong,” he said.

The president stressed the common shared heritage between the two nations which informed their values.

“The fellowship of generations is the cause of common beliefs. We believe in open societies ordered by moral conviction,” he said.

“We believe in private markets humanised by compassionate government. We believe in economies that reward effort, communities that protect the weak, and the duty of nations to respect the rights and dignity of all.

“Whether one learns these ideals in County Durham or in West Texas they instil a mutual respect and they inspire common purpose.”

Mr Bush said the foreign policies of Britain and the US were steered by their ``deepest beliefs'' in the value of civil and human rights and in the dignity of every individual.

“The United States and Great Britain share a mission in the world beyond the balance of power or the simple pursuit of interest,” he said.

“We seek the advance of freedom and the peace that freedom brings.

“Together, our nations are standing and sacrificing for this high goal in a distant land at this very hour.

“America honours the idealism and bravery of the sons and daughters of Britain.”

Mr Bush recalled the idealism of his predecessor Woodrow Wilson, the last US President to stay at Buckingham Palace, whose appeals for global justice in the wake of the First World War led to the creation of the League of Nations.

But – in what appeared to be a dig at the United Nations for its refusal to back him in taking on Saddam Hussein – he recalled that the League had shown itself unable to deal with the threat posed little more than a decade after its creation by dictators like Adolf Hitler.

“The League of Nations, lacking both credibility and will, collapsed at the first challenge of the dictators,” he said.

“Free nations failed to recognise, much less confront, the aggressive evil in plain sight.”

Mr Bush said: “Through World War and Cold War we learnt that idealism, if it is to do any good in this world, requires common purpose and national strength and moral courage and patience in difficult tasks.

“Now our generation have need of these qualities.”

The terrorists of September 11 had “left the mark of murder on my country” and taken the life of 67 British citizens, said Mr Bush.

It was understandable that, as time passed, people wanted to put that outrage behind them “as if waking from a dark dream”.

President Bush warned his audience that international terrorists would increase the severity of their attacks if they could obtain the necessary weaponry.

Recent attacks across the world, including in Baghdad and Istanbul, were “part of a global campaign by terrorist networks to intimidate and demoralise all who oppose them”.

He went on: “These terrorists target the innocent and kill by the thousands. And they would, if they gain the weapons they seek, kill by the millions and not be finished.

“The greatest threat of our age is nuclear, chemical or biological weapons in the hands of terrorists and the dictators who aid them.”

President Bush declared: “The evil is in plain sight. The danger only increases with denial.”