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Posted on 10/30/2001 11:00:13 PM PST by kattracks

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a newspaper interview here he was "completely confident" terror suspect Osama bin Laden would be captured and brought to international justice.

"I am completely confident we will get the mass murderer Osama bin Laden, of that I have absolutely no doubt," he told the tabloid Mirror.

Saudi-born militant bin Laden, who lives under the protection of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, is accused by Washington and London of organising the September 11 terrorist assault on the United States.

The US-led air strikes in Afghanistan, in which Britain is playing a mainly logistical role, are in retaliation for September 11.

"We must hound down bin Laden, obliterate his terrorist network, bring him to justice, and end this threat. We will do that, of that, I am completely confident," the prime minister told the paper.

Blair's comments contradicted those made last week, when he said bin Laden would probably end up being killed during a bombing raid, rather than being captured.

"He is well protected and well armed. And I have always thought it unlikely that he will be turning up in a court one day," Blair told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The marked shift by Blair comes after a newspaper poll Tuesday revealed the British public's growing disaffection with the bombing campaign as a means of hunting down bin Laden.

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