By Gary Titley, Labour MEP for the North-west THE WORLD changed on September 11. Before the horrific attack on America, we thought we were safe behind modern high-tech defences. But a small group of fanatics armed with box cutters ended all that.

News of the outrage broke just as I arrived at an RAF base in Kuwait. As Labour's European defence spokesman, I was on a week-long fact-finding mission with the RAF to various overseas outposts. Although surrounded by a vast array of weaponry, I still felt very vulnerable, 30 miles from the Iraqi border.

There can be no justification whatsoever for the barbaric attack on America. The perpetrators must be pursued and punished. Terrorism, however, must be fought, not only by force but also by eradicating the breeding grounds of extremism -- poverty, injustice and conflict.

Silence

On the final leg of my tour, I observed the three-minute silence across Europe with British and Italian troops at an RAF base in Kosovo. There we were in a country where ethnic cleansing had killed thousands of innocent civilians, our heads bowed in memory of all the victims of terror on another continent.

Kosovo was devastated by racial hatred. We must not allow that to happen here. The attacks on local Mosques must be condemned. At this time of crisis, we cannot afford to desert each other.

We are all in this together now. No town, no city, no country, no continent is immune from terrorism. We face a stark choice. We act together to defeat it or risk ushering in a new dark age.

Yes, on September 11, the world was shaken to its very core. Life will never be the same again.

Gary Titley