Britain deploys troops to Middle East
British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was today announcing the deployment of thousands of troops to the Gulf ahead of a possible war on Iraq.
In a statement to the House of Commons Mr Hoon was announcing the call up of several thousand reservists as plans for military action move up a gear.
The announcement was being made as Tony Blair was issuing a bleak warning of the dangers of failing to tackle Iraq’s arsenal of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
In a speech to British ambassadors gathered in London, the British Prime Minister was to say that the world will “rue the consequences of our weakness” unless Saddam Hussein is disarmed.
And he was underlining his determination to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President George W Bush as America’s closest ally in the current stand-off with Baghdad.
His comments follow the disclosure yesterday that a Royal Navy task force, headed by the carrier HMS Ark Royal, will set sail on Saturday on a deployment which will take it into the Gulf, further ratcheting up the pressure on Saddam.
In his closing address to the two-day ambassadors’ conference, Mr Blair was warning that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) pose a direct threat to British security.
It was “only a matter of time” before terrorists were able to get their hands on WMD, he was saying, so that when a regime such as Iraq refused international demands to disarm that regime was threatening the UK.
“Unless the world takes a stand on this issue of WMD, we will rue the consequences of our weakness,” he was expected to say.
His comments follow British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw’s warning yesterday that “rogue regimes” such as Iraq were the most likely source of WMD technology for terrorist groups like al-Qaida.
Mr Blair will also use his speech to mount a robust defence of the transatlantic alliance with the US while condemning anti-Americanism.
“It is massively in our national interest to remain the closest ally of the US,” he was expected to say.
While he was to say that he would never commit British troops to a war he believed was wrong or unnecessary, the Prime Minister was emphasising that “the price of British influence” was not leaving the US to deal with issues like WMD or terrorism alone.
Mr Blair was saying that he wants to use the alliance to influence the Americans to continue to “broaden their agenda“.
He was to acknowledge that critics of the US wanted it to do more on issues like the Middle East, Third World poverty and global warming.
However, he was to stress that he believes the US decision to go down the “UN route” on Iraq is an important symbol of its desire to work with other nations.
Blair was also to reject claims that Britain’s position in the European Union weakened its ties with the US, arguing instead that the two roles reinforced each other.
