No decision yet on Iraq war, insists Straw
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today insisted that no decision had been taken by Britain or the United States to launch military action against Saddam Hussein.
Despite the strongest warning yet from US Vice President Dick Cheney of the need for pre-emptive action before Iraq acquires nuclear weapons, Mr Straw said it was still not too late for Saddam to avoid attack.
At the same time, America’s most important Arab ally, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned that US action to overthrow Saddam could lead to “disorder and chaos” in the Middle East.
On a visit to Edinburgh, Mr Straw again indicated that the Iraqi leader could escape a devastating military assault if he re-admitted United Nations weapons inspectors.
“The ball is now in Saddam Hussein’s court,” he said.
“Let me repeat what the Prime Minister and I have made all too clear so often - and that is that no decisions about military action have been taken here and no decisions about military action have been taken in the US.”
In an interview later with BBC Radio 4’s the World at One, he underscored Britain’s adherence to the UN Security Council resolutions on weapons inspectors as the basis for any military action.
“The United States were fully signed up to those nine United Nations Security Council resolutions which provided the basis for putting the weapons inspectors in and the military action, and that is our position,” he said.
Mr Straw rejected suggestions that his comments on the re-admission of weapons inspectors put him at odds with Mr Cheney.
Nevertheless, the guarded tone of his remarks was in sharp contrast to the Vice President’s speech on Monday to army veterans warning of the “devastating consequences” if the US delayed action against Saddam.
Mr Cheney attacked what he said was the “flawed logic” of those arguing against a pre-emptive strike to topple the Iraqi dictator, saying it would be too late if he went on to acquire nuclear weapons.
His “hawkish” address was being seen as the strongest statement yet from the US administration of its determination to secure “regime change” in Baghdad.
In Egypt, Mr Mubarak warned that US military intervention would wreck attempts to broker a peace accord in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while undermining moderate Arab leaders.
“There might be repercussions and we fear a state of disorder and chaos may prevail in the region,” he said in a speech broadcast on state-run television.
In Britain, shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram emphasised that any military action must be to get rid of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and not just an attempt to overthrow his regime.
“We must be absolutely clear that what we are doing is eliminating weapons of mass destruction which pose a threat to us and the wider world,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said: “Repeated assertions of the threat posed by Iraq are not enough. If public opinion is to be persuaded of the need to take the risks of military action, hard evidence will be required,”
However Sharif Ali bin al Hussein, of the opposition Iraqi National Congress who recently met leading figures in Washington, said that he believed the US administration was committed to act.
“They see Saddam Hussein as a clear and present danger and that they can no longer tolerate his flaunting of countless UN resolutions,” he said.
