HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- MPs press Blair to allow UN vote on Iraq
strike
Patrick Wintour and
Michael White
Tuesday April 9, 2002 The Guardian Tony Blair is facing mounting
backbench pressure to commit himself to a UN vote on any allied military action
against Iraq following his weekend speech in the US suggesting he might at some
stage back a US-led military offensive to change the regime in Baghdad.
He is also facing Labour backbench calls for an arms embargo on Israel,
coupled with economic sanctions, issues already under discussion by the EU.
Mr Blair will face down his critics tomorrow at a meeting with Labour MPs and
then in a Commons statement nominally confined to the crisis in Israel.
Mr Blair, on his way back from the US, described his critics as utterly
naive, and remains puzzled by the degree of opposition to his stance.
Appealing for calm over Iraq, he told reporters on the plane: "All I say to
people is let's not get ahead of ourselves here. We are still in the position of
identifying the problem and laying down conditions for Saddam."
Unspecified military action, discussed by the prime minister and President
George Bush in one-on-one talks, remains the last resort, though Mr Blair has
come close to committing himself to supporting it if the US decides to attempt a
"regime change".
But a phalanx of Labour MPs expressed concern at Mr Blair's proximity to Mr
Bush. The former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle said he had "concerns about
being seen to be tied in to some of the more adventurous notions of the American
administration". He added: "To deal with Iraq, you need to deal with the
problems in the UN, not through unilateral or bilateral action."
George Galloway accused Mr Blair of "basking in the adulation of the
hard-right US Republican administration".
Tam Dalyell said Mr Blair would face tough questioning at his meeting with
Labour MPs.
Downing Street tried to calm the mood by insisting that Mr Blair's speech
following his talks with Mr Bush did not signal a hardening of the British
position against Iraq.
Mr Blair's critics demanded that the British government emphasise that Saddam
should be given a full chance to allow UN weapons inspec tors back into his
country. The UN alone should then decide if Saddam remains in defiance and
military action is justified.
Clare Short, the international development secretary, openly argued this case
before she was silenced by Mr Blair.
In his weekend speech, Mr Blair stressed the need for international
coalitions, but was silent on the need for a fresh UN resolution on Iraq,
something the US opposes.
Downing Street yesterday denied there was a need for a fresh UN mandate since
Saddam was already in breach of nine existing UN resolutions.
Mr Blair's Commons statement on the Israel crisis will spell out plans for a
fresh UN resolution based on ideas set out over the past two months by the Saudi
government. He will also also confirm that Britain is willing to send ceasefire
monitors to the region, as part of a UN force.
The foreign office minister Ben Bradshaw yesterday gave a flavour of British
frustration with Israel by warning the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, that he was
playing a dangerous game in refusing to comply with the US request to withdraw
his forces from the West Bank.
However, the commitment to UN resolutions on Israel only served to incense
Labour MPs already angry at the possibility of a unilateral military strike
against Iraq.
Richard Burden, the pro-Palestinian MP on the centre-left of the party,
warned Mr Blair: "If we expect our words about human rights or our warnings
about Iraq to have any credibility in the Arab world, we must demonstrate by our
actions that Israel has an obligation to abide by the decisions of the UN just
as much as Iraq or anywhere else."
The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, Menzies Campbell, said Mr
Blair's speech "lacked any analysis of the consequences for the region of the
break-up of Iraq and the regional instability that would be caused as a
result".
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