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http://www.jordantimes.com/Tue/news/news8.htm Jordan Times September 17, 2002 British MP says Blair will prevent vote on Iraq -�Blair is not going to allow the parliament to vote, precisely because he knows that so many members of the British parliament are against an attack upon Iraq,� Galloway told Reuters shortly after arriving in Baghdad on Monday. BAGHDAD (R) � A maverick British parliamentarian said on Monday Prime Minister Tony Blair will prevent Britain's parliament from voting on whether it should support a US invasion of Iraq. George Galloway, a member of Blair's Labour Party and long-time campaigner for the lifting of UN sanctions on Iraq, said he was in Baghdad in a bid to avert a war that Washington has threatened to wage against Iraq to oust the government of President Saddam Hussein. Blair last week bowed to pressure to call a special session of parliament to debate the growing possibility of military action against Iraq, but there were no plans to give members of parliament a vote at the Sept. 24 debate. However, Britain's Independent newspaper said on Monday rebels within Blair's Labour Party would defy his hawkish stance on Iraq by a vote. �Blair is not going to allow the parliament to vote, precisely because he knows that so many members of the British parliament are against an attack upon Iraq,� Galloway told Reuters shortly after arriving in Baghdad on Monday. He said some 161 members of parliament had already signed up against a war with Iraq. �I am here to show solidarity with the people of Iraq in this dark hour when they are being openly threatened with violent attack and invasion,� Galloway said. �We want to encourage the Iraqi government to continue on their diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to this crisis.� Galloway met Saddam last month and said then the Iraqi leader had given Britain a chance to avert war by offering UN arms inspectors access to his country. Return of inspectors The United States and its allies are increasing pressure on Iraq to accept the return of the arms inspectors or face the consequences. Baghdad has flatly rejected President George W. Bush's demand for a swift and unconditional return of the inspectors, bringing closer the spectre of a second Gulf War against the nation with the second largest oil reserves in the world. �I know why Iraq is very loath to accept these inspectors back because they were spies before and Iraq needs to be assured that they will not be spies again,� Galloway said. �They have to be assured that if they allow these inspectors to come back then there will be no invasion of their country.� The weapons inspectors left Iraq on the eve of a brief US-British bombing campaign conducted in December 1998 because of Baghdad's alleged failure to cooperate with them. They have not been allowed back since. Galloway described Bush's speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday as �ignorant, violent and arrogant.� Bush urged the United Nations to force Iraq to get rid of weapons of mass destruction he said it possesses, adding that action was inevitable if Baghdad failed to do so. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
