Im Irak-Konflikt geht's munter weiter

Während die USA und Großbritannien über 60.000 Mann an den persischen Golf verlegt haben, berichten amerikanische Zeitungen, dass Spezialtruppen und Geheimagenten im Irak bereits Jagd auf den irakischen Präsidenten Saddam Hussein machen.

Sind das dieselben Typen, die seit Oktober 2001 Osama bin Laden und Mullah Omar jagen?
 

Weil dann herauskommt, dass sie garnichts mit dem 11.September zu tun haben.  

Interesse hätte bin laden zu schnappen, weil dann könnten
Sie ja ihren Kreuzzug vergessen.

So long  

In Deutschland wollten die Amis schon seine angebliche Tante Emma Laden verhaften...  

 

wie durchsichtig ist der dicke H.End?  

No way out for Saddam - Blair

Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Tuesday January 21, 2003

Tony Blair today refused to rule out using nuclear weapons in a conflict against Iraq, as MPs grilled the prime minister for two and a half hours on the subject of Saddam Hussein.

The prime minister said Britain and the US would deal with the threat from Iraq by "any way necessary".

Appearing before the liaison committee, made up of select committee chairmen and women, Mr Blair told Iraq it could not play "hide and seek" with weapons inspectors and reiterated his belief that it was "highly desirable" to have a second UN resolution authorising military action.

Speaking on the day that peace protestors will lobby parliament, he refused to be bound by the need for further UN backing and insisted that sceptical public opinion could be won around to back a war.

Mr Blair said the allies would respond "in any way we thought necessary" to any Iraqi threat to use weapons of mass destruction against their troops.

Asked if that might include a warning to Saddam that non-conventional weapons - such as nuclear bombs - could be used against him in the event of such an attack, Mr Blair said: "It is best to say that we are aware of the potential of that threat and we would deal with it in any way that we thought necessary.

"But I don't think it is wise for me to get into speculating as to exactly what we are doing about it."

Mr Blair's comments on Iraq where soon echoed by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, speaking in the Commons.

He warned Saddam Hussein "to end his games of hide and seek" and called on the international community to maintain pressure on Iraq until it complied "fully, actively and positively with all its international obligations".

Special relationship

Under fierce questioning on his relationship with the US - and President Bush in particular - Mr Blair said the transatlantic alliance was "a very, very powerful force for the values that we believe in".

"America, for all its faults, is a force for good in the world."

UN mandate

Mr Blair repeated his view that it would be "highly desirable" to have a second UN resolution before attacking Iraq, that it was unlikely such a resolution would be vetoed - but stressed if that did happen action would follow in any case.

He said he did not believe Russia, China or France would use their security council veto if action was necessary.

"It is in my view unthinkable, in circumstances where we have agreed - and this is the spirit of the earlier resolution - that if there are findings by the inspectors that amount to a breach, then we authorise action."

The prime minister made his view clear that the public would back action even without a second resolution.

He said: "Of course it's better if we can go down the UN route but we mustn't give a signal to Saddam that there's a way out of this.

"There is no other way out for Saddam, out of this issue, other than disarming of weapons of mass destruction."

Mr Blair also played down differences among EU countries over the issue saying: "Some do support what we are doing, actually. And it isn't true to say every European country is in a different place from Britain."

He said Spain and Italy were examples of supportive countries.

Mr Blair admitted there was only "loose linkage" between al-Qaida and the Iraqi regime, but warned that tolerating inspections was not the same as actively cooperating with disarmament.

"What we believe, and I think the recent finds by the inspectors would bear this out, is that they are being dispersed into different parts of the country."

---

Die Öffentlichkeit würde also eine Militärschlag ohne UN-Mandat unterstützen, behauptet Blair. Dem widersprechen die Umfragen aber deutlich, nachdem 62% der Briten mit der Irak-Politik Blairs unzufrieden sind und 81% einen amerikanisch-britischen Alleingang ablehnen.




Grüße Max