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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR
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To: Just_Observing who wrote (19762)3/12/2003 1:09:25 PM
From: Karen Lawrence  Read Replies (1) of 25898
 
Blair crisis over US rift
by CHARLES REISS and JEREMY CAMPBELL, Evening Standard

Tony Blair was today facing his worst Iraq crisis yet over a disastrous split between Britain and the United States.

Downing Street was thrown into turmoil after US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that America could launch a war without British troops.

The suggestion, which came out of the blue, stunned all sides. And it appeared to reveal a rift which could yet see the massive British forces in the Gulf left on the sidelines in a humiliating reverse for the Prime Minister.

Going it alone
Mr Rumsfeld's comments came as he spoke to US reporters yesterday soon after a phone conversation with Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.
femail.co.uk
He said that officials in Washington were talking every day to London about the possibility that President Bush might have to go into battle without his closest ally.

And he said that Britain's role in any conflict was "unclear" until the UN had reached a decision on what resolution, if any, to pass to give authority for war.

Mr Rumsfeld went on: "To the extent they (the British) are able to participate - in the event that the President decides to use force - that would obviously be welcomed. To the extent they are not, there are work-arounds and they would not be involved, at least in that phase of it."

Asked directly whether the US might go into battle without its "closest ally" he replied: "That is an issue which the President will be addressing in the days ahead."

'Clear exit strategy'
His comments were jumped on by Labour rebels. MP Graham Allen said today: "It has given the Prime Minister a clear exit strategy. He has been released from any obligation he may have."

Ministers, privately furious, were forced onto the defensive. Mr Hoon was left arguing that Mr Rumsfeld had not meant the words he said.

But questioned on BBC Radio 4, Mr Hoon was forced to concede that Mr Rumsfeld was "talking about a theoretical possibility that we might not be involved".

Some in Washington and in Whitehall suggested Mr Rumsfeld's comments had been intended to be helpful, acknowledging the difficulty Mr Blair faces with his party and voters.

But officials in Washington suggested that President Bush's team believes Britain "may be wavering" in its support of US plans to remove Saddam Hussein.

The President's advisers were said to be meeting to reassess the military situation in light of the "significant distance" Britain is putting between itself and the US determination to face down Saddam with or without the blessing of the UN.
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