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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (38380)	8/17/2002 10:29:35 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

US adding to Iraq confusion - Mandelson Mixed messages from the US government and pronouncements from "armchair generals" are creating public fear about possible war with Iraq, says Peter Mandelson. The former cabinet minister and confidante of Tony Blair says the prime minister will only commit the UK to military action if it is the best option on offer. The comments are being seen as evidence of Downing Street's about Washington's stance over Iraq. Saddam Hussein has told a British MP Iraqis cannot understand why the UK had turned "against them" - comments which Number 10 said changed nothing. Mr Mandelson pointed to the "different emphases" coming from different parts of the US administration. "They therefore cannot be surprised that Europe and the world is reacting in a confused way when the message we are getting from the administration is not clear," he told the Times newspaper. The Hartlepool MP said he understood public fears about possible conflict in the Middle East. "Public concern is being wound up by a mixture of partisan figures, armchair generals focusing on the risks of action rather than the consequences of failing to do anything, the lack of an international language from the White House and the mixed messages from the Administration." Mr Mandelson, who has just returned from Washington and New York, said he was not "anti-Bush". All options were open over Iraq, he insisted. "While the prime minister will not want to weaken in any sense the stance he has taken, naturally he will not commit Britain to engaging in military action unless and until it is clear that that is the best option available and political and public opinion has been prepared to support it." news.bbc.co.uk