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

To: Ilaine who wrote (65442)	1/11/2003 10:48:28 PM
From: BigBull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I have no idea why the Brits are doing this, since everybody knows that they believe that war with Iraq is unlikely, but in any event won't take place this year. Maybe they are just trying to spoof Bilow.;^) Do I detect a tongue firmly implanted in your cheek? :o} This report from the Observer has an entirely different take on Blair's go slow comments. Blair is also slated to meet with Bush just after the Blix report is issued on the 27th. Imo this is to coordinate the final PR lead up to THE ULTIMATUM. Bilow who? :o} Fleet heads for Gulf as war threat intensifies observer.co.uk Downing Street says Bush is set on Iraq campaign Kamal Ahmed, political editor Sunday January 12, 2003 The Observer Tony Blair last night made clear that war with Iraq remained virtually inevitable as President George W. Bush continued his inexorable steps towards military conflict with Saddam Hussein. As the aircraft carrier Ark Royal left Portsmouth yesterday, Number 10 officials told The Observer that military action is still 'more likely than not' and that Britain would back America, which is still set on war with Iraq. Despite stressing that Bush would exhaust 'all avenues' with the UN before he takes action, British and American officials sent out strong messages that Saddam was facing military action if he does not agree to disarm. Ark Royal, the Navy's flagship, set sail for the Gulf with an 800-strong crew. The ship will head a 16-vessel naval task group on exercises in the area, involving more than 8,000 Navy and Marine personnel. Rear Admiral David Snelson, the commander of UK Maritime Forces, stressed yesterday that the move did not mean the force was committed to operations against Iraq, but added: 'There is no doubt that British forces are ready if they are needed.' It will be the biggest deployment of British military forces since the Gulf war. Ark Royal's departure came as the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, gave the green light to the deployment of nearly 35,000 American troops, the single biggest order since the Pentagon began to build up its forces in the Gulf last month. The troops, who will leave over the next fortnight, will bring the US's total strength in the area to more than 100,000 by the end of January. They include two amphibious task forces, each 7,000 marines strong. Number 10 and MoD officials said reports last week that the chances of military action had receded were 'wide of the mark' and that Hans Blix, the head of the UN weapons inspection team, would begin 'building the pressure' on Iraq over the next fortnight. The process will start with an official visit to European capitals at the end of this week. Blix will meet Blair in London on Friday, where he will be shown new intelligence material on Saddam's biological and chemical weapons. Number 10 also said it had evidence that the UN team's work in Iraq was being bugged by Iraqi intelligence services. 'We know he [Saddam] has got weapons of mass destruction,' said one Number 10 source. 'If Blix finds anything, then that will be a breach of the [UN] resolution. If Blix's work is frustrated, then that will also be a breach. Saddam has to actually disarm or we take action. We are still clear where we are going.' Blix will also visit Paris and Brussels before flying on to Baghdad, where he will tell the Iraqis that he expects them to be 'more pro-active' in co-operating with the inspections. In a minute of the statement Blix made to the Security Council, in which he had admitted he had found no 'smoking gun', he said Saddam still had 'dark corners and caves' that he had not revealed. Blix will also announce that high-altitude reconnaissance planes will start flying over Iraq as part of the inspection process. Number 10 believes that the increasing capability of the UN team will mean that they will find evidence that Saddam is in breach of UN resolutions. 'Let's not forget that the UN inspectors only started using helicopters last week,' the Number 10 official said. 'They have only been there for a few weeks and Saddam has become very practised at hiding what he has and moving it around very quickly. He will only be able to keep that up for so long.' Blix's next report, on 27 January, will be an 'update' on the inspections process and is unlikely to reveal an immediate breach by Iraq. Government officials are now looking towards the Blix report on 1 March as the possible trigger for military action, believing that the UN weapons inspection team will become increasingly frustrated at Saddam's lack of co-operation.