BRITAIN: No decision yet on how to deal with the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, reports Frank Millar, London Editor
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has said the threat posed by Saddam Hussein is not in doubt but that America and Britain have taken no decisions yet on how it will be met.
However, the Conservative leader, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, today tells The Irish Times it is in Britain's interest "to look carefully now at Iraq and Iran, and others too".
Faced with mounting internal Labour opposition to military action against the Iraqi regime, Mr Blair insisted the international coalition would calmly "consider, reflect and deliberate" on the next phase of the "war" on terrorism as it had over the six months since the attacks on Washington and New York on September 11th.
He was speaking on the six-month anniversary of those attacks after talks with US Vice President Dick Cheney at 10 Downing Street and at the start of the vice president's 11-nation tour, widely seen as preparing world opinion for a fresh American attempt to overthrow the Iraqi leader.
Mr Blair repeated his determination that Iraq's acquisition of weapons of mass destruction be "properly dealt with".
He said: "No decisions have been taken on how we deal with this threat from Saddam Hussein, but that there is a threat is not in doubt."
With more than 70 MPs having signed a Commons' motion highlighting "deep unease" about Britain's potential involvement in a new Gulf War, two of their number - Ms Alice Mahon and "father" of the Commons, Mr Tam Dalyell - delivered a letter to number 10 warning Mr Blair against joining any US-led action.
At the same time Downing Street moved to quash suggestions that Mr Cheney was arriving armed with a formal American request for up to 25,000 British troops as part of a joint invasion force.
The prime minister's official spokesman insisted: "The idea that Dick Cheney is coming here with a request in his pocket for 25,000 UK forces is wholly wrong.
"What there is is a shared determination to address the issue and to do so in a calm, measured way that takes account of all the different aspects of this.
"This is not a straightforward issue. This is something that has to be looked at in the round."
However, as Mr Blair and Mr Cheney maintained no decisions had been taken, experts were agreed that military options were under active consideration in London and Washington and that military planning would be significantly advanced by the time the prime minister arrives in Texas next month for a summit meeting with President Bush.
Despite the gathering storm clouds of Labour dissent, Mr Blair again praised President Bush's leadership insisting: "The coalition we have assembled has acted in a calm and measured way and this will continue."
But they had also "said right from the outset that the threat of weapons of mass destruction will have to be addressed." Mr Blair continued: "Let's be in no doubt whatever, Saddam Hussein has acquired weapons of mass destruction over a long period of time.
"He is the only leader in the world who has actually used chemical weapons against his own people.
"He is in breach of at least nine United Nations Security Council resolutions."
While it was "vitally important" to seek a resolution to the Middle East peace process, Mr Blair added: "I think the issue of the threat that Saddam Hussein poses is an issue in its own right because the reason the UN Security Council passed those resolutions was precisely because we know the threat that there is from the weapons of mass destruction that he has."
Mr Cheney said there was "a lot of evidence" that Saddam was continuing to develop such weapons and that Washington had to be concerned about the "potential marriage" between states like Iraq and terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda.
Pressed to say whether America was interested in pursuing a diplomatic route through the question of UN inspections, a spokesman for the vice president told the BBC: "It's not about inspections, it's about getting rid of weapons of mass destruction.
"There has to be an inspection regime that is not of his [Saddam Hussein's] making."
Number 10 yesterday released a Coalition Information Centre dossier on the ongoing campaign against international terrorism.
Detailing actions by different coalition nations, it concludes: "There are many countries where adoption of terrorist methods or the presence of terrorists or extremist networks causes us grave concern.
We will take action we deem necessary in support of this aim, including military action, if absolutely necessary."