British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that his country would be ready to go to war with Iraq without a second UN resolution in case of a "capricious" veto by a UN Security Council member. (Xinhua photo)...

Peoples Daily     

February 6, 2003

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that his country would be ready to war with Iraq without a second UN resolution in case of a "capricious" veto by a UN Security Council member.

Britain would be prepared to launch military action if "it is clear that Iraq is in material breach, but for some reason someoneputs down what I would describe as an unreasonable, capricious useof the veto," Blair told the House of the Commons, the lower houseof parliament.

Blair, who failed to persuade French President Jacques Chirac to support a US-led war against Iraq during their summit in Franceon Tuesday, also told lawmakers that "it's perfectly obvious" thatIraq still has weapons of mass destruction.

"I believe our case on weapons of mass destruction is very clear indeed," Blair said.

He also insisted that there were links between the Iraqi regimeand the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but admitted that he did not know how deep these go.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also sought to back up Blair's line by insisting on Wednesday that intelligence had shownthat Iraq appeared to be allowing a "permissive environment" in which al-Qaeda is able to operate.

Chirac, whose country has voiced its opposition to Washington'ssingle-minded march toward war, said Tuesday that the most important thing is to allow the UN weapons inspectors to continue their work and that war was the worst of solutions, hinting Francemight use its veto in the United Nations Security Council to kill a UN resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.

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