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No case for war Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=365655 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=365655 No case for Iraq war, says UN chief Blair warns Britain: Be ready for conflict in Gulf By David Usborne and Marie Woolf 01 January 2003 Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, said last night that he saw no justification for a military onslaught against Iraq ­ at least until the UN inspections chief, Hans Blix, submits a first full report to the Security Council at the end of January. His remarks were a blunt warning to Britain and the United States that they will need clear evidence of clandestine weapons programmes in Iraq to win support from other nations for any military campaign against Saddam Hussein this winter. Mr Annan also said weapons inspectors in Iraq were working without interference. His comments stood in contrast to a bellicose end-of-year statement from Tony Blair that Britain should be ready for possible conflict in the Gulf. He said he was ready to take "tough decisions" on dealing with President Saddam "regardless of short-term popularity". Adding that it might become necessary to disarm him "by force", Mr Blair added: "We must confront the issue of Iraq and weapons of mass destruction because to fail to do so would make the world a very dangerous place in the future, with countries free to flout the will of the United Nations." America also continues to give the impression of preparing for near-certain war. Mr Blix has until 27 January to give the UN Security Council a first comprehensive report on the progress of inspections in Iraq. In the next four weeks, inspections in Iraq are likely to increase with additional manpower as well as eight newly delivered helicopters to give inspectors more mobility. But alarm is growing in London and Washington because the work already done by inspectors has failed to pick up any prohibited weapons activity, making immeasurably harder the political task of justifying an armed invasion to the UN The changing membership of the Security Council is also a stumbling block to military action. Germany is among five countries taking non-permanent seats on the Security Council today for a two-year term and it has made clear its misgivings about war, vowing that its troops would not participate. The absence of incriminating evidence of clandestine weapons programmes in Iraq was made clear yesterday by one of the inspectors. "We haven't found one iota of concealed material yet," he told the Los Angeles Times. He said there was "zilch" to report to the Security Council at the end of January, but conceded that the failure to find anything might signify the Iraqis' concealment skills. Inspectors were frustrated by the failure of Britain and America to provide intelligence. He said: "We need information. We need help. We need intelligence reports ­ if they exist." London and Washington face an uphill task in convincing other UN members to support a war if Mr Blix returns to the Security Council with nothing to show from the inspections and Iraq has given the impression of fully co-operating. Mr Annan stressed that nothing had emerged to justify launching a war before the 27 January report. Speaking to Israel's Army Radio, he said: "I really do not see any basis for an action until then, particularly as [the inspectors] are able to carry out their work in an unimpeded manner." If Mr Blix fails to find hard evidence of prohibited weapons activity, he will almost certainly be pressed by America to identify Iraqi scientists who know of concealed weapons. He may also be asked to take them out of Iraq for questioning. © 2002 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

3 security not convinced Annan to confront bush preemption { September 23 2003 } France germany russia nix war vote Moscow paris berlin seek delay { February 10 2003 } No case for war No un middle road { October 18 2002 } Un chief warns Un largest group rejects { October 17 2002 } Un speech { September 13 2002 } Urges un { September 7 2002 } War not justified Files Listed: 11

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