[A-List] Britain/US split: Iraq

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

America ready to invade Iraq without help from Britain
VALERIE HANNAH and DEBORAH SUMMERS
The Herald, 12 March 2003

THE United States could go to war without Britain, Donald Rumsfeld, the US
defence secretary, said last night, as the first cracks in the UK-American
alliance began to appear.

Washington had earlier appeared ready to give Tony Blair time to win
international backing for a compromise draft resolution that could have
delayed military action until the end of the month.

However, Mr Rumsfeld said the US would go it alone if necessary. "To the
extent that they (Britain) are able to participate, in the event that the
president decides to use force, that would obviously be welcomed.

"To the extent they are not, they are work-arounds and they would not be
involved, at least in that phase of it."

Downing Street responded by stressing Britain's involvement in military
planning. "This has not changed anything. We are still working to get a
second resolution," a spokeswoman said.

In the Gulf, Lewis Moonie, junior defence minister and Kirkcaldy MP, gave
one of the strongest statements yet by a member of the government on the
prospect of conflict. "War is damned near inevitable unless Saddam changes
his mind."

The comment came as he visited British troops in Kuwait. Only miles away,
earth fortifications on the Kuwaiti side of the border with Iraq were being
removed in preparation for a possible invasion, a US Army captain said.

The UK and US will put a draft resolution presenting Saddam Hussein with a
disarmament deadline to a Security Council vote later this week, having
brushed aside an alternative plan from the six undecided nations which would
have extended the proposed March 17 deadline to 45 days.

As diplomatic developments continued, the US Air Force in Florida carried
out its first test of the biggest conventional bomb in the US military's
arsenal, a 21,000lb weapon that could play a dramatic role in any attack on
Iraq.

The bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, is guided to its
target by satellite signals and is so powerful that its detonation is
expected to create a mushroom cloud visible for miles.

After an incident involving American U-2 spy planes yesterday, Iraq said the
US was to blame. Major General Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison
with UN weapons inspectors, said the UN advised that a single flight would
be made, but instead two U-2s entered its airspace within 20 minutes of each
other. He said the second plane's entry point was over the Iraqi-Saudi
border, not from Kuwait as is customary.

The Scottish parliament will again debate Iraq tomorrow, after the SNP
decided to turn over its debating time to the crisis. Labour has responded
to the dilemma by calling a special group meeting of its MSPs today in an
effort to reach an agreed line.

But it is unlikely to win over anti-war critics such as John McAllion, who
said last night: "Jack McConnell's Basil Fawlty position, 'don't mention the
war', cannot be sustained. I have not seen the SNP motion but I will be
arguing and voting against the war."

Sir Sean Connery, the SNP's most prominent supporter, yesterday added his
name to a list of stars criticising possible military action. During a visit
to Panama, the actor said he did not support a possible war, joining such
names as Martin Sheen and Sean Penn.