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Benn's peace plea to dictator Saddam
JASON BEATTIE AND TIM RIPLEY
TONY Benn, the left-wing anti-war activist, launched a lone attempt to persuade Saddam Hussein to avoid war with the West yesterday when he met the Iraqi dictator in Baghdad.
Mr Benn revealed afterwards that he had asked Saddam whether he possessed weapons of mass destruction and whether he had any links to al-Qaeda.
However, the former Chesterfield MP refused to reveal Saddam’s answers to these questions, offering instead to meet Tony Blair to brief him privately on his meeting.
"I do believe that it is possible to halt the march to war," Mr Benn said.
And he added: "As a result of my visit, information will come out that will make it harder to go to war. That’s all I can say."
Mr Benn’s meeting with Saddam was filmed by an Iraqi television company and will be broadcast within Iraq in the next couple of days.
Mr Benn insisted last night that he had not visited Baghdad as a guest of the Iraqi government. He said he paid for his own air fare and his hotel, adding that he had asked for the interview in September and only heard two weeks ago that his request was approved.
Mr Benn’s intervention in the sensitive negotiations mirrors the attempt made by Sir Edward Heath, the former prime minister, before the last Gulf War.
Despite criticism at home, Sir Edward went to Baghdad to plead with the Iraqi dictator to withdraw from Kuwait, but he was unsuccessful and allied military action started soon afterwards.
News of Mr Benn’s attempt to mediate with Saddam came as Mr Blair was preparing for a crucial meeting with French president Jacques Chirac to try to consolidate international support for possible military action.
Mr Blair will meet Mr Chirac tomorrow and is likely to refer to a US dossier - revealing Iraq’s "concealment, deception and intimidation" over its weapons of mass destruction - in an attempt to persuade the French leader of the justification for war.
Having apparently won a concession in Washington at the weekend that action would only follow after a second UN mandate had been sought, Mr Blair is anxious to secure as much international support as possible for his diplomatic route.
It is hoped the dossier will help convince France and other permanent members of the UN Security Council not to veto a second resolution.
Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, is also understood to be preparing to announce a further massive military deployment to the region.
Up to 50 RAF jets and hundreds of support personnel are expected to be ordered to Kuwait this week, ratcheting up Britain’s military presence in the Middle East.
Mr Hoon hinted at the deployment in weekend media interviews, and military sources said last night that the RAF moves could be announced as early as this week.
It is understood that a force of a dozen RAF Tornado GR4 strike bombers, 12 Jaguar and 12 Harrier ground attack aircraft, backed by 12 Tornado F3 Fighters, is to be sent to Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait to join the existing RAF contingent of eight Tornado bombers.
Half a dozen additional Tristar and VC-10 tanker aircraft are also expected to be ordered to Bahrain later in the week to provide in-flight refuelling support for RAF and US Navy strike aircraft.
RAF Lossiemouth in Morayshire is one of two bases for the RAF Tornado strike force and Tornado F3 fighters are based at Leuchers in Fife. Both bases are expected to provide a strong contribution to the new Gulf contingent.
Personnel and aircraft from the bases are veterans of no-fly zone patrols over southern Iraq. The Jaguar and Harrier aircraft are configured to provide close air support to ground troops, while Tornado GR4s specialise in hitting strategic targets.
The new RAF deployment comes as the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean and three Royal Navy destroyers transited through the Suez Canal over the weekend headed for the Gulf, and it emerged that 42 Commando Royal Marines is to fly out to Kuwait during the coming week.
These moves indicate that Britain is concentrating its forces in Kuwait to support any American-led advance on Baghdad from the south. It ends speculation that the Royal Marines might be moved by helicopter into northern Iraq to support US troops moving through Turkey.
The US will further bolster its case on Wednesday when Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, is expected to present the security council with evidence of how Saddam has forged links with international terrorists, including the al-Qaeda network behind the 11 September atrocities.
Officials in Washington believe the report, compiled by its intelligence agencies, will - combined with Mr Powell’s evidence - add up to a "compelling picture" of Saddam’s efforts to avoid the demands of UN resolution 1441 on disarmament.
The dossier reveals how the UN inspectors are outnumbered by Iraqi intelligence officers by 200 to one; gives a detailed account of how the intelligence and security organisations keep Saddam in power, and shows the effects of the security apparatus on ordinary civilians in Iraq.
It alleges the Iraqis have installed surveillance equipment all over the hotels and offices UN personnel are using, monitoring all their meetings and telephone calls.
It also claims the intelligence agency al-Mukhabarat organises "car crashes to cause traffic jams" if the inspectors suddenly change course towards a target the Iraqis wish to conceal. The dossier claims the inspectors are constantly intimidated and put under "psychological pressure" by Iraqis.
It cites threatening approaches to UN personnel, including an attempt by gangs armed with knives to enter the inspectors’ compound, and instances were Iraqis have climbed on UN vehicles which were going out on inspection.
In the face of the allegations to come, Iraq’s chief arms monitoring body claimed yesterday Baghdad was keen to co-operate with UN inspectors when they visit this weekend.
Hussam Mohammad Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison officer to the UN inspectors, also dismissed Mr Powell’s plan to present purported evidence of prohibited Iraqi weapons programmes to the UN Security Council on Wednesday. That material will probably be "fabricated space photos or aerial photos" of a kind the Iraqis could refute if given a chance to study it, Mr Amin said. "It is a political game."
Mr Amin refused to speculate on Iraqi attitudes towards U-2 plane overflights and private interviews with Iraqi scientists.
He said the chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and the head of the UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed El Baradei, had confirmed they would visit Baghdad on 8-9 February, before reporting back to the security council on 14 February.
"We are keen to resolve any pending issues," Mr Amin said. He added that Dr Blix had not put any conditions on his visit in a letter to Iraq but expressed hope some issues would be resolved.
http://thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=133752003
JASON BEATTIE AND TIM RIPLEY
TONY Benn, the left-wing anti-war activist, launched a lone attempt to persuade Saddam Hussein to avoid war with the West yesterday when he met the Iraqi dictator in Baghdad.
Mr Benn revealed afterwards that he had asked Saddam whether he possessed weapons of mass destruction and whether he had any links to al-Qaeda.
However, the former Chesterfield MP refused to reveal Saddam’s answers to these questions, offering instead to meet Tony Blair to brief him privately on his meeting.
"I do believe that it is possible to halt the march to war," Mr Benn said.
And he added: "As a result of my visit, information will come out that will make it harder to go to war. That’s all I can say."
Mr Benn’s meeting with Saddam was filmed by an Iraqi television company and will be broadcast within Iraq in the next couple of days.
Mr Benn insisted last night that he had not visited Baghdad as a guest of the Iraqi government. He said he paid for his own air fare and his hotel, adding that he had asked for the interview in September and only heard two weeks ago that his request was approved.
Mr Benn’s intervention in the sensitive negotiations mirrors the attempt made by Sir Edward Heath, the former prime minister, before the last Gulf War.
Despite criticism at home, Sir Edward went to Baghdad to plead with the Iraqi dictator to withdraw from Kuwait, but he was unsuccessful and allied military action started soon afterwards.
News of Mr Benn’s attempt to mediate with Saddam came as Mr Blair was preparing for a crucial meeting with French president Jacques Chirac to try to consolidate international support for possible military action.
Mr Blair will meet Mr Chirac tomorrow and is likely to refer to a US dossier - revealing Iraq’s "concealment, deception and intimidation" over its weapons of mass destruction - in an attempt to persuade the French leader of the justification for war.
Having apparently won a concession in Washington at the weekend that action would only follow after a second UN mandate had been sought, Mr Blair is anxious to secure as much international support as possible for his diplomatic route.
It is hoped the dossier will help convince France and other permanent members of the UN Security Council not to veto a second resolution.
Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, is also understood to be preparing to announce a further massive military deployment to the region.
Up to 50 RAF jets and hundreds of support personnel are expected to be ordered to Kuwait this week, ratcheting up Britain’s military presence in the Middle East.
Mr Hoon hinted at the deployment in weekend media interviews, and military sources said last night that the RAF moves could be announced as early as this week.
It is understood that a force of a dozen RAF Tornado GR4 strike bombers, 12 Jaguar and 12 Harrier ground attack aircraft, backed by 12 Tornado F3 Fighters, is to be sent to Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait to join the existing RAF contingent of eight Tornado bombers.
Half a dozen additional Tristar and VC-10 tanker aircraft are also expected to be ordered to Bahrain later in the week to provide in-flight refuelling support for RAF and US Navy strike aircraft.
RAF Lossiemouth in Morayshire is one of two bases for the RAF Tornado strike force and Tornado F3 fighters are based at Leuchers in Fife. Both bases are expected to provide a strong contribution to the new Gulf contingent.
Personnel and aircraft from the bases are veterans of no-fly zone patrols over southern Iraq. The Jaguar and Harrier aircraft are configured to provide close air support to ground troops, while Tornado GR4s specialise in hitting strategic targets.
The new RAF deployment comes as the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean and three Royal Navy destroyers transited through the Suez Canal over the weekend headed for the Gulf, and it emerged that 42 Commando Royal Marines is to fly out to Kuwait during the coming week.
These moves indicate that Britain is concentrating its forces in Kuwait to support any American-led advance on Baghdad from the south. It ends speculation that the Royal Marines might be moved by helicopter into northern Iraq to support US troops moving through Turkey.
The US will further bolster its case on Wednesday when Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, is expected to present the security council with evidence of how Saddam has forged links with international terrorists, including the al-Qaeda network behind the 11 September atrocities.
Officials in Washington believe the report, compiled by its intelligence agencies, will - combined with Mr Powell’s evidence - add up to a "compelling picture" of Saddam’s efforts to avoid the demands of UN resolution 1441 on disarmament.
The dossier reveals how the UN inspectors are outnumbered by Iraqi intelligence officers by 200 to one; gives a detailed account of how the intelligence and security organisations keep Saddam in power, and shows the effects of the security apparatus on ordinary civilians in Iraq.
It alleges the Iraqis have installed surveillance equipment all over the hotels and offices UN personnel are using, monitoring all their meetings and telephone calls.
It also claims the intelligence agency al-Mukhabarat organises "car crashes to cause traffic jams" if the inspectors suddenly change course towards a target the Iraqis wish to conceal. The dossier claims the inspectors are constantly intimidated and put under "psychological pressure" by Iraqis.
It cites threatening approaches to UN personnel, including an attempt by gangs armed with knives to enter the inspectors’ compound, and instances were Iraqis have climbed on UN vehicles which were going out on inspection.
In the face of the allegations to come, Iraq’s chief arms monitoring body claimed yesterday Baghdad was keen to co-operate with UN inspectors when they visit this weekend.
Hussam Mohammad Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison officer to the UN inspectors, also dismissed Mr Powell’s plan to present purported evidence of prohibited Iraqi weapons programmes to the UN Security Council on Wednesday. That material will probably be "fabricated space photos or aerial photos" of a kind the Iraqis could refute if given a chance to study it, Mr Amin said. "It is a political game."
Mr Amin refused to speculate on Iraqi attitudes towards U-2 plane overflights and private interviews with Iraqi scientists.
He said the chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and the head of the UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed El Baradei, had confirmed they would visit Baghdad on 8-9 February, before reporting back to the security council on 14 February.
"We are keen to resolve any pending issues," Mr Amin said. He added that Dr Blix had not put any conditions on his visit in a letter to Iraq but expressed hope some issues would be resolved.
http://thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=133752003
