UK: Mr Tony Blair has said there is "no way out" for Saddam Hussein and that the Iraqi regime is "rattled" and "weakening" in the face of a military build-up in the Gulf.
Striking a markedly more aggressive tone during a 2½-hour grilling by senior MPs at Westminster, the British Prime Minister repeated his preference for a second UN resolution, while again making it clear that Britain and the United States were prepared to act alone if Iraq was found in material breach of UN resolutions.
Making his half-yearly appearance before the Commons Liaison Committee, Mr Blair said it was "inevitable" that al-Qaeda terrorists would try to launch a strike against the United Kingdom.
While referring to evidence linking some people in Iraq with al-Qaeda, Mr Blair made no claim about any link between them and the Iraqi leadership.
At the same time, Mr Blair acknowledged that he knew of nothing linking Iraq to the September 11th attacks on the US, or directly linking al-Qaeda and Iraq to recent events in the UK.
However, Mr Blair again made the connection between weapons of mass destruction, rogue states and international terrorists - and "the possible coming together of fanaticism and the technology capable of delivering mass destruction, mass death".
Referring to the situation inside Iraq - following last week's successes by the UN arms inspectors, and in light of the build-up of US and UK forces - Mr Blair said: "The one thing that is very obvious is that, as a result of the military build-up and of the determination to see this thing through, the regime in Iraq and Saddam are weakening."
He continued: "They are rattled, they are weakening. We are getting a massive amount of intelligence out of there now as to what is happening, and that is why we have to keep up the pressure every inch of the way."
Anti-war Labour MP, Mr George Galloway, dismissed this as wishful thinking, and insisted that a wave of nationalism was, in fact, sweeping Iraq. However, Mr Blair was defiant in his view that British public opinion would rally to his support if and when the time came for conflict.
Peace campaigners staged a sit-down protest in the central lobby of the House of Commons last night, while hundreds more lobbied their MPs and held a vigil outside. These expressions of continuing public unease followed the latest opinion poll finding support for war at its lowest level yet, with 81 per cent in agreement with MP Ms Clare Short that a fresh UN mandate was essential before any military attack was launched against Saddam Hussein.
Mr Blair said he understood why public opinion was sceptical, but was confident that any commitment to action would come in circumstances and for reasons people would find "acceptable and satisfactory, because there is no other route available to us".
Mr Blair acknowledged that his government might find it necessary to share more intelligence about Saddam's alleged activities if and when it moved into a conflict situation.
However, it remains clear that the government does not intend MPs to have the opportunity to vote on a substantive motion on the issue until a commitment to action is made.
A first wave of mainly western volunteers will leave London at the weekend on a convoy bound for Iraq to act as "human shields" at key sites and populous areas in case of a US-led war on Baghdad.
"The potential for white western body parts flying around with the Iraqi ones should make them think again about this imperialist oil war," organiser Mr Ken Nichols, a former US marine in the 1991 Gulf War, said yesterday.
His We the People organisation will be sending off a first group of 50 human shields from City Hall on Saturday, part of a series of departures organisers say will involve hundreds, possibly thousands, of volunteers.
The shield plans revive memories of the 1991 Gulf War when President Saddam Hussein forcibly held thousands of western hostages after his invasion of Kuwait. - (Reuters)