British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair hopes to publish `evidence¿ that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is in possession of weapons of mass destruction but also stated Britain would not be involved in an attack on Iraq without the support of the UN.
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Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair laughs during his visit to Sedgefield Community College in County Durham where he held a press briefing today.
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Mr Blair today said it would be a good idea for his government to publish its data on Iraq's weapons programmes within the next few weeks. He said the public debate had reached a point where it was now better to get the data into the open.
He had originally wanted to wait until a decision on attacking Iraq had been made before publishing the `evidence'.
"Originally I had the intention that we wouldn't get round to publishing the dossier until we had actually taken the key decisions, but I think probably it's a better idea to bring that forward."
"I think that when that happens people will see that there is no doubt at all, the United Nations resolutions that he stands in breach of are there for a purpose."
He said he believed it was possible to get 'broad international support' for a strike on Iraq but warned that something had to be done. 'Of course it is better to do this with the broadest possible basis of international support, that is true.
"But it does have to be done and we have to make sure that there are not people who are simply going to turn a blind eye to this.' There was 'no such thing as a regional conflict that stays regional', he said, citing the example of Kashmir and the Israel/Palestine situation.
Questioned about the legality of action against Iraq without a UN mandate, he said: 'It depends on the circumstances ... but whatever we do will be in line with international law.' He also said: "I would never support anything I thought was wrong out of some blind loyalty to the US."
But he had earlier warned there would no further negotiation about the existing UN resolutions. 'The Iraqi regime know perfectly well what they have to do. There is no negotiation about this,' he said. 'They have a complete and total obligation to let the weapons inspectors back in any time, any place, anywhere.
'They've had that obligation for ten years. It's there in the United Nations resolutions. It doesn't need to be negotiated.'
Labour MP George Galloway, who visited Saddam Hussein in Baghdad last month, derided what he described as Mr Blair's 'shallow, Reader's Digestaccount of the realities in the Middle East.
'The Prime Minister has thrown in his lot with the most right-wing faction of the Republican administration in Washington, betraying even the Colin Powell wing which had been looking for a way out short of invasion and war.
'[He] has declared for war and the Labour movement and the British public will have to act quickly if they are to stop him. The overwhelming majority of British people are deeply anxious about being driven this close to a cliff by a President like Mr Bush. They will not have been reassured watching the British Prime Minister climb into his customary back seat,' Mr Galloway added.
PA