Iraq has military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, Britain said on Tuesday in a dossier of evidence about Iraq’s development of weapons of mass destruction.
The dossier says President Saddam Hussein directly controls chemical and biological weapons and has tried to acquire ”significant quantities” of uranium from Africa.
”Iraq’s current military planning specifically envisages the use of chemical and biological weapons,” the dossier said.
It argues there is no doubt that Iraq continues to develop chemical and biological weapons, is trying to acquire nuclear weapons and has extended the range of its ballistic missiles.
”I am in no doubt that the threat is serious and current, that he has made progress on (weapons of mass destruction), and that he has to be stopped,” Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an introduction to the dossier.
”Unless we face up to the threat, not only do we risk undermining the authority of the UN, whose resolutions he defies, but more importantly and in the longer term, we place at risk the lives and prosperity of our own people.”
The report said Saddam attaches great importance to weapons of mass destruction, and sees them as the basis of Iraq’s regional power.
”It shows that he does not regard them only as weapons of last resort. He is ready to use them, including against his own population, and is determined to retain them, in breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions.”
If Saddam refuses to allow the United nations to return to Iraq and complete the task of dismantling weapons, Blair said, the international community will have to act.
”We must insure that he does not get to use the weapons he has, or get hold of the weapons he wants.”
The dossier provided a highly detailed history of Iraq’s efforts to build weapons of mass destruction, and an assessment of its current capabilities based on British and allied intelligence.
However, there appeared to be little new information in the report about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Analysts have been warning for years that Saddam has continued to develop chemical and biological weapons and has also tried to develop nuclear weapons, although with little sign of success.
The dossier was released hours before Parliament convened in a special session to debate possible military action against Iraq.
The report said Saddam attaches great importance to weapons of mass destruction, and sees them as the basis of Iraq’s regional power.
”It shows that he does not regard them only as weapons of last resort. He is ready to use them, including against his own population, and is determined to retain them, in breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions,” the report said.
The dossier said Iraq has military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, including against the country’s Shia Muslim community. Some of the weapons are ready to be used within 45 minutes of an order being issued, it said.
The report rejected Iraqi claims that it has destroyed its biological weapons, saying Baghdad may retain huge stocks of anthrax. Iraq now has mobile laboratories for the military to develop biological warfare agents, the report said.
Amid reports that Saddam has been trying for years to gain nuclear weapons, the Britain report said Baghdad tried acquire significant quantities of uranium from Africa and has covertly tried to acquire technology and materials for the production of nuclear weapons.
Iraq has retained up to 20 al-Hussein missiles with a range of 650 kilometres, capable of carrying chemical or biological warheads, and is working to increase the range of other missiles, the report said.
The prime minister said the assessment was based on highly classified intelligence material but gave no more details.
The report included a map which showed that Iraqi weapons now being developed could reach Israel, the whole of the Middle East, Greece and Turkey.
If UN sanctions against Iraq were lifted, Saddam could develop a nuclear weapon within 12 months to two years, said the dossier, which was based on intelligence assessments.
A report published earlier this month by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said Iraq retains substantial chemical and biological weapons and could assemble a nuclear weapon within months if it obtained radioactive material.
Some lawmakers from Blair’s Labour Party vowed to give the prime minister a rough ride when he addresses the House of Commons, and have published a counter-document, called ”The dishonest case for war on Iraq.”
”Tony Blair has been forced to recall parliament and reveal whatever evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction he has,” said lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn. ”The reality is this is a war about George Bush, arms and oil, and we will be questioning Blair very closely about why Britain cannot have a foreign policy independent of the US administration.”
Blair met with his Cabinet on Monday night to brief it on the dossier and said afterward that policies aimed at containing Saddam’s growing arsenal of weapons had failed.
In an apparent effort to stem opposition to his Iraq policies at home, Blair also emphasised the need to continue trying to deal with the issue of disarming Iraq through the United Nations.
International Development Secretary Clare Short, one of the most outspoken members of the British Cabinet, this weekend said it was dangerous to adopt a ”cowboy and Indians way of looking at the world,” where ”we are the good guys and you are evil and we can go around the world and bomb anyone who gets in our way.”
A poll in Tuesday’s Guardian newspaper said 86% of Britons believe the government should seek the support of the British Parliament and the United Nations before taking military action against Iraq. – Sapa-AP