Saddam Hussein is to be given a final ‘act or be defeated’ deadline of the middle of March before a second United Nations resolution is debated by the Security Council, clearing the way for imminent military action.
Downing Street said for the first time last night that there would be a definite vote on the second resolution within three weeks. To be tabled jointly by Britain and America tomorrow, it will say the Iraqi dictator is in ‘material breach’ of resolution 1441 and call on him to comply fully with UN weapons inspectors or face ‘serious consequences’.
In another signal that action against Iraq is entering its final phase and that war is almost inevitable, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, who will be in charge of military operations, will travel to the Gulf tomorrow to meet armed forces moved to the region ahead of any attack.
Military sources said there were now about 8 000 British troops in the Gulf, with several thousand arriving every week. A full complement of more than 40 000 will be available ‘in theatre’ by the second resolution deadline.
Tony Blair will launch ‘the last push for peace’ this week with a series of high-profile statements and events to try to gain broad support for the resolution.
Officials hope that if a majority of Security Council members can be persuaded to back a second resolution authorising military action, it would be very difficult for France, Russia or China to use the veto, despite their desire to give UN weapons inspectors more time.
On Tuesday Blair will make an emergency statement to the Commons on Saddam’s final chance to comply or face military action. There will then be a full parliamentary debate on Wednesday. The Government is braced for a significant backbench rebellion of 50 to 100 Labour MPs who will be asked to vote on a motion supporting Blair’s decision to try to find a route through the United Nations to disarm Saddam.
Although military action will not be mentioned, Whitehall officials admitted that the vote, the first since the passing of Resolution 1441 in November, will be a chance for MPs to give the Prime Minister a ‘bloody nose’. Government whips have already ordered MPs to attend and support the Prime Minister.
Number 10 sources also said that although MPs would be allowed to express an opinion before a decision on military action is taken, it was up to the Prime Minister to take the final decision.
‘The Prime Minister will launch a ”last push for peace” alongside the tabling of a new UN Security Council resolution this week,’ Number 10 said. ‘The resolution will state in clear and simple terms that Iraq is in breach of Resolution 1441. The commitment to a further resolution underlines our determination to explore every means possible to deliver a peaceful outcome. If we go to war, it is because we have to disarm Saddam.
‘The resolution will not be put to a vote immediately; instead Saddam will be charged finally and fully to do what is required of him under 1441 — full disarmament of weapons of mass destruction.
‘The time between the tabling of the new resolution and a vote on it will get the debate back to where it needs to be’
Blair will say Saddam still has to account for weapons of mass destruction unaccounted for when the UN inspectors left in 1998, including 360 tons of bulk chemical warfare agents, 1.5 tons of VX nerve agent, 3 000 tons of precursor chemicals and 30 000 special munitions for delivery of chemical and biological agents. He will also demand that scientists are interviewed without tape recorders or Iraqi minders.
‘The Prime Minister will make clear that he has no desire for conflict, that he is determined to go the extra mile for peace and that he will seek to build as much common ground as possible in the international commu nity around the new resolution,’ the statement continues,’ the Number 10 source added.
‘The process being launched this week, that is, putting down the resolution, a focus on Saddam, further reporting by [Hans] Blix [the head of the UN inspections team], then a vote taken in mid-March, comes six months since President Bush spoke to the United Nations, almost four months since 1441 was unanimously passed.
‘Four months, the Prime Minister will say, is long enough to make a judgment about whether he is disarming and co-operating.’ – Guardian Unlimited Â