Case not proved for war in Iraq, says Parliament

Date: 30/01/03

By Martin Banks

LEADERS of the political groups in the European Parliament were unanimous last night after a debate on Iraq: there is no case yet for going to war.

The MEPs discussed this week's report by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and concluded that any further steps in the crisis must be taken by the Security Council.

A statement to be issued today (30 January) by the leaders calls for complete disarmament by Saddam Hussein and insists that the weapons inspectors must be given "unconditional and unimpeded" access to all sites.

Though the Blix report produced no 'smoking gun', it was strongly critical of Baghdad, stating: "Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance of the disarmament that was demanded of it."

It found substantial gaps in the information provided to it by Iraq: 6,500 bombs left over from the Gulf War could not be accounted for and Saddam had failed to declare that he had enough bacterial growth media to produce 5,000 litres of anthrax.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, German leader of the European People's Party, said: "It is now up to Iraq to cooperate fully with the inspection teams to make sure that there are no mass destruction weapons left. This is the essential aim of the UN inspection and we hope that this can be achieved in peace."

Enrique Barón Crespo, leader of the Party of European Socialists, echoed that, adding: "I believe that war is not inevitable and that, though the Blix report contains a lot of question marks, there is as yet no real evidence of any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction."

Liberal group leader Graham Watson described the report as "damning" on Iraq's lack of cooperation but not yet conclusive in proving the case for war which he said should be a "last resort".

"Saddam is required by UN resolution 1441 to provide the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Instead, we have seen only half-truths, prevarication and evasion," he declared.

"Blix has opened the case for the prosecution with powerful arguments but the evidence he's presented doesn't yet provide proof beyond reasonable doubt. However, Saddam clearly has a case to answer and there is little time left before the cout of the international community has to reach a verdict."

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, joint leader of the Greens/European Free Alliance group, was more critical of the report's findings, saying: "Though Iraq obviously has not been fully cooperating nothing we have heard justifies military intervention. The inspectors should be given a reasonable amount of time to conclude their work: this doesn't mean a few weeks but several months."

Jens-Peter Bonde, of the Group for Europe of Democracies and Diversities, said: "This report doesn't provide sufficient reason to go to war."

Five of the seven group leaders, and Parliament President Pat Cox, questioned Blix in an hour-long transatlantic 'video conference' on Tuesday. Exact details of the exchange, the first of its kind by the Parliament, were not disclosed.

In a debate on Iraq on 29 January 2003 MEPs discussed the report by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and concluded that any further steps in the crisis must be taken by the Security Council.