Posted on 02/22/2003 4:33:19 PM PST by MadIvan
Tony Blair last night brushed aside a personal plea from the Pope and the growing threat of widespread rebellion by Labour MPs to forge ahead with plans for a war on Iraq.
The Pope urged the Prime Minister to avoid "the tragedy of war" and to "make every effort to avoid new divisions in the world" during their historic meeting at the Vatican yesterday. Although the meeting had been billed as "strictly private", the Vatican later took the unexpected step of issuing a statement to disclose what had clearly been an intense discussion.
The rebuff from the Pope follows last week's joint statement from the leaders of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales doubting the moral legitimacy of a war on Iraq.
In Rome, the Pope and Mr Blair met for 15 minutes. Having initially issued a one-line statement recording the Prime Minister's first audience with the Pope, the Vatican revealed that the Pontiff had urged Mr Blair to seek peace and called for "special consideration" to be given to the Iraqi people, "already tried greatly by long years of embargo".
Downing Street, which had said it would be making no comment on the meeting, responded by saying pointedly that the choice of peace lay not with the Allies but with Saddam Hussein. Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "We acknowledge the Pope's concern and we share the desire to avoid war but ultimately the decision will be a decision for Saddam."
The spokesman added that Mr Blair would "launch a final push for peace" this week but made clear that United Nations resolutions had to be upheld by military action if necessary.
The Prime Minister's statement was a pointed response to the Vatican's decision to part with tradition and reveal the contents of the meeting. After Mr Blair's audience his wife, Cherie, who is a Catholic, and his children also met the Pope.
The meetings was held as diplomats disclosed that Britain and America, backed by Spain, would present a short new UN resolution tomorrow, declaring Iraq to be in "material breach" of resolution 1441, which ordered Saddam to disarm fully or face "serious consequences".
No deadline will be be set for a vote on the resolution but British and American diplomats expect a decision early next month after Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons inspector in Iraq, delivers another progress report.
Yesterday the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said that Iraq was still not co-operating fully with inspectors in their search for weapons of mass destruction. "We have not finished our work in Iraq," said Mohammed El Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. "We are not getting full co-operation from Iraq but we hope to get it next week."
Mr Blair's latest comments will also be seen as an attempt to face down opposition from within his party ahead of a Commons vote this week, when more than 50 Labour MPs are expected to rebel.
The Prime Minister has called Tuesday's debate and vote in an effort to turn public opinion on Iraq. He will tell MPs: "If we go to war it will not be because we want to but because we have to. Saddam and the world knows what he has to do. The world has been patient. He must take the peaceful way out."
Mr Blair will follow the Commons debate with a special Cabinet meeting on Thursday in an effort to "bind in" potential ministerial rebels and maintain the momentum for military action.
Meanwhile Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the new Chief of the Defence Staff, has said he believes that a war with Iraq could be won quickly and with minimal casualties. In his first interview since taking up the post three weeks ago, Gen Jackson tells The Telegraph that many of Saddam's soldiers would not be prepared to die for their leader, and adds: "The post-conflict situation will be more demanding and challenging than the conflict itself."
Don't you find it curious that he has not done so?
Instead, he pounds on the UK and the US, because, well, he knows he can and that he will get a hearing.
The Vatican seems to have placed the onus on Blair and Bush for avoiding war. He says virtually nothing to Hussein, except to send a cardinal who ends up siding with the Iraqis in his public statements.
I, for one, don't pay attention to the Church's pronouncements on political matters, for good reason.
Oh, I don't either. But going out of his way to cut Saddam slack compromises papal credibility on global political matters.
. If we do not confront these twin menaces of rogue states with weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism, they will not disappear. They will just feed and grow on our weakness."
Blair is not talking about war with just Iraq.
No question, Marple; it's just a question of which direction the threat's coming from. Christians in the Middle East are in a perilous position everywhere -- especially in Iraq. If you think Saddam Hussein's secular Baathist thugocracy is a menace to the Christian community, just wait till "democracy" is installed, reflecting the views of the majority, who are fervently Shi'ite and have already indicated their intent to hold out for shari'a as the basis for their new islamic republic. If you're wondering whether US taxpayers are about to sponsor another triumph for Christianity along the lines of Kosovo, my guess is, Yes.
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