0700 GMT = 0200 Eastern in the States ?
(not that i'll wait up for it - lol)
btw, rumour has it you're coming to Moran's in december ?
Posted on 09/23/2002 3:29:33 PM PDT by MadIvan
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has told his cabinet that the policy of "containing" Saddam Hussein has failed and that the Iraqi dictator must be stopped.
Mr Blair told ministers that Iraq had continued to build weapons of mass destruction, as he held talks ahead of Tuesday's emergency recall of Parliament.
In a two-hour cabinet session, the prime minister briefed fellow ministers about the dossier of evidence against Iraq which will be unveiled on Tuesday morning.
Some ministers have publicly expressed concern about possible military action, but Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the cabinet was clear about the need to be "resolute and firm" on dealing with Iraq.
Rebel motion
In seeking a "peaceful resolution" of the threat posed by Iraq, the international community had to give Saddam Hussein a "clear choice" and Iraq should know the consequences of failing to disarm, Mr Straw said.
The meeting came as rebel Labour backbenchers prepared to try to table an emergency motion when MPs return to Westminster.
Tam Dalyell, the longest serving Labour MP, plans to press the Commons speaker for a vote on a specific motion opposing war on Iraq unless authorised by the UN Security Council and a vote of MPs.
Dalyell is second only to George Galloway in being a "buttboy" for Saddam - Ivan
A draft United Nations resolution will be tabled "within days" to set out what Iraq needs to do to comply with international weapons inspections, says Downing Street.
'Threat has increased'
But the US and UK will need to overcome resistance to a fresh resolution from other UN Security Council members.
Mr Blair told cabinet ministers on Monday evening: "The truth is the policy of containment has not worked.
"He [Saddam] has been able to make progress in his weapons of mass destruction programme and has to be stopped."
Downing Street said the prime minister had said the issue was not "historic leftovers, but an ongoing, continuing programme".
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz earlier said new weapons inspections would prove such claims "inaccurate".
Plans for a war with Iraq were not being discussed the cabinet meeting, the first in two months, Downing Street added.
Mr Blair said the government's 55-page dossier on Iraq would show the "real and serious problem" of its weapons programmes had got worse since UN inspectors left the country in 1998.
The dossier, which coincides with the emergency recall of Parliament, will be available on the Downing Street website from 0800 BST (0700 GMT).
Downing Street says it will "nail the lie that they (Iraq) have no weapons of mass destruction".
Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said the dossier would contain "some of the most graphic pictures" of what Saddam Hussein had done to his own people with chemical and biological weapons.
The prime minister's spokesman insisted there would be "no gagging order" preventing ministers from speaking out on Iraq.
Persuasion campaign
Ahead of the cabinet meeting, Mr Blair held one-to-one sessions with ministers thought to be concerned about possible military action.
Those included Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett and International Development Secretary Clare Short.
Ms Short has said she thinks it would be wrong to have another Gulf War and to make the ordinary people of Iraq suffer.
Leaving the cabinet meeting, Ms Short told reporters: "We had a good discussion. We all agreed."
Code words for "Tony broke my arm from all that twisting" - Ivan
In a weekend newspaper interview, Commons Leader and former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said military action must have the full authority of the UN.
He said it should also be limited to removing weapons of mass destruction, rather than at regime change.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott also met Mr Blair separately - he is seen as a crucial figure in winning over Labour Party opinion.
Rebellion ahead?
A number of Labour MPs are expected to vote against the government on Tuesday, although there will be no "substantive" motion.
Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn said he was opposed to war because it would not help the Iraqi people and it was the "wrong" thing to do.
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy told delegates at his party's conference in Brighton that all diplomatic and political avenues must be explored before military action was considered.
He asked: "Am I alone in worrying about the undermining of the moral, legal and practical authority of the United Nations? I think not."
In the months that followed, Hitler trebled the size of the German Army and completely ignored the restrictions on weapons that had been imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. By 1935, when it was clear that no action was going to be taken against Germany for breaking the terms of the treaty, Hitler felt strong enough to introduce military conscription.
Adolf Hitler knew that both France and Britain were militarily stronger than Germany,. However, he became convinced that they were unwilling to go to war. He therefore decided to break another aspect of the Treaty of Versailles by sending German troops into the Rhineland.
The German generals were very much against the plan, claiming that the French Army would win a victory in the military conflict that was bound to follow this action. Hitler ignored their advice and on 1st March, 1936, three German battalions marched into the Rhineland.
The French government was horrified to find German troops on their border but were unwilling to take action without the support of the British. The British government argued against going to war over the issue and justified its position by claiming that "Germany was only marching into its own back yard."
0700 GMT = 0200 Eastern in the States ?
(not that i'll wait up for it - lol)
btw, rumour has it you're coming to Moran's in december ?
That Gore comes out with this on the eve of the dossier release is astonishingly stupid. But what do you expect from a guy who flunked out of grad school twice?
We're gearing up for war, Al Gore looks particularly foolish, and the dossier tomorrow is going to confirm his idiocy.
My thoughts exactly today as I saw his performance in SF. Not only did he confirm his idiocy today, he insured his defeat if he tries to run for president.
Buh-bye al, you're toast yet again!
I saw that. It was pathetic.
< snicker >
And I'm always so amused when someone tries to malign George Bush's intelligence.
Finding an IQ point between them is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.
If ever both of our nations are ruled by these leftists at a time of crisis such as this, the whole western world will fall, for certainly we will not be saved by backbone in Berlin or Paris.
Isn't that the MO lately, the Dems "keep opening new doors and hitting themselves in the nose the next day" as Limbaugh has been saying.
And Blair didn't rule out using military action if the UN fails to resolve the problem.
My father who was stationed in England during WWII, basically said the same thing. While London was being bombed the people would sleep in the subways and then get up and go to work during the day.
He told me how the Brits impressed him.."they were real fighters".
I think some of that spirit has rubbed off on America.
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