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British unease over US plans to widen conflict

War against terrorism: Strategy

Kim Sengupta,Marie Woolf
Wednesday 10 October 2001 00:00 BST
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There is increasing unease within British government circles at the prospect of the US targeting Iraq in its war on terrorism. Senior Whitehall officials fear the superhawks in the US Administration may be winning their argument for broadening the conflict and Britain is likely to get dragged along.

In a letter to the UN Security Council justifying Britain's part in the military campaign alongside the US, the Government said Britain was engaged "against targets we know to be involved" in acts of terror, and did not specify that the campaign would be limited to Afghanistan. British forces were operational "against targets we know to be involved in the operation of terror against the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries around the world, as part of a wider international effort", said the letter, written by Stewart Eldon, the British charge d'affaires to the UN.

It was the strongest indication yet from the government that Britain may be directly on the al-Qa'ida network's hit list. Tony Blair himself yesterday suggested that the fight against global terrorism would spread beyond Afghanistan.

In an interview with an Arab satellite channel, in which he singled out Saddam Hussein's regime for criticism, he said the next step in the military campaign would be to "dismantle" the network of international terrorism at every level.

On Monday, the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, surprised some allies by saying in his own letter to the Security Council that the military campaign against Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the 11 September attacks, may yet widen to "other states".

The official line in London was that the US letter, like the UK document, is just a formality. But privately there is mounting anxiety that the US warning was the first step for action aimed primarily at Iraq. Mr Blair has been strongly advised by the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence not to become involved in extending the conflict. Doing so, they say, will break the fragile so-called global coalition with not only Muslim nations, but Russia and China.

Mr Blair, with his constant theme of standing shoulder to shoulder with America, and the sobriquet of the US's unofficial ambassador, may have painted himself into a corner and will find it difficult to extricate Britain from an operation against Iraq. Senior civil servants say Downing Street appears to be unsure how to react if there are US calls for a strike on Iraq. British and US planes make joint patrols to enforce the "no-fly" zones in northern and southern Iraq.

Mr Blair is said to have used what influence he has to back Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice against the hardliners in the Administration led by Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, who is seeking the removal of Saddam Hussein.

The Liberal Democrats also warned yesterday against attacking Iraq "without unequivocal evidence of Saddam Hussein's involvement" in the 11 September attacks

"Loose talk about extending military action to countries such as Iraq is premature and ill-advised," said Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary.

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