BLAIR: 'NO MORE TIME'
Sky News / February 17, 2003 / Sky News
Tony Blair has rejected French calls to give United Nations weapons inspectors more time to disarm Saddam Hussein.
The Prime Minister was hoping to find common ground with fellow European Union leaders at an emergency summit on Iraq.
But divisions over military action were spotlighted by French President Jacques Chirac ahead of Mr Blair's arrival in Brussels.
Mr Chirac said France would block a new UN mandate authorising war, which he called the "worst solution".
Starkest warning
Mr Blair later said time was needed to decide whether Iraq had complied with the UN, not whether inspectors could find weapons.
He said the crucial test remained "Is Saddam co-operating or not? That is what he has got to do."
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw gave his starkest warning yet that the United States and UK could press ahead without a fresh UN mandate.
The Prime Minister warned against a return to the protracted inspections processes that had failed to disarm Iraq in the past.
"The test on time is not for them to go back to where we were in the 1990s for 12 years, sitting in there, trying to do their best but not actually discovering any weapons," he said.
'The worst solution'
"The best thing that we can do is to form a judgment on whether Saddam is co-operating or not.
"That is what we require the time to do."
The 15 EU nations had looked set to paper over divisions by uniting behind the threat of military action as a last resort.
However, Mr Chirac signalled France still wants UN inspectors to be given more time, despite US and UK objections.
"We consider that war is always, always, the worst solution," Mr Chirac said.
"That is our position, which leads us to conclude that it is not necessary today to have a second resolution, which France could only oppose."
