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Blair Warns Of Possible Action To Topple Saddam
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Blair echoed Bush in delivering threats to a soveriegn
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LONDON, April 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair delivered his sternest warning to Iraq on Sunday, warning of possible military action to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein, as Iraq urged Arabs to strike at U.S. interests.
While Blair said there would be no "perceptive action" against Iraq, he added, "We must be prepared to act where terrorism or weapons of mass destruction threaten us," Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The fight against international terrorism is right. We should pursue it vigorously, not just in Afghanistan but elsewhere... Since September 11 the action has been considerable, in many countries, but there should be no let up.
"If necessary, the action should be military and again, if necessary and justified, it should involve regime change," Blair claimed in Texas after two days of talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.
Meanwhile, Iraq called on Arabs Sunday to attack U.S. interests, after Bush's warning that "all options" are on the table if Saddam fails to prove he no longer has weapons of mass destruction, reported AFP.
"If half your anti-air defenses were to be destroyed, you would defend with the other half and if the remaining half also came to be destroyed, you would fight with your daggers like your brothers in Palestine are doing," the Iraqi president said.
"You are strong and your enemy is weak because you are right and he is wrong," Saddam was quoted as saying by state television during a meeting with military officials Sunday.
Bush and Blair agreed Saturday to consider "all options" for dealing with Iraq, which has rallied to defend the Palestinian cause and announced the mobilization of 6.5 million volunteers for the "liberation of Palestine."
"Iraqis stand ready to face up to U.S.-British attacks on our beloved homeland," pledged Saddam Hussein's younger son, Qussay, who heads the elite Republican Guard and the military bureau of the ruling Baath party.
"Our fighters are like brandished swords, ready to confront any foreign attack and defend Iraqi territory.
"The resistance of the Arab people in Iraq and Palestine bears testimony to the refusal to bow to hegemony and the vindictive U.S.-Zionist offensive," he said in a telegram marking the 55th anniversary of the Baath's formation.
In a statement carried by the official media, the Baath leadership also called on "all Arab fighters to strike at US interests in the Arab world" in response to "attacks" aimed at the Palestinians and Iraq.
Bush and Blair demanded Saddam allow UN arms inspectors back in to Iraq to determine whether nuclear, chemical or biological weapons are being developed.
"The prime minister and I both agree that he needs to prove" he has not developed NCB weapons,” Bush said after their meeting at his Texas ranch. "All options are on the table."
"It has always been our policy that Iraq would be a better place without Saddam Hussein," Blair added. "Now, how we approach this, this is a matter for discussion."
Blair claimed that Saddam "knows perfectly well what the international community has demanded of him over these past years, and he's never done it."
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