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"The
time for military action has not yet arisen,” said Blair.
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LONDON,
April 10 (News Agencies) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair has gone
all out to calm MPs' anger over possible action against Iraq amid a
welter of Commons questions about the issue.
Some
of the fiercest criticism came from Blair's own MPs during a stormy
Prime Minister's Question Time on Wednesday, April 10, BBC’s online
news service reported.
Blair
reassured angry MPs that Britain would not be rushed into a new
offensive against sanctions-hit Iraq, but that a possible attack was
still "open to consultation."
"When
the judgments have been made, I have no doubt that this house - and
indeed the whole country - will want to debate the issue
thoroughly," Blair told MPs.
"The
time for military action has not yet arisen,” added Blair.
But
the prime minister's words failed to reassure some Labor backbenchers.
"The
only thing today [Wednesday] that might have changed is that the
timescale appears to be longer rather than shorter," Barnsley MP
Eric Illsley, a member of the foreign affairs select committee, said,
quoted by BBC.
Fellow
Labor backbencher Brian Iddon said: "We are extremely anxious and
we will remain so until this position in the Middle East is
resolved."
Almost
150 MPs, 125 of them from the Labor benches, have signed a Commons
motion expressing "deep unease" about possible action against
11-year-sanctions-hit Iraq.
Blair
spoke of the issue of mass destruction, saying it was "an issue
that has to be confronted."
"We
will do it a sensible way, do it in a measured way,” he added, though.
He
also reminded MPs that negotiations about weapons inspectors in Iraq had
been going on before 11 September's terror attacks on the U.S.
In
a clear warning to Iraq, Blair said U.N. weapons inspectors should be
let in to Iraq at "any time" and in "any place".
But
the prime minister rejected protests from former Labor defense minister
Peter Kilfoyle that there had been mixed messages from the U.K. and U.S.
governments over the Middle East crisis.
Blair
agreed with Labor's Jon Owen Jones that it was important to avoid
"double standards" in dealing with Iraq and the situation in
the Middle East.
"We
have been absolutely clear that we condemned entirely those things that
are happening the Middle East at the moment," said Blair.
That
meant urging Israel to withdraw from its deadly West Bank incursions but
also condemning Palestinian martyr operations.
"There
has to be a message of restraint and for an end to violence for both
sides," said Blair, who later made a further statement to MPs on
the Middle East crisis.
The
prime minister defended the U.S. by criticizing those who said America
had neglected its role as a peace sponsor in the Middle East.
Blair
said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's trip to the region shows
what he described as the "earnestness of American intentions".
Blair
earlier told a packed meeting of the Parliamentary Labor Party that the
fullest possible consensus would be sought before any military offensive
is launched against Iraq.
