217 British lawmakers voted for an amendment that the case for war against Iraq had "not yet been established" and there was no moral justification for war

LONDON,  March 19 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – After fierce opposition by 149 lawmakers to his war schemes, British Prime Minister Tony Blair snatched Wednesday, March 18, a green light to wage war on Iraq from the House of Commons.

Blair suffered a blow to his authority as members from his own party staged an unprecedented rebellion against his hard-line on Iraq, as scores of pacifists activists demonstrated outside the parliament building shouting no-war slogans.

After a highly charged emergency debate of almost ten hours in the run-up to an imminent war, the House of Commons backed a motion that Britain should use "all means necessary" to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Blair, whose career is at stake over his handling of the Iraq crisis, won the fierce battle by 412 votes to 149, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

But minutes earlier, 217 British lawmakers out of a total of 659 voted for an amendment which stated that the case for war against Iraq had "not yet been established" and there was no moral justification for war on Baghdad.

And 138 legislators from Blair’s own Labor party were among those who voted for the amendment.

MP Graham Allen said the amendment was the largest ever against a Labor government.

"It's not something we wanted to have to do but it's a very strong message to the prime minister and I hope we can now all reflect carefully tomorrow on how we arrived at this situation again," he stressed.

But the government immediately rolled out big-hitting ministers to hail victory, the BBC News Online reported.

There were protests from the public gallery in the Commons and 200-400 protesters brought traffic to a standstill in Parliament Square.

One, 27-year-old Dan Kent, said: "I'm here because I don't believe in this war. It is essentially fuelling hatred."

Even though the amendment was defeated, the size of the rebellion was an embarrassment for Blair's stance in leading Britain towards a U.S.-led war on Iraq without a U.N. mandate, AFP added.

It was a further setback for the premier after the resignation of three of his ministers, including former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, and five ministerial aides, over the Iraq war.

“Tough Choice”

Blair had put his own authority on the line, delivering a combative and passionate speech, and hinting that he would be prepared to resign if a majority of MPs voted against military action at the end of the crunch debate.

"I would not be party to such a course," he said.

But with the opposition Conservatives lining up in support of his policy, and despite angry anti-war protests outside parliament and in the House of Commons public gallery, Blair snatched the war backing.

Last month, Blair suffered what was then the biggest rebellion in his own party since he became prime minister six years ago with an unprecedented 122 Labour MPs, more than a quarter of Labour parliamentarians, voting against the government’s refusal to give more time be given to U.N. arms inspectors.

After the latest vote, Blair's official spokesman urged parliament and the country to rally behind the 45,000 British troops preparing for war.

"It is now time for all of us in parliament and in the country to come together and show the support our armed forces deserve," he said.

Blair told parliament during the debate that a failure to deal with Saddam would lead other nations to think that they too can develop weapons of mass destruction with impunity.

"This is a tough choice," Blair told a packed House of Commons in a shaking voice.

"But it is also a stark one, to stand British troops down and turn back; or to hold firm to the course we have set," he said. "I believe we must hold firm."

Blair also said he was "sad" to have seen French President Jacques Chirac, who has insisted on more time to be given to U.N. arms inspections, so determined to veto a fresh U.N. resolution on Iraq.

"Our fault has not been impatience. The truth is our patience should have been exhausted weeks and months and even years ago," claimed Blair, who has been U.S. President George W. Bush's staunchest ally on Iraq.

Bush has given Saddam 48 hours to leave Iraq but the White House made clear that the U.S. forces would enter Iraq even if Saddam stepped down.

On Monday, March 17, the leader of the House of Commons, Robin Cook, who had been Blair's foreign secretary during the 1999 Kosovo war, quit the government in protest over Britain going to war without U.N. mandate.

He was followed Tuesday by junior health minister Lord Philip Hunt and junior home office minister John Denham.

Protests Planned

In another show of protest against Iraq war, hundreds of thousands of anti-war campaigners are expected to pound the streets of London in a mass protest this weekend, according to the Stop the War Coalition, the BBC News Online reported.

The group charges that by ignoring the will of the U.N. and the British Parliament, Blair has "released people" to exercise their own conscience.

Opponents of the U.S.-led war called Tuesday for a global walkout on the day that the forthcoming war on Iraq breaks out.

Coalition chairman Andrew Murray told reporters: "There has never been an occasion when British troops have been sent into action with so little public support behind them as there is today.

"It is now the settled view of the British people that this war is unnecessary and we do not wish our troops to be involved in such action."

Lindsey German, the coalition's convener, said she did not believe the numbers of people attending Saturday's march on London will match the million figure of the protest on 15 February.

But she stressed: "People are very determined to oppose the war. We are confident that we will have hundreds of thousands of people on the streets on Saturday."

During a press conference outlining the group's plan of action on Tuesday, Labor ex-MP Tony Benn urged people to appreciate the power of protests.

Using the example of protests held to end apartheid in South Africa and secure the release of Nelson Mandela from jail, he said: "The one cause of hope is that there is now a massive world movement against action.