Arms Checks will Reduce War Threat on Iraq: UK

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 23, 2002

Arms Checks will Reduce War Threat on Iraq: UK

Weapons inspections are the best way of reducing the threat of a war on Iraq, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Thursday.

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Weapons inspections are the best way of reducing the threat of a war on Iraq, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Thursday.

Military action remained an option but the possibility of an attack would "recede" if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accepted the unconditional return of UN arms inspectors, Straw said in an interview with BBC radio.

He said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remains a threat to the region and the world and should be dealt with.

"If there is another way of dealing with that threat, then plainly the case for military action recedes," he said.

Straw added that a change of government in Iraq would be welcomed, but it was not the goal of British foreign policy.

His words will be seen as underlining a divergence from American ambitions for "regime change" in Baghdad.

But Straw said the US did not view military action as the "option of choice" either.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is thought to be the European leader who most strongly supports US President George W. Bush's determination to oust Saddam and halt Iraq's alleged development of weapons of mass destruction.

This month, Iraq offered to hold talks with UN officials on the possible return of inspectors.

But the latest offer was reported to fall short of the UN's insistence that such an invitation must be unconditional.

United Nations weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998 and since then have not been allowed to return.

"If Saddam Hussein allows weapons inspectors back without condition, without restriction and when they are allowed to do their job properly, then the circumstances will change," Straw said.

Straw's remarks were made after US President George W. Bush met with his senior officials on Wednesday.

Some observers suggested the meeting amounted to a war cabinet but the president said Iraq had not been discussed at the talks.

Bush repeated his assertion that an Iraqi "regime change is in the interests of the world."

But he described speculation about an impending attack on Iraq as "a frenzy", stressing that he was a "patient man" and he would consult with US allies before any possible action.

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