Blair: Aim is for more support

Blair has faced opposition from trade unionists and his own Labour Party MPs over support for Bush

LONDON, England -- U.S. and UK leaders have a "total determination" to deal with Iraq but will seek the broadest possible international support, Tony Blair said on his return from talks at Camp David.

Blair, who touched down in Britain on Sunday, said both he and President George W. Bush had a "total determination to deal with this issue."

But he added that the U.S. and Britain would not act without consulting their allies.

He did not make it clear whether the two nations were prepared to take military action alone if support was not forthcoming.

"We have a total determination to deal with this issue. But we do want to deal with it on the basis of the broadest possible international support," Blair said in an interview with Sky television broadcast on Sunday.

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"I think what people have been worried about is: are we simply going to go off without any consultation or discussion with allies? That is not the case."

Before the prime minister flew back from Washington after a three-hour strategy session with Bush, Blair stressed that once the public had seen the evidence of Iraq's alleged proliferation of weapons of mass destruction "people will see this is not something that has been invented or dreamt up in the last few weeks.

"This is a real and serious issue. People should have confidence that we will approach this issue in a sensible and measured way."

The consequences of not taking any action against so-called rogue states would be "horrendous" he added.

Blair said he would reveal a dossier of evidence against President Saddam Hussein's regime in the next few weeks. He is set to outline his case during a speech at the Trades Union Congress conference on Tuesday.

But claims made by Blair and Bush at Camp David of a nuclear programme in Iraq were questioned by some of the media and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Bush and Blair said on Saturday there was ample evidence but Mark Gwozdecky, a spokesman for the atomic energy agency in Vienna, Austria, said there is no report and "no new information about any Iraqi nuclear activity." (Full story)

He suggested the leaders had used a newspaper report based on four-year-old information.

Bush has also said he plans to start trying to secure international support when he speaks to the United Nations General Assembly this week.

He added he has a lot of support for his goal. "A lot of people understand that this man has defied every U.N. resolution," he said.

"A lot of people understand he holds weapons of mass destruction. A lot of people understand he has invaded two countries. A lot of people understand he's gassed his own people. A lot of people understand he is unstable.

"So, we've got a lot of support."

But apart from Israel, the UK is the only country that has come out and said it supports possible military action against Iraq.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac repeated their opposition on Saturday to the U.S. going it alone ignoring the wishes of the U.N. (Full story)

The two European leaders were meeting at the home of Schroeder in Hanover in the latest of their informal monthly meetings.

Bush and Blair were dealt another blow when former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter told an Iraqi National Assembly on Sunday that Baghdad did not pose a threat. (Full Story)

Issue for the civilised world

The British prime minister, often criticised in the local media and by some MPs for being too ready to follow Bush's lead, was keen to stress that he believed Saddam to be a threat to Britain and was not simply blindly following Washington's lead.

He said that if terrorists or rogue states were allowed to acquire weapons of mass destruction, then at some point they would use them with horrifying consequences.

"This is not simply an American preoccupation, it is our preoccupation. It should be the preoccupation of the entire civilised, orderly international community."

"I happen to think that it is important that America doesn't have to face these problems alone, I think it is important that we are with them when they face these problems."

Blair continued to stress his theme -- also taken up by the U.S. president -- that "doing nothing is not an option".

He told the Sky News programme: "There is a general view and acceptance of the fact that you cannot have the international community lay down a whole series of resolutions on an issue as serious as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and that those resolutions be breached and nothing is done about it."

Blair added: "We cannot just turn away and say this is an issue we are not going to be bothered with because that would be irresponsible."

Blair and his family joined the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at church in Scotland on Sunday.

The prime minister flew into Aberdeen airport after his talks with U.S. President George Bush at Camp David.

From the airport, Blair was taken to meet the Queen at Balmoral Castle, where she is enjoying her autumn break.