British PM Tony Blair warned Russia and France on Tuesday that their U.N. veto threat risked wrecking the transatlantic alliance and would allow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to think he could avoid the war.
"My concern is if countries talk about using a veto in all sets of circumstances, the message that sends to Saddam is: 'you're off the hook,"' the prime minister told reporters in his Downing Street home after talks with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.
"I hope we won't talk about vetoes...but rather we will try and find the common ground that allows a way through," Blair said. "What we are trying to do in the Security Council now is to offer very clear ideas about what Iraq has to do in order to demonstrate it is prepared to disarm voluntarily."
Blair has cleared his diary to work the phones with fellow international leaders, Reuters reported. The latest opinion poll on Tuesday showed only 19 percent of Britons support war in Iraq without U.N. authority. (Albawaba.com)
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