British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced direct defiance from a key member of his cabinet on Sunday who said another war with Iraq would inflict too much suffering on the Iraqi people.
The International Development Secretary, Clare Short, said "We cannot have another Gulf war. We cannot have the people of Iraq suffering again. They have suffered too much. That would be wrong."
"We've got to have remedies that will hit Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the elite, and not the people," she added. "I think we need more thinking about that." She conveyed that the only way to tackle Saddam is through the United Nations - despite the Iraqi leader's past refusal to comply with UN demands.
Short's comments came on the eve of a special cabinet meeting to be headed by Blair Monday. A so-called "dossier" on Iraq, in which Blair will set out what he sees as the case for action against Saddam, will be released Tuesday.
She urged Blair and US President George W. Bush to think past launching into a war with Iraq, for the sake of the Iraqi people.
"We should be ready to impose the will of the United Nations on them if they (Iraq) don't co-operate, but not by hurting the people of Iraq. "Each one of them is as precious as the 3,000 people in the twin towers. We can't sacrifice them to putting it right. "We have to find a way of making Saddam Hussein know he's got to obey the UN. We know that he has in the past played games with the UN enormously. "We've got to have remedies that will hit him and the elite and not the people and I think we need more thinking about that," the British Minister stated. (Albawaba.com)
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