- The Ministry of Defence is to call up hundreds of armed
forces' medical staff in the first significant sign that Britain is putting
itself on a final war footing for conflict with Iraq.
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- The MoD will lay an order in the House of Commons in
the next fortnight which will say that air evacuation staff, field hospital
unit staff, individual consultants and nurses should be ready to 'enter
into conflict' within two months.
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- Defence sources said that, although the order will be
made as part of the broader 'war against terrorism', the actual reason
for the call-up of reservists was the possibility of an attack on Saddam
Hussein.
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- 'The reason for this is clear,' said one government source.
'If we do not move now, we will not be ready for the winter period should
there be a need to act. When you are preparing for conflict you can process
about 200 people a day from the reserves, so we have to start that now.
This is about Iraq and everybody is aware of that.'
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- Before the Gulf War 12 years ago, about 1,500 reserve
personnel were called up for a final military operation that involved 45,000
troops. They were mostly medical staff who usually work in the NHS but
are part-time members of the Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Navy.
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- The present call-up will be about two-thirds of the size.
Although they will only make up a small proportion of the actual number
of troops to be committed by Britain - believed to be in the region of
25,000 - they are essential members of the force because of their medical
expertise.
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- Four Royal Navy minesweepers are already on their way
to the Gulf to join the increasing US presence in the area. Geoff Hoon,
the Defence Secretary, is believed to have indicated to the Pentagon that
British troops will be ready for action by the new year.
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- Yesterday the Kuwaiti government announced that it was
sealing off a vast area of the country so that US military manoeuvres can
be expanded.
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- The country's military spokesman said that the move was
a 'precautionary measure' aimed at providing security for American personnel.
Earlier this month, Muslim extremists launched two attacks on US military
personnel, killing one Marine and wounding another.
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- The area sealed off is the equivalent to one quarter
of the whole country, which shares a border with Iraq.
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- American forces have been arriving in Kuwait for months.
With the military build-up continuing, British officials yesterday said
they are hopeful that a new 'two-stage' United Nations resolution on Iraq
will be signed in the next seven days, despite continuing tensions between
the United States, Russia and France.
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- Yesterday France claimed a victory in the battle with
the US over the UN resolution, which President Jacques Chirac says should
not threaten direct military action.
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- In a highly unusual move, both France and Russia published
their own resolution wordings this weekend in an effort to garner support
among the other 15 members of the UN Security Council.
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- With the US resolution already circulating among the
Security Council members, there are now three documents on the table for
the UN to consider.
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- The US and Britain want a resolution which sets tough
new rules for UN weapons inspections and a declaration that Iraq faces
'serious consequences' if it fails to comply. Russia wants to stick more
closely to the present resolution and eliminate any language which could
be used as a pretext for a future military attack on Baghdad.
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- France is now emerging as the potential broker, pushing
a two-stage resolution which would initially put into place a new inspections
regime before a wider discussion about what to do if Saddam fails to comply.
-
- The US deputy ambassador to the UN, James Cunningham,
made it clear yesterday that the United States wants a vote on its resolution
by the end of the week. Diplomats said the vote will almost certainly take
place by Thursday.
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- Russia revealed there was still a long way to go before
agreement could be reached.
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- 'The whole thrust of the [US] concept is anti-Iraqi and
aimed at possible military action against Iraq in case of any omissions
or misunderstandings,' Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Gennady Gatilov,
said.
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- 'We did this [published a resolution] just to illustrate
that there are some other ideas about how we can deal with the Iraqi situation,
and what we can do in order to send the inspectors back on the ground as
soon as possible.'
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- Russia's text eliminates all US references to 'material
breach' by Iraq and 'serious consequences' - language it says could trigger
a military attack if Saddam obstructs inspections.
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- France also removed references to 'material breach'.
The French proposal would link 'serious consequences' to a failure of Iraqi
compliance reported by UN inspectors, in contrast to the general warning
of 'serious consequences' in the US proposal.
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- China's UN Ambassador, Wang Yingfan, said he favoured
the French version.
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- Cunningham denied that there was any hidden military
agenda.
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- 'We didn't bring this issue into the Security Council
to look for authorisation to use military force,' he said. 'We brought
it into the Security Council to send a clear message to Iraq and to strengthen
and reinforce the inspections regime so it can have a chance at success.'
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- http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,820122,00.html
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