Mr Blair said:
"It concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes, including against his own Shia population; and that he is actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability."
The dossier reveals that Iraq has been trying to buy significant quantities of uranium from Africa, although it is not known whether he has been successful.
Having outlined the evidence against the Iraqi regeime, Mr Blair said:
"The threat therefore is not imagined. The history of Saddam and WMD is not American or British propaganda. The history and the present threat are real."
"And if people say: why should Britain care? I answer: because there is no way that this man, in this region above all regions, could begin a conflict using such weapons and the consequences not engulf the whole world."
Pleasuredome,
You're right Saddam has been a threat to peace for a very long time. Containment hasn't worked. But, civilised nations always try to avoid war. The free world has been patient for many years. Saddam is hell bent on acquiring WMD and has shown that he is willing to use them.
The Council on Foreign relations had this to say:
Has Iraq sponsored terrorism?
Yes. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has provided bases, training camps, and other support to terrorist groups fighting the governments of neighboring Turkey and Iran, as well as to Palestinian terror groups. The Bush administration calls the threat that Saddam might provide weapons of mass destruction to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network or other terrorists a key reason for possible preemptive military action against Iraq.
The recent proliferation of terrorism has tipped the balance from containment toward regime change in Iraq and I am personally in agreement with this change in foreign policy.
