PM toughens war position

By JOHN ARMSTRONG political editor

A hawkish-sounding Prime Minister has given her strongest indication yet that New Zealand will contribute to a United Nations-sanctioned military campaign against Iraq.

Helen Clark also made it clear yesterday that New Zealand will not criticise the United States, Britain and Australia if they mount a go-it-alone strike without UN endorsement.

Instead, New Zealand will merely express generalised "disappointment" that diplomacy had failed to resolve the crisis over whether Iraq is concealing weapons of mass destruction.

The hardening of the Prime Minister's position followed yesterday's report by chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix, which sharply criticised Iraq for not disclosing all its long-range missile, chemical and biological arms programmes.

After two months of inspections, the reports by Mr Blix and Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei to the UN Security Council immediately fuelled US warnings that time was running out for Iraq, but prompted China, Russia, Germany and France to say the inspections needed more time.

Mr Blix told the council Baghdad had only reluctantly complied with UN demands and might still possess biological weapons and rockets.

"It is not enough to open doors. Inspection is not a game of catch-as-catch-can," he said.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned that Iraq did not have "much more time" to comply, and said Washington would decide its next step after consulting Government leaders this week.

"The issue is not how much more time the inspectors need ... but how much more time Iraq should be given to turn on the lights and become clean," Mr Powell said.

In Baghdad, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz promised more co-operation in future.

But he also warned that Iraq would retaliate against US troops and could target Kuwait if a strike was launched from there.

"We will, of course, retaliate against the American troops wherever they start their aggression on Iraq. This is legitimate," Mr Aziz said.

In Washington, the Bush Administration was reported to be ready to make public intelligence that it believes shows Iraq is hiding banned weapons.

The Washington Post, citing informed sources, said US intelligence agencies had information that Iraq had been moving and hiding banned weapons systems and related equipment from UN inspectors, often days or hours ahead of visits by inspection teams.

President George W. Bush and his national security advisers had decided to declassify some of the information and make it public, perhaps as early as next week, in an effort to bolster support for confronting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with military force, the paper said.

Helen Clark stressed that New Zealand had always fulfilled its responsibilities as a "conscientious" member of the UN.

"If the UN did go down the path of sanctioning force, we would look at how we could make a contribution."

Speaking after briefings from Foreign Affairs and Defence officials, she said that contribution would "most likely" be in the form of a medical team, logistical support or humanitarian assistance - wording which leaves her room for some kind of more active frontline participation.

Helen Clark took a swipe at those on the "far left", including the Greens, who argue that New Zealand should not become involved in Iraq, even under UN auspices.

"You can't flick multilateralism on or off when it suits you and say you don't like it when you don't get the result you want," she said, referring to the obligations on member states to abide by collective UN decisions.

Describing the Blix report as "firm in tone", Helen Clark upped her rating of the likelihood of war to 70:30 - from her previous odds of 50:50 - and predicted military action either late next month or early in March.

"What is clear is that time is running out for Iraq and it is increasingly clear the United States will move with or without UN backing."

- Additional reporting: Agencies

Full text: Dr Blix's statement

Herald feature: Iraq