US war with Iraq will 'open gates to hell' says Arab diplomat

President George W. Bush says history has called the United States into action as he steps up his campaign against Saddam Hussein, but a top Arab diplomat has cautioned that a war to oust the Iraqi leader will "open the gates of hell".

Facing foreign doubts and congressional demands for evidence against Saddam, the White House said it already had all the evidence it needed to remove the Iraqi President.

But key US senators demanded more evidence from the Administration, and a senior Saudi diplomat accused an "obsessed" US President of driving toward a war that will end in tragedy.

A Nato official in Brussels virtually ruled out any possibility the alliance would take part in any pre-emptive US military strike in the name of self-defence.

"There is no chance ... We're talking pre-emptive action here and that's not part of Nato's doctrine," the official said.

Bush said in speeches in Kentucky and Indiana that he looked forward to making his case to Congress, the American public and world leaders, after announcing on Wednesday he would seek support from Congress for action against Iraq and would outline his case to the United Nations.

"I will remind them that history has called us into action," Bush said. "We can't let the world's worst leaders blackmail, threaten, hold freedom-loving nations hostage with the world's worst weapons."

In Washington, key senators said the White House had so far failed to present a sufficient case for war against Iraq.

Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia said he wanted to see more evidence, particularly backing for Administration claims that Iraq was close to acquiring nuclear weapons.

"In the days that are ahead, we will want to know what the evidence is. Where is the evidence?" he asked.

In Cairo, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said a strike against Iraq would "open the gates of hell" in the Middle East, and urged Baghdad to readmit weapons inspectors in co-ordination with the United Nations.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called on the United States to consult its allies on any possible plans to attack Iraq.

"It is a requirement of a friendship to speak clearly to each other at the right moment," Schroeder said at an election campaign rally.

In Kentucky, Bush said he looked forward to debate. "I look forward to a dialogue. I'm a patient man ... We've got tools at our disposal."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters travelling with Bush that bipartisan sentiment was building in Congress to oust Saddam.

Gazi Algosaibi, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain, said his country would not back any military strike against Saddam and would not let the US use Saudi air bases for any such attack.

"I think Bush is obsessed with hitting Iraq," Algosaibi told Britain's Spectator magazine. .

"[Bush] is going to hit Iraq, and it is going to end up a tragedy," he said.

Bush hosted the Saudi ambassador to the United States at his ranch last week. But so far he has failed to persuade the Saudi Government to come round to his position on Iraq.

Bush is to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland this weekend to discuss Iraq, and will outline his case against Saddam in a speech to the United Nations on September 12.

Blair has agreed that Britain is prepared to pay the "blood price" for supporting the United States in moments of crisis, and said that military action was sometimes inevitable.

In a BBC interview on the crisis in Iraq, Blair - who is President Bush's principal military ally - insisted that in maintaining the special relationship between London and Washington, Britain was acting in its own interests.

The interviewer asked Blair: "One of the elements of the special relationship is that Britain is prepared to send troops, to commit themselves, to pay the blood price. Do you recognise that?"

The Prime Minister replied: "Yes. What is important though is that at moments of crisis they [the US] don't need to know simply that you are giving general expressions of support and sympathy.

"That is easy, frankly. They need to know: Are you prepared to commit, are you prepared to be there when the shooting starts?"

Blair said he was reluctant ever to get into military action. "But there are some times in which it is inevitable.

"We are not at the stage of decision on Iraq, and there are all sorts of different ways in which we might decide to deal with this Iraqi problem in the end.

"But what you cannot do is to say that this issue of weapons of mass destruction, proliferation of chemical weapons, biological weapons and nuclear capability in the hands of highly unstable states ... that these are issues that don't need to be dealt with."

Canada made clear it was not enthusiastic about a US attack on Iraq, saying Saddam should allow UN weapons inspectors back. Bush will meet Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Detroit on Monday. But Chretien told reporters on Thursday that he had yet to see any proof of Saddam's intentions, stressing that the United Nations was the place to attempt to settle the Iraq question.

"We want the inspectors to go back and finish the job; it's very important ... Our view is that we should continue to press in the Security Council for direct Security Council engagement on this matter before we act," he said.

In Canberra Prime Minister John Howard said Australians would be warned if the country was to become involved in an attack on Iraq.

Howard said he could promise Australians they would not wake up one morning to discover Australian Defence Force troops were fighting in Iraq.

He also no Australian military action against Iraq would proceed without parliamentary debate.

"The Australian people are not going to wake up one morning and without warning there's an announcement from me that we are involved," Howard said.

"I owe the Australian people explanations; I owe them justifications if - and this is a big if - a request is received and there's a need to be involved."

- REUTERS

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