Date:04/01/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/01/04/stories/2003010401521400.htm

International

U.K. summons envoys for brainstorming

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JAN. 3. Britain is summoning its Ambassadors and High Commissioners from around the world for a meeting here in what is seen as a move to sensitise them ahead of an expected military intervention in Iraq.

About 200 envoys are expected to attend the meeting aimed at preparing senior diplomats to respond more effectively to sensitive events. Many of them will be from the Muslim world which has been the focus of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair's diplomatic efforts in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and the moves against Iraq.

Though the conference has not been called specifically to discuss Iraq, observers said its timing was significant because many British diplomats were known to be concerned about the implications of a likely war with Iraq.

``The diplomats believe the Bush administration is further radicalising Arab and Muslim opinion with its emphasis on military might against the long-term interests of the West. Many also share the view that the Al-Qaeda terrorist network represents a more serious threat than Iraq and that there is no evidence of a link between the two,'' The Guardian said.

Significantly, they would be addressed by the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, who is in the thick of making military preparations for a war.

Meanwhile, Mr. Blair has come under attack for "talking up'' the prospects of a conflict with Iraq despite growing opposition to it both at home and among his European allies. The veteran Labour leader, Lord Denis Healey, joined critics to warn him against starting a war in West Asia saying he should not repeat the `disastrous' mistake made by the Conservative Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, in 1956 when he went to war over the Suez crisis.

Lord Healey's criticism came as the Opposition seized on Mr. Blair's gloomy New Year's message in which he told Britons to brace themselves for a possible military conflict and continuing threat from terrorists.

Even the Tories, who supporting his hardline stance on Iraq, accused him of using the issue to divert attention from domestic problems.

``I do get a faint feeling that he is trying to divert attention away on to the international side in order to divert it from all the problems there are going to be domestically for him,'' the shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram, said.

The Liberal Democrats leader, Charles Kennedy, said there were issues of greater concern to the people than going to war with Iraq.

He wanted Mr. Blair to clarify under what circumstances would Britain agree to join a U.S.-led attack.