Britain's prime minister softens talk on Iraq

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair sought Thursday to cool speculation that war with Iraq was imminent, saying Jan. 27 -- the date weapons inspectors are to next report to the United Nations -- was not a deadline that could trigger a conflict.

Blair's office denied a newspaper report that he was urging the United States to delay any offensive against Saddam Hussein until the autumn, but the premier's calming talk may be an effort to placate critics in Britain who say he's too ready to follow America's lead.

The prime minister's official spokesman said Blair emphasized at a Thursday Cabinet meeting that while chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix's Jan. 27 briefing would be important, it should not be seen as an event that could provoke an attack.

Blair, the spokesman said, "underlined his view that the weapons inspectors in Iraq must be given the time and space they need to do their job and, in that sense, Jan. 27, though an important staging post, shouldn't be regarded in any sense as a deadline."

"We are in the middle of a process," the spokesman said in a briefing. He spoke on condition of anonymity. Waiting for news from the inspectors "may be frustrating, because it means we have to be patient, but this was the process which was unanimously agreed by the U.N. Security Council."

Blix delivered an interim report Thursday, saying "we haven't found any smoking guns" in Iraq.

Some within the Bush administration have described Jan. 27 as the time when President Bush will begin deciding whether to go to war, and there has been widespread speculation that a conflict could start in February.

The Washington Post on Thursday quoted Secretary of State Colin Powell, seen as the most dovish of Bush's top advisers, as saying that after Blix's formal report the president "will have to make some judgments as to what to do next. ...But it is not necessarily a D-Day for decision-making."

Some analysts say Blair has softened his Iraq rhetoric this week in hopes of bolstering support among a public worried about war and with legislators in his governing Labor Party who accuse him of being too subservient to Bush.

Bush appeared to gain some support from Canada Thursday.

Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum said his country would consider participating in a military campaign against Iraq without U.N. authorization. Previously, Canadian officials have said Canada only would take part in a U.N.-authorized military attack on Iraq.

"Many, many countries are in a position where they are offering contingency cooperation," McCallum told reporters in Washington after meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "Some may say, 'We're doing it only with a U.N. mandate.' We're saying we much prefer that, but we may do it otherwise."

Speaking to British ambassadors gathered in London on Monday, the prime minister praised the United States but said it must pay more heed to other nations' concerns about the Middle East, global warming and world poverty.

"The problem people have with the U.S....is not that, for example, they oppose them on weapons of mass destruction or international terrorism," he said. "People listen to the U.S. on these issues and may well agree with them. But they want the U.S. to listen back."

The address was as critical of America as Blair has ever been. It came as his government announced the activation of 1,500 military reservists and the dispatch of an amphibious task force for potential duty against Iraq.

Rosemary Hollis, head of the Middle East program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, said the contradictions between Blair's words and actions could be intentional.

"There have to be different messages for different audiences, and they have to be sent simultaneously," she said.

The buildup of forces was likely aimed at rattling Saddam, while the cool talk could be meant to reassure the British public and dissenters within the Labor Party, Hollis said.

Blair has paid a political price for his support for Bush's Iraq policy. Opinion polls show Britons are about equally divided for and against a possible war, and Blair is frequently caricatured as a "poodle" of the U.S. government.

But many believe he played an important role in persuading Bush to bring his complaints about Iraq to the United Nations rather than acting unilaterally.