Global Policy Forum

Nato has a "moral obligation" to support the US if it goes to war against Iraq, Nato secretary general George Robertson said today. Church leaders meanwhile used their Christmas messages to appeal for peace. Lord Robertson said it would be impossible for the US to go to war without the support of its allies, although no decision had been made on what role the 19 Nato nations would play in any military action.

"What the Americans have done in Nato is to suggest a number of options where Nato could help in a military action and countries have been invited to consider that, but no decisions have yet been taken on it," he said.

Lord Robertson defended the US president, George Bush, who he said was committed to acting through the United Nations to disarm the regime of the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. "Up to now the United States has kept very rigidly to the United Nations route. They still do, the inspectors are still there," he told BBC radio.

Last month the UN security council approved resolution 1441, which calls on Iraq to rid itself of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes and threatens the country with unspecified "serious consequences" if it fails to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors. "The decision [on military action] won't be taken by America, the decision will be taken by Saddam Hussein," Lord Robertson said. He added that Nato "is very, very supportive of the United Nations process and if that breaks down then clearly there is a moral obligation by Nato to give whatever support is required."

His comments came as Christian religious leaders around the world used their Christmas addresses to call for peace. Pope John Paul II, in his annual Christmas message, said the world should avoid war and not "yield to mistrust, suspicion and discouragement". The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, used a Christmas broadcast to warn of the unintended suffering caused by politicians. Referring to the biblical story of the birth of Christ, the archbishop compared political strategists to the three wise men who informed King Herod of the birth of Jesus. "Telling Herod about the Christ child, they provoked the massacre of the children of Bethlehem," he said in the message, broadcast today on the BBC. "The strategists who know the possible ramifications of politics miss the huge and obvious things and wreak yet more havoc and suffering. Here we all are, tangled in the same net ... stepping deeper and deeper into tragedy."

Yesterday the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales also urged world leaders to work toward a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis. "We must never give up and assume that war is inevitable," Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, told worshippers in Westminster cathedral. "Let us pray today, therefore, that each one of us, particularly those involved in international diplomacy and politics, will maintain our permanent commitment to building and maintaining peace in our world."

The Iraqi government, meanwhile, said today it had increased food rations to allow citizens to stockpile for a possible war. The Iraqi trade minister, Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, told the Reuters news agency that supplies distributed so far should ensure everyone had a three-month supply of food. He added that the quantity would be increased in the coming months.

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