France and Germany unite against war

By Andrew Hammond

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - European heavyweights France and Germany have joined forces to try to prevent a U.S.-led war on Iraq and NATO has put off a decision on whether to support military action.

Amid the diplomatic manoeuvring on Wednesday, a Moscow news agency quoted a Russian military source as saying Washington and its allies had already decided to launch a month-long military strike from mid-February over Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.

There was no immediate U.S. comment on the report and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said he knew nothing of any such U.S. plan.

But it underlined that Europe could find itself sidelined in the crisis over alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. President George W. Bush is massing more than 150,000 troops in the oil-rich Gulf and has already made clear he is ready to use them, with or without a new mandate from the Security Council, if he considers Iraq has not disarmed.

Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said on Wednesday Iraq had still not divulged enough data on its weapons programmes and had blocked private interviews with scientists so far.

But Blix, who returned to U.N. headquarters after a visit to Baghdad, said Iraq had generally opened up to inspectors, who had not found “any hidden large quantities of anything”.

Iraq said its anti-aircraft gunners had shot down an unmanned U.S. Predator on Wednesday, but the U.S. military, which admitted losing a drone in December, denied the report.

Bush says he has seen no proof of total disarmament but is hoping U.N. weapons inspectors will back his view when they report back to the Security Council on Monday and insists the decision on whether to launch a strike has not yet been taken.

My heart weeps at the drums of war.

Peace and Blessed be.