London, May 30: In the wake of US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld`s statement that Iraq may have destroyed weapons of mass destruction before war, some British parliamentarians have accused PM Tony Blair of "misleading" the Parliament and people by overstating threat posed by Iraq. Directing their ire against Blair, Robin Cook, who resigned as leader of the Commons in protest against the war, and some of the MPs said the admission undermined the legal and political justification for war. Blair who flew into Kuwait before a visit to Iraq, however, insisted yesterday he had "absolutely no doubt at all about the existence of weapons of mass destruction".
Cook said the Prime Minister`s claims that Saddam could deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes were false. "Rumsfeld`s statement blows an enormous gaping hole in the case for war made on both sides of the Atlantic," he said and called for MPs to hold an investigation. Meanwhile, Labour rebels threatened to report Blair to the Speaker of the Commons for of misleading Parliament - and force him to answer emergency questions in the house.

Tony Benn, former Labour minister told LBC Radio "I believe the Prime Minister lied to us and lied to us and lied to us. The whole war was built upon falsehood and I think the long-term damage will be to democracy in Britain."

Peter Kilfoyle, and anti-war rebel and former labour defence minister, whose motion calling on Blair to publish the evidence backing up his claims about Saddam`s arsenal has been signed by 72 MPs, warned: "This will not go away. The government ought to publish whatever evidence they have for the claims they made."

Bureau Report