The European Union was seeking common ground on handling the Iraq crisis at emergency talks, with Britain saying Baghdad must be told it faces a "credible threat of force".
The EU leaders' debate on whether -- and when -- to give up on diplomacy in the bid to rid Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction follows a massive display of opposition to a US-led war by millions of people across the world at the weekend.
Most EU leaders were expected to support giving the inspectors more time and resources to do their job, and consider war only as a last resort.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said ahead of the talks in Brussels: "Everybody agrees that war may be necessary at a given moment, but we're not at this point in time. ... This is a moment in which we have to work together to avoid a conflict that can be avoided."
But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "Time is running out for Iraq. ... Active diplomacy has to be backed by a credible threat of force, and, if necessary and appropriate, that force has to be used."
EU leaders have warned that a failure to reach a common position at the emergency evening summit would plunge the bloc into a deep crisis and undermine its goal of forging a common foreign policy and winning more global influence. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
