Iraq's dossier 'lies', say US and Britain

Britain and America took another step towards war with Iraq yesterday when Jack Straw said Saddam Hussein's claims he had destroyed his weapons of mass destruction were an "obvious falsehood".

The Foreign Secretary pointed to "obvious omissions" in the 12,000-word Iraqi dossier as the Government piled pressure on Iraq and the UN Security Council a day before Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, was to offer the council his preliminary verdict on President Saddam's declaration.

Mr Straw said: "It is clear, even on a preliminary assessment, it is not the full and complete declaration requested." Tony Blair said he was sceptical about the dossier.

In a hardline statement similar to Mr Straw's,Ari Fleischer, George Bush's spokesman, said the President was concerned about "omissions" and "problems" in Iraq's account.

Some senior Ministry of Defence figures believe military action could start by the end of next month. Britain confirmed it was chartering ships to carry heavy armour to the Gulf. Further warships could follow a naval task group to the region in the new year.

But the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, Britain's most senior military commander, saidlast night that the armed forces were feeling "frustration"over the lack of a clear plan.

The Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, indicated to BBC2's Newsnight program-me that gaps in the declaration were unlikely, by themselves, to trigger military action. "It is ... also deliberate obstruction by Iraq of the inspectors and of the process set out in the resolution," he said.

A senior official from Iraq's ruling Baath party, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Iraqis could cope with the current tensions because they have been "living in a state of war for the past 20 years".