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U.K. to woo Muslim opinion on Iraq

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON NOV. 27. The British Government has set out to woo Muslim opinion with a series of radio broadcasts intended to assure Muslims both at home and in the Arab world that its support for military action in Baghdad should not be construed as an "anti-Muslim'' stance.

Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, who is expected to record the broadcasts for Muslim radio stations, said there was also a move to address the people of Iraq directly through the BBC World Service and other international news channels.

The message Britain wanted to convey was that it had "no quarrel'' with the people of Iraq but with a regime that, he said, had made their lives a `misery'.

``Although Iraq has no free press, some Iraqis do have satellite dishes with access to international television and many listen to radio stations broadcast outside Iraq,'' he said.

The move came amid continuing hostility to the Blair Government's pro-U.S. Iraq policy as 32 of its own MPs defied a party whip in the Commons to vote for an Opposition motion strongly opposing a military attack on Baghdad without a fresh mandate from the U.N. Security Council.

This was the second time in recent weeks that Labour MPs openly rebelled against the Government on the issue, and the number of dissidents was much higher than expected despite Mr. Straw's assurance that an Iraqi breach of the existing U.N. resolution would not automatically trigger an attack.

They saw a `fudge' in the Government's position that while Britain would seek a fresh U.N. resolution, recommending use of force against Iraq, it reserved the right to override it if such a resolution was vetoed by other Security Council members.

In other words, Britain would go ahead and support any U.S.-led attack even if others did not agree.

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