WAR clouds gather. American general and former NATO chief Wesley Clark makes clear US policy makers have no doubt Britain will join America in any attack on Iraq, although he is personally opposed to such a move.

Saddam Hussein is a murderous tyrant whose acts of aggression must be challenged.

I strongly supported the Gulf War to expel his forces from Kuwait.

But Iraq currently presents no threat to Britain, the USA, or its Middle East neighbours, most of which are strongly opposed to a war.

There is no proven link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.

By contrast there is a real fear a US attack on Iraq will destabilise governments throughout the Middle East, and may lead to civil war in Iraq itself.

The world is full of murderous tyrants, and I would like to see our government doing more to challenge them everywhere.

But their existence does not give Britain and the USA the right to attack a sovereign state without a specific UN mandate to do so, without demonstrating just cause, and without exhausting opportunities for settlement of a dispute by diplomatic means.

Chris Davies

Lib Dem MEP for the North West