IRAQ

Where were you on 9/11 2001? I was in Canberra, Australia at a conference of Commonwealth Parliamentarians.

This year I was in London, in a Parliament silent and empty of all but a handful of MPs, when it should have been echoing with the concerns of our nation. I had woken very early in our flat across the river. The capital was so still I could hear the reassuring chimes of Big Ben. Five o'clock and all's well.

At noon I led a delegation from Dean Hill Munitions Depot to Number 10, to present a petition against closure of this facility whose loyal staff were told in August they were expendable and in September they should make 500 smart bombs battle-ready.

It is easy but wrong to assume Saddam and the war against terrorism are one and the same. Bin Laden and his like are extremists who have hijacked religious fundamentalism and created a totem for the discontented of the Islamic world. Saddam is a secular dictator determined to dominate the complex politics of the Middle East.

Why has the Arab and Islamic world been united in their opposition to military action against Saddam's outlaw regime? Partly out of fear - win or lose, anyone who thwarts Saddam is in trouble. Partly out of recognition that that he and Al Quaeda provide a focus for millions of disaffected people who either have nothing to lose in their miserable lives of poverty and hopelessness - or who resent our affluence and the domination of the world by the nations of the West. This group includes a very large number of people living in the UK. So this is nothing like the Gulf War and we should realize that.

I have no doubt that Saddam's regime possesses and will use (as they already have on their own people) chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction and terror. I have no doubt he is close to possession of nuclear weapons which he will use not just to deter aggression but to blackmail other nations.

Every effort must be made to work with the United Nations. (This crisis is a test of their authority, too.) If not, it will be in the interests of Britain, of the USA and the peace of the world to stop Saddam. This not just about oil. It is said Israel has told the US that if they won't sort out Saddam, Israel will. Maybe, for this is about regional power politics as well as about international disruption and revenge. Saddam makes common cause with terrorists. Look how easy it was for a handful of scheming zealots to change the world a year ago. Now, it is a question of when, not if, they try to strike in Britain.

So our cause is just, war would be a last resort, but we would win. The evil and damage which war necessarily entails would be proportionate to the evil and damage prevented. This would be a just war in terms of the Western Christian ethical tradition. So I listen with respect to Christian leaders, nationally and locally, whose job it is to promote peace. They are right to do so - for as Archbishop Rowan Williams has reminded us, the greater the risks and the more devastating the impact of conflict on military and civilians alike, the more cautious we should be. Such caution is a strength of Western civilization. It underlines the weakness of terrorists and tyrants alike, who have always exploited our preference for peace and love and our reluctance to do battle.

Very rarely have western nations fought religious wars. But it was Christian church leaders who demanded the Crusades - which still motivate millions against the Christian West. So, as our priests denounce the prospect of war, I remind them that they do not have responsibility for the security and prosperity of our people .How long do we watch, how long do we wait? A judgment has to be made.

I trust the Prime Minister in this matter. I agree with him that, knowing what we know about Saddam, I wouldn't want it on my conscience that we just let him carry on unhindered. Nor would the poor people of Iraq see life improve if Saddam's evil regime of torture and fear were left alone. This is not about the theology of Islam. Nor are we dealing with a normal, rational, benign leader. Those in Salisbury who believe we should turn the other cheek have not met, as I have, Islamic politicians from Africa and Muslims from Bosnia who would open their eyes to the weakness of the West. Weakness is one luxury we cannot afford.

I hope we will not be told the full details of our Government's secret intelligence on Iraq. It is absurd of opposition (or any other) politicians to withhold trust from the Queen's Ministers on those grounds. But of course the Government must tell our people enough to earn their trust.

Looking beyond this crisis, I am convinced (as I have been for a decade) that the rich and powerful nations of the world must do far, far more to assist (and sometimes persuade) the poor nations to reduce poverty and invest in health, food and education. We must harness science and technology in their interests as well as our own. Poverty breeds fear and instability. That suits Saddam fine, even in his own country, where he deliberately starves the children of food and medicine. Physical and intellectual prosperity is the enemy of dictatorship. I know which side I'm on.

While the ethical and political arguments run their course, I give my support and thanks to the thousands of people in our community who are more personally involved. Between them, the Army, the workforces at the two Porton Down establishments, Boscombe Down, the Nuclear Biological and Chemical Centre at Winterbourne Gunner, HQ Land at Wilton and Defence Munitions at Dean Hill as well as many private contractors, are at the sharp end of the argument, doing what they do best, on behalf of all of us. We are grateful to them and their families.

ROBERT KEY MP