US and UK unions pen anti-war letter

The leaders of Britain and America's trade union movements today wrote to Tony Blair and George Bush urging them not to rush down the path to war with Iraq.

"The goal of our policy now should be to take every possible step to achieve the legitimate ends of disarming Iraq without recourse to war," argued the general secretary of the TUC, John Monks, and his American counterpart, John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO in the unions' first ever joint statement.

"We do not believe that this path has come to an end," they conclude. "[We] urge you to continue to pressure all concerned to find a resolution to this situation that preserves peace and security for our countries and across the world".

Their letter comes ahead of today's meeting at Camp David between the US president and the prime minister. It is understood that Mr Bush will try to persuade Mr Blair, perhaps his closest ally, to join him in setting a deadline for Iraq to disarm or face an attack.

The two union leaders share Britain and America's concern that Iraq fulfils its "responsibility to the world community to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction". But they favour weapon inspectors being given "adequate time" to "resolve this issue".

Mr Monks and Mr Sweeney also warn that war may increase the threat the west faces from its "gravest foe", terrorism.

"Those who seek to destroy our way of life will use an attack on Iraq, especially if taken without broad international support, to rally opinion against us and win new recruits to their terror," they predict.

"On behalf of our two labour movements, and on behalf of working people in both our countries," Mr Monks and Mr Sweeney urge Britain and America's leaders "to continue to lead the global fight against totalitarianism and terror through the United Nations, to ensure that this fight is carried out by the broadest possible coalition, with the strongest international coalition".

It is doubtful how influential Mr Monks and Mr Sweeney's letter will be. Mr Bush, as a Republican, is not known to pay much heed to America's labour movement. And Mr Blair has not appeared to let opposition within parliament, his party and the country dent his determination to face down Saddam Hussein.

The letter was Mr Sweeney's idea. Mr Monks' support was based on a similarly-worded motion passed at the TUC's last conference in September.

Labour MPs also warned today that war in Iraq would increase the likelihood of a terrorist attack in Britain.

"The only likely use of such weapons would be if Saddam Hussein is facing defeat in war when he may, in a final act of desperation, use them against British soldiers," MPs Alice Mahon and Paul Flynn said in a Commons motion.

The most effective way to defeat terrorism was to "win over the hearts and minds of terrorist supporters", they argued.