A Notts MP is set to stand the war debate on its
head... by going to the United States to look for weapons of mass
destruction.
Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson will fly to Canada on Friday, February
21, at the invitation of the peace movement.
He will join a 12-strong group of MPs, unionists and academics who plan to
search for nuclear, chemical and biological weapons at US military sites.
The mock 'inspection' is part of an anti-war campaign - dubbed Rooting Out
Evil - organised by the Centre for Social Justice in Ontario.
Campaigners will write to US Secretary of State for Defence Donald
Rumsfeld in the next few days to ask for unfettered access to military
sites near Washington DC.
Mr Simpson, chairman of the pressure group Labour Against War, said the
'inspection' was not a stunt but an attempt to put the debate about
weapons of mass destruction into some sort of perspective.
"Of course we have to take the issue of weapons of mass destruction
seriously," he said.
"But you can't have one rule for the minnows and another for the big
fish. We will be going to US military bases and attempting to do exactly
what the inspectors are doing in Iraq.
"Some people will think this is a stunt, but I'm sure that they will
get the underlying message.
"The trip will be covered coast to coast by the media in the United
States. It will allow us to open a dialogue on the security in the world,
not just the bombing of Iraq."
Mr Simpson is the only MP invited to join the party.
"They are highly unlikely to even let us get through the gates,"
he said.
"But the message is clear - globally, people are starting to say that
the US plays by its own set of rules and makes them up for other
countries."
Mr Simpson, whose trip is being paid for by campaigners, said the most
recent reports of chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed El
Baradei, head of the UN nuclear agency, had given heart to the peace
movement.
"Neither Tony Blair nor George Bush have made the case for war,"
he said.
"In fact, there is compelling evidence for finding a peaceful
solution. The inspectors are saying give us time, not troops. What we need
is more inspections, not more invasions."
Mr Simpson, nominated as Backbencher of the Year for his anti-war stance,
believes public opinion has turned decisively against war.
"Two weeks ago I thought war was inevitable. Now I believe the peace
movement is unstoppable. I've never seen anything which has had the impact
that the peace movement is having."
Mr Simpson's group will fly to Washington from Ottawa on February 22.
