War in Iraq begins – Europe in crisis
Europe - more divided than ever over war against Iraq.
The war in Iraq began in the early hours of Thursday morning. Following an address by American President George W. Bush around two hours after the expiry of his 48 hour deadline for Saddam Hussein to step down, aerial attacks started in earnest against Iraq.
"Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. And I assure you, this will not be a campaign of half measures and we will accept no outcome but victory," said the American president.
Meanwhile governments all over Europe are holding a series of crisis meetings. The Italian government called a crisis meeting for early this morning, while Spanish premier José María Aznar held telephone calls with the American president and the UK premier Tony Blair after the military attack began, reports Le Figaro.
Mr Aznar is expected to speak later this morning after holding crisis talks with King Juan Carlos and head of the socialist opposition José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
German chancellor Gerhard Schröder arrived in his office minutes after the Anglo-American attack started against Baghdad. He spoke to French president Jacques Chirac and Russian leader Vladimir Putin - the three were united against the war - and he is expected to give a televised speech later.
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt deplored the start of war and denounced the flouting of international law, the French news agency AFP reported.
Tony Blair will convene a war cabinet with his closest ministers this morning, reports the BBC.
The UN has been left in tatters because of the diplomatic fights about whether to push for a second UN resolution. Its Secretary General Kofi Annan said his thoughts were with the ordinary people of Iraq as they faced the "disaster of war."
He warned the US and UK that "under international law, the responsibility for protecting civilians in conflict falls on the belligerents."
All EU leaders, despite the huge tension caused by the start of the war and the harsh words flung back and forth in the run up to it - particularly between the UK and France - are for the moment still intending to meet this evening in Brussels for the European Spring Council.
See press Articles La Libre Belgique Die Welt Izvestia BBC Sueddeutsche Zeitung CNN Gazeta Wyborcza Le Figaro
Written by Honor Mahony Edited by Sharon Spiteri