The
US will try to get UN backing for its war on Saddam,
but military intervention will start within weeks, with or without the UN. According
to King Abdullah of Jordan, it requires a "miracle" to avert war now.
An
extra 37,000 US troops are moving towards
the Middle East, along with 35,000 British troops, making Britain's
contribution to this war larger than that of 1991.
A
Middle East summit is seen as an
attempt by governments to calm internal unrest when a war starts by giving
the impression they are doing as much as possible to avert war. If it
was a genuine effort to prevent war, it certainly failed.