Straw attacks Franco-German proposals

BRITISH Foreign Secretary Jack Straw last night launched a withering attack on France and Germany’s call for more weapons inspectors in Iraq, describing it as a “recipe for procrastination and delay”.

As the bitter dispute within the Nato alliance over the Iraqi crisis continued to deepen, he said the reported Franco-German plan which also includes the deployment of UN troops was "simply not feasible".

He warned that the block by France, Germany and Belgium on the dispatch of Nato missile batteries to defend Turkey in the event of war risked "eroding" and "undermining" the Western alliance.