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Concern mounts

in Britain over

hidden Iraqi war

LONDON: Intense military activity over Iraq in the past month has increased concern among British members of parliament that the government's campaign against Saddam Hussein is gaining pace, the Independent on Sunday reported.

Labour MPs are concerned over the so-called "hidden war," which is costing British taxpayers 4.5 million pounds (7.2 million euros/dollars) a month, is escalating, it said.

The military campaign, by Britain and the United States, has been going on since the end of Operation Desert Fox in December 1998.

In December, a higher than average 200 sorties were flown by Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots, the weekly said.

In the past year, RAF pilots patrolling the "northern no-fly zone" have been threatened by the Iraqis 570 times and have dropped 134 bombs in response to hostile fire, it said.

A group of Labour MPs are increasingly concerned that the action is costly and unnecessary and having an adverse effect on the Iraqi people, the weekly said.

They are demanding that the international community rethink its policy in the Gulf.

The newspaper quoted Labour's Alan Simpson as saying Britons were not being told about the situation in Iraq. "No-one knows, no-one cares and we are spending a colossal amount of money peppering Iraq on a daily basis," he said.ÑAFP