Brit Official Quits Over War

A senior British Cabinet minister resigned Monday after disagreeing with the government's decision to back military action against Iraq.

Robin Cook, a former foreign secretary, resigned his post as the government's leader in the House of Commons after a private meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The two met before an emergency meeting of the full Cabinet that was called by Blair, according to the prime minister's office.

Blair faces a major revolt within his governing Labor Party over his decision to back President Bush in using force to disarm Saddam Hussein.

Earlier Monday, Britain and the United States abandoned their efforts to get U.N. approval for military action.

Many in the Labor Party oppose military action without explicit U.N. authorization, although the White House and Downing Street both contend that earlier resolutions on Iraq hold adequate grounds for using force.

Polls suggest only one fifth of Britons support war without U.N. backing.

Cook is expected to lead opposition in government during a debate in the next day or two over Blair's handling of the crisis. Although Blair faces considerable discontent among his lawmakers, he is expected to survive any vote. Support for going to war is strong in the opposition Conservatives and among many Labor members.

However, British media speculated that the tally against Blair could exceed the stunning 122 Labor votes against the war in a test vote last month. That earlier vote was the biggest revolt against a prime minister in modern British history.

Cook was foreign secretary in Blair's first government in 1997, but was replaced by Jack Straw in 2001.

International aid minister Clare Short, who has criticized Blair's policy as "reckless," also has threatened to leave the Cabinet.

On Sunday, Blair met with Mr. Bush and the leaders of Spain and Portugal on the mid-Atlantic Azores Islands. The leaders gave the United Nations a 24-hour deadline to endorse the use of force to compel Iraq's immediate disarmament.

But the United States, Britain and Spain withdrew their U.N. resolution on Iraq on Monday, ending efforts to get U.N. backing for military action.

Earlier Monday, a move to war was backed by the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, who said that the authority to use force against Iraq stemmed from the combined effect of three U.N. Security Council resolutions.

"All of these resolutions were adopted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter which allows the use of force for the express purpose of restoring international peace and security," said Goldsmith in legal advice published Monday.

In an analysis of the legality of war published Monday, Goldsmith said that U.N. resolution 1441, which gave Saddam a final opportunity to disarm or face "serious consequences" and was passed unanimously by the Security Council in November, is backed up by two earlier resolutions.

Britain advised all of its citizens except diplomatic staff to leave Kuwait as soon as possible on Monday. It said it feared Britons were at risk from chemical and biological attacks by Iraq or by terrorists.