War 'more justified' now insists Straw

No WMDs have been found in Iraq

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says it is "disappointing" no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, but insisted the war was justified.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today he believed the world was a safer place as a result of the removal of a "terrible tyrant".

He highlighted progress on WMD in talks with Libya, Iran and North Korea.

"The decision we made to take military action was justified then in terms of enforcing international law and is still more justified now," he said.

Mr Straw's comments came as the issue of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction continues to dominate the UK political scene.

Hutton report

At the weekend David Kay resigned as head of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), saying he did not believe large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction existed.

His replacement, Charles Duelfer, a former United Nations inspector, has previously expressed doubts about their existence.

On Wednesday Lord Hutton is due to publish his report into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly - a report which is expected to deal with the question of the use of intelligence in the run-up to war with Iraq.

If you looked at what would have happened had we not intervened at the time we did, and if you think about the nature of world security today, I think the Prime Minister's comment... was entirely justified Jack Straw Foreign Secretary

Mr Straw said: "I accept from a personal point of view that it is certainly disappointing that the inspectors, including those of the ISG, have not so far produced further evidence."

But, he said: "If you look in Iraq what you see there is a country that has really been liberated from a terrible tyranny.

"We were never saying that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United Kingdom," he told the programme.

"The serious and current threat (was) to the world and that was absolutely true and I remain convinced it was.

"Our judgment was, and my judgment remains, that Saddam Hussein did indeed pose a threat to Britain's security, as to the European Union's and the rest of the world.

"And if we look at what has happened in the last year I will repeat the point that we have removed a terrible tyrant."

Colin Powell

He added: "Since the fall of Saddam Hussein you have Libya, which has made a very full declaration about its concealed nuclear weapons programme. You have Iran doing more or less the same.

"You have a process of negotiation with North Korea. If you then looked at what would have happened had we not intervened at the time we did, and if you think about the nature of world security today, I think the prime minister's comment on 20 March last year was entirely justified."

Sooner or later we may well have to say 'yep, the intelligence was faulty' Lewis Moonie MPs consider Blair's tough week

Tony Blair was quoted in a newspaper interview at the weekend saying he "has absolutely no doubt" the intelligence about weapons of mass destruction he received in the run-up to the Iraq war was genuine.

He told The Observer, Mr Blair said he still intended to be prime minister next Friday and his job was always "at risk".

And at the weekend US Secretary of State Colin Powell conceded Iraq may not have possessed any WMD stocks before the war last year.

Paper trail

Meanwhile Lewis Moonie, a junior defence minister during the Iraq War who lost his post in June, said it was "increasingly looking likely" the pre-war intelligence was deficient.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said Mr Blair's judgement on WMD was in question.

Conservative leader Michael Howard has written to Lord Hutton to ask for a list of unpublished submissions to his inquiry ahead of Wednesday's report.

The government, BBC, Andrew Gilligan and the Kelly family all made written submissions after the hearings ended.

Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide after being named as the suspected source for a BBC story on claims Downing Street "sexed up" the government's Iraq weapons dossier.