Iraq and al-Qaida are part of the same picture, Straw tells envoys

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, will today soften up British public opinion for war in the Gulf by making a direct link for the first time between Iraq and terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.

His assertion comes at the start of a week that will see preparations for war intensify. The defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, is to end months of speculation by informing the Commons this week of the mobilisation of British forces.

In a speech to British ambassadors in London this morning, Mr Straw will claim that terrorist groups such as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and rogue states such as Iraq are "part of the same picture".

Despite determined efforts by the US administration since September 11, the CIA and other intelligence services have failed to find any connection between al-Qaida or any other terrorist group and the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. But Mr Straw, coming at the issue from a different direction, will say that terrorist groups could in future secure biological, chemical or nuclear weapons from rogue states.

"The most likely sources of technology and know-how for such terrorist organisations are rogue regimes which continue to flout their obligations under international law not to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons," Mr Straw will tell the ambassadors.

"This is why terrorism and rogue regimes are part of the same picture. Our immediate aim must be to disrupt and eliminate terrorist groups which might attempt to acquire WMD [weapons of mass destruction]. But we will also have to deter and remove the threat posed by hostile or unstable states which possess or are pursuing WMD."

Iraq claims it no longer has weapons of mass destruction and UN inspectors have failed to find any since returning to the country late last year.

Mr Straw will say that Iraq is a litmus test of the world's determination to hold states to their non-proliferation commitments. "Iraqi disarmament - whether it is achieved by peaceful means or by force - is essential both for the world's capacity to deal with the threat presented by WMD and for the authority of the UN."

Later in the week, Mr Hoon is to make a statement to the Commons, which returns tomorrow, announcing that up to 7,000 reservists, including medics to fill the huge gaps in the armed forces medical services, are to be mobilised, along with thousands of full-time service personnel.

A royal fleet auxiliary vessel, the Argus, which has been fitted out as a hospital ship, is due today to start an exercise involving naval reservists from the national health service.

The government is expected to confirm that a maritime taskforce, led by the aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, and accompanied by six other ships and a cruise missile submarine, will soon make for the Gulf, to be joined by HMS Ocean, a large helicopter carrier which has just been refitted. HMS Ocean will have more than 700 royal marine commandos on board.

The force will be ready to fight within six to eight weeks, though servicemen have been warned they could be in the Gulf for nine months or more.

The head of one of Britain's biggest unions said the deployment signified a "massive change" in the Iraq crisis. John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, told BBC's Breakfast with Frost: "Throwing this lighted flare into the middle of the tinder box of the Middle East is desperately worrying."

The Nobel peace prizewinner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, criticised Mr Blair for his "mind-boggling" support of the US. "Many, many of us are deeply saddened to see the United States aided and abetted extraordinarily by Britain," he said.