Castle Point MP Bob Spink has returned from a secret trip to Iraq with a strong message for Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The MP is due to meet with Mr Blair tomorrow to show him a video message from Iraqi-Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirwan Barzani.
Mr Barzani, whose party serves 25 per cent of the Iraqi people, is begging Mr Blair to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Mr Spink, who kept his trip top secret, said: "The main aim of the visit was to pick up and bring back messages from the Iraqi-Kurdish.
"They organised the visit to put across their concerns about the impending war. The Iraqis all wanted Saddam's regime to fall, Christians, Kurds, everyone."
Mr Spink had to make a covert and often dangerous journey into the Middle Eastern country. He said: "We were in Iraq illegally as we wouldn't have been able to get a visa. The journey took 27 hours, crossing the River Tigres and passing through North Iraqi mountain ranges with over three metres of snow and blizzards at 9,000 feet altitude.
"Near the Turkish border, landmines were negotiated though these had been well marked with skulls and crossbones."
Danger was never far away as Mr Spink found out during an assassination attempt. Turkoman Front terrorists were arrested and prevented from setting a bomb off at a press conference he was speaking at.
Published Tuesday, February 25, 2003
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