The reality is that Britain is being asked to embark on a war without agreement in any of the international bodies of which we are a leading partner - not NATO, not the European Union and, now, not the Security Council.



...neither the international community nor the British public is persuaded that there is an urgent and compelling reason for this military action in Iraq.



....US warning of a bombing campaign that will "shock and awe" makes it likely that casualties will be numbered at least in the thousands.



Ironically, it is only because Iraq's military forces are so weak that we can even contemplate its invasion. Some advocates of conflict claim that Saddam's forces are so weak, so demoralised and so badly equipped that the war will be over in a few days.



We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a threat. Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction



Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create?



Yet it is more than 30 years since resolution 242 called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories.



We do not express the same impatience with the persistent refusal of Israel to comply.



I intend to join those tomorrow night who will vote against military action now. It is for that reason, and for that reason alone, and with a heavy heart, that I resign from the government.



Excerpts from Robin Cook's Resignation Speech.