Commons revolt over war aims

A Commons revolt over Britain's war aims escalated today as 42 Labour MPs urged the Government to scale back its demands.

The backbenchers want ministers to drop their insistence that Afghanistan's Taliban regime must hand over Osama bin Laden to the US.

Instead, the MPs want Bin Laden to be tried by an international court which would include Islamic judges.

The scale of the rebellion goes beyond any previous disagreement between ministers and backbenchers. Today's Commons motion is signed by one in eight Labour MPs not on the Government payroll.

Rebel MPs say the creation of an international court would signal to the Muslim world "that the pursuit of those responsible for these atrocities is an international endeavour on a judicial basis".

Meanwhile, Commons leader Robin Cook has said Bin Laden should surrender himself if he wants to avoid the risk of being killed in the course of fighting.

The dissident could avoid any danger of losing his own life in the on-going military action against Afghanistan by giving himself up so he could be brought to trial in a fair court, Mr Cook said.

The Commons Defence Committee today began a six-month investigation of Britain's revised defence needs after the 11 September attack, arriving in Oman just as Exercise Saif Sareea reaches its operational climax.

The exercise is Britain's biggest deployment since the Gulf War, with 22,000 troops in tanks, amphibious craft and aircraft crossing the Omani deserts and beaches.