TEHRAN - A British Foreign Office official recently accused Iraq of supporting terrorism and said that Iraq supports the MKO (Mujahedin Khalq Organization) also known as the Munafeqin (hypocrites).

He also mentioned Iraq's attack against Iran in 1980 and its use of chemical weapons in Halabja.

But it is common knowledge that Western countries, including Britain, supported Iraq during the imposed war.

In addition to this, Britain has always provided facilities for the MKO and allowed them to freely conduct economic and political activities.

Why are the British bringing up these points after such a long period of silence? The TEHRAN TIMES interviewed a number of experts in order to learn their opinions on this matter.

Hamid Reza Taraqi, a member of the Central Council of the Islamic Coalition Association, has said that there is no doubt that Britain has adopted this policy in order to prepare the ground for the U.S. attack on Iraq.

The former Majlis deputy added that Britain is condemning Iraq for its use of chemical weapons against Iran and supporting terrorism, ignoring the fact that Britain was one of Iraq's main supporters during the imposed war and that Iraq was actually doing the bidding of the U.S. and Britain.

Taraqi stressed that Britain has also supported the MKO.

He added that it is obvious that Britain is trying to prepare world public opinion for an attack on Iraq.

Taraqi pointed out that the British position is somehow related to the issue of Palestine and that they intend to prevent the Islamic world from uniting in support of the Palestinians.

International affairs expert Feizullah Arab Sorkhi said that the position adopted by the British government is actually an opportunistic attempt to divide Islamic countries with respect to Palestine.

He pointed out that the information they presented is common knowledge and that the British think that Iran will be pleased and also oppose Iraq, causing Islamic countries to become divided.

Arab Sorkhi, pointed to the fact that Britain is trying to divide Islamic countries, especially with respect to their support of the Palestinians, adding that everybody knows that the U.S. and British governments are strong supporters of Israel and its brutal operations against the Palestinians.

He said that Britain has realized that Iraq is facing a difficult situation and has stopped exporting oil. Hence they are taking advantage of the current circumstances in order to create divisions among Islamic countries in order to prevent them from uniting against Israel.