MORE than a thousand students packed into the University of York's Central Hall to hear veteran anti-war politician Tony Benn make the case for peace in the Middle East.

A huge queue of students snaked through the university's campus hoping to see the ex-MP, who recently visited Baghdad to interview Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The meeting was organised by York Students Against the War, who have arranged a full week of anti-war events, due to start on Monday.

Mr Benn denied he was acting as a propaganda tool for Saddam by meeting and interviewing him.

He said: "If Jeremy Paxman had gone to see him it would have been the best television punch-up, but at the end no-one would have known what had been said.

"I asked him five questions and learned a lot by going. He is a brutal dictator but we are going to kill Iraqis."

Mr Benn said he did not believe President Saddam's claim he had no weapons of mass destruction.

But he said he did believe Saddam's claim he was not linked to terror group al-Qaida.

"His (Saddam's) Ba'ath Party is passionately opposed to Muslim fundamentalism," Mr Benn claimed.

He said any attack on Iraq would be motivated by oil, and would be "an attack on the Iraqi people."

People killed or injured in the war would be war crimes victims, he said, while members of an attacking force would be the perpetrators of those war crimes.

Mr Benn agreed Saddam Hussein was a "brutal dictator," but pointed out he used to be an ally of the West, while claiming America had bombed 19 different countries since 1945.

Mr Benn finished by urging everyone at the meeting to attend the national anti-war demonstration, in London, on February 15.

Third-year history student Nick Barry, 21, said: "There is a strong anti-war feeling here, this big turn out is good to see."

And 19-year-old first year film studies student Kate Taylor said: "I'm sure Tony Benn has encouraged people to come, but I think there would have been a good turn-out anyway. We don't want this war."

Meanwhile, more military personnel from North Yorkshire are being deployed to the Gulf as part of the build-up for a possible war with Iraq.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced yesterday that an additional 6,000 Royal Air Force personnel and about 100 aircraft, including Tornado F3 fighters from RAF Leeming, in North Yorkshire, were being sent to bolster the 25 aircraft and 1,000 personnel that have already been deployed to the Middle East.

RAF Leeming is home to two F3 squadrons, XI (F) Squadron and 25 Squadron, each of which has 12 aircraft. The Tornado is the RAF's primary air defence fighter, which is armed with the new Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM), which gives aircrew an unrivalled aerial combat capability.

There were emotional scenes as 600 men of the Queen's Dragoon Guards, based at Cambrai Barracks, Catterick Garrision, said fond farewells to their families before heading out to the Gulf.

The regiment's main role is to carry out reconnaissance in its fast, light Scimitar armoured vehicles. These are equipped with Global Positioning System kit, which pinpoints their position by satellite, and thermal-imaging equipment, which cuts through night and the smoke of battle.

A part-time paratrooper from North Yorkshire is also part of the latest deployment.

Lance Corporal Wayne Trott, from Knaresborough, is among 40 Territorial Army paratroopers from the 4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (4 Para), based at Pudsey, Leeds, being mobilised to the Gulf. The 27-year-old works for Knaresborough firm DG Robinson Electrical. His unit is being sent to support 16 Air Assault Brigade.

Updated: 12:02 Friday, February 07, 2003