As British troops prepare to enter Iraq, Charles Kennedy has repeated his call for weapons inspectors to be given more time.

The Liberal Democrat leader told the Commons that war was "simply going to breed further generations of suicide bombers".

He welcomed Robin Cook into the anti-war camp - describing the former Commons leader as "a very powerful additional advocate" of the case against conflict.

Amid angry scenes, Kennedy rejected accusations of hypocrisy for opposing war while supporting British troops.

He said there was "no contradiction" between giving voice to legitimate anxiety and at the same time giving "full moral support to our forces".

Kennedy came under fire from Tories for stating that he would not lead his party to support the substantive government motion even if the anti-war amendment was defeated.

He insisted that resolution 1441 had superseded previous resolutions and made a second resolution necessary.

"When it comes to consistency can we just remind ourselves where the Conservative Party is concerned with the issue of weapons of mass destruction," he countered.

"After Saddam used them in 1988 they continued to sell arms to Iraq, they provided him with anthrax and other chemical weapons and they approved the construction of dual use factories in Iraq," he said.

He praised the government for persuading Washington to go down the United Nations route and for "emphasising to the Americans and to others the primary need to re-establish a meaningful Middle East peace process".

"Everything that I have been party to and privy to over the past six months certainly persuades me that that is the case," he said

But he added that "what makes this week so sadly ironic is that at this very moment at which the Bush administration at last embrace the degree of fresh urgency over the Middle East peace process was the very moment at which it chose to abandon the United Nations route."

"The impact of war in these circumstances is bound to weaken the international coalition against terror," Kennedy added.

"Before launching an almighty assault upon Iraq, are we not better to pursue the cause of disarmament on the ground in the presence of weapons inspectors?" he asked.

"No matter how sophisticated modern technology, is it not more precise to have weapons dismantled in the presence of inspectors rather than so-called 'precision bombing' trying to take them out?"

He added that there was "huge public anxiety in our country".

"As much as they [the British public] detest Saddam's brutality they are not persuaded that the case has been made adequately at this point for war, they are worried about this new doctrine of regime change, they are wary of the motives of the Bush administration and they do not like to see Britain separated from its natural international allies," he said.

Kennedy was joined by a series of Labour MPs who spoke out against war.

Former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle told the Commons that war would be "illegal, immoral and illogical".

Kilfoyle said that he agreed with the prime minister that this was a "once in a generation issue".

It would "set the tone for a very long time indeed", he added.

The Liverpool Walton MP took issue with the prime minister's statement on a number of points.

"The prime minister is a man of conviction", he said. "But so are other members of this House."

Blair had made much of a parallel with Hitler in the 1930s, he argued. "But in 1938 I don't recall inspectors disarming Germany."

Kilfoyle suggested that any war would hide "the manifest failure to deal with the underlying causes of terrorism" in the Middle East and the Islamic world.

"I don't believe there are links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda," he said.

The issues were delicate, ambiguous and "open to interpretation and value judgements" Kilfoyle said.

"My own interpretation is that this action would be illegal, immoral and illogical," he warned MPs.

"I accept the view of [UN secretary general] Kofi Annan that what was needed was a second resolution."

Iraq would be "decimated", the veteran Labour MP warned, and Britain would be attacking "the wrong enemy, at the wrong time in the wrong way".

For such a course of action the UK would "reap a whirlwind which will affect us for generations to come".

William Hague turned his fire on Kennedy in a sparkling Commons performance, offering his support to Tony Blair.

The former Conservative leader admonished Kennedy for refusing to respond to Tory taunts.

"If the Iraqi army collapses under fire as quickly, this will be a very short war," he said.

"A powerful moral case against war can be made but this was not it."

Hague also made time to ridicule international development secretary Clare Short for her u-turn on staying in the government.

"I've never seen a more spectacular failure to resign," he said.

"The prime minister has taken his revenge by persuading her to stay in the Cabinet."

He agreed with Kilfoyle that "analogies with the 1930s can be taken too far".

"But there is a similarity with appeasement. [in that] terrorists who are going to attack will always do so," he argued

"Although there powerful arguments against war there are also powerful arguments for it."

He added that there are legal arguments on both side but "we should take action in the national interest".

He concluded with a passionate defence of America's role in the world.

"Those who would not venture out when there is a criminal coming down the street should not complain when somebody else decides to act as a policeman," he said.

"America takes on that role because others shirk it."

"It is necessary that those who wish to be rogue states know what happens to those that are."

"Not to take action now is to reduce the credibility of any action. The time has come for a decision."