Iraq said on Friday the US would not be able to topple President Saddam Hussein the same way it overthrew Afghanistan's Taliban, as Washington demanded Iraq disarm "now" and ruled out any talks.
The US ignored calls for a new UN Security Council resolution to approve any US military action against Iraq, while key ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced opposition from his own party to a US-led attack.
"The United States' position is that the Iraqi regime needs to abide by its obligations -- there is no room for negotiations or discussion -- they need to do so and do so now," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters with US President George W. Bush on his August vacation.
McClellan repeated US insistence that Iraq carry out commitments made after the 1991 Gulf War to disarm.
But Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said Washington knew it could not overthrow Saddam the same way it ousted the Taliban. "We don't want to compare the two; Iraq is not Afghanistan," Ramadan told reporters in Beirut.
"I believe that the US administration is convinced of that," Ramadan said.
The White House has pressed for pre-emptive action against Baghdad, brushing off a groundswell of unease among European allies, Muslim states and broader world public opinion.
"We owe it to our children, we owe it to our grandchildren to make sure that the world's worst leaders do not develop and deploy the world's worst weapons," Bush said in a fund-raising speech that did not mention Iraq specifically.
Support for attack falls in the US
Two new polls out on Friday showed Americans less enthusiastic of a potential war with Iraq.
A poll for Time magazine and CNN found that support for a US ground invasion of Iraq at 51 percent, while 40 percent of those surveyed opposed such an action. Last December a similar poll found 70 percent in favor and 22 percent against.
A Newsweek poll showed 62 percent would support military force against Iraq but fewer than half, 49 percent, would support sending large numbers of ground troops into Iraq.
The two polls, each of just over 1,000 people, were conducted on Aug. 28 and Aug. 29.
Disagreement with the US over Iraq weighed heavily on an informal meeting in Denmark of EU foreign ministers who are expected to reaffirm their support for UN-led efforts to persuade Saddam to readmit arms inspectors.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw played down differences within the EU over Iraq, saying: "There is widespread agreement across Europe and indeed the world about Iraq and the threat it poses."
Blair Hems and haws
On a flight to Mozambique, Blair said yesterday he didn't yet know how best to ensure Saddam Hussein does not maintain weapons of mass destruction.
"Doing nothing about Iraq's breach of these UN resolutions is not an option," Blair told reporters, Britain's national news agency Press Association reported.
"That's the only decision that's been taken so far. What we do about that is an open question."
Concern is growing among the British public and Blair's own Labour Party about participating in any US offensive against Saddam.
A gap between the close allies appeared to open a week ago, when Straw said Britain's policy was to press for the reintroduction of UN weapons inspections before considering military action.
That didn't jibe with US Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that inspections would be counterproductive, although Washington has been sending mixed signals about inspectors' possible return.
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