Iraq's campaign to convince the world it has come clean on weapons of mass destruction and discredit US and British accusations has failed to silence calls from Washington for "regime change" in Baghdad.
President Saddam Hussein promised "failure" to the enemies of Baghdad, amid the continued US and British threats to wage war against Iraq despite its pledge to grant full access to weapons sites for UN arms inspectors.
Hours after Baghdad's offer of "unfettered access" to counter Britain's new dossier of allegations, Saddam defiantly declared late Tuesday that Iraq's "enemy is a loser because the one who is in error has failure on his side."
But US Secretary of State Colin Powell gave further credence to Iraq's fears that whatever the Baghdad regime does it will eventually come under attack.
Powell refused to rule out the possibility that the US might still try to topple Saddam, even if he complies with all UN resolutions on weapons inspections.
Powell told the BBC that disarmament of Iraq was the main priority, but baulked when asked if Saddam could stay in power if he obeyed.
"We'll have to see how he responds to the pressure he is under from the international community," he said. "The US continues to believe that the best way to disarm Iraq is through a regime change."
US President George W. Bush on Tuesday again urged the US Congress to "act now to pass a resolution which will hold Saddam to account for a decade of defiance" of the UN.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Tuesday he hoped to reach a compromise by the end of the week with the administration on a resolution giving the president the authority to use whatever means necessary to deal with Iraq.
But Democrats say the draft proposal Bush sent to Congress last week is far too broad in giving the president open-ended authority to use military force against Iraq to disarm the country, drive Saddam from power and secure peace in the region.
"We should be dealing with a coalition here rather than going it alone," said Senator Richard Durbin. "If we don't have a coalition we run the risk of expanding opportunities for terrorism around the world against the United States."
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