UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said yesterday that Iraq had recently made some progress in disarmament, in a crucial report likely to bolster opposition to a US-led drive to gain UN Security Council backing for war.
"After a period of somewhat reluctant cooperation, there has been an acceleration in Iraqi initiatives in January," Blix told the Security Council. His report noted some, but not full, Iraqi cooperation, and said Baghdad had still not cleared up key questions about chemical and biological weapons programs.
The report came amid a bitter confrontation between the United States and its allies, which seem determined to launch war to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein within days, and France, Germany, Russia and China which are equally firm in opposing military action.
Blix criticized the rate at which Iraq has handed over documents on prohibited weapon systems.
"Only a few new such documents have come to light so far and been handed over since we began inspections ... I hope that efforts in this respect ... will give significant results," he said in his report on the work of his inspectors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Bush hours ahead of the UN debate that Moscow was determined to press for a diplomatic solution.
So far, Washington has public commitments from only Britain, Spain and Bulgaria while five nations are opposed and six remain publicly uncommitted.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he was deeply skeptical about the British proposal that would give Iraq a few days to disarm. He said it would still quickly lead to war.
A "no" vote by any one of France, China and Russia in the council would kill the resolution.
In a reminder of just how close Iraq could be to invasion, the head of the British armed forces said in Kuwait his troops were now ready to join any US-led attack.
US and British planes yesterday bombed a mobile radar system in southern Iraq, the US military said. UN observers on the Iraq-Kuwait frontier said parts of a fence along the border had been cut down, in apparent preparation for war.
Bush has dismissed Iraq's destruction of some banned missiles as a charade and reiterated he could launch a war without UN approval.
"When it comes to our security, we really don't need anybody's permission," he told a news conference on Thursday. "Yes we will call for a vote, no matter what the whip count is.
"If we need to act we will act and we really don't need United Nations approval to do so," he said. "It's time for people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam."
Asian and European stock markets fell as Bush's remarks were interpreted to mean war was virtually certain.
Blix outlined a program of tasks Iraq was required to perform in accounting for weapons -- giving ammunition to France and Russia who argue inspections are working and must continue.
In an effort to bring the council together, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and other foreign minister in New York for the inspectors' briefings, held a series of one-on-one meetings late Thursday. Additional talks between the ministers and with the inspectors were planned for early yesterday ahead of the Security Council meeting.
Straw, who saw a copy of the document earlier this week, described it as "a shocking indictment of the record of Saddam Hussein's deception and deceit, but above all, of the danger which he poses to the region and to the world."
But Blix's counterpart who runs the nuclear inspections suggested Thursday he would tell the council that abandoning the weapons inspections makes little sense so long as the Iraqis are actively cooperating.
"That's clearly the gist of my presentation: In my area, inspection is working. We are making progress. There's no reason to scuttle the process," Mohamed ElBaradei said.
ElBaradei, who has already told the council his inspectors have found no evidence that Iraq is restarting a nuclear program, said his assessment would contain no surprises or new revelations.
Instead, he planned to highlight fresh Iraqi resolve to cooperate by encouraging scientists to consent to UN interviews and turn over documents. He also intended to plea anew for more time -- at least two or three more months -- for the inspectors to do their work.
But US officials have said privately in recent days that their minds are already made up -- Saddam's failure to disarm has made force a real option.
British foreign minister Jack Straw said Britain was willing to compromise on the wording of the resolution as long as the final text still included an authorization for military action. But Straw's demand was unlikely to be acceptable to key council powers such as France and Russia.
He did not spell out details of the compromise but British diplomats floated the idea of attaching a short deadline with the resolution, either as an amendment or a statement that would accompany it. The deadline would give Saddam a brief period to prove he has no more banned weapons, or face war.
There were also hints of alternative compromise afloat.
Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who will represent the European Union at the Security Council meeting, will present the council with a plan including benchmarks that Iraq must implement "in a specific time frame."
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