The US suggestion of dropping a Security Council vote marked a shift from a pledge by Bush to hold a vote to force "people to show their cards."
Once the diplomatic maneuverings have ended, Bush intends to issue an ultimatum to Saddam, telling him to disarm or face invasion within days, according to administration officials.
If there were no vote on a new resolution, the legal situation might be governed by Resolution 1441, adopted on Nov. 8, which threatened "serious consequences" if Iraq did not disarm. But if a new resolution were voted down, an attack against Iraq would be in violation of international law.
Many world stock markets, depressed by worries about war in Iraq and a grim economic outlook, jumped for a second day yesterday on hopes that any war would be short, or even averted by diplomacy.
In Madrid, the European Commission said that it had proposed initial plans for steering the EU economy if war breaks out. They include closer ties between finance ministers and avoiding unilateral measures like cuts in energy taxes.
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