US President George W. Bush has said the United Nations must soon make up its mind on whether to back up its demands that Iraq disarm, as the leaders of France and China tell him they want to avoid war.
"This is a defining moment for the UN Security Council," Bush told reporters last night. "If the Security Council were to allow a dictator to lie and deceive, the Security Council would be weakened."
A day after Bush said "the game is over" for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the United States ploughed ahead on a war footing by ordering a fifth aircraft carrier to the Gulf, where thousands of US troops are gathering, and increased the terror alert level at home, warning of a high risk of attack.
Bush, speaking on the steps of the Treasury Building in Washington, repeated that he would welcome a new UN resolution that backs up the demands of the resolution the Security Council approved in November warning of serious consequences if Iraq did not give up its suspected weapons of mass destruction. Iraq denies having any such weapons
Bush said he was confident that when UN Security Council members assess their responsibilities, they will understand that the UN disarmament resolution 1441 "must be upheld in the fullest."
"The UN Security Council has got to make up its mind soon as to whether or not its word means anything," Bush said.
Bush made his case in telephone calls to French President Jacques Chirac and Chinese President Jiang Zemin, both of whom said they wanted to continue UN inspections in the search for suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.
"We can disarm Saddam Hussein without a war" by "reinforcing inspections and obtaining Iraq's cooperation," Chirac spokeswoman Catherine Colonna quoted Chirac as telling Bush.
China's official Xinhua news agency said Jiang told Bush support should be given to strengthen UN weapons inspection teams. He said weapons inspectors have made some progress in Iraq, though there were still some problems, Xinhua said.
The White House said Bush and Chirac agreed to continue consultations and Bush stressed to Jiang that "time was of the essence in dealing with Iraq."
Russia has expressed doubts as well. Any of these three nations, as permanent Security Council members, can veto any new resolution authorising military force against Iraq, and the diplomatic push is on to get them to back US efforts to form a coalition against Iraq.
Bush scoffed at proposals for beefing up weapons inspectors.
"The role of inspectors is to sit there and verify whether or not he's disarmed, not to play hide-and-seek in a country the size of California," he said. "If Saddam Hussein was interested in peace and interested in complying with the UN Security Council resolutions, he would have disarmed."
Saddam has "treated the demands of the world as a joke up to now" and it is up to him to decide whether there will be a war, he added.
"It's his choice to make. He's the person who gets to decide war and peace," said Bush, who warned on Thursday that Saddam has authorised use of chemical weapons in the event of a war.
The White House insisted that Bush still had not made a decision to go to war but that diplomatic negotiations were in a final phase that would end in weeks, not months.
Spokesman Ari Fleischer said the administration would devote the next two weeks to diplomacy on Iraq -- as well as on promoting Bush's economic program -- but did not indicate whether the period amounted to any deadline for negotiations.
"The president is going to spend some time himself, and other members of the administration, engaged in diplomacy toward the point of working together with the United Nations Security Council to come out with a resolution that is serious, effective, and acceptable," Fleischer said.
A new UN resolution seeking international legitimacy to invade Iraq is likely to have a brief deadline, if any, and may fall short of an explicit authorisation of force, diplomats at the United Nations said.
Top US ally Britain, which is expected to introduce such a resolution, despite French, Russian, Chinese and German opposition, has been drafting various elements of the measure.
The Pentagon ordered a fifth aircraft carrier, the USS Kitty Hawk, to head toward the Gulf region from the Pacific.
Along with several hundred US Air Force fighters, attack jets and bombers now in place in the Gulf region, the United States continues to move tens of thousands of troops there.
Defence officials said about 110,000 US troops already are in the region, with tens of thousands more set to arrive by the middle of the month.
The next week will be critical. Top UN disarmament officials Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei travel to Baghdad to demand more evidence about its suspected weapons of mass destruction programs and then report to the Security Council on February 14.