US: Chief UN weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix said yesterday that Iraq had still not made a "fundamental decision" to disarm, though there was some evidence of "increased activity" on disarmament.
Dr Blix was speaking at the UN building in New York, where he will present a written report on the progress of weapons inspectors to the Security Council this weekend for debate on March 7th.
The report will list outstanding disarmament issues, and is likely to give ammunition to both sides on the 15-member Security Council, which is divided over a new US-backed resolution which would be the trigger for war.
Dr Blix's critical tone yesterday contrasted with his up-beat statement on Tuesday that Iraq had made "positive" gestures on disarmament, including providing new documents about the disposal of banned weapons.
The Bush administration yesterday dismissed a Canadian plan to reconcile the US resolution, which is backed by Britain and Spain, and a French-Russian-German proposal to continue weapons inspections at least until July.
After the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, conferred by telephone with the Canadian Foreign Minister, Mr Bill Graham, a spokesman said the proposal "only procrastinates on a decision we all should be prepared to take".
Canada's Prime Minister Mr Jean Chretien had earlier pressed his plan to extend the deadline for inspections to the end of March on the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, who apparently was not impressed. Last night he planned to fly to Mexico for talks with President Vincente Fox.
The US appeared to be making progress yesterday in its diplomatic drive for support from a key group of six of the 10 elected members of the council, including Mexico.
President Fox appeared to lean towards Washington when he said on Tuesday, after a phone call from President Bush, that Mexico supported the urgent "efforts to achieve the elimination of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq".
Mexico yesterday followed up with a directive to embassies saying the issue was "of critical importance to the United States and to the Bush administration".
A UN diplomat said last night: "The Mexicans don't like getting pushed around, but that's all that's between them and high noon."
Angola was said to be "spinning" from the pressure from both sides, but Americans took hope from a remark by Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins that he wanted more "dialogue with the United States to see how we can accommodate each other".
Envoys from the US, Britain and Spain yesterday met with diplomats from the 10 non-permanent members of the council to press their case.
Mr Mamady Traore, the UN ambassador from Guinea, expressed irritation at the assumption that smaller council nations would yield to US pressure.
"Don't think because we are an African country, that because we are an underdeveloped country, that we will accept everything. We have our own dignity," he said.
At the White House, a top Russian official, Mr Aleksander Voloshin, held a third day of meetings with senior US officials who are pressing, with some success, for Moscow not to use its veto on the Security Council.
Meanwhile, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in an interview with CBS news, said Iraq would comply with what had been put forth by the Security Council, but added: "If there are new resolutions that violate our dignity, our security, our independence, then it will be clear that we will stand by our principles."
He indicated that he would not meet a deadline of Saturday set by Dr Blix to start destroying his banned al-Samoud 2 missiles. However, UN diplomats are confident he will change his mind, and Dr Blix has sent a top UN official, Mr Dimitrius Perricos, to Baghdad to oversee the pace of the missiles' dismantling.
Asked if he had any connection to Osama bin Laden, President Saddam answered: "Iraq has never had any relationship with al-Qaeda", and that its leader had himself said he had no relation with Iraq.
He said he would not go into exile to stop war. "We will die here. We will die in this country and we will maintain our honour - the honour that is required in front of our people."
On suggestions he might destroy the oil fields, he said: "Iraq does not burn its wealth and it does not destroy its dams."
Gen Tommy Franks, the commander of US forces in the Gulf, warned yesterday that he could not guarantee the safety of civilians who act as human shields against attack on Iraqi targets.
"We'll do our best to avoid noncombatant casualties and, I will tell you, we will not be 100 percent successful," he told AP in an interview. Several European "human shields" have taken up positions at Baghdad locations.
Last night Mr Bush made a major speech on the need to bring democracy to post-war Iraq, and to remove Saddam Hussein because of his alleged support for Palestinian suicide bombers.
Mr Bush called Saddam Hussein "a master of disguise and delay", and mocked the Iraqi leader for disclosing some weapons that he had previously denied were in his arsenal.
"The danger with Iraq is that he can strike in the neighbourhood, and the danger with Iraq is that he has got the willingness and capacity to train al-Qaeda-type organisations and provide them with equipment to hurt Americans," Mr Bush said.
The Win Without War coalition against war yesterday tied up telephones and computers at the Senate and White House in a "virtual march on Washington". Some senators reported getting 800 to 1,000 phone calls from across the US saying no to war.
Meanwhile, Gen Eric Shinseki told Congress that a military occupying force in Iraq could total several hundred thousand soldiers.Iraq is "a piece of geography that's fairly significant", he said.