US/IRAQ: President Bush warned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein yesterday that his "day of reckoning" was looming but that the United States still hoped to avoid war.
With the US pursuing a military build-up in the Gulf, the US leader said it was up to the Iraqi president to avoid international action.
"I am hopeful we won't have to go to war," Mr Bush told reporters at his Texas ranch.
He added: "Let's leave it at that until Saddam Hussein makes up his mind to disarm."
But Mr Bush insisted that the success of the UN weapons inspections, and whether war is avoided, would depend on the Iraqi leader.
"You know, he is a man who likes to play games and charades. The question is, will Saddam Hussein disarm? The world has asked him to disarm from weapons of mass destruction."
Chief UN inspector Dr Hans Blix will visit Baghdad in the third week of this month, Iraq said yesterday as it accused the US of preparing a "war of aggression".
Gen Hossam Mohammad Amin, who heads Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, the body that liaises with the UN inspectors, said: "This visit is a positive step . . . I think the visit could lead to an improvement in the relationship between the United Nations and Iraq."
Gen Amin said Iraq also hoped to avoid war but that it is "preparing for every case, for every probability."
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tareq Aziz criticised Washington for moving ahead with war preparations despite the fact that UN experts had been able to visit all the sites they have wanted to inspect and "will visit whatever sites they want to visit".
Despite this, the "American military deployment has been going on . . . They continue their preparation for a war of aggression," he said. UN inspectors were at work on five sites yesterday, according to the information ministry.
The United States announced on Tuesday that an infantry division of up to 17,000 men had been given orders for deployment to the Gulf region.
Washington already has about 65,000 troops in the Gulf and Turkey, and earlier this month announced plans to send another 50,000 by early January.