Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is now on his final chance to disarm peacefully within the next few days,US Secretary of State Colin Powell said tonight.
"One last opportunity to achieve it through peaceful meansreamins open to Saddam Hussein even at this late hour," Mr Powell saidin a major speech at the Center for Strategic and InternationalStudies in Washington.
"We know for certain however that Saddam Hussein will bedisarmed. The only question before us now is how."
"The question now remains as it was in the beginning, has SaddamHussein made that strategic choice?" he asked. "He has not, and we will see in the next few days whether or not he understands the situation he is in and he makes that choice."
He insisted that Saddam has taken no strategic and political decision to disarm, despite claims by chief UN weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix that Iraq was co-operating.
"Nothing we have seen since the passage of 1441indicates that Saddam Hussein has taken a strategic and politicaldecision to disarm," Mr Powell said.
He claimed Iraq was hiding machinery to secretly make al-Samoud missiles and did not intend to hand over all of the missiles for disposal by the United Nations.
"From recent intelligence we know that the Iraqi regime intends to declare and destroy only a portion of its banned al-Samoud inventory," he said. "It has in fact ordered the continued production of the missiles that you see being destroyed... It has also begun to hide machinery it can use to convert other kinds of engines to power al-Samouds."
He also said that Iraq was hiding banned weapons material from the UN inspectors.