Iraq’s disarming a charade: Bush

Despite making 11th-hour concessions, Iraq maintained its rhetoric. President Saddam Hussein and top officials issued a statement demanding the Council denounce US and UK as ‘‘liars’’ and lift sanctions on Iraq.

Bush said that as Iraq was crushing some al-Samoud missiles, it was covertly making more. ‘‘These are not the actions of a regime that is disarming. These are the actions of a regime engaged in a wilful charade,’’ he said. ‘‘As a last resort, we must be willing to use military force.’’

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said war could still be avoided and the draft resolution could get through the Security Council, despite bitter opposition from some members who want weapons inspectors to be given more time in Iraq. He called on the 15 states to ‘‘face up to our responsibilities’’.

The revised resolution reads: ‘‘Iraq will have failed to take the final opportunity …unless on or before March 17, 2003, the Council concludes that Iraq has demonstrated full, unconditional and active cooperation with its disarmament obligations.’’

Modifying the resolution by extending the deadline was intended to win over undecided nations Chile, Pakistan, Mexico, Angola, Cameroon and Guinea.

US diplomats say the vote could come on Tuesday or later. A crucial motor of the diplomatic pace is the military’s desire to attack before early summer in the Gulf makes fighting in chemical and biological protection suits arduous. The Security Council heard presentations from Chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei on Friday.

El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, disputed US Assertions that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium in Niger, saying the documents used by Washington to support its contention were fraudulent.

Blix faulted Iraq for moving too slowly and not handing over enough documentation on past weapons programmes, but said it had carried out a ‘‘substantial measure of disarmament’’ by starting to scrap al-Samoud 2 missiles, whose range exceeds UN limits.

‘‘We are not watching the breaking of toothpicks. Lethal weapons are being destroyed,’’ he said. Challenging Blix, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said: ‘‘I know these are not toothpicks, but real missiles. But the problem is, we won’t know how many missiles there are, how many toothpicks there are.’’

Iraq began crushing six more missiles on Saturday, continuing a process Powell earlier this week called ‘‘too little, too late’’. (Reuters)