US hopes to secure new resolution next week

THE UNITED STATES will submit a new resolution to a split UN Security Council next week, paving the way for a possible war against Iraq that President George W Bush yesterday predicted America and its allies would win decisively.

A senior US official said Washington would offer a second resolution despite pressure from Security Council members France, Russia and China for more time for UN weapons inspectors to search for chemical and biological arms, even as the inspectors complain that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has not followed through on promises of increased co-operation.

"The tabling of the second resolution will take place next week," said the official travelling with Bush on a visit to Georgia.

Bush did not mention the new UN resolution in a 50-minute speech focusing on the US economy, but he said Saddam was "throwing away" his last chance to disarm voluntarily under a Security Council resolution passed last year: "If military force becomes necessary to disarm Iraq, this nation, joined by others, will act decisively in a just cause, and we will prevail."

The draft resolution is expected to be simple and say Iraq is in "further material breach" of a November 8 Security Council resolution giving Baghdad one last opportunity to disarm or face serious consequences. Washington and London maintain that the words "material breach" can be used as legal justification for military force.

Diplomats at the United Nations have said the Bush administration was not likely to push the resolution to a vote until well into the first week of March after another report from UN weapons inspectors, an indication that a possible attack against Iraq will not take place until the second week of next month at the earliest.

"The president remains hopeful for the nine needed Security Council votes and no vetoes," the US official said.

Bush was on his way to his Crawford, Texas, ranch, where he was to meet a key ally on the Iraq crisis, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. He spoke to his main supporter, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, by phone on Wednesday night.

Bush said Saddam was "actively deceiving" the UN weapons inspectors and "actively hiding" banned arms.

"Military action is this nation's last option, but let me tell you what's not an option trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not an option," he said.

The White House registered concern about complaints from inspectors that Iraq had not followed through on promises of co-operation and accused Baghdad of "defiance on the ground." White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Iraq had failed to document its alleged destruction of chemical and biological weapons and provide other information it promised. Baghdad had requested 48 hours notice of U-2 spy flights "making them predictable and diminishing their value," and had indicated it would not destroy the Al Samoud 2 missiles that violate a 93-mile range limit imposed after the 1991 Gulf war, he said. In addition, "private interviews (with Iraqi scientists) have dried up."