US has open support of 30 nations, says Powell

THIRTY nations have joined with the US in a “coalition of the willing” to bring down Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and another 15 quietly have promised their support, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday.

Mr Powell told reporters he had received assurances of open support in telephone conversations with the foreign ministers of Denmark and the Netherlands, but that Russian President Vladimir Putin had reaffirmed his opposition to war with Iraq in a telephone conversation with US President George Bush.

At the same time, Mr Powell said Saddam Hussein so far had rejected Mr Bush’s demand that he leave Iraq but that a number of countries were still trying to persuade the Iraqi president to go into exile.