Saddam ‘thinks he’s winning’

SADDAM HUSSEIN is on the verge of concluding he has successfully faced down the UN, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned last night.

Taking the pressure off the Iraqi dictator would only encourage that view, Mr Straw said.

Mr Straw was speaking in New York ahead of the chief UN weapons inspectors' reports to the Security Council today.

The Iraqi dictator had followed his "familiar pattern" of concealment, denial, delay and minimum concessions followed by the conclusion he can keep his arsenal, he said.

"Saddam must be close to concluding that he is near to reaching stage five that the international community is going to let him succeed," Mr Straw said.

"Over the coming days, if you take the pressure off, Saddam Hussein will never disarm and other dictators with similar ambitions will get the message that they can get away with defying the Security Council if they are prepared to prevaricate and procrastinate endlessly."

Mr Straw confirmed Britain was searching for a compromise which could unite the Security Council around the draft resolution tabled jointly with the US and Spain.

A further deadline for compliance could be added to the draft to get sceptical members which include France, Germany and Russia on board.

Mr Straw said: "There is certainly a possibility of an amendment and that is something we are looking at."

Resolution 1441 demanded "full, active and immediate compliance" with UN demands to disarm, according to Mr Straw.

"The one and only certain thing is that Iraq has not complied fully, actively and immediately," he said.

However, everyone still hoped conflict could be avoided, Mr Straw said.

"Even at this late stage we want to strain every nerve to avoid military action," he said. "We want to see Iraq come in to full, active and immediate co-operation."

There was no indication whether such an amendment would be acceptable to the US, which has 230,000 troops in the region preparing for war.

The compromise is expected to be floated when foreign ministers of the 15 Security Council countries meet today behind closed doors following the reports from chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei.

But Russia and China, both veto-wielding Security Council members, said they would not back the proposal.

Other key states in the council have also seemed unwilling to commit themselves to the Anglo-American stance.

US officials have stressed there is still time for nations to change their minds. Despite intense lobbying, Washington has not been able to find the minimum nine votes needed to pass a resolution.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix complicated matters further by saying Iraq was now providing "a great deal more" co-operation.

Baghdad's destruction of its banned Al Samoud 2 missiles was "the most spectacular and the most important and tangible" evidence of real disarmament, he said.

He added he would welcome several more months of inspections.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has indicated that little time remains for Saddam Hussein to disarm.

"We will see in the next few days whether or not he understands the situation he is in and makes that choice," he said.

Calling Saddam's missile destruction "too little, too late", Mr Powell said that if the UN failed to act now, it would send a "terrible message" to all tyrants who seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction.