US agrees new plan on Saddam

Washington

As part of the deal, Bush bent to Democratic wishes and pledged to certify to Congress before any military strike, if feasible, or within 48 hours of a US attack that diplomatic and other peaceful means alone are inadequate to protect Americans from Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

House minority leader Dick Gephardt announced the agreement as he emerged from an hour-long White House breakfast with Bush and headed back to Capitol Hill to brief Democrats on the wording of the resolution expected to be debated in the House International Relations Committee this week.