Powell: We must disarm Saddam

US Secretary of State Colin Powell today urged the international community to fulfil its “solemn responsibility” to disarm Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein of his weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Powell, arriving at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, indicated that the US was prepared to give United Nations weapons inspectors more time to try to establish the truth about Saddam’s weapons programmes.

However, amid growing concerns about a possible war voiced by France, Germany and Russia, Mr Powell insisted that the world could not shrink from action because “the going is getting tough”.

Saddam’s regime would face military action to ensure disarmament if that was necessary, stressed Mr Powell, echoing a telephone conversation yesterday between US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

A Downing Street spokesman said that during that conversation both leaders “agreed that Saddam Hussein has to be disarmed, that he has been offered a peaceful way to do that, and if he fails to comply, co-operate fully, and disarm his weapons of mass destruction, then he will have to be disarmed by force”.

In Davos – where the Swiss government offered to host last-ditch talks between the US and Iraq on its neutral soil – Mr Powell said: “The burden is upon Iraq. Iraq must comply, or it will be made to comply with military force.”

En route to Switzerland from Washington, Mr Powell said no decision on the use of force would be made before President Bush and Mr Blair meet next Friday at Camp David, Maryland.

The coming week will see several significant developments in the Iraqi saga, with the UN’s chief weapons inspector Hans Blix presenting a 60-day report on the resumption of inspections to the Security Council in New York on Monday, President Bush’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, further Security Council discussions on Wednesday, followed by the Camp David meeting.

Mr Powell said he would examine the weapons inspectors’ report “patiently”, giving further credence to suggestions that the US is ready to go along – for the time being – with French, German and Russian calls for the inspectors be given more time to determine whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction or programmes to build them.

Nevertheless Mr Powell insisted: “This is not the time for the international community, for the United Nations, to step back from the solemn responsibility it undertook in Resolution 1441 to disarm Iraq.

“We cannot now start shrinking because the going is getting tough.”

En route to Davos, Mr Powell reaffirmed his view that if the US decides to use force against Iraq without the explicit blessing of the Security Council, a number of nations will be prepared to offer assistance.

“We will not be alone, that’s for sure. I can rattle off at least a dozen (countries) from memory,” he said.