New resolution is UN's final test - Bush

US President George W Bush, declaring that Iraq has not disarmed and does not intend to, said the new resolution due to be submitted by the US to the Security Council next week will be the last chance for the UN to show its relevance.

The resolution, to be offered jointly with Britain and possibly Spain, will make its case in “clear and simple terms”, Mr Bush said yesterday. A spokesman for Downing Street said he expected the Security Council to vote on the new resolution by mid-March.

Mr Bush predicted approval, even though disagreements continued among sponsors over its wording and whether it should set a specific deadline. There has been little support thus far in the 15-member council for moving ahead with any new resolution.

“We will not allow the Iraqi dictator to continue to possess or to produce weapons of mass destruction,” Mr Bush said at a news conference on his ranch with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at his side.

Asked if this was the Security Council’s last chance to show its relevance, Bush answered curtly: “Yes.”

The President said he was not willing to wait two months before UN action, the length of time it took to pass the previous Iraq resolution in November.

“Time is short,” Mr Bush said.

In Tokyo, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told a news conference he expected a period of intense – but brief – diplomacy over a second Iraq resolution.

“It isn’t going to be a long time between the tabling of the resolution until a judgment is made as to whether the resolution is going to be voted on or not,” Mr Powell said.

He noted that once chief UN inspector Hans Blix makes his next report to the Security Council, on March 7, “everybody will have one last opportunity to make a judgment. I think that shortly after that, a decision will have to be made as to what the Security Council should do.”

Mr Aznar, an ally of Mr Bush’s hard line against Iraq, who nonetheless faces overwhelming opposition at home to war, said: “Our aim is for Iraq to disarm and for Saddam to comply with his obligations.”

Even so, Mr Aznar emphasised that it was important to do this ”in unity and in agreement within the framework of the Security Council”.

Mr Bush has repeatedly said he would lead a “coalition of the willing” if the Security Council failed to act.

Of the 15 Security Council members, only three other nations have joined the US in pressing for a new resolution: Britain, Spain and Bulgaria. To prevail, the US needs nine votes, and weeks of intense lobbying by Washington have apparently failed to add to the tally of supporters.

The US and Britain must also persuade the other three permanent members of the Council – France, Russia and China – to at least acquiesce by not exercising their vetoes. All three have argued for giving inspectors more time to their job, and have voiced objections – France’s the loudest – to military action now.

But Mr Bush brushed aside doubts about whether the resolution could overcome those deep reservations, telling reporters “we are just beginning” to line up allies. Mr Bush noted that last November’s resolution sending UN weapons inspectors back to Iraq eventually passed unanimously after similar questions about its fate.

The President dismissed reports that Iraq had agreed to destroy missiles that weapons inspectors declared had longer ranges than permissible. Those missiles amount to a “just the tip of the iceberg” of Iraq’s arsenal, he claimed.

The new resolution would endorse military action if Iraq fails to comply, possibly by a certain time. US officials said they were continuing to tinker with the wording in hopes of picking up as much spport as possible among wavering council members.

Today Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said the new resolution would only give Baghdad a few days to disarm before it was attacked by US-led forces.

Australia, which has 2,000 troops in the Gulf region although it has not yet committed to military action, had been discussing the draft with London and Washington, Mr Downer said.

“The new resolution would be a message to Saddam Hussein that he had just a few days left,” he told Nine Network television. “Saddam Hussein would either have to dramatically change policy or else there would be military action, he would be disarmed forcibly.”

Despite the lack of a final draft, Mr Bush said the resolution would be submitted in New York “early next week”.

Administration officials hoped Mr Aznar could help win over sceptical allies for a possible invasion of Iraq, particularly the other two Spanish-speaking nations on the Security Council – Chile and Mexico.

Mr Aznar, who visited Mexico before coming to the US, apparently failed to sway President Vicente Fox, who wants a peaceful resolution.

Before meeting with reporters, Mr Bush and Mr Aznar called Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to engage in a four-way conference call on strategy.

Mr Berlusconi supports Mr Bush on Iraq, but Italy is not a member of the Security Council.

Mr Aznar met with Mr Bush on a day when a new poll showed that 85% of Spaniards oppose war in Iraq under any circumstances. That was up 10 percentage points in three weeks.

A senior Bush administration official acknowledged widespread opposition to war across Europe but said the sentiment can be overturned when Mr Bush and fellow leaders present the case for military action.

Also yesterday, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said in Iran that Iraq was not fully co-operating with inspectors.