UK presses for March 17 deadline for Iraq

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein should be set a March 17 deadline to comply with UN demands on disarmament or face the prospect of military action, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw argued today.

Mr Straw told the UN Security Council in New York that he was tabling an amendment to the draft resolution proposed jointly with the United States and Spain which, if adopted, would give Iraq a “further period” to comply with the earlier resolutin 1441.