The United States said today it is gaining support in the UN Security Council for a resolution against Iraq, as Turkey gave Washington hope it could be allowed to open a northern front there for any invasion and the American troop build-up intensified.
Despite US confidence it would get enough votes for a UN resolution authorising war with Iraq, positions hardened among the main protagonists with UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan pleading for a compromise.
"I am increasingly optimistic that if it comes to a vote, we will be able to make a case that will persuade most of the members of the Security Council to vote for the resolution," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the French television station France 2 in an interview last night.
While the United States is given a good chance to get the minimum nine votes needed for adoption in the 15-member council, diplomats believe that point has not been reached. There is also a strong chance France and Russia would use their veto power to kill the measure.
"They haven't done enough horse trading yet to get everyone on board," said Nancy Soderberg, a former senior official at the US mission to the United Nations. No date for a vote is set but US and British officials have said they want to push for one next week.
Turkey's government said it was considering a second try at winning parliamentary approval for a US troop deployment, after a narrow weekend vote threw Pentagon war plans off course and prompted talk of a delay of a week or two until perhaps April for any attack.
US officials announced the dispatch of 60,000 fresh troops to join a more than 250,000-strong U.S.-British force in a new sign Bush was determined to follow through on war threats if Iraq did not meet the demands it disarm.