US President George W Bush is "sick and tired" of what he describes as Iraq's deception over suspected weapons of mass destruction and has warned time is running out for it to comply with UN demands to disarm.
He signaled growing impatience as UN inspections showed little evidence to support his claim that Iraq has chemical and biological arms and is trying to build a nuclear weapon.
"I haven't seen any evidence that he has disarmed. Time is running out on Saddam Hussein. He must disarm. I'm sick and tired of games and deception. That's my view of the timetable," Mr Bush said.
His remarks, and British comments that no new UN resolution may be needed to authorise war, came after inspectors said they might need a year to find out whether Iraq had illegal arms.
British Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw said Britain wanted a new Security Council resolution authorising force if Iraq defied November's resolution on disarmament, but it was not vital.
"We've had to reserve our rights [to use force] if we can't achieve that," he said.
Today, UN inspectors checked another six sites in Iraq, saying they were now getting US and British intelligence to widen their search.
Mr Hans Blix, in charge of chemical and biological inspections, repeated earlier remarks that his teams had uncovered smuggled weapons-related material but said it was unclear if it was linked to suspected weapons of mass destruction.
He also said 60 more inspectors, mostly Arab and Americans, would soon be deployed to spped the work of his team. He also said the teams will stay in Iraq until at least March.
They will continue working in Iraq, Mr Blix added, at least until he presents a major report to the UN Security Council in March that will include a list of "key remaining disarmament tasks" for the inspectors and a work programme.
Mr Blix said the upcoming report to the council on January 27th will mark "the beginning of the inspection and monitoring process, not the end of it".
AFP &