US Secretary of State Colin Powell said today the United States would wait only weeks before deciding whether Iraq is complying with UN requirements that it give up weapons of mass destruction.
"We're talking weeks," Mr Powell told CNN in an interview at the United Nations after hearing UN weapons inspectors report on the extent of Iraqi co-operation with their work.
Chief arms inspector Dr Hans Blix gave the UN Security Council a mixed report, with material to support both the hard-line U.S. position and the anti-war governments.
Mr Powell said, "There is still a chance for peace but we will not realise that peace if we ever back off on the pressure, if we ever make it look like we do not have the will to take this to conflict if necessary to disarm Iraq."