A Crucial week in the crisis over Iraq begins this morning in New York with a report to the UN Security Council by the chief UN weapons inspector, Dr Hans Blix, that will say key questions about possession of banned weapons remain unanswered by Iraq.
It climaxes on Friday with a summit meeting between the US President, Mr George Bush and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, at Camp David, at which the two leaders are expected to work out a timetable for possible war.
The US Secretary of Statem Mr Colin Powell, said at Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, that no decision on war would be made before Mr Bush met Mr Blair.
After that, "we'll make a judgement about what we've heard and what we see then ahead", said Mr Powell, who also warned that "time is running out" for Iraq to disarm or "pay serious consequences". Mr Blair insisted yesterday that war was still avoidable and that UN inspectors should have "whatever time they need to complete their task".
However, he warned in a BBC interview that the process should take weeks and not months.
A delay of some weeks would suit US military plans, which aim at readiness for war from mid-to-late February. It would also allow time for a final diplomatic push by the US to win over world opinion for an invasion in Iraq.
Facing opposition from three of five Security Council members - France, Russia and China - Mr Powell promised to work "patiently and deliberately" with other nations, but made it clear the US was prepared to go it alone if necessary.
"We continue to reserve our sovereign right to take military action against Iraq alone or in a coalition of the willing," he said in a speech at Davos yesterday.
The Iraqi regime should have no doubt that "if it does not disarm peacefully at this juncture, it will be disarmed at the end of the road. We will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction".
Dr Blix will tell the 15-member UN Security Council today that Baghdad has been co-operative but not "proactive" in helping the search for weapons of mass destruction, UN officials say.
· Former UN official, Mr Denis Halliday warned yesterday that the US and Britian were ready to "annihilate" Iraqi society in order to control the country's oil wealth.
Mr Halliday told a press conference that "Washington has informed us that the very security of America requires ever-increasing quantities of oil and the source of that oil can only be the middle East".
Mr Halliday, who is Irish, was based in Baghdad between August 1997 and October 1998. He resigned in protest at continued UN sanctions against Iraq. - (AFP)