UN: Battle lines hardened in a "bitter and unpleasant" debate on Iraq at the UN Security Council in New York yesterday, where a majority of members voiced opposition to a new US resolution that would give a green light for an American-led invasion.
The closed debate took place in advance of a new report from chief weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix tomorrow that concludes that the results of disarmament so far are "very limited" but that there has been increased co-operation in recent weeks.
Yesterday's four-hour meeting was unable to agree on a timetable for weapons inspectors to report next to the 15-member council.
Dr Blix's report was to be debated late next week, after which the US was expected to press for a vote on its resolution, which accuses Iraq of failing to take a final opportunity to disarm.
Diplomats spoke privately of a poisonous atmosphere in the Security Council chamber.
One described the exchanges as "bitter and unpleasant." Another said, "This was one of the most depressing meetings I've seen."
US ambassador Mr John Negroponte left the meeting without speaking to reporters, but French ambassador Mr Jean-Marc de la Sablière said the majority of the council opposed the US resolution, and that France, Germany, Russia and China believed the "time has not come to say there is no other option than war".
Diplomats said that the US seemed unwilling to seek compromise on its position. The session broke up without agreeing on how to continue their discussions.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said after meeting an EU delegation headed by Greek Foreign Minister Mr George Papandreou that while the US and some European friends had differences over Iraq, "we are exploring those differences in an open, honest and candid fashion".
But the tone used by President Bush was uncompromising yesterday when asked about the prospect that Iraq would respond to Dr Blix's ultimatum to begin destroying its stock of Samoud 2 missiles by tomorrow.
He retorted, "The discussion about these rockets is part of his campaign of deception.
"See, he'll say, 'I'm not going to destroy the rockets,' and then he'll have a change of mind this weekend and destroy the rockets and say, 'I've disarmed'.
"The rockets are just the tip of the iceberg," President Bush added.
"The only question at hand is total, complete disarmament, which he is refusing to do."
Mr Bush talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone as the US kept up its intense diplomatic pressure on council members.
They agreed to continue to work to develop "a plan of action that would guarantee the interests of the entire world community," a Russian official said.
Of the five veto-bearing members of the council, the US and the UK support the resolution but Russia, France and China want inspections extended for several months.
Both sides are pressurising the six undecided elected members, Mexico, Chile, Angola, Cameroon, Guinea and Pakistan, for support.
The ambassador of Chile, Mr Juan Gabriel Valdos, complained bitterly that "this divided council is in fact throwing the decision on the shoulders of the elected members while the permanent members stick to their divisions without making efforts to approximate their views."
Mr Valdos said he and the Mexican ambassador pushed for a Canadian compromise aimed at reconciling the US resolution with the French-Russian-German proposal to continue inspections for 120 days.
The US rejected the Canadian proposal on Wednesday as procrastination, and yesterday the French ambassador said it was unacceptable as it contained an ultimatum.
The Canadian document, seen by The Irish Times, recommends that specific disarmament tasks be set and that the council should review progress every week until March 31st when force could be used if there is "continued Iraqi evasion".
In his report, Dr Blix acknowledged that during the last three months, Baghdad had increased its activity to help inspectors carry out work.
However, "Iraq could have made greater efforts to find remaining proscribed items or credible evidence showing the absence of such items. The results in terms of disarmament have been very limited so far," he wrote according to leaked extracts of the report.
"The destruction of missiles, which is an important operation, has not yet begun. Iraq could have made full use of the declaration which was submitted on December 7th."
"It is hard to understand why a number of the measures which are now being taken could not have been initiated earlier. If they had been taken earlier, they might have borne fruit by now.
"It is only by the middle of January and thereafter that Iraq has taken a number of steps which have the potential of resulting either in the presentation for destruction of stocks or items that are proscribed or the presentation of relevant evidence solving long-standing unresolved disarmament conclusions," he added.