THE US: The US yesterday offered exile to President Saddam Hussein as a way out of the crisis over disarmament. The US would act as travel agent to find a place for the Iraqi leader, his close aides and his family.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell told reporters "that would be one way to try to avoid war", but it would be up to Washington to decide whether the Iraqi leader should be granted immunity from prosecution as a war criminal.
President Bush followed up the tough talk on Iraq in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday by rejecting calls yesterday to let UN weapons inspectors deal with Baghdad.
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors in New York yesterday to discuss Monday's report of chief weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix and the head of the International Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Mohamed ElBaradei.
The Russia ambassador, Mr Sergei Lavrov, demanded as he arrived that Mr Powell show "undeniable proof" of any Iraqi banned weapons, and dismissed a New York Times story saying that Russia was leaning towards support for the US.
Mr Powell floated the idea of the US-assisted exile when talking to reporters at the State Department in Washington yesterday.
"If he were to leave the country, and take some of his family members with him, and others in the leading elite that have been responsible for so much trouble during the course of his regime, we would, I'm sure, try to find a place for them to go. That certainly would be one way to avoid war."
However, State Department spokesman Mr Richard Boucher described exile as "an idea floating out there" but not one getting serious consideration.
Mr Powell will "close the loop" in the case against Baghdad when he attends a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday and produces US intelligence on President Saddam's banned weapons programmes.
US officials said following that presentation, Mr Bush may make another address to the nation, this time dedicated to Iraq and containing a deadline, though no decision had yet been made. Another speech could follow to announce why war was necessary.
Mr Powell said: "I expect to put forward information and evidence which will fill in some of the gaps with respect to what Dr Blix and Dr ElBardei discussed early this week about the problems they've had getting Saddam Hussein to participate in the disarmament.
"The information I present; some of it will be an expansion of information that has already been seen, some of it is information that has been given to inspectors and some of it will be new information... relevant to making the case with respect to the Hussein regime's possession of weapons of mass destruction.
"You can be sure that we will be as forthcoming as we can next week, but also mindful of sources and methods."
White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said the administration was "now entering the final phase", and only a narrow "diplomatic window" remained open.