President Bush's administration will formally declare that Iraq has violated a UN resolution on disarmament, setting the US on a course toward possible warwith Saddam Hussein early next year, senior officials said tonight.
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Mr Hans Blix
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The officials said President Bush's decision is not an immediate trigger forwar but the beginning of an intense diplomatic campaign to convince allies that Saddam has violated a UN resolution requiring him to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction or face possible military action.
The president is not likely to decide whether to go to war until late Januaryor early February, the officials said, and will use the time until then tobolster his case against Saddam.
The president's decision, which was to be announced by Secretary of StateMr Colin Powell, represents a crucial turning point in the stand-off with Iraq.
One senior White House official said the decision signals that Bush is"ramping up" toward war.
Earlier, US Ambassador Mr John Negroponte told the UN Security Council today that Iraq was in "material breach" because of omissions in its 12,000-page arms declaration, diplomats at the meeting said.
The term material breach can be used to justify war, although US officials have acknowledged that using those words at this stage did not mean an attack was imminent.
Nevertheless, by saying that gaps in Baghdad's document constituted a material breach, Negroponte fired the opening salvo in piling up serious violations against Iraq. He said that "significant omissions" in the document constituted a material breach, the envoys said.
Chief UN weapons inspector Mr HansBlix said today that the world cannot be sure that Iraq does nothave weapons of mass destruction.
He said "relatively little" evidence had been given in Iraq'sdeclaration on its arms programmes on its past efforts to developchemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
"The absence of that evidence means of course that we cannothave confidence that there do not remain weapons of massdestruction," Mr Blix told reporters after briefing the UN SecurityCouncil.
Mr Blix said the analysis of the 12,000 page Iraqi document wouldcontinue and that he and UN chief nuclear weapons inspector Mr MohamedEl-Baradei would return to the Security Council in January.
Mr El-Baradei told the Security Council that Iraq has given no newinformation on its nuclear programme, according to a text of hisstatement released by the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA).
After, Mr El-Baradei told reporters that inspectors "are making goodprogress in having access to sites. Iraq is cooperating well interms of process."
But he said international inspectors need more "in terms ofsubstance" and added "that's a challenge for both of them and us."
Most UN Security Council members, including Britain, consider any declaration of a material breach, meaningless at this time under a November 8th resolution that gives Iraq one more chance to disarm or face "serious consequences."