It appears that Iraq is making new efforts to co-operate with United Nations teams searching for banned weapons, according to UN inspectors.
The chief inspector Mr Hans Blix was speaking after Iraq allowed one of its scientists to be interviewed alone for the first time.
Baghdad also put a put a positive spin on its stand on UN inspection flights by U2 spy planes.
The gestures came just ahead of a weekend visit by Mr Blix, and International Atomic Energy Agency director Mr Mohamed ElBaradei.
Mr Blix told reporters Vienna: "It seems they are making an effort." He said he hoped to "see a lot more this weekend."
Mr Blix and Mr ElBaradei are to tell the UN Security Council about Iraq's compliance with UN disarmament demands on February 14th. A negative report could serve to trigger the invasion the United States has threatened to unleash on the grounds that Iraq continues to produce and conceal weapons of mass destruction.
US President George W. Bush warned again last night that time had all but run out for Baghdad to avoid war, adding that Washington would "welcome and support" a new Security Council resolution sanctioning military action.
"Saddam Hussein will be stopped" either through UN action or a US-led campaign, he warned. "Bush clearly sought to thwart Hans Blix's mission by putting pressure on the chief inspector ... and trying to turn his commission from a professional body into a tool serving US objectives," said Iraqi political analyst Mr Qais Mohammad Nouri.
As Mr Bush turned up the heat, Iraqi officials appeared to be trying to create a positive atmosphere for the Blix-ElBaradei mission by announcing that a private interview between an Iraqi scientist and the inspectors had been arranged.
Biologist Mr Sinan Abdel Hassan Mohi was interviewed for three and a half hours yesterday without official government monitors, said Mr Hiro Ueki, spokesman for the inspectors.
The meeting fulfilled a long-standing request by inspectors who have been anxious to question scientists having knowledge of Iraq's weapons program.
"We welcome this. But this is only the first interview, which came at the 23rd attempt (by inspectors to conduct a private interview), and we are yet to see whether we could conduct a further private interview," Mr Ueki said.
He said the UN had not made a request for a fresh interview today, declining to say if one was planned at a later date. Mr Ueki said inspectors had to "wait and see" what the Iraqi side would offer during their chiefs' visit.
"We don't have indications (on the U2 flights issue) other than what Amer al-Saadi said yesterday," he said.
In another bid to show they have nothing to hide, Iraqi officials took reporters on a tour today of two sites cited by US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell as harboring banned weapons.
"Transparency actually serves Iraqi purposes," Mr Nouri said, noting that the presence of scores of foreign journalists in Baghdad meant nothing was being kept under wraps.
The outstanding issues to be discussed with Mr Blix and Mr ElBaradei are "simple" and can be resolved through dialogue if the US takes its hands off the inspection teams, he said.
AFP