President George Bush scheduled a rare prime-time news conference in the White House last night to counter growing international and domestic opposition to his plans for disarming Iraq.
The President's first major news conference since October 2001 was hastily arranged just hours before today's presentation on Iraqi disarmament by the chief UN weapons inspector, Dr Hans Blix, to a bitterly-divided UN Security Council in New York.
The British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, told reporters at the UN yesterday that the UK was considering changes to a new resolution tabled by the US, Britain and Spain that could include a short deadline to President Saddam Hussein to disarm.
"We are ready to discuss the wording of that resolution and take on board any constructive suggestions of how the process on that draft resolution can be improved," Mr Straw said.
In his opening remarks last night Mr Bush focused on the breakthrough in the war on terrorism following the capture in Pakistan of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11th attacks on the US.
However, the main reason for the sudden decision to hold a press conference was to prepare the nation for the possibility of a war that could be days away, White House officials said.
Mr Bush took reporters' questions against a background of growing opposition at home and abroad to his rush to confrontation with Iraq.
Yesterday, President Jiang Zemin of China added his voice to those of France, Germany and Russia in opposing the new resolution, which states that Iraq has missed a final chance to disarm.
"China endorses and supports their joint statement," the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr Tang Jiaxuan,said in a telephone call to the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, referring to the declaration in Paris on Wednesday that the European countries would not allow a war resolution to pass.
In the US Congress, the Senate Minority Leader, Mr Tom Daschle, broke ranks with President Bush over Iraq. He said that the administration had failed diplomatically to build international support for war to remove President Saddam.
"I just fail to concede that war is inevitable," the Democratic senator said. "They are rushing to war without concern for the ramifications [of unilateral action]."
New polls showed that 50 per cent of Americans no longer trust Mr Bush on Iraq and 62 per cent said that war should only be waged with UN backing.
The news conference was Mr Bush's first since November 7th and only his second in prime time. Among his plans for next week, he is considering a major address on television to explain the justification and risks of military conflict, aides said.
The speech could include a final ultimatum to President Saddam and a warning to journalists and humanitarian workers to leave Iraq, they said.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, told a congressional hearing yesterday that the Iraqi threat must be dealt with now, not after another mass murder of innocent people.
"We are being tested, the Security Council of the United Nations and the international community are being tested," he said.
The US has ordered two UN-based Iraqi diplomats to leave the country and it has asked 60 countries to expel a total of 300 Iraqi diplomats it said were agents who could attack American interests overseas.
Mr Powell will today make what could be his final speech to the Security Council, calling for approval of the new resolution, which could be taken as a trigger for war.
A vote on the resolution is not expected before next week, unless it is withdrawn for lack of support.
Mr Powell will speak after Dr Blix and Mr Mohamed ElBaradei give an update on the inspections process.
The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, appealed yesterday to the council's foreign ministers to discuss the Iraq crisis calmly.
"The positions are very hard now. I am encouraging people to strive for a compromise to seek common ground," he said.
Mr Annan's spokesman said that the UN had asked Washington for as much notice as possible should a military campaign be ordered so that UN staff working in Iraq can be evacuated.
Yesterday, hundreds of Russians working in Iraq left Baghdad Airport for home.