THE US: The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, has told Washington's allies that the US remains prepared to go to war against Iraq without their support. But he hinted that Washington could agree to allow United Nations weapons inspectors more time to complete their work in Iraq.
"We are in no great rush to judgment today or tomorrow but it is clear that time is running out. We will work through these issues patiently and deliberately with our friends and allies. There are serious matters before us. Let the Iraqi regime have no doubt, however. If it does not disarm peacefully at this juncture, it will be disarmed at the end of the road," he said.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Powell said that UN Resolution 1441, which sent weapons inspectors to Iraq, places the burden of proof on Saddam Hussein's government.
"This is not about inspectors finding smoking guns. It is about Iraq's established failure to tell the inspectors where to find its weapons of mass terror," he said.
Mr Powell said that before weapons inspectors were expelled from Iraq in 1998, Baghdad had tens of thousands of litres of anthrax, 30,000 munitions capable of carrying chemical agents and three metric tonnes of growth material that could be used to produce biological weapons.
He said that Iraq must show the international community where these stocks are or provide evidence that they have been destroyed. He said Baghdad must explain why it is trying to procure material for a nuclear weapon.
"These questions are not academic or trivial. These are questions of life or death," he said.
Mr Powell played down the importance of the rift between America and Europe over Iraq, but made it clear the US would pursue its determination to disarm Iraq by any means necessary, regardless of Europe's attitude.
"We continue to reserve our sovereign right to take military action against Iraq alone or in a coalition of the willing," he said.
The Greek Foreign Minister, Mr George Papandreou, said in Davos that most governments wanted to allow the weapons inspectors more time to do their work.
The French Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said that it would be "wise" to give the weapons inspectors more time if they asked for it. And he insisted that war could still be avoided.
"The international community will only go to war as a last resort, after all other options have been exhausted," he said.
