UN advisers to chief weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix will today begin compiling a list of unresolved questions on banned Iraqi weapons which will become crucial in deciding whether the UN Security Council votes for war with Iraq in the coming days.
The list will include unaccounted for VX poison gas, anthrax components and 6,500 explosives and missile warheads declared by Baghdad in 1991 but whose alleged destruction has never been verified, according to UN officials.
The US and Britain worked over the weekend to finalise the wording of a new resolution declaring Iraq in material breach of its disarmament obligations, which will be circulated to council members for a vote early in March.
Now more than ever Baghdad's response to urgent requests from Dr Blix - who in an interview published today says Iraq still lacks credibility - could decide the outcome of the struggle for support in the Security Council.
Iraq has yet to provide documentation showing that chemical and biological weapons stocks were destroyed, and has not responded to an order from Dr Blix on Friday that it destroy its 100 or so al-Samoud 2 missiles by next Saturday as their range exceeds a UN limit of 150 kms.
If President Saddam Hussein does order their destruction, the Iraqi leader will provide some substance to the French argument that inspections are working, but he can expect no credit from the US.
President Bush called the al-Samoud 2 missiles "just the tip of the iceberg", adding that "however many he's going to destroy, \ says to me that he's got a lot more weapons to destroy and why hasn't he destroyed them yet".
At a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr José Maria Aznar, at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Saturday, Mr Bush expressed confidence he could get a majority for a new resolution, despite growing anti-war sentiment throughout the world.
Mr Bush and Mr Aznar held a conference call with the British and Italian Prime Ministers, Mr Tony Blair and Mr Silvio Berlusconi, to discuss a wording that would give the resolution a chance of passing while endorsing a US-led invasion of Iraq.
Yesterday Syria turned down a request from the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, to back the US position.
Only Spain and Bulgaria support the US and Britain on the 15-member Security Council, where a resolution needs nine votes, and must avoid a veto from China, France or Russia.
The UN document being studied today by a 16-nation group that advises the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) is likely to underline whether or not hardware and documents are forthcoming from Baghdad.
In a Time magazine interview today, Dr Blix says Iraq cannot be trusted to disarm, but only the Security Council could decide when to end inspections.
"Of course they have no credibility. If they had any, they certainly lost it in 1991. I don't see that they have acquired any credibility," he said of the Iraqi regime.
"There has to be solid evidence of everything, and if there is not evidence or you can't find it, I simply say sorry, I don't find any evidence and I cannot guarantee or recommend any confidence. It might be there, it might not be there."
Dr Blix is expected to make a further report to the Security Council on March 7th, after which the resolution could move to a vote.