January 27, 2003	Monday	Ziqa’ad 23,1423

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DAVOS/BAGHDAD, Jan 26: The United States said on Sunday it was ready to attack Iraq alone if allies peeled away, and Britain declared UN inspectors should have time, but not months, to decide if Baghdad was cooperating with them.

Kicking off a week that could hasten or delay a US-led war to disarm Iraq, US Secretary of State Colin Powell sought to win over a cagey Europe for a possible assault on Baghdad.

He mixed reassurances that the Bush administration would be patient and consult its allies with warnings that time was short and the United States would not wait for ever.

“Multilateralism cannot become an excuse for inaction,” Powell told the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.

“We are in no great rush to judgment today or tomorrow, but it is clear that time is running out.”

The UN inspectors report to the Security Council on Monday on their two-month hunt in Iraq for any banned nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Baghdad denies having such arms.

“Today I think the mechanisms are in place. I think it would be very difficult, it would take a miracle to find a dialogue and a peaceful solution out of the crisis.”

HANS BLIX: UN chief arms inspector Hans Blix says Iraq has not filled holes in its arms declaration, is blocking confidential access to scientists and is balking at U-2 surveillance flights.

Blix has said Iraq meets queries about data on anthrax, deadly VX nerve gas and Scud missiles with blunt denials, not evidence or documents to account for any missing material.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, will tell the council his teams have not proved that Iraq is trying to develop atomic bombs, as Washington suspects.

BUSH CRITICISED: The leader of the opposition Democrats in the US Senate, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, told the CBS “Face the Nation” programme on Sunday that Bush had more to do to make the case for war and that the arms inspectors should be given more time.

“The president needs to make a compelling case that Iraq poses a very imminent threat to the United States and...that he has worked through the international community and exhausted all other options,” Daschle said.

—Reuters