March 7, 2003	Friday	Muharram 3, 1424

UNITED NATIONS, March 6: US Secretary of State Colin Powell and the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw are expected to lobby hard to secure nine votes in the 15 member UN Security Council to table a draft resolution authorizing war against Iraq.

While the British foreign secretary arrived in New York on Thursday, Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected at the United Nations to persuade the badly divided Security Council to vote for the resolution ahead of its meeting on Friday.

UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei are to deliver a new update on progress to remove weapons of mass destruction from Iraq.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is expected to announce a short deadline for Iraq to comply.

The British approach may be the only way to persuade undecided Security Council members to back a US-British-Spanish resolution authorizing war after France, Russia and Germany said they would block the measure, the diplomats said.

As expected, China backed France and Russia on Thursday. All three states have the power to veto a resolution. If the proposals move, it would mean some additional wording in the resolution to appease the divided council members.

On Wednesday Powell cautioned that holding back would send a “terrible message” to “tyrants” everywhere.

He also warned again that if the UN Security Council does not act, the US and its coalition partners are prepared to disarm Iraq by force and take responsibility for Iraq’s future after a war. Meanwhile, in more intensified activity against Iraq, the United States ordered two UN-based Iraqi diplomats to leave the country and asked 60 countries to expel alleged Iraqi agents who could attack American interests overseas.

The government has identified 300 Iraqis in 60 countries, said the US officials. Some are operating as diplomats out of Iraqi embassies, and foreign governments are expected to comply with the US request, the officials said.

President Bush is scheduled to address a press conference today. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush’s opening statement in the East Room would address “the successes in the war against terror as well as the importance of disarming Saddam Hussein.”

He, however, said Bush has not decided whether to wage war. Complicating US-British efforts was the statement by UN Chief Inspector Blix on Wednesday that Iraq is now providing “a great deal more” cooperation and painted a more positive picture of Iraq’s disarmament efforts than he did a week ago.