WASHINGTON, Jan 5: US President George Bush returns to Washington on Sunday (Monday morning in Pakistan) and he is expected to decide on taking military action against Iraq.

“He (President Saddam) is got to understand his day of reckoning is coming,” Bush warned on Thursday as he invited a small group of reporters to tour his 650 hectare ranch in Texas.

Bush said he remained unconvinced by Iraqi officials’ denials that their country possessed banned nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

If Saddam refuses to disarm, he said, “we will lead a coalition to disarm them.”

Bush continues to say that he has not made the decision to invade Iraq, but is leaving nothing to chance.

For months, US troops have been moving into the Gulf region and now number 65,000. Reinforcements are soon to bring that number to 90,000.

“I would say that at this point we’re pretty close to inevitability,” Senator Rick Santorum told Fox News Sunday.

“I think it becomes more and more likely,” Senator John McCain told CBS’s Face the Nation.—AFP