Blix said Baghdad is making an effort, while Bush says "the game is over"

VIENNA, February 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said Friday, February 7, that Baghdad was making an effort to cooperate with UN arms inspectors seeking evidence in Iraq of alleged weapons of mass destruction, as U.S. President George W. Bush warned Baghdad "the game is over" and underscored his readiness for war with or without UN authorization.

"It seems they are making an effort," Blix told reporters in Vienna, where the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is based, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

The United Nations said on Friday its arms experts had held their first private interview with an Iraqi scientist.

An Iraqi biologist was questioned for more than three hours on Thursday evening, it said.

The three and a half hour interview with an Iraqi biologist came as Iraq braced Friday for a final week of scrutiny by UN weapons inspectors before they are to deliver fresh conclusions to the UN Security Council.

‘Game Over’

Meanwhile, Bush warned Baghdad "the game is over" and underscored his readiness for war with or without UN authorization.

Bush warned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein Thursday: "The game is over. All the world can rise to this moment. The community of free nations can show that it is strong and confident and determined to keep the peace."

Bush also stepped up pressure for a new Security Council resolution to trigger military action while declaring that "the United States, along with a growing coalition of nations, is resolved to take whatever action is necessary to defend ourselves and disarm the Iraqi regime."

But Russia responded Friday by saying there was no need yet for new action by the 15-member council.

Bush's statement Thursday - beamed around the world - came amid unenthusiastic reaction from key capitals including Paris and Moscow to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's allegations before the Security Council that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Diplomats said any early shift in opinion at the Security Council - where France and Russia are among the Big Five with veto power - would depend on a visit to Baghdad this weekend by chief arms inspector Blix and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammed ElBaradei.

"The next 10 days are going to very intense," a diplomat said, noting that the two officials are to report back to the Security Council on February 14.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said that future action on Iraq should depend on the report by Blix and ElBaradei.

Later Thursday, Iraqi officials were due to take reporters to two sites cited by Powell as harboring banned weapons activities.

Presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi had Thursday described Powell's charges as "unworthy of a superpower" and intended mainly for the uninformed to persuade them, for war preparations, and to undermine the UN bodies charged with implementing UN disarmament resolutions.

Saadi also said Iraq had been heartened by the response of other countries that refused to be influenced by Powell's presentation.

He had warned Thursday: "We hope that at this late hour they (Iraq) will come to a positive response. If they do not do that, then our reports next Friday (to the UN Security Council) will not be what we would like them to be."

Powell said the chief inspectors' visit this weekend could decide Iraq's fate.

"I think it will start to come to a head when Dr Blix and Dr ElBaradei return from Baghdad and we see whether or not there is any serious chance of progress. I would say that within weeks ... we will know enough to bring this to a conclusion one way or the other."

“Reshaping The Middle East”

Meanwhile U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said international "momentum is building" to disarm Baghdad as he prepared to join at least 30 other defense and foreign ministers in Munich for an annual security conference.

He cited a letter of support for Washington's stance, signed by eight European governments, and a similar statement by a group of central and east European countries dubbed the "Vilnius 10."

Rumsfeld, who has angered European officials and commentators by describing Paris and staunchly pacifist Berlin as part of an "old Europe", was quoted by the German media as likening Germany's anti-war stance to those of Libya and Cuba.

Powell told a U.S. congressional hearing Thursday that ousting Saddam's regime could fundamentally “reshape” the Middle East in a positive way for the United States and its allies.

Asked to consider the disturbances and a possible backlash that could be unleashed by a U.S. invasion of Iraq, he told the Senate foreign relations committee he believed such an impact could be managed.

"Even though there may be some difficulties in the days of a conflict or even in the months after a conflict ... there is also the possibility that success could fundamentally reshape that region in a positive way that will enhance U.S. interests, especially if in the aftermath of that conflict we are also able to achieve progress on the Middle East peace," Powell noted.

For his part, Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon said a U.S. offensive against Iraq would trigger a "regional earthquake" whatever the outcome.

"In the coming weeks, an U.S. attack in Iraq will trigger a regional earthquake, which will “reshape” (the Middle East)," Yaalon told the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily in an interview published Friday.

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