"We're days away from resolving this issue," Bush

UNITED NATIONS, March 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the UN Security Council Friday, March 7, is set to debate a highly contentious resolution on whether - and when - to use military force against Iraq, British Premier Tony Blair and U.S. President George Bush expressed confidence late Thursday that they would secure approval for war.

The resolution, sponsored by the United States, Britain and Spain, has already bared deep divisions on the 15-member Council and been the object of heavy lobbying and arm-twisting by Washington.

So critical is the resolution deemed to be that 11 Foreign Ministers and one deputy minister are in New York to stand in for their countries' ambassadors at the meeting.

The meeting is to start at 10:00 am (1500 GMT) with a public briefing by the chief UN arms inspector for Iraq, Hans Blix, and the director general of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The anxious world will listen keenly Friday as Blix returns to the divided Council to offer what is likely to be a moderately upbeat report of where Iraq now stands in meeting its disarmament obligations, according to The Independent.

Blix insisted Thursday that it was not for him to declare whether the crisis would end with war or a peaceful resolution. But his words may determine anyway whether there will be conflict or not.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will attend the meeting but is not expected to speak.

The 12 Ministers will take the floor in the public session, followed by ambassadors representing the three other Council members.

Protocol dictates that German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer and his Syrian counterpart, Faruq al-Shara, speak first as they are also deputy heads of government.

Council members drew lots Thursday to decide that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will speak fourth, after his Mexican counterpart, Luis Derbez.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will speak fifth, followed in order by Dominique de Villepin of France, Tang Jiaxuan of China, Ana Palacio of Spain and Britain's Jack Straw.

Angola and Cameroon have confirmed that they too will send their Foreign Ministers, but Bulgaria, Pakistan and Guinea - this month's Council president - are expected to be represented by ambassadors.

"Last Phase Of Diplomacy"

Straw is facing a tough mission in New York

On the eve of the meeting, Bush put the pressure on the Council by saying the issue was "an important moment for...the Security Council itself," and in effect challenged the Council to back its words with actions.

"The issue facing the Council is whether its words mean anything, whether they have merit and weight," he said in a White House press conference.

"It's time for this issue to come to a head at the Security Council and it will," said Bush. "We're days away from resolving this issue.."

In a live televised press conference at the White House, Bush brusquely dismissed the notion that UN weapons inspections should continue. "A little bit more time? Saddam Hussein had 12 years to disarm."

His voice notably grave, he added: "We are determined to confront threats wherever they arise. And I will not leave the American people at the mercy of the Iraqi dictator and his weapons."

Three Days, Then War

A new clause, added to the draft resolution, could give Iraq as little as 72 hours to surrender its weapons of mass destruction before U.S. bombs begin to fall if Baghdad failed to comply, reported The daily Telegraph.

Arriving in New York, Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, said the planned amendment would not give Iraq any "wiggle room". Iraq has been wiggling for the past 12 years and made a mockery of the international community," he claimed.

Senior Bush officials told the New York Times that the deadline would be as short as 72 hours and was expected to be set next week.

In London, officials said the ultimatum would be included only if it were clear that waverers on the Security Council would support it, giving America and Britain the nine "yes" votes they needed for the resolution to pass.

The British offer was designed to win over the wavering states, which have been under great pressure to back America and Britain. Some have said that a clear ultimatum might meet their concerns.

In a further attempt to sway them, Straw said that Britain would "strain every nerve" to avoid conflict.

Under the new proposals, the ultimatum to Iraq would be timed to expire after the resolution was passed, allowing Council members such as Pakistan and Chile to argue that their votes had not brought about military action, according to the Telegraph.

“War With or Without UN Mandate”

Blair, for his part, signaled that he would be prepared to go to war even without United Nations backing. Until now, he has reserved the right to use force without UN authorization in the event of one Security Council member wielding an "unreasonable veto".

In a debate on the music television channel MTV, Blair appeared to extend that reservation to include multiple vetoes.

He made his comments 24 hours after France and Russia, both permanent Security Council members with veto powers, indicated that they were still opposed to early military action. China said Thursday that it agreed with the anti-war states but refused to say whether it would use its veto.

Blair said that, with hundreds of thousands of troops in the Gulf, time for “Saddam” to disarm or go into “exile” was running short.