UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iraq is providing new information about its weapons and has reported the discovery of two bombs, including one possibly filled with a biological agent — moves that the chief U.N. weapons inspector said Tuesday signal real cooperation.
President Bush, however, predicted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would try to “fool the world one more time” by revealing the existence of weapons he has previously denied having. He urged the United Nations to back U.S. action against Iraq.
Bush said he would welcome a U.N. Security Council vote supporting the U.S. position on using force against Iraq “but I don’t believe we need a second resolution.”
Pentagon officials have said that U.S. forces massed in the region number about 200,000, about half of them Army.
With the Security Council deeply divided over whether Iraq has squandered a final opportunity to disarm, Canada was trying to bridge two competing plans that were introduced Monday: a U.S.-British-Spanish resolution that seeks U.N. authorization for war; and a French-Russian-German proposal to strengthen weapons inspections and continue them at least into July.
Canada, which isn’t on the Security Council, circulated a document to council members Tuesday proposing a series of benchmarks Iraq would have to meet by the end of March. The council would then be asked to vote on whether Iraq was complying with its U.N. obligations.