Bush renews coalition threat

PHOENIX - An increasingly impatient President George W. Bush has vowed the United States will lead a coalition to disarm Iraq if the United Nations Security Council fails to act, as negotiations for a tough new UN resolution enter a decisive week.

France and Russia are leading opposition to a US draft resolution. They fear the text could be interpreted as a hidden trigger for military action against Iraq before UN arms inspectors have a chance to account for any of Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction.

Increasingly, the US sounds ready to break off negotiations and put together its own coalition to force Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to give up suspected weapons of mass destruction.

"If the United Nations won't act, if Saddam Hussein will not act, if he continues to defy the world, the United States in the name of peace will lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein," Bush said to a standing ovation from Republican faithful at a political rally in Phoenix.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, who said on Sunday it would not be hard to form a coalition against Iraq, said yesterday that UN negotiators were facing a key week.

"We will see what happens in New York. This is the United Nations' chance to do some good or this is the United Nations' chance to fail."

Fleischer called on the UN to remember Bush's September 12 speech there, when he said the United States would act on its own if the United Nations did not act.

Bush came to Phoenix after attending the Apec summit in Mexico.

- REUTERS

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