The weapons inspectors told the UN Security Council that Iraq should be warned of consequences if it did not cooperate -- a position aligned with Washington, which is pressing for a tough, new UN resolution against President Saddam Hussein.

But despite US signs of impatience, the 15-member UN Security Council is still divided over the US draft, with the United States facing a struggle to get the needed nine votes without changing some language in its draft resolution.

"The message from America is this," President Bush told Republican supporters. "If the United Nations doesn't have the will or the courage to disarm (Iraqi leader) Saddam Hussein and Saddam Hussein will not disarm ... the United States will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein."

Bush said Saddam had made the world body "look foolish" by taking advantage of weaknesses in a weapons-inspection program instituted after the 1991 Gulf War.

"The time has come for people to raise their hands and cast their vote," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush traveled to New Mexico and Colorado to campaign ahead of mid-term elections next week.

Echoing US impatience at weeks of wrangling, Britain warned that the United Nations could become sidelined unless diplomats agreed this week on a US-British resolution designed to make Iraq give up its alleged weapons of massive destruction programs.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said Britain wanted negotiators to "bring matters to a head" quickly, adding, "It is coming to the stage where we will have to decide whether this is going to be resolved through the UN or not."

(People's Daily October 29, 2002)