Bush urges UN to back him or let him attack Iraq

Before an anxiously awaiting world, President Bush will urge the United Nations today to deal once and for all with the problem of Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction programmes, or face the prospect the US will do so on its own.

Mr Bush's advisers are keeping secret the precise contents of the speech, whose every nuance will be parsed. Indeed, signs were that the final text had not been settled, as hawks and relative moderates in the administration battled to have their views reflected.

But a pre-emptive note of caution was sounded by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who said that the United States should not take action against Saddam without UN Security Council backing.

In remarks prepared for delivery to the opening of the General Assembly ministerial meeting, Mr Annan called on Saddam to admit UN weapons inspectors or face any consequences the Security Council might impose, while also emphasizing he opposed unilateral US action against Iraq.

"When states decide to use force to deal with broader threats to international peace and security, there is no substitute for the unique legitimacy provided by the United Nations," he said.

To underline the importance of Mr Annan's remarks, the UN released his speech early today.

The presumed leader of the Washhington moderates, Colin Powell the Secretary of State is leaving no doubt that while the President accepts the UN Security Council must be involved in the process, he will not allow it to become a tool of prevarication and delay in the hands of Saddam Hussein.

In a new sign that preparations for an attack are intensifying, elements of US Central Command, which would handle a military campaign against Iraq, are being moved from Tampa Bay, Florida, to the al-Udeid air base in Qatar. The base has been earmarked as a replacement for Saudi facilities likely to be denied the US by the Riyadh government.

Whisked off once more to a "secure undisclosed location" Vice-President Dick Cheney – a leader of the hawks' faction which seems to have Mr Bush's ear – raised the spectre of a link between the Iraqi dictator and al-Qa'ida, a connection the administration has thus far failed to establish.

Foreshadowing an argument that Mr Bush is likely to take to the General Assembly, Mr Cheney warned in a videotaped message of the risk of dictators obtaining weapons of mass destruction and then sharing them terrorist groups.

It was not clear last night whether Mr Bush would demand a firm deadline for unfettered weapons inspections to restart. Nor is he expected to present hard new evidence of Saddam's alleged weapons build-up. But US officials say he will go through the litany of UN resolutions since 1991 of which Iraq is in violation, culminating in the enforced departure of UN weapons inspectors from Iraq in December 1998, since when they have not set foot in the country, arguing that every sign points to Saddam having used the hiatus to pursue his weapons programmes.

In essence, the President will tell the world body that its own credibility is on the line over Iraq. But for all the sympathy for the US rekindled by the first anniversary of 11 September, Tony Blair remains the only major leader unequivocally behind him – and even Mr Blair, facing fierce domestic opposition, accepts the process must pass through the UN.

In a BBC interview, Kofi Annan acknowledged that the UN charter gives countries the right to self-defence, as claimed by Mr Bush. "But it's extremely important that action should be multilateral, which means sanctioned by the Security Council," he said.

Unilateral action, "or with one or two countries," could have quite unpredictable consequences, he continued, warning implicitly that a US-British campaign could splinter Iraq and further destabilise the region.