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And just hours after Tony Blair said the UN should be "given time" to continue inspections, Mr Powell said "time was running out" for the international community to act to disarm Saddam Hussein. "How much more time does Iraq need to have to answer the questions?" he told the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. "It's not about time, it's about telling the truth. "The US believes time is running out and will not shrink from war." 'Trust' Mr Blair had earlier said the inspectors must be "given time to do the job" - a move that could set him on collision course with hawks in the Bush administration. But Mr Powell, in a speech in which he spoke extensively about "trust", said Iraq had fallen far short of accounting for its weapons programmes. "Where is the evidence that Iraq had destroyed the 10,000 litres of anthrax and botchulism? These are questions of life and death." As chief weapons inspector Hans Blix prepares to deliver his report to the UN Security Council on Monday, Mr Powell again insisted Iraq was deceiving UN weapons inspectors. 'Right to attack' "He is still not providing inspectors with the details they need to do their jobs and provide the information needed to to comply with its international obligations," he said. Mr Powell asserted that America would attack Iraq - alone or in a coaltion - to disarm the regime. "We will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its wepaons of mass destruction. We continue to reserve our sovereign right to take military action against Iraq alone or in a coalition of the willing," he said. Mr Powell said the US would study Dr Bix's report and there would be "no rush to judge". More follows .. |
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