Bush seizes the moment to push UN

Bolstered by sweeping Republican gains in the congressional elections, the Bush administration submitted to the United Nations Security Council yesterday a draft resolution on Iraq that leaves the door open to war against Saddam Hussein at any time.

The keenly awaited diplomatic move, which America wants to see followed by a vote as early as today, has been given new weight by President George Bush's personal triumph in winning control of both the Senate and House of Representatives on Tuesday – only the third time in 100 years the party of a sitting president has improved its position in a mid-term vote.

Mr Bush's victory will strengthen the administration's hand in forcing the disarmament of Iraq, by force if necessary. Though Congress has already given him broad authority to go to war, this week's vote will be seen as a mandate for war. During his unprecedented intense campaigning, Mr Bush never missed a chance to denounce President Saddam and demand tough action from the UN.

Yesterday the Security Council's moment of truth was at hand. The revised version of the British-American draft resolution – the third, and Washington insists the last of its kind – gives some ground to French concerns that it should not amount to a licence for an offensive against Baghdad. None the less it leaves the door open to military action at any time.

American diplomats in New York said they were optimistic that the draft, which comes after eight weeks of tense global negotiating, will be adopted by the full Council before the end of the week. However, neither France nor Russia, which led opposition to earlier texts, said if they were ready to support it.

The resolution declares at the outset that Iraq is in "material breach" of existing resolutions obliging it, under the terms of the Gulf War ceasefire, to rid itself of all weapons of mass destruction. It adds that the Council is giving Iraq a "final opportunity" to comply.

Passage of the resolution will at last give the green light to Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, to deploy his teams in Iraq. With enhanced powers he will have 45 days to get his inspectors on the ground and will be expected to submit a first report on progress to the Council after another 60 days.

The text warns Iraq that if it makes "false statements or omissions" in dealing with Mr Blix or fails to co-operate with inspectors that would "constitute a further material breach" – wording that is diplomatic code for grounds for war.

In a nod to Paris, the US has agreed that the Council will be convened to consider a response at the first signs of trouble from Iraq. But Washington did not accept France's demand that a resolution would need to be passed at that time. The resolution "will not handcuff the United States", said the White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Though the White House was anxious not to seem to gloat over the mid-term election results, the victory will give new tailwind to Mr Bush's conservative tax-cutting and national security agenda. Republican candidates "ran strongly on his agenda and they won on that agenda," said Mr Fleischer.

With almost all returns in, Republicans had increased their majority in the House to 227-206, a net gain of at least four seats. Even sweeter was their capture of the Senate. The Louisiana race will only be settled by a run-off in December, but the Republicans are assured of at least 51 seats in the 100-member Senate, compared with 50-49 Democratic control in the outgoing Congress.