Britain backs compromise in desperate quest for UN backing

Britain and the United States delayed the UN vote on a resolution to give Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to disarm, as British diplomats suggested compromise proposals to try to win support from Security Council members who oppose a rush to war.

During a private council meeting early today, diplomats said Britain's UN Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock suggested a two-phase approach to the draft resolution. Under the proposal, Saddam would have 10 days to prove that Iraq has taken a "strategic decision" to disarm, which could be done with a series of tests or "benchmarks".

If Iraq makes that decision, a second phase would begin with more time to verify Iraq's full disarmament, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"There is a two-stage process," Mr Greenstock said. "One is to be convinced that Iraq is co-operating, the other is to disarm Iraq completely."

Security Council ambassadors said Britain made clear that the timeline would still be the end of March — meaning that the most time Iraq could hope to get would be about two weeks if the resolution passed this week.

The meeting came as a row erupted over revelations in a new 173-page report by the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, last Friday that his teams recently uncovered a large unmanned aircraft, or drone, that could be capable of spraying biological or chemical agents.

The United States was expected to challenge Mr Blix on the drone issue. His report, which gives a history of Iraq's weapons programmes over decades, also raises alarm bells on numerous fronts, including fears that President Saddam may still have quantities of anthrax and VX as well as cluster bombs able to disperse them.

The latest manoeuvres reflect deep anxiety in London that it still does not have sufficient support for a new resolution. The addition of benchmark tests for President Saddam might help win over the six wavering Council states but it is unlikely to impress those firmly opposed to it, including those countries wielding a veto: France, Russia and China.

However, Washington is likely to resist the suggestion of specific demands or changing the deadline, exposing a breach between the British and American positions. The White House fears that setting the tests may allow Iraq to spin out the process and continue to divide the Council.

Britain and the US are angry that at his briefing to the Security Council last week, Mr Blix failed to speak explicitly of the discovered drone. Tony Blair, telephoned Mr Blix last night and raised the drone question. Aides to Mr Blix insisted, however, that the Swede had made a clear reference to the aircraft and that UN members were provided simultaneously with the report, including the pages where it is discussed.

The report states in its early pages that "recent inspections have also revealed the existence of a drone with a wingspan of 7.45 metres that has not been declared by Iraq". The US is expected to argue that this is precisely the kind of "smoking gun" it has been waiting for to justify war. It will try to persuade wavering countries that the drone's discovery should be enough for them to support a new resolution.

Officials close to Mr Blix also confirmed that inspectors had recently found a number of items that could represent an effort by Iraq to develop cluster bombs for the dispersal of chemical or biological materials. The new report notes that the UN inspectors found a "component of a 122mm [chemical/biological warfare] cluster submunition in a warehouse" last month. The report says: "The foregoing suggests that Iraq's interest in cluster munitions, and the developments it did make, may have progressed well beyond what it had declared."

On anthrax, the report is even more ominous. "The strong presumption is that about 10,000 litres of anthrax were not destroyed and may still exist". It adds that Iraq "currently possesses the technology and materials," including fermenters, bacterial growth media and seed stock, to produce anthrax.

* Five Iraqi diplomats have been expelled from Romania for "activities incompatible with their status", the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. The move came after the United States expelled two UN-based Iraqi diplomats last week, while Australia said an Iraqi diplomat accused of being an Iraqi intelligence officer had been ordered to leave the country by tomorrow.

US officials say they have identified 300 Iraqis in 60 countries – some operating as diplomats out of Iraqi embassies – whom it wants expelled. They argue that the alleged agents could attack American interests overseas. Iraq has denounced the US request and called it "a frantic campaign" by the CIA.