The United States was reportedly set to declare Baghdad in violation of UN disarmament resolution 1441 this week as weapons inspections moved into their fourth week in Iraq.However Washingon was unlikely to call for an immediate war to punish the regime of President Saddam Hussein, The New York Times said Wednesday.

The US assessment of the 12,000-page report Baghdad turned over to the United Nations on December 8 would be made on Thursday, coinciding with UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix's review of the Iraqi declaration to the Security Council, senior US officials told the daily.

The Washington Post said the US government's public assessment would come on Friday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Bush administration "is likely to declare Iraq in 'material breach' of the latest" UN resolution, but said the announcement would come Thursday.

The Times, quoting unnamed senior administration officials, said a national security meeting was scheduled for Wednesday morning, at which President George W. Bush "will consider whether to declare Iraq in 'material breach' of its obligations."

The three dailies agreed that the US declaration would be used not to declare war on Iraq, but to put more pressure on the United Nations to be tougher on Baghdad.

The Washington Post said US officials and UN inspectors saw the upcoming declaration as "marking the beginning of a new phase in their efforts to disarm Iraq."

"What you will see will be a patient White House, very concerned about another failure by Iraq to cooperate but willing to allow the weapons inspections to go ahead," said one administration official.

In New York, a sanitized version of Iraq's armaments report was distributed to the 15 members of the UN Security Council late Tuesday.

The edited 3,000-page version was stripped of sensitive material that could be used to advance a nascent nuclear program and hence judged not to be entrusted to the non-permanent council members, which include Syria.

Meanwhile on the ground in Iraq, UN arms inspections moved into their fourth week with several teams of experts deployed accross the country hunting for suspected arms of mass destruction.

At least three teams from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) drove out of their headquarters in Baghdad on Wednesday morning.

And one UNMOVIC biological team and a group of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts were probing plants in the northern region of Mosul where they deployed Tuesday, the official Iraqi News Agency said.

UN weapons experts returned to Baghdad on November 25 and resumed field inspections on November 27, after a four-year absence.

UN spokesman Hiro Ueki told journalistsTuesday that some 100 inspections had already been carried out at around 80 sites and there had been no real trouble.

After a conference of Iraqi dissidents concluded in London with a US-sponsored deal to close ranks and form a panel in anticipation of a post-Saddam Hussein era, a Baghdad newspaper on Wednesday warned the opposition not to forget the 1991 "lesson" when Saddam's troops smashed Shiite and Kurdish uprisings staged after the Gulf war.

"In 1991, when the evil US administration gathered the puppets ... and its tools carried out the episode of treachery and treason, the sons of the great Iraq smashed them," said Al-Iraq daily.

"That's the lesson the honest Iraqis had taught to their enemies and those who stand behind them," added the newspaper, mouthpiece of Kurdish groups loyal to president Saddam.

Also in London, newspapers reported that a British task force will be heading towards Iraq within weeks, even though the government insists that no decision had been taken on military action.

The Independent said that more than 40,000 army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force personnel, as well as about 100 tanks, would contribute to a US-led coalition army of more than 250,000 men, which could go into action as early as the end of next month.

The Daily Telegraph put the figure at more than 20,000 troops.

And in Sydney, Prime Minister John Howard confirmed that Australia has begun preparations for war amid reports that defence commanders were gearing up for a March campaign.

Sydney's Daily Telegraph quoted senior military officers as saying they expected Bush to give the green light early next month to begin final 60-day preparations for a desert war.

Elite troops of the Special Air Services (SAS) Regiment, all battle-hardened by service in Afghanistan, would spearhead Australia's involvement as US and British forces lead major air and ground assaults, the paper said.

The Australian war plan was said to include a command headquarters, three warships -- including an amphibious command ship, a flight of RAAF F/A 18 Hornet fighters, plus Orion maritime patrol aircraft and a 707 jet tanker.

The Telegraph said about 20 Australian officers were already attached to the US Gulf headquarters in Qatar.

PHOTO CAPTION

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld speaks at the Pentagon