As U.N. arms inspectors prepared to give the Security Council a crucial report on Iraq Monday, U.S. and British officials said they had the proof Baghdad was hiding banned weapons, laying it open to attack. Hours before the Council session in New York, due to start at 10:30 a.m., the United States made clear it would go into battle alone against Baghdad if it could not muster support among a deeply divided international community.

But officials have been dropping hints that the inspectors may be given a few more weeks to pursue their work before Washington and London decide that time is up, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein  is not cooperating and the only option is war.

"Time is running out for Saddam Hussein, he has had a lot of time, 12 years, to fully comply. We'll make decisions on exactly how much time later today in the light of the U.N. report," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Washington's close ally.

Iraq Monday again said claims that it has weapons of mass destruction were lies and that the ball was in the U.S. court; Baghdad had done all it could, Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said.

With France, Russia and China contesting the hard-line U.S.-British stance, chief inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei are unlikely in their reports to clearly favor either supporters or opponents of military action soon.

After two months and more than 350 inspections since U.N. searches resumed after a four-year break, the reports on Iraq's alleged chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs may give some ammunition to both sides.

Secretary of State Colin Powell  said in an Italian newspaper interview published Monday that Washington had "several pieces of information" from its intelligence agencies showing Iraq still had prohibited weapons.

"Once we have made sure it can be done safely, I think that in the next week or soon after we can make public a good part of this material," he told the Corriere della Sera.

INTELLIGENCE SHARING

In London, British officials said they had given the inspectors intelligence showing Iraq was hiding chemical warfare munitions, missile engines and secret documents about weapons programs. In one case, missile parts were sneaked out of a production site before inspectors arrived, they said.

Britain had also told the inspectors that Iraq was spying on them, bugging hotel rooms and even staging fake car accidents and other diversions to keep them from reaching certain sites.

But Sabri said Powell had "repeated lies that no one believes any more" and Iraqi cooperation with the inspectors had been "super."

"The ball is in their court. We have done everything possible to let this country and the region avoid war...death and destruction. They are the ones escalating this situation, making threats and fabrications," he told a news conference.

Blix, in charge of ridding Iraq of chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles, is expected in his report to be critical about Iraq's cooperation but not come to a conclusion on whether Iraq is rebuilding its arsenal.

He has said he will report that Iraq did not account fully for its dangerous weapons in a 12,000-page declaration submitted on December 7. He is also expected to say Baghdad has hampered interviews with Iraqi scientists and blocked the use of U2 surveillance flights over all parts of Iraq.

ElBaradei, director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected to be inconclusive on the nuclear side.

"In the report, we will say that we're not yet ready to be able to decide whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction at this point in time or not," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told Germany's Radio Eins Monday.

In Iraq, the U.N. inspectors continued work as normal. Teams visited sites in or near Baghdad, including al-Amiriya medicine stores, and drove to Basra 330 miles south of the capital, Iraqi officials said.

Iraq's state-controlled newspapers repeated warnings that any U.S. attack would come to grief.

"Death is the fate that (the United States) should think about before anything else," al-Jumhouriya said. "It should realize that there are 25 million suicide attackers born in Baghdad and Iraq's cities, villages and desert."

SKEPTICAL WORLD

Secretary of State Powell brought the U.S. case for military action to a highly skeptical audience at the World Economic Forum  at Davos in the Swiss Alps Sunday.

"We are in no great rush to judgment tomorrow, or the day after, but clearly time is running out," Powell said."

"We will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. When we feel strongly about something, we will lead, we will act, even if others are not prepared to join us."

The Security Council debates the crisis Wednesday. Germany, holding the rotating council presidency for February, would like another report from the inspectors on February 14.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair , who has sent thousands of troops to join a U.S. military build-up in the Gulf, said on Sunday inspections should continue for a bit longer.

"I don't believe it will take them months to find out whether he is cooperating or not, but they should have whatever time they need," Blair said on BBC television.

Some analysts believe the United States and Britain may give Iraq an ultimatum setting out steps Saddam must take to avert an attack. Blair meets President Bush  Friday.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell answers questions from the audience during the fourth day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2003. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
- Jan 26 9:04 AM ET