Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix on Friday delivers a key report on Iraq  to the Security Council, after President Bush  vowed to force a vote within days on a resolution authorizing war.In a reminder of just how close Iraq could be to invasion, the head of the British armed forces said in Kuwait his troops were now ready to join any U.S.-led attack.

U.S. and British planes on Friday bombed a mobile radar system in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said. U.N. observers on the Iraq-Kuwait frontier said parts of a fence along the border had been cut down, in apparent preparation for war.

With opposition to war hardening among France, Russia, China and Germany, foreign ministers gather in the 15-member Security Council on Friday to hear reports from U.N. inspectors on Iraq's weapons likely to change few minds. The session opens at 10:30 a.m. EST.

Speeches from undecided members, including Chile, Mexico, Pakistan, Guinea, Angola and Cameroon, will be carefully watched for an indication of support or rejection of a draft U.S.-British-Spanish resolution that declares Iraq has failed to take its last chance to disarm peacefully.

A resolution in the Security Council needs a minimum of nine votes and there must be no veto from its five permanent members -- which include France, Russia and China, who have declared they will not let a war resolution pass, as well as Britain and the United States.

So far the draft resolution sponsored by the United States, Britain and Spain appears to fall short of the nine votes.

WE NEED NO PERMISSION, SAYS BUSH

Bush dismissed Iraq's destruction of some banned missiles in recent days as a charade and reiterated he could launch a war without U.N. approval.

"When it comes to our security, we really don't need anybody's permission," he told a news conference on Thursday. "Yes we will call for a vote, no matter what the whip count is.

"If we need to act we will act and we really don't need United Nations  approval to do so," he said. "It's time for people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam."

Asian and European stock markets fell as Bush's remarks were interpreted to mean war was virtually certain.

U.S. and British diplomats expect a vote on the resolution next week. But reports from Blix and his colleague Mohamed ElBaradei, in charge of nuclear arms teams, are expected to be more positive than Washington would like.

Blix outlines a program of tasks Iraq is expected to perform in accounting for weapons -- giving ammunition to France and Russia who argue inspections are working and must continue.

But his report questions Iraqi statements that it stored all bulk biological warfare agents during the 1991 Gulf War  at the Al Hakam plant and destroyed those unused after the war.

It also says Iraq may be developing new banned missiles and calls on Baghdad to surrender remaining biological and chemical weapons or Scud missiles.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Washington and London were prepared to amend a resolution to give Iraq up to seven days to disarm after its adoption.

Straw told a news conference on Thursday he would "strain every nerve" to persuade a majority to support the resolution."
But the new ultimatum suggested by Straw is not expected to change the minds of France, Russia or China.

Iraq's leading official newspaper on Friday urged Security Council members to block the U.S.-British-Spanish resolution and to reject the "law of the jungle."

AL QAEDA "LINK"

General Mike Jackson, Chief of Staff of the British armed forces, said in Kuwait his troops were ready to attack.

"Four to five days would be ideal," he told reporters. "But even if it was today, it's good to go."

Washington and London argue that a "pre-emptive" war against Iraq is justified on the grounds that Baghdad's military programs could be a source of armaments for terrorist groups like al Qaeda, blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks.

A ruling Kurdish faction in northern Iraq said that after war broke out U.S. forces planned to attack an Islamist group in the region said to have links to al Qaeda.

Washington accuses Ansar al-Islam, an Islamist group that holds territory near the Iranian border, of working with al Qaeda to make chemical weapons and of having ties to an al Qaeda figure it believes played a part in killing a U.S. diplomat.

Pakistani and U.S. forces were searching for al Qaeda members in a mountainous area near the borders with Afghanistan  and Iran amid reports that Osama bin Laden could be in the vicinity.

Residents in the remote region said leaflets were dropped there on Thursday offering rewards for the capture of bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders. President Pervez Musharraf said bin Laden seemed to be alive but added he was unlikely to be in Pakistan, where alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested last weekend.

Musharraf also said Pakistan had still not decided how to vote on any new resolution on Iraq in the U.N. Security Council.

PHOTO CAPTION

Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix on March 7, 2003 delivers a key report on Iraq  to the Security Council, after President Bush  vowed to force a vote within days on a resolution authorizing war. Blix is seen at a March 5 news conference in New York. (Peter Morgan/Reuters)