'We're ready to win a war', says Bush

United States President George W. Bush told troops yesterday he was confident they were ready to win a war with Iraq and urged the United Nations to ensure its credibility by forcing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm.

Standing on a pier with the guided-missile cruiser Philippine Sea moored close by, Bush rallied thousands of cheering sailors and families. He later boarded the ship for lunch with the crew.

If war comes, "America will act deliberately, America will act decisively, and America will act victoriously with the world's greatest military", Bush said at the Mayport naval base near Jacksonville, Florida.

He said he was optimistic that "free nations will show backbone and courage", although a rift with UN Security Council members France and Germany, who want more time for arms inspectors to do their work, showed no signs of healing.

The United States and Britain want a new UN resolution to enforce a November demand that Iraq dismantle alleged weapons of mass destruction, which Baghdad denies possessing.

The US and Britain yesterday seized on a finding that Iraq has missiles of a prohibited range to back their calls for military action.

It gave British Prime Minister Tony Blair fresh ammunition in the war of words among Nato allies and the five members of the UN Security Council who can veto new resolutions authorising military action in Iraq.

But he failed to sway France and Germany, despite a tough letter warning them and other European Union members that the United Nations' authority could be jeopardised if they ruled out war.

A panel of independent arms experts told the UN the range of Iraq's Al Samoud 2 rockets exceeded by up to 40km the 150km limit laid down by UN arms controls.

"If these reports are correct ... it is very serious," Blair said after talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

"It would be not just a failure to declare and disclose information, but a breach of resolution 1441," he said, referring to November's Security Council resolution threatening "serious consequences" if Iraq fails to disarm.

A White House spokeswoman called the missile report a serious and troubling development.

But Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, arriving in Italy to put his case to Europe, countered: "We are still within [missile] limits that are decided by the United Nations."

He said later Iraq no longer had the means to attack Israel in reprisal for a US-led assault, as it did in 1991.

The Chief UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei were due to report to the Security Council on Iraqi compliance this morning.

UN diplomats said Blix might not come to any more damning conclusions about Iraq than he did last month.

President Vladimir Putin was quoted in the French press as saying Russia might block further UN steps against Iraq.

And Russian officials at the UN called the missile issue "a technical matter" rather than a serious violation of arms controls.

As Washington called up more military reservists, a White House spokesman said talks on the language of a new UN disarmament resolution were under way.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has accepted an invitation to address an emergency summit of the EU on Monday.

He has warned against military action being taken against Iraq without UN approval.

However, the divisions do not extend to all areas of the campaign against Iraq. France backed the United States when a US official said it was unacceptable for Iraq to take its turn next month as president of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.

In other developments, US officials said small units of elite special forces were already inside Iraq, laying the foundation for any invasion.

US intelligence has detected movement of large amounts of explosives into southern Iraq by the Iraqi military, perhaps to destroy oil wells in the event of attack, they said.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services committee the US did not generally rule out using nuclear weapons, but said he was confident they would not be needed in a conflict with Iraq.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq