President Bush warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Wednesday that his days would be numbered if he carried on denying having weapons of mass destruction. Saddam's government has promised to comply with U.N. demands that it submit a full inventory of its arms programs by December 8 but has so far denied possessing weapons of mass destruction.
"Saddam Hussein has been given a very short time to declare completely and truthfully his arsenal of terror," Bush told students in an address on the eve of a NATO summit in Prague.

"Should he again deny that this arsenal exists, he will have entered his final stage with a lie, and deception this time will not be tolerated. Delay and defiance will invite the severest consequences," the U.S. president said.

As if to underline the threat, U.S. officials said they were consulting some 50 countries about what they might contribute to any U.S.-led war on Iraq -- from soldiers to hard cash.

And in a kind of skirmish becoming ever more frequent, U.S. and British warplanes attacked civilian targets in southern Iraq on Wednesday but were driven off by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire, Baghdad said.

U.S. and British jets patrol the "no-fly" zones over southern and northern Iraq created after the Gulf War to protect Shi'ites and Kurds from Iraqi troops. They are not recognized by Baghdad.

U.S. officials have said that continued firing by Iraqi anti-aircraft forces at the patrolling jets is a direct violation of the November 8 U.N. resolution on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction -- a view not shared by most other governments.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix left Baghdad on Wednesday saying Iraqi officials had promised him full cooperation. He made a two-day trip to Iraq to launch preparations by arms inspectors to resume the hunt for banned weapons suspended four years ago.

Iraqi newspapers said on Wednesday the inspectors would soon verify that Iraq had no such weapons and the United Nations should lift sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 requires Baghdad to grant inspectors unfettered access to suspect sites.

FIRST BIG TEST

Under that resolution, the first big test for Iraq is the December 8 deadline for it to submit a full account of all banned weapons programs.

Iraq has said it will meet the deadline and give the inspectors full access to all sites across the country.

IRAQI OPPOSITION FACES FURTHER EMBARRASSMENT

The Iraqi opposition in exile faced further embarrassment when its third attempt to prepare for a U.S.-backed role in the future of Iraq descended into squabbling.

Britain gave its approval on Wednesday for the opposition to hold a conference in London next month to discuss how Iraq would be governed if Saddam were removed.

But despite U.S. intervention, Ahmad Chalabi, the exile with the best connections in Washington, and his religious and Kurdish opponents cannot agree on who should attend.

The future of the conference is now in doubt, according to opposition sources close to a committee of six parties preparing the meeting.

PHOTO CAPTION

President George W. Bush (news - web sites) delivers a speech to the Atlantic Student Summit in Prague November 20. Bush warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) that should he deny possessing weapons of mass destruction, he will have entered his 'final stage' as Iraq's leader. (Kevin Lamarque/Reut