Secretary of State Colin Powell will use satellite photographs and recorded Iraqi conversations on Wednesday to try to persuade a skeptical world that Iraq is concealing its weapons of mass destruction and that war may be necessary to disarm it, U.S. officials said. Powell's "multimedia" presentation at the U.N. Security Council, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EST, may be the United States' last, best chance to convince many of its key allies such as France, Russia and China as well as world opinion that Iraq constitutes a clear and present danger.

While none of the U.N. Security Council's members believe Iraq has offered its unstinting cooperation to the U.N. weapons inspectors searching the country for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs, many believe they deserve more time.

That view clashes with President Bush's stand that Baghdad has weeks, not months, to bow to the will of the United Nations and give up its suspected arms or face a U.S.-led military campaign.

A Rare Saddam Televised Interview

In a rare television interview broadcast on Tuesday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) flatly denied Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction. "Prove it," Powell shot back.

A Bush administration official who asked not to be named said that Powell's presentation "includes photographs, transcripts, other information we have from solid sources."

"The goal is to bolster the statements already made by the inspectors to show how the Iraqis are hiding evidence, hiding weapons and in fact maintaining their weapons programs even while the inspections go on," the official added.

Military Build up Continues

The U.S. military continued to build up its forces on Tuesday as the Pentagon deployed the F-117A stealth fighters that bombed Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf war and the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier set sail toward the Middle East.

In another sign the region is bracing for war, Kuwait said it would close the northern half of the country bordering Iraq from Feb. 15 to step up training to defend against any attack.

Russia, China and France, which have veto power in the council, along with a majority of other council members, are still jittery about a war that might spark additional acts of terrorism and popular uprisings throughout the Middle East.

No Solid Link to Al-Qaeda

With U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet at his side and an array of U.S. intelligence at his disposal, U.S. officials said Powell planned to discuss Iraq's weapons programs, its efforts to hide them and its ties to "terrorist" groups including Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Al Qaeda is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed about 3,000 people, so a convincing tie between it and Iraq could sway opinion toward the U.S. viewpoint.

But a solid link has not materialized, and U.S. officials said intelligence on alleged links between al Qaeda and Iraq is fragmentary and subject to interpretation and will only be a small part of Powell's 90-minute presentation.

"It's not the centerpiece," one official told Reuters.

Instead, U.S. officials said Powell would mainly focus on what the United States believes are Iraq's attempts to hide weapons of mass destruction and deceive weapons inspectors.

While Powell has played down expectations for his speech, saying earlier this week he would not present a "smoking gun," or incontrovertible proof, U.S. officials clearly hope he may sway public opinion much as former U.S. ambassador Adlai Stevenson did by displaying aerial photos of Soviet missiles at the United Nations during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Depending on the evidence he presents, nations such as France, Russia and China will have to decide whether to back a resolution Britain is pushing to authorize the use of force and thereby give any U.S.-led invasion international legitimacy.

Blix Warns Baghdad, 'It's five minutes to midnight.'

Ahead of the speech, it did not appear that key skeptic France was leaning his way.

"There is still a lot that can and needs to be done on disarmament through peaceful means," said French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday after a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in France. "We will only adopt a position when we believe nothing further can be achieved there -- and we are a long way off that," he told reporters.

Still, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said Baghdad urgently needed to show it was cooperating with inspectors when he visits this weekend, saying it is "five minutes to midnight."

Blix and his colleague, Mohamed ElBaradei, in charge of nuclear arms teams, will go to Baghdad on Saturday and Sunday at Iraq's invitation and will report to the Security Council on Feb. 14, possibly for the last time before a U.S. invasion.

But Blix also disputed U.S. assertions that Iraq was trying to foil inspectors under their very noses by moving equipment around before his teams arrived to conduct their searches.

"It has been hinted in the media and observed that Iraq has sent people to sites where we are going to go in a couple of days time. There has been some intimation there might have been a leak," he said. "We do not have the impression that any such leaks have occurred."

PHOTO CAPTION

British Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) listens to French President Jacques Chirac during their news conference at the end of the 25th Franco-British Summit, in Le Touquet February 4, 2003. (Jacky Naegelen/Re