The chief U.N. weapons inspector said Friday Iraq appeared to be making fresh efforts to cooperate over banned weapons. Meanwhile, and a day after Bush said, "the game is over" for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and that he would welcome a new UN resolution on Iraq, Bush on Friday said resolution 1441 taken on November 8, 2002 was clear.

Iraq Bows to International Pressure

Aware of international disquiet over the prospect of war, Iraq bowed to a key U.N. demand and Thursday let inspectors hold their first private interview with an Iraqi scientist linked to previous banned weapons programs.

According to Iraqi sources two more Iraqi scientists have been interviewed in private by UN weapons inspectors in Baghdad.

The meetings were announced just hours before the chief arms inspectors arrive in the country to assess Iraqi compliance with a UN resolution aimed at forcing Baghdad to give up any banned weapons.

Each interview lasted for up to three hours, and came after inspectors met another scientist on Thursday.

However, it is unclear whether Friday's interviewees were nominated by the authorities in Baghdad, or invited by the inspectors.

UN officials say the key test will be when they can interview a scientist specifically chosen by the weapons inspectors.

Sinan Abdel-Hassan, who was interviewed on Thursday, said he had volunteered for the meeting "because of my love for my country, my people and my leader".

"I don't want to the United States or Britain to have a pretext to attack Iraq."

But Washington was unimpressed by the interview, noting that Mr. Abdel Hassan works for the National Monitoring Directorate, which is responsible for liaising with the UN inspectors.

U.N. arms inspections chief Hans Blix gave Iraq's move a cautious welcome.

Inspectors say scientists must be interviewed without other Iraqis present to protect informers from reprisal. And Iraq has refused to allow U2 spy planes to over fly its territory, another key sticking point.

Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency, the IAEA, travel to Baghdad this weekend for talks many see as President Saddam Hussein's last chance to avert war.

The two men report back to the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 14: a critical assessment could increase pressure for a new U.N. resolution to authorize war.

Bush & Other Top US Officials Appear Set on War

President Bush said Thursday he would support a new U.N. resolution authorizing war against Iraq, saying "the game is over" for Saddam and challenging the Security Council to stand up to Iraq's defiance. However, Friday Bush said UN resolution 1441 taken by the UN Security Council, November 8, 2002 was clear.

Speaking on the steps of the Treasury Building in snowy Washington Bush Friday said he was confident that when U.N. Security Council members assess their responsibilities, they will understand that the U.N. disarmament resolution 1441 "must be upheld in the fullest."

"The U.N. Security Council has got to make up its mind soon as to whether or not its word means anything," Bush said.

The White House meanwhile insisted that Bush still had not made a decision to go to war but that diplomatic negotiations were in a final phase that would end in weeks, not months.

Military Build up Continues in Earnest

The Pentagon ordered a fifth aircraft carrier, the USS Kitty Hawk, to head toward the Gulf region from the Pacific.

Along with several hundred U.S. Air Force fighters, attack jets and bombers now in place in the Gulf region, the United States continues to move tens of thousands of troops there.

Defense officials said about 110,000 U.S. troops already are in the region, with tens of thousands more set to arrive by the middle of the month.

In another sign the United States may be bracing for war, a U.S. official said the State Department had decided to allow non-emergency U.S. diplomats and dependents at its embassies in Israel, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon to leave their posts. It took similar moves ahead of the 1991 Gulf war with Iraq.

Washington's European Diplomatic Charm Offensive Still on

Meanwhile the United States is pressing ahead with efforts to secure the backing of key Security Council members for military action against Iraq.

Speaking on a trip to Europe, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared war was still not inevitable, but said that 12 years of international diplomacy had failed to disarm Iraq.

Mr. Rumsfeld is in Europe to try to gain backing for possible military action against Iraq.

The White House said Bush and French President Jacques Chirac agreed on the phone to continue consultations and Bush, also on the phone stressed to Chinese leader Jiang Zemin that "time was of the essence in dealing with Iraq.

Other Key Developments Concerning Iraq

*_ Iraqi officials took foreign journalists to missile assembly and test sites spotlighted in Colin Powell's anti-Iraq U.N. presentation. Officials at the two sites said the evidence presented by Powell was false or misleading.

*_ An embarrassed British government acknowledged that it should have credited an American academic whose work it copied for a dossier on Iraq. Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said the copying did not "take away from the core argument" of the dossier, which purported to detail how Iraq is blocking U.N. weapons inspectors.

*_ French President Jacques Chirac called Bush to say Saddam Hussein could be disarmed without a war. Chirac also issued a stern message to Baghdad: Iraqi authorities "cannot shy away from their responsibility."

*_ Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Russia opposes passing a new U.N. Security Council resolution that would authorize the use of force against Iraq. Ivanov said Russia believes international weapons inspectors should be given more time.

*_ Seeking to reassure nervous Kurds, a U.S. special envoy said any Turkish troops sent into northern Iraq would be under the command of a U.S.-led coalition.

*_ Poland said it has temporarily closed the section of its Baghdad embassy that has represented American interests in Iraq since 1991.

*_ Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the hour for action to disarm Iraq is fast approaching. Rumsfeld was in Europe for two days of talks to press the American case against Saddam Hussein.

*_ Postwar operations in Iraq could cost the United States and its allies DLRS. 50 billion a year, the Institute of International Strategic Studies think tank said. The institute used U.S. estimates that a peacekeeper in Bosnia costs DLRS. 250,000 a year and suggested a five-year occupation by 100,000 troops would cost DLRS. 125 billion.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi scientist, Sinan Abdel-Hassan, (photo) who was interviewed on Thursday, said he had volunteered for the meeting "because of my love for my country, my people and my leader". However, UN officials say the key test will be when they can interview a scientist specifically chosen by the weapons