U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held out hope Sunday that the U.N. Security Council, allies across the globe and the American public would come to support an American-led war with Iraq, as the United States pressed for an ultimatum giving Saddam Hussein until March 17 to prove he has disarmed. Powell said he was within "striking distance" of the necessary nine votes to win a majority on the 15-member council. But he conceded on "Fox News Sunday" that the French appeared set to "do everything they can to stop it" by using their veto. Such a veto, he warned, would "have a serious effect on bilateral relations, at least in the short term."

He said it remained unclear where two other veto-bearing nations, Russia and China, stood on a vote that could take place as early as Tuesday.

Nevertheless, Powell said he was leading intensive efforts over the weekend to win over several other governments, hoping to muster the nine necessary votes.

The foreign minister of Guinea, a Security Council member, will visit administration officials this week, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said on ABC's "This Week." Asked whether the administration was trying to entice potential backers with promises of financial aid, as it sought to do with Turkey, Rice said, "We're talking to people about their interests."

Rice refused to say which nations the United States is counting on for supportive votes.

Other Key Developments Concerning Iraq

*_ French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin headed Sunday to the capitals of the three African members of the Security Council - Angola, Cameroon and Guinea - hoping to win their support against the U.S.-backed deadline.

*_ Senior Iraqi official Maj. Gen. Hossam Mohamed Amin dismissed the proposed March 17 disarmament deadline. "We are working hard to meet our obligations," he said. "Whether that takes a week, 10 days, or a month, we are doing everything we can. We are not interested in dates and times."

*_ Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal expressed support for a United Arab Emirates proposal that Saddam Hussein quit power and go into exile to avert a war. The proposal's motives "are not to harm Iraq, but on the contrary to protect Iraq from the evils of a military confrontation," Saud was quoted as saying.

*_ The Arab League will send a high-level delegation to Baghdad in the coming days to urge Iraqi officials to improve cooperation with weapons inspectors in a bid to avert war, officials said.

*_ Iraq destroyed six more Al Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the number destroyed since March 1 to 46, almost half of Iraq's original arsenal of 100 of the missiles, ordered eliminated because they can go beyond a U.N.-imposed range limit.

*_ U.S troops unloaded trucks and jeeps at a newly established forward-operating base in southeastern Turkey, only 100 miles from the Iraqi border. The base will serve as a logistics base for 62,000 U.S. troops, if Turkey allows the United States to use its territory to launch a northern front against Iraq in a war.

*_ Former President Jimmy Carter said in an editorial published in The New York Times that a unilateral attack on Iraq would not meet his criteria of a "just war" and would violate "respect for international law."

PHOTO CAPTION

Secretary of State Colin Powell appears on an NBC news program in Washington March 9, 2003. Photo by Alex Wong/Meet The Press/Reuters. - Mar 09