Hours before a US deadline runs out for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave his country, the UN Security Council meets to discuss the Iraqi crisis and hear a report from its chief UN weapons inspector.The council's public, ministerial meeting of an expected half a dozen members -- Angola, Cameroon, France, Germany, Guinea and Russia, has been set for 10:30 am (1530 GMT). The US deadline expires after 8:00 pm (0100 GMT, Thursday).

Chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix will formally present a programme setting Iraq 12 key disarmament tasks.

Implementing the programme is moot, since almost all inspectors have already followed orders from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to leave Iraq under threat of an imminent US-led invasion.

US President George W. Bush said in a televised speech late Monday that an attack could come at any time after a 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam to leave the country.

France, Germany and Russia variously described the move to war as unjustified, illegal and tragic. But they have no means of condemning it in the Security Council since the United States and its chief ally, Britain, both have veto power.

Diplomats said France, Germany and Russia might ask the council to welcome Blix's work programme in terms which supported the work of the inspectors and could be interpreted as criticizing military force.

"I think they feel that the inspection process has been interrupted and that the inspection process was on-going, and that is true," Blix told a news conference Tuesday.

"I don't see that we have come to an impasse yet," he said, noting that there had been a fair degree of cooperation from Iraq since the inspections started on November 27.

"The question is how much patience do you have. Is three months enough to say there's an impasse and you won't get there, or do you feel that a couple of months more is something you can try without a guarantee of getting there?" he asked.

Britain and the United States said Monday that they would bypass the United Nations in disarming Iraq, saying they were sure a Security Council consensus was impossible.

The British ambassador to the UN, Jeremy Greenstock, blamed France for threatening to veto any draft resolution authorizing military force "whatever the circumstances".

But Blix said opponents of the use of force were not pacifists.

"Many of them, like us, feel that inspections should not go for ever... I do not see a pacifist attitude among them. I feel that they too would lose patience at some point, at what point I do not know," he said.

Blix said he also expected Wednesday's meeting to discuss "the key political problem that they see, and that relates to who authorizes military force."

Blix's report comprised a 10-page summary, a 12-page annex setting out what is required of Iraq to complete each of the tasks and 55 pages of background information.

The tasks covered the three areas under the scrutiny of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC): missiles, chemical and biological weapons.

Of the 12 tasks, four apply to Iraq's missiles and warheads and one to spray devices and drones; three apply to chemical weapons, including VX, Sarin and mustard agent; and three to biological agents such as anthrax, botulinum toxin and smallpox.

The twelfth task is to declare "any proscribed activities post-1998" including underground or mobile weapons facilities.

The report noted that "none of the resolutions that govern the work of UNMOVIC lays down a date for the completion of the work."

It also noted that "the work programme is predicated on the assumption that Iraq will provide immediate, unconditional and active cooperation" -- something that is impossible so long as the inspectors are outside the country.

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UN Security Council to discuss Iraqi crisis, disarmament