As UN speech nears, signs of support for US

The Bush administration is moving to the equivalent of closing arguments in its case against Iraq amid signs that the two audiences it is trying to sway - the American public and the international community - are slowly leaning in its direction.

The administration hopes to clinch the case for the argument that weapons inspections are never likely to disarm an uncooperative and deceptive Saddam Hussein. To that end, President Bush sends Secretary of State Colin Powell - the administration's most trusted and persuasive voice in the international arena - to the United Nations Security Council Wednesday.

As the diplomats of a number of key Security Council countries argue that Mr. Powell's presentation will be crucial to how their countries turn in the Iraq showdown, some countries - if still not their publics - are signaling a willingness to go along with the United States if there is a war.

At the same time, the American public appears to be moving toward supporting a war in-creasingly, even if it means fighting without broad international support.

One key event that will figure in determining the eventual breadth of an international coalition takes place Tuesday in Le Touquet, a French resort on the English Channel, where British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet with French President Jacques Chirac. Mr. Blair will press the French leader for support for a second UN resolution - this one authorizing the use of force.

"There are two possible scenarios [for the summit]: open disagreement and an emphasis on points of agreement - with agreement clearly preferable for both the international community and Europe," says Philippe Moreau Defarges, a foreign-policy expert at the French Institute of Foreign Relations in Paris.

The leaders can emphasize two key points they agree on - the need to maintain international unity and to work within the UN, and the need for some kind of second resolution before force is used, Mr. Moreau Defarges says. They could also agree on a more open-ended statement: that if Mr. Hussein continues to defy the UN by not cooperating, "something has to be done," he adds.

Last November, the 15-member Council voted unanimously in favor of tough new weapons inspections to disarm Iraq. The Bush administration and the British argue that Hussein is not cooperating sufficiently with the inspectors, and must be confronted soon as a grave and present danger.

But in the run-up to Powell's presentation, the French, the Russians, the Chinese, and other key countries are arguing publicly that the inspections are working and deserve more time. Powell will have to offer "some very strong evidence" in order to influence European public opinion, Moreau Defarges says.

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