UNITED NATIONS/LONDON, 13 September — President George Bush yesterday presented his case for going to war on Iraq to the United Nations, challenging the organization to put a stop to a decade of defiance by Baghdad and address the “great and gathering danger” that it will use weapons of mass destruction.

The speech, delivered to heads of government and foreign ministers at the UN General Assembly, will trigger an immediate and heated debate in the Security Council on drafting a new resolution demanding that Iraq accept a return of weapons inspectors. US Secretary of State Colin Powell will start that process in New York today.

Bush made it clear, however, that failing progress at the UN toward bringing Iraq into compliance with resolutions passed after the Gulf War more than 10 years ago, the United States would be ready to take its own steps to punish Saddam Hussein.

“By heritage and by choice, the United States of America will make that stand,” the president said. And throwing down the gauntlet to the assembly, he added: “Delegates to the United Nations, you have the power to make that stand, as well!”

But Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, opened the session with a warning to the US to resist the unilateral impulse. “Even the most powerful countries know that they need to work with others, in multilateral institutions, to achieve their aims,” he said. While not mentioning the US by name, Annan made no secret of his disdain for the appetite in Washington to attack Iraq with or without international support. “For any one state — large or small — choosing to follow or reject the multilateral path must not be a simple matter of political convenience,” he declared.

Bush backed up his call for swift action by submitting a hefty document detailing how Saddam’s regime has violated 16 UN resolutions over the past decade. While the US would work with the Security Council “for the necessary resolutions,” he told delegates, the “purposes of the United States should not be doubted.” “All the world now faces a test...and the United Nations, a difficult and defining moment,” he said. “Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced...or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding...or will it be irrelevant?” Powell will meet with European Union foreign ministers this morning to begin consultations on the content of a new Security Council resolution. It remains unclear whether the US will press for it to include a clear deadline for Iraq to readmit the inspectors as well as an explicit threat of military reprisals if it is ignored. It may be at least two more weeks before any final text reaches the Council, diplomats said.

The decision of President Bush, responding to pressure from several allies, including Britain, at least to bring the issue to the UN was welcomed by most delegates. But governments around the world continue to worry about the consequences if the US loses patience with the diplomatic process and attacks alone. There were fresh signs of ambivalence closer at home on Capitol Hill. Tom Daschle, the Senate Majority Leader, applauded Bush for a “very strong presentation” to the UN, but said many questions still had to be answered before he would recommend approving any military strike. “I don’t think anyone is committed to a course of action legislatively or militarily at this point,” he said.

Among the delegates listening to Bush’s address was Iraq’s ambassador to the UN, Mohamed Al-Douri. He dismissed it as motivated by revenge and political ambition. “He chooses to deceive the world and his own people by the longest series of fabrications that have ever been told by a leader of a nation,” the ambassador said.

Iraqi television warned that Bush risks setting the region on fire if he attacks Iraq. “An aggression (against Iraq) would start an uncontrollable fire, and the United States too will pay a (heavy) price because Iraq is no easy prey as the American adventurers imagine,” it said in a commentary on Bush’s UN address.

A Security Council consensus that would allow Britain and the US to claim international backing for military action seems a far cry. The other permanent members of the 15-member Council — France, Russia and China — have been strongly opposed to the use of force against Iraq in the past, and can block the adoption of a resolution by using their veto.

While the Council members will unanimously back a new call for the immediate unconditional return of the UN weapons inspectors, who have been barred from Iraq for almost four years, the council’s fault lines run deep on the need for military enforcement. The Council’s permanent members have been deeply divided since Operation Desert Fox — carried out unilaterally by the US and Britain without UN approval — launched to punish Iraq in December 1998 following the pullout of the UN experts attempting to account for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Diplomats agree that the Council’s authority would be undermined if its next resolution on Iraq receives a negative vote or more than two abstentions — presumably by China and non-permanent member Syria.

Qatar said yesterday it would not be a launch pad for any US attack on Iraq, but had no objection to a permanent US military presence on its soil. US defense officials said Wednesday Washington would move up to 600 members of its armed forces Central Command from Florida to Qatar for an exercise in November and was considering making the shift permanent.

The US officials have said the 600 personnel would go to Al-Udeid Air Base, home to some 3,000 US troops and 50 warplanes, for command post exercise “Internal Look”. Al-Udeid, 45 km (28 miles) southwest of the capital Doha, has been used to launch raids and surveillance missions in Afghanistan during the US-led campaign to seek out Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network. (The Independent)