DAVOS Powell says Iraq has 'failed the test', situation cannot continue
DAVOS (AFX) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraq has "failed the test" and that the current situation "cannot be allowed to continue".
Speaking at the World Economic Forum here, Powell said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein continues "to pose a grave danger to international peace and security".
"Clearly time is running out," he said.
He added that Hussein's "naked defiance" of the UN resolution 1441 on disarmament compromises the authority of the security council.
"We will not shrink from war if it is the only way" to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, he said, although the US is still prepared to wait for diplomacy to act for the time being.
He said that Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration to the UN "utterly failed to meet the requirements of being accurate, full and complete".
"Iraq attempted to conceal with volume what it lacked in veracity," Powell told the Forum. "It has failed the test."
Powell demanded to see evidence that Iraq had destroyed "tens of thousands of litres of anthrax" and botulism toxin which can be used in biological weapons.
Three tonnes of growth agent used to make biological weapons, and 30,000 munitions capable of carrying chemical weapons, were also unaccounted for, Powell said.
He also played down differences with European leaders over Iraq, following declarations by French and German leaders rejecting military intervention, but warned that the US was prepared to act alone.
When the US "feels strongly, we will lead. We will act even if others are not prepared to join us," he said.