Iraqi President Saddam Hussein raised the specter of street-fighting in Iraq's towns and cities, saying his people would rise up to confront any invading force.

"From where will the invader pass? He will find a people all of whose men and women have vowed not to allow them to pass by," a defiant Saddam told senior army officers in an address, extracts of which were broadcast on state television.

The Americans would "fall into a thousand pits because of their poor planning," Saddam said.

President Jacques Chirac of France and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany both said that UN inspectors scouring Iraq for weapons of mass destruction needed more time to complete their work.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said it was not clear how long France and Germany wanted the inspections to continue or even "whether they're serious about bringing it to a conclusion at some time."

The two European nations appeared intent on trying to hold the United States back from unilateral action against Iraq, insisting that the Security Council was the only body with the legitimacy to approve an attack.

"War is not inevitable," Chirac said to loud applause from French and German deputies at a joint parliamentary session in the Versailles Palace near Paris to mark the 40th anniversary of a friendship treaty between the two nations.

In a joint television interview with Chirac, Schroeder said he would do all he could to have Iraq disarmed peacefully. "I won't give up, but use all my power so that happens without war," the German leader said.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, France and Germany blocked a decision on whether to prepare supporting measures that would help the United States in any war against Iraq.

'HIDE-AND-SEEK'

Bush said Saddam was not interested in giving up weapons of mass destruction.

"He asked for more time so he can give the so-called inspectors more runaround. He's interested in playing hide-and-seek in a huge country. He's not interested in disarming," Bush said in St. Louis, Missouri.

The United States has threatened to attack Iraq and overthrow Saddam if it does not meet the disarmament terms of a UN resolution passed in November. Iraq denies it has any such weapons and says it is cooperating with the inspectors.

A key date is Monday, when the inspectors report to the UN on the extent of Iraqi cooperation. US forces totaling about 150,000 should be ready for action next month if Bush decides war is necessary.

Bush advised Iraqi officers and soldiers to disobey any orders to use weapons of mass destruction in a conflict.

"If you choose to do so, when Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried and persecuted as a war criminal."

RUSSIAN REPORT

Amid the diplomatic maneuvering, a Moscow news agency quoted a Russian military source as saying Washington had decided to launch a month-long military strike from mid-February.

There was no immediate US comment and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said he knew nothing of any such plan.

"The decision to launch it has been taken but not yet been made public," the source told the agency.

The source said the main aim of a strike was not so much to topple Saddam as to secure US control over Iraqi oilfields.

Powell promised that a US military occupation of Iraq would hold Iraq's oilfields "in trust" for the Iraqi people.

Oil prices eased as dealers took profits from a two-month rise in prices sparked by the threat of war, while gold, seen as a safe haven, hit its highest price in nearly six years.

UN arms inspectors say they need several more months to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Chief UN inspector Hans Blix said Iraq had still not divulged enough data on its weapons programs and had so far prevented him from holding private interviews with scientists.

But Blix, who returned to UN headquarters after a visit to Baghdad, said Iraq had generally opened up to inspectors, who had not found "any hidden large quantities of anything."

A prominent Iraqi cleric said UN weapons inspectors had searched his mosque in Baghdad in their hunt for evidence of banned nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

A spokesman for the inspectors said he was checking the report of the search, which could anger Muslims in Baghdad and elsewhere, many of whom are unhappy with the Western powers' treatment of Iraq.

Iraq said its anti-aircraft gunners had shot down an unmanned US Predator on Wednesday, but the US military, which admitted losing a drone in December, denied the report.

Up to 10,000 Iraqis bearing portraits of Saddam and waving rifles in the air burned Israeli and American flags and effigies of Bush at a rally in Baghdad.

The Pentagon's top officer, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, said US intelligence had picked up indications of unrest among Iraqi leaders, but he offered no evidence.

(China Daily January 23, 2003)