They urged the United States to allow UN inspectors more time, while France said there was "a real chance" that Iraq could be disarmed by peaceful means.

Washington dismissed the objections of its allies, with Secretary of State Colin Powell saying Washington would find other supporters if it decided to go to war.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about going it alone," Powell said in Washington on Thursday after talks with Britain's supportive Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

He also said it was an "open question" whether Washington would seek a further UN resolution to authorize the use of force to disarm Baghdad.

Other US officials make clear they see no need for the declaration-- and given the French, Russian and Chinese veto powers on the Security Council, they are unlikely to get one. The other two veto-wielding members, the United States and its strongest ally Britain, are now a minority on the Council.

Amid talk of a rift in the transatlantic alliance, Germany and France angrily rejected US criticism that they are isolated in Europe in their effort to avoid the use of force against Baghdad.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer bluntly told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to "cool down" his rhetoric and took umbrage at Rumsfeld's dismissal of France and Germany's views as that of "old Europe."

Working from the other side to halt the momentum to war, five Middle East neighbors of Iraq and Egypt, urged Baghdad to take a "more active approach" to comply with the UN weapons inspections to avoid a potentially destabilizing conflict.

And, the prospect of war overshadowed discussion of economics at the prestigious Davos, Switzerland gathering of the global economic and political elite. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad jolted the opening session, telling the United States that "out terrorizing the terrorists will not work."

DIPLOMATIC LEEWAY

Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Bush in a telephone call the key to future action on Iraq would be found in next Monday's report by UN arms inspectors. The White House confirmed the conversation took place but gave no details.

The weapons experts have spent two months searching for evidence of nuclear, chemical and biological arms that Iraq denies having. They are due to present their findings to the Security Council Monday but have already said they need more time to finish their work.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder vowed he and French President Jacques Chirac would do all they could to avert war. "War may never be considered unavoidable," he said.

China said its position was "extremely close" to France's.

Washington accuses Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of hiding banned weapons since the 1991 Gulf War and has threatened to attack if Baghdad does not disarm in line with 12 years of UN resolutions, the last of them passed in November.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, under attack for backing the US campaign against Iraq, added a day to his meeting with Bush, arriving now on Jan. 30.

In Davos, Swiss President Pascal Couchepin spelled out what he said was the majority view in Western Europe that war should be a "last resort" and would have long-term destabilizing effects on the Middle East.

OBJECTIONS DISMISSED

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer dismissed France and Germany's opposition saying it was "their prerogative ... to be on the sideline" if they so chose.

Fleischer said other countries that might support a US-led strike on Iraq included Britain, Italy, Spain, eastern European nations and Australia, which dispatched a troop ship toward the Gulf Thursday in case they are needed.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, on a trip to Russia, said Washington did not believe it needed a second Security Council resolution before taking military action.

"We believe there is sufficient authority to move now without a second resolution," he told Ekho Moskvy radio. But he added: "It is appropriate for me to say that President Bush has made no decision about the use of military force."

However, other Security Council members said it was an open question.

MIDEAST MEETING

As the United States and Britain continued their troop build-up in the Gulf, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria -- along with regional heavyweight Egypt, issued a joint declaration urging Iraq to cooperate with the United Nations.

"We are sending a strong signal to Baghdad that this is about the region, not just about Iraq," Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan al-Muashar said. "This is not a matter of being bullied by the United States."

US officials discussed a possible US$30 billion aid package for Israel, Jordan and Turkey to cushion the shock of war.

Iraq urged Turkey to reject US requests for military help in any attack. The United States is looking to Turkey for use of its air bases and frontiers in the event of military action, especially a second front in northern Iraq. Ankara opposes war but may be hard pressed to deny help to its closest NATO ally.

In Iraq, UN experts continued their hunt for banned weapons as a local newspaper warned that US troops faced a fate worse than the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States if they attacked.

"The events of September 11 will be a picnic compared with what would happen to America if it commits aggression against Iraq," the Babel paper of Saddam's son Uday said.

The UN inspectors flew by helicopter to a research facility in northern Iraq for one of nine inspections Thursday, including visits to food stores, a fiberglass plant, a missile complex and a university. A row continued over a visit by inspectors to a mosque Monday, with a senior Iraqi official dismissing a UN explanation that they had gone there merely as tourists.

(China Daily January 24, 2003)