Bush Impatient With U.N. Allies

The Bush administration on Tuesday ratcheted up pressure on its allies to back a possible war with Iraq, with President Bush expressing frustration that some countries might hesitate to approve military action.

"This business about more time, how much time do we need to see clearly that he's not disarming?" Mr. Bush told reporters.

He was responding to suggestions from allies, including France and Germany, that they would wage a major diplomatic fight to prevent the Security Council from passing a war resolution against Iraq. The top United Nations inspectors themselves have said their job might not be finished until months after their Jan. 27 report.

Mr. Bush said he will lead a "coalition of the willing" to disarm Iraq, if necessary, as aides said he is willing to do so without the United Nations.

"Time is running out," the president said. He said Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction and is a "serious threat" to the United States and its allies.

"It appears to be a rerun of a bad movie. He is delaying. He is deceiving. He is asking for time. He's playing hide and seek with inspectors. One thing for sure is, he's not disarming," Mr. Bush said.

The president's remarks were part of multi-faceted public relations offensive.

The deputy secretaries of defense and state also were to make speeches Tuesday depicting Saddam as uncooperative. The administration also planned to release a report called "Apparatus of Lies" to outline what it describes as "Saddam Hussein's pattern of lying to the world".

As CBS News Correspondent John Roberts reports, it appears that the White House is becoming increasingly convinced that if it comes to war it may be without the blessing of the U.N.

The President faces fierce opposition to the idea of war, not only at the U.N. Security Council, but also among many Democrats on Capitol Hill who said the threat from Iraq is not imminent.

"I continue to be convinced that this is the wrong war at the wrong time," says Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Ma.).

And there are new signs that a war could take an enormous economic toll. Military officials tell CBS News they now have a 'solid indication' that Saddam plans to blow up Iraq's oil wells if it appears certain his regime will fall. He did it in Kuwait at the end of the Gulf War. It took nine months to put out the fires and Iraq has twice the number of wells.

The Gulf region is still recovering from the economic and environmental effects of Saddam's 1991 scorched earth policy. According to Roberts, destroying the Iraqi oil fields now could send prices into the stratosphere and cripple the economic recovery here at home.

Across the Atlantic, British Prime Minister Tony Blair — the United States' main ally in the effort to disarm Iraq — made a similar argument Tuesday.

"The evidence about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction is absolutely clear," Blair said. "The intelligence has grown over the last couple of months, not diminished."

But other Security Council members say that evidence is not strong enough yet.

The U.N. inspectors were in the field again Tuesday, making unannounced visits to the Qa Qa Company chemical and explosives plant south of Baghdad, and the Al-Mutasim missile plant to the west, among other sites.