Last-Chance War Summit

President Bush will meet his two closest allies this weekend in a last-minute attempt to head off what looks to be an embarrassing defeat at the United Nations for the resolution backed by the U.S., Britain and Spain which would authorize war on Iraq.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that Mr. Bush will leave Sunday to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in the Azores Islands, 900 miles off the coast of Portugal, in an effort to try "every last bit of diplomacy."

The U.N. resolution is expected to be voted on – or withdrawn – by Tuesday. CBS News Correspondent Bill Plante reports that unless there is a new extension of the deadline, Mr. Bush will then tell the nation and the world that he is issuing an ultimatum to Iraq: disarmament or war.

In another closely related diplomatic development, the president announced Friday that he could release his new "road map" for Middle East peace soon — if the Palestinian Authority appoints a prime minister with adequate powers.

Arab anger at the United States' perceived pro-Israeli bias is one reason some countries won't join the coalition against Iraq, but Fleischer denied any overt connection.

At the summit, officials said, the leaders will not discuss battlefield tactics and detailed military strategies, but possible tactics for the final round of diplomacy. The three also are likely to discuss plans for Iraq in any scenario in which President Saddam Hussein is deposed.

The meeting could also serve as a signal to Saddam that his days are numbered.

"If the Security Council is able to pass a resolution … it is still possible for Saddam Hussein to see the writing on the wall and to get out of Iraq and therefore preserve peace," said Fleischer.

"To the degree that other nations erase the writing on the wall, it makes it less likely for Saddam Hussein to leave and that this can be settled peacefully," he said.

But it is not clear that the war resolution that the U.S., Britain and Spain authored has any chance of passage. A majority of Security Council members have openly acknowledged they won't support the measure despite weeks of intense negotiations.

A British proposal to offer Iraq a set of six disarmament tasks was also looking doomed.

A U.N.-based diplomat told CBS News Reporter Charles Wolfson that the British proposal is dead. The only decision now, the official said, is whether to take a vote or to pull the pending resolution off the table.

Last week, Mr. Bush said in a televised news conference that he could call a vote no matter what the count was. Since the appearance, U.S. officials have claimed they were picking up the nine necessary council votes needed for the resolution, which threatens war unless Iraq disarms by Monday.

France, China, Russia, Germany and several other council members oppose the resolution because it would automatically authorize force. Their support was never a realistic possibility.

But the U.S. seemed to be making progress with the six undecided nations Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan. Washington had been counting on the support of Mexico, Pakistan and at least two of the African nations.

However, at a tense council session late Thursday, it appeared that the United States didn't have more than six of the 15 council members on its side and that nothing had swayed France, and possibly Russia, from vetoing the resolution.

On Friday, a senior administration official told The Associated Press the United States was now waiting for Mexico and Chile to decide. In a constantly shifting lineup, the two Latin American countries could ensure the nine votes required for council approval

But Fleischer rejected a Chilean proposal to extend the deadline by up to four weeks, calling it "a non-starter."

While a United Nations mandate would give the possible war more credibility, the Bush administration has made it clear that is fighting for the resolution mainly on behalf of Blair, who faces stiff opposition to the war within his own party.

Hoping to shore up Blair's support, the president worked the phones again Friday, speaking with leaders from Denmark, Egypt, Jordan and Saudia Arabia. The president has made 31 calls to 27 leaders this week, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

Polls indicate fewer than one in five Britons supports war without U.N. authorization. Many in Spain are also opposed: millions of Spanish workers staged anti-war protests Friday. But the three allies have vowed to go to war with or without a U.N. mandate.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, testifying on Capitol Hill Thursday, cited several allies besides Britain and Spain that stand ready to back the United States even if the U.N. won't, including Australia, Bulgaria, Italy, Japan and eight eastern European countries.

With war looking inevitable, preparations for conflict went forward, as did inspections. B-2 bombers left Missouri Thursday night to be based closer to Iraq, and Germany urged its citizens to leave Iraq.

Senior U.S. officials said Thursday that the United States is moving 10 Navy ships armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea. The move indicates weakening U.S. confidence that Turkey will grant overflight rights for U.S. planes and missiles.

U.N. weapons inspectors, meanwhile, were back on the road Friday, supervising the destruction by Iraqi bulldozers of more banned Iraqi missiles at a site north of the capital Baghdad, according to the Information Ministry.

Iraq said Thursday it would soon release a report on its avowed destruction of VX nerve gas and anthrax, but there was no sign of it Friday.