U.S. Would Help Saddam Find A Haven

Saddam Hussein vowed Wednesday to "break the neck" of the United States if it attacks.mPresident Bush vowed it's Saddam who will be broken.

"In my judgment, you don't contain Saddam Hussein. You don't hope that therapy will somehow change his evil mind," Mr. Bush said during a stop to promote his domestic agenda in Grand Rapids, Mich.

How he will be broken, said Mr. Bush, is up to Saddam. Secretary of State Colin Powell offered up two ways out: Saddam can hand over his weapons or take his top lieutenants and leave.

Powell said the United States would try to help find a haven for the Iraqi president, his family and close aides if he would agree to leave Baghdad, reports CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts.

"We would, I'm sure, try to help find a place for them to go," Powell said at State Department news conference. "And so that certainly would be one way to avoid war."

Later, the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, calling Saddam's close aides "henchmen," said exile was only "an idea floating out there" that did not seem to be under serious consideration.

At the moment, war seems the more likely course. Mr. Bush laid out the case that Saddam is hiding weapons and cozying up to terrorists in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night. Powell took the argument to skeptical allies Wednesday in interviews with five European networks. Next week, he will lay out evidence of what the White House calls "Saddam's deception" before the U.N. Security Council.

So far, the United States has failed to convince key allies on the Security Council that time has run out for Iraq to cooperate with weapons inspections. A majority of council members on Wednesday called for peaceful disarmament and diplomacy.

Of the countries that spoke at a crucial council meeting, eight supported giving more time to the inspectors to pursue Iraq's peaceful disarmament – Russia, China, Germany, Mexico, Chile, Guinea, Cameroon and Syria, council diplomats said. Only Bulgaria and Spain focused more on demands on Iraq than on continued inspections.

Britain remained squarely in Washington's camp.

"There are members of the council who are asking for time, but it isn't a matter of time. It's a matter of whether Iraq realizes that the game is up, or whether it is trying to keep the inspectors at bay," British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said during a break in the daylong session.

U.S. diplomats had hoped Wednesday's council meeting would signal increased international support for military action in Iraq. But neither the largely negative reports from weapons inspectors this week nor Mr. Bush's arguments in the State of the Union altered the positions of some of America's key allies, including France.

"The majority of the council thinks we should continue inspections," said French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere. "This is what they think today, and I think it is important to say so."

Still, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte warned that the "diplomatic window is closing," for the council and "the time for decision-making is fast approaching."

He said the United States would conduct intense negotiations, both at the U.N. and between capitals, ahead of Powell's appearance the U.N. next Wednesday.

Powell said the evidence he intended to present to the council would "fill in some of the gaps" between what the United States knew and what has been reported by U.N. weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei. "Some of it will be new information that was really not relevant to the inspectors' work," he said.

Skeptical members said the bar will be high.

"We would like to see undeniable proof," said Russiam Ambassador Sergey Lavrov.

Already, at least one piece of evidence is in question.

In the State of the Union, Mr. Bush said, "Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are supposed to interview."

But U.N. weapons inspectors said if that were true, they'd know about it.

ElBaradei, the top nuclear inspector in Iraq, said it was unlikely his team "could be fooled in the nuclear area on who is a scientist and who is not."

He also disputed the president's claim that aluminum tubes imported by Iraq were destined for its nuclear program and again urged Mr. Bush to slow down his march to war.

"We haven't exhausted possibility for peaceful resolution and I would plead for more time," said ElBaradei.

For their part, the Iraqis stayed defiant.

"You can accuse as much as you like, but you cannot provide one piece of evidence," charged Iraqi U.N. Ambassador U.N. Mohamed Al-Douri.

Saddam, in remarks televised Wednesday, said Iraq has "huge capabilities" and is ready to face a U.S. attack, "destroy it and defeat it."

Saddam said the Americans have no right to attack Iraq "and every one of them, from the top down to the smallest soldier, is coming as an aggressor with ambitions."