Paris, Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- France and Germany joined United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in urging patience on Iraq as U.S. President George W. Bush said ``time is running out'' for President Saddam Hussein to disarm. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, speaking after a meeting late yesterday in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac, said Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, should be given ``that extra time which he rightfully demanded'' to complete inspections in Iraq. Chirac, at a joint news conference with Schroeder, agreed. ``Our approach and our vision are identical,'' he said. Bush has said the U.S. will lead a coalition to use force if Iraq defies UN demands to disclose its development of weapons of mass destruction or obstructs UN inspectors. The U.S. transferred 62,000 troops to the Gulf last weekend to join about 50,000 soldiers in place and 25,000 more in transit. The U.S. will have about 137,000 troops in the region by mid-February.
Bush yesterday said he was ``sick and tired of games and deception.'' ``The United Nations has spoken with one voice,'' Bush said. Hussein has ``been given 11 years to disarm, and we have given him one last chance. Time is running out.'' There are about 110 inspectors from the UN and International Atomic Energy Agency in Iraq. Blix has said they need more time to complete their work.
Blix Report
Blix, who has clashed with the U.S. over his reluctance to transport Iraqi scientists out of the country for questioning, will report to the Security Council Jan. 27 on whether Hussein is cooperating with UN demands it reveal its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. While the U.S. considers the Jan. 27 report a decisive benchmark to measure Iraqi compliance, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the atomic energy agency, said last week it would only be an ``update'' of a ``work in progress'' and that more needs to be done. Blix and ElBaradei visit Baghdad this weekend to ask that Hussein's regime disclose more information about the nation's weapons programs, saying a UN-mandated 12,000-page declaration Iraq submitted last month is inadequate. The U.S. should adhere to a Nov. 8 resolution that set terms for inspections, Annan said yesterday at a news conference at UN headquarters in New York. The resolution calls for the council to meet to consider what action to take if Blix finds weapons of mass destruction or reports resistance from Iraq. ``It is quite clear they will have to go to the council for further discussion,'' Annan said. ``The Security Council will meet based on reports from the inspectors and determine what action they should take. We may be able to disarm Iraq peacefully and not go to war.'' He said, if Iraq violated the resolution, the Security Council will have to act. ``But we are not there yet, so I don't want to talk about war,'' Annan said. The inspectors are ``just getting up to full speed,'' he said. //www.quote.bloomberg.com