The U.S. says it will ask the United Nations to vote on a new Iraq resolution next Tuesday, one that will give Iraq until March 17 to disarm or face war.

The American ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, announced the move Friday after several hours of discussion with the 15 Security Council members.

The new deadline is a concession for the U.S., which has been pushing for quick action against Iraq. But it failed to persuade several members of the Security Council to back the use of military force.

Dominique de Villepin
Dominique de Villepin

France dismissed the idea of a deadline, which it said would be "a pretext for war." The country's Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said: "We cannot accept an ultimatum as long as inspectors are reporting co-operation."

Diplomats from around the world gathered in New York Friday to hear the UN weapons inspectors report that Iraq is taking significant steps to disarm.

"France will not allow a resolution to pass that authorizes the automatic use of force," de Villepin told the Security Council.

He didn't use the word veto, but that is the only way France alone could prevent a resolution from passing.

After the British amendment was presented, de Villepin said "this is the logic of war. We don't accept this logic."

Opposing views

"There's a fundamental difference of opinion," said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the leader among Iraq's critics.

He said the inspectors' report shows that Iraq is not disarming.

The U.S. has said it will attack Iraq with or without UN backing, if it's in the best interests of the U.S.

Powell said the inspectors' report shows that Iraq has failed to meet the requirements of the UN resolution calling for disarmament.

War no solution, France says

The UN wants to make the world safer by disarming Iraq, but attacking Iraq would not do that, de Villepin said.

By arguing that an attack would not improve safety, he took a position against U.S. President George W. Bush, who has said that Iraq isn't disarming and that forcing the issue is the less dangerous alternative.

Powell said Iraq's moves are grudging and made under the threat of force. He said the inspectors' reports show that Iraq has made "a strategic decision to delay, to deceive," rather than disarm.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said "the peaceful means (of disarming Iraq) are far from exhausted" after chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Security Council Iraq is slowly disarming.

Fischer said continuing the inspections "is a real alternative to war."

China and Russia both rejected the idea of another resolution on Iraq, especially one that authorizes war. But neither country threatened to use its veto.

'They don't have the votes': Iraq

Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri pleaded with the Security Council to fight "the law of the jungle" and vote down any resolution authorizing war.

He was given permission to speak to the council as it debated the latest arms inspection report.

Al-Douri once again insisted that his country has no weapons of mass destruction, and said the United States had no reason to attack innocent people.

As he left the meeting, the ambassador said he was optimistic that the Security Council would defeat the U.S. and British proposal to use military force against Iraq.

"They don't have the votes," Al-Douri said. "I don't think the international community wants to go to war right now."

Baghdad did not issue an official response to the Blix-ElBaradei report. Officials said they wanted to study it more closely first, the same approach taken by Iraq last month.

But Saddam warned the U.S. that it would face a long and costly battle if troops cross Iraq's borders. "It will be committing an act of absolute foolishness," he told a cabinet meeting.