Bush and other US officials on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to ignore the Iraqi offer and pass a resolution handing President Saddam Hussein a tough ultimatum to disarm or face action, presumably military.

Many governments welcomed Iraq's gesture to ease the threat of war, but not Bush, who said Saddam "has delayed, denied, deceived the world.

"For the sake of liberty and justice for all, the United Nations Security Council must act, must act in a way to hold this regime to account, must not be fooled, must be relevant to keep the peace," Bush said in Nashville, Tennessee.

The United States meanwhile continued to flex its military muscle in the region.

Pentagon officials said some 2,000 US Marines would go ahead with a planned amphibious landing exercise in Kuwait later this month.

The US Army has two armored brigades in year-round training in Kuwait near the Iraqi border. And two US aircraft carriers, the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS George Washington, have brought to 20 the number of US navy ships including the Fifth Fleet which is currently positioned in the Gulf region.

The administration insisted no decision had been made on military action against Iraq, but officials acknowledged contingency plans were being made.

Bush insisted the United States "will not allow the world's worst leaders to hold the US and our friends and allies to blackmail and threats with the world's worst weapons," a frequent line in his recent speeches.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, echoing Bush, said Washington will push for a new Security Council resolution to show Iraq that it remains determined to get tough over arms inspections.

"The only way to make sure that it is not business as usual and a repeat of what happened in the past ... is to put it in the form of a new resolution," he said at the United Nations.

Iraq made its offer to readmit UN weapons inspectors after a four-year haitus in a letter presented Monday to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Under the terms of the ceasefire ending the 1991 Gulf War, the inspectors must verify that Baghdad no longer has weapons of mass destruction before the United Nations will lift crippling sanctions on the country.

Among the Security Council's five permanent, veto-wielding members, Britain also rejected Saddam's offer, while France warned Saddam should be "held to his word," on inspections, and Russia and China both applauded the Iraqi offer as positive.

In the US Congress, a mood of skepticism prevailed, leaning toward allied rather than unilateral action.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle urged Bush to send an Iraq resolution to Congress quickly -- perhaps as early as next week -- saying the president needed to come up with something on Iraq that "we can bring for Senate vote sometime reasonably soon."

"We are generally supportive of an international effort, not a unilateral effort, to put pressure on Saddam Hussein to do the right thing," said the South Dakota Democrat. "I am still very skeptical about Saddam Hussein's intent..."

Iraq late Monday offered UN inspectors unconditional access to its weapons sites, a move Washington quickly dismissed as a stalling tactic that would fail.

"The issue is not inspectors. The issue is disarmament," Powell said.

Senator Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, echoed that, saying "the world's objective is not just inspections, but eliminating any weapons of mass destruction from Iraq.

"Otherwise, this promise on the part of Saddam is hollow at best," he added.

Meanwhile, a new opinion poll out Wednesday indicated growing public support for Bush's policy toward Iraq.

The new CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey showed that 93 percent of respondents believed the United Nations should pass a resolution that imposes a deadline on Iraq to submit to weapons inspections or face grave consequences.

More than seven in 10 Americans also expressed the view that Saddam Hussein will use weapons of mass destruction against the United States if military action is not taken.

bur-aln/mk/txw

Nampa-AFP WEB story ENDS (NAMPA 180723)

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