Two key U.N. Security Council permanent members remained unconvinced. Russia dismissed a "propaganda furor" surrounding the British report, and France said it still had not seen proof to back the allegations. Germany also was unimpressed.

But the dossier won a sympathetic hearing from some other countries, and permanent council member China warned that Baghdad risked losing international cover if it did not convincingly cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell would not rule out a move to drive Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power, even if he cooperated with weapons inspections.

"The U.S. continues to believe that the best way to disarm Iraq is through a regime change," Powell said in an interview.

"Pressure has to be maintained on Iraq until the U.N. is satisfied that he has got rid of these weapons or allowed inspectors in to make sure of that -- that's the only way to do it -- and then we'll see whether or not that's adequate or whether more action is needed," he told Britain's BBC radio.

At the United Nations, diplomats told Reuters that Britain has cautioned the United States to devise a new resolution on Iraq that Security Council members can embrace.

"A trigger whereby one member of the Security Council, like the United States, can immediately rush off to war would not be acceptable to the council," said one diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The Brits are telling the U.S. that."

Within the region, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak flew to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Abdallah on a diplomatic effort to avert any war.

Iraq dismissed as "lies" British Prime Minister Tony Blair's dossier, which accused it of harboring chemical and biological weapons while seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons.

"This dossier is full of false propaganda which lacks material and convincing evidence," said a statement issued at a cabinet meeting chaired by Saddam.

BRITISH JOURNALISTS TOUR PLANTS

Iraqi officials hastily took British journalists through factories which the dossier said made weapons of mass destruction. The factories had only peaceful uses, they said.

Iraq has offered to allow the unconditional return of U.N. weapons inspectors who left in 1998. But Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush say they fear the offer is an insincere ploy to stave off military strikes.

Iraqi television also quoted Saddam as telling the cabinet meeting that the United States should concern itself with violations of U.N. resolutions by Israel.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said only inspectors could verify the British allegations.

"I believe that only specialists and experts can judge whether or not Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. We have therefore sought the fastest possible return to Iraq of inspectors," he told reporters in Moscow.

"It therefore seems to us that it is not worth creating a great propaganda furor around this report."

France also said it was not yet convinced.

"We have accepted the British evaluations and are comparing them with our own," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Paris, adding that President Jacques Chirac had seen signs but not firm proof that would support Blair's accusations.

But there were hints of a policy shift in the other U.N. heavyweight, China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday Beijing would consider a possible U.N. resolution authorizing strikes if Iraq did not allow weapons inspections.

LOSE INTERNATIONAL COVER

The official English-language China Daily newspaper said in an editorial on Wednesday that Saddam would lose international cover if he did not cooperate fully with inspections.

"This is the last chance for Saddam Hussein to deprive the Americans of a legal case against him," it wrote. "An Iraqi failure to satisfy the inspectors' requests might give Bush the excuse he craves to forcefully carry out his coveted 'regime change' in Iraq."

Other countries are showing signs of joining ranks with Washington and London.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who discussed Iraq with other NATO defence ministers in Warsaw, said the meeting was "going very well indeed" and NATO countries -- he did not name them -- had approached him to offer support.

He said he had also presented evidence linking Baghdad and the al Qaeda network that Washington blames for the hijacked aircraft attacks on New York and Washington landmarks on Sept. 11 last year. Britain's dossier did not discuss such ties.

Spain called the U.S. presentation at the meeting "very interesting and convincing." Defense Minister Federico Trillo said: "We now expect action by the United Nations and perhaps a new resolution."

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who met Blair on Tuesday, told reporters the dossier made a convincing case.

"Nobody I hear is seriously disputing the proposition that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction," he said.

DEMOCRATS SEE BUSH 'POLITICIZING' IRAQ ISSUE

While Bush's approach to Iraq has support in principle from the Democrats who control the U.S. Senate, but not the House of Representatives, some Democrats fear Bush is using the issue to score political points ahead of November elections.

Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, on Wednedsay blasted Bush for saying the Senate "is not interested in the security of the American people," arguing his "outrageous" remark politicized a possible war with Iraq.

Daschle's Democratic colleagues, many of whom have complained they are being stampeded by Bush into approving the use of force against Iraq, gathered on the Senate floor during his speech and reached out to shake his hand afterward.

"We ought not to politicize the rhetoric about life and death," Daschle, his voice thick with emotion, said in his speech. " ... You tell those who fought in Vietnam and in World War II they're not interested in the security of the American people," Daschle said of the many Democratic war veterans.

"That is outrageous, outrageous," he said.

Bush's remarks came in the context of a heated debate over labor rights at the proposed Department of Homeland Security.

REUTERS

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