Prague: US President George W Bush warned on November 20 that Iraq faced "the severest of consequences" if it fails to comply with a tight UN deadline to abandon its weapons of mass destruction, saying Saddam Hussein could be in his "final stage" as leader.

He said the world would no longer tolerate Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's "game of deception and deceit and denial", in a speech in Prague on the eve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit.

"Saddam Hussein has been given a very short time to declare completely and truthfully his arsenal of terror," he warned, referring to UN Resolution 1441.

"Should he again deny that this arsenal exists he will have entered his final stage with a lie. Deception this time will not be tolerated."

Agencies