Washington: President Bush plans at least two more weeks of diplomacy before deciding whether to invade Iraq, senior administration officials were quoted as saying on February 18.

Bush may support a deadline for President Saddam Hussein to "visibly" destroy his chemical and biological weapons, the 'Washington Post' quoted the officials as saying.

The officials told the daily that the US and Britain are likely to push for an enforcement resolution in the UN Security Council this week. One option under consideration, they said, is a demand for "actual disarmament" by Iraq within a specified number of days.

Opinion polls show that a majority of the people in the US want more time to be given to inspectors.

However, Bush, according to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, faces a deadline too. First, the offensive against Iraq has to be launched before the desert gets too hot as at is a question not only of troop comfort but the optimum performance of equipment.

Secondly, if after all the talk and dispatch of troops he withdraws them without removing Saddam Hussein, he will lose face in the Arab world.

If he brings about a regime change in Iraq, the US becomes the dominant power in the Middle East, but if he withdraws without gaining his oft repeated objective (no one will take the US seriously, said Kissinger.

Bush's week of continued diplomacy includes a meeting tomorrow (Feb 19) with George Robertson, Secretary General of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), which is divided on the issue.

PTI