THE world’s great powers were split into two camps last night after France, Germany and Russia moved to defy America’s drive towards war against Iraq.

As Britain, America and Spain tabled a “war resolution” at the United Nations, the three European states unveiled a counter-proposal that would set a strict timetable for peaceful disarmament lasting at least four months.

The moves set the scene for two weeks of furious diplomacy, with the rival camps doing their utmost to win over the six undecided Security Council members before the vote that will determine President Saddam Hussein’s fate.

British and American officials expect that vote to take place on March 7, or soon afterwards. The stakes could hardly be higher. The resolution’s defeat would leave America with no option but to go it alone, inflicting great damage on UN authority and leaving Tony Blair with his worst crisis since becoming Prime Minister.

The key paragraph of the “war” resolution declares that Iraq has “failed to take the final opportunity” offered by November’s Resolution 1441.

Legal trigger language such as “material breach” has been relegated to the preamble in an effort to broaden its appeal.

The French counter-proposal would have the UN set by Saturday key tests of Iraq’s willingness to disarm. “The aim is to establish a timetable for Iraq’s disarmament, programme by programme, relating to weapons of mass destruction,” President Jacques Chirac said as he arrived in Berlin for a dinner with the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder.

“The combination of a clear programme of action, reinforced inspections, a clear timeline and the military build-up provide a realistic means to reunite the Security Council and to exert maximum pressure on Iraq,” the document says. It calls for Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, to report on Iraq’s compliance every three weeks.

Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, flatly rejected the counter-proposal. “You don’t need to treat (Saddam Hussein) like a child. He does not need to be provided with a list of things he knows he’s got to do in any event.”

The countries whose views are now vital are Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan.

The “war” resolution needs nine of the 15 votes for approval, with no vetoes from the permanent members, such as Russia, France and China.

Because the French proposal does not envisage a clear end-date for disarmament, Canada is proposing a compromise, setting an early deadline of late March or early April.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French Interior Minister, said that France’s position was that “there cannot be a superpower that runs the world’s affairs”.

But the White House insisted that the counter-proposal’s call for more weapons inspectors showed the inspection regime had failed.

Dr Blix has already set Iraq one key test, demanding that it begin destroying its banned al-Samoud 2 missiles by Saturday. He has also prepared a paper listing 30 to 40 “unresolved disarmament issues” such as suspected production of anthrax.

But officials say Dr Blix is reluctant to release his “benchmarks” unless requested to do so by the full Security Council.

Mr Blair has mounted a frantic diplomatic push and has spoken to President Fox of Mexico, President Ricardo Lagos of Chile and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

The Prime Minister has gambled all on securing UN backing and would have neither Labour Party nor public backing if he supports American-led conflict without it. In a statement to the Commons today he will insist that he does not want war “but the choice is Saddam’s”.

Last night Saddam Hussein challenged Mr Bush to a live television debate, like those in US presidential elections. In a two-hour interview with Dan Rather of CBS, the Iraqi leader indicated that he had no plans to comply with the demand to destroy his al-Samoud missiles and flatly denied that they violated UN rules.

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