WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS (REUTERS) — President Bush Thursday ratcheted up pressure on major powers opposing his push for U.N. backing to attack Iraq, saying he would force a Security Council vote within days.

Bush said Iraq was engaged in a charade to defy U.N. weapons inspectors and that refusing to use force to disarm Iraq would present an unacceptable risk.

Asked if he was close to deciding on going to war with Iraq, Bush said the United States was still in the final stages of diplomacy. He said the United States would spend only days persuading nations to support a U.N. resolution authorizing force before bringing the issue to a vote regardless of whether it could count on its passage.

“We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council,” Bush said at a rare White House news conference. “It’s time for people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam.”

Bush accused Iraq of hiding materials for weapons of mass destruction and ordering continued production of banned missiles while making a “public show” of destroying some arms.

“These are not the actions of a regime that is disarming. These are the actions of a regime engaged in a willful charade. These are the actions of a regime that systemically and deliberately is defying the world,” he said.

“If the world fails to confront the threat posed by the Iraqi regime, refusing to use force even as a last resort, free nations would assume immense and unacceptable risks,” he added.

Bush argued for force on a day when he ran into more opposition at home and abroad over how to disarm Iraq.

China joined on Thursday an anti-war coalition that has been spearheaded by France, Russia and Germany, while Sen. Tom Daschle, the top Senate Democrat, broke ranks with Bush over Iraq, accusing him of “rushing to war.”

With about 300,000 troops poised to attack Iraq as soon as Bush gives the order, the United States has been trying to round up nine votes needed in the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution endorsing military action.

Britain, the strongest U.S. ally in regard to Iraq, searched for a formula that could command a Security Council majority to authorize force.

British compromise proposal

So far the United States only has four certain votes — its own vote and those of Britain, Spain and Bulgaria. Britain, which has been Washington’s closest ally, said it was ready to amend the resolution as a means of winning over a majority of the 15-member council but not to change it substantively.

“There’s certainly a possibility of an amendment, and that’s something we’re looking at,” Straw told a news conference.

Diplomats said Britain was floating a proposal at the council that would give Iraq a deadline of less than a week to show it has no weapons of mass destruction after a resolution authorizing war is adopted.

China joined France, Russia and Germany Thursday in their vows to block the draft resolution authorizing war. “China endorses and supports their joint statement,” Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said.

A “no” vote from Russia, China or France, each of which would carry veto power in the Security Council, would automatically kill the resolution.

Six other nations on the council remain uncommitted, and Washington has made no public progress in recent days to shift any of them off of the fence.

In what sounded like a prelude to war, defense officials said U.S. and British warplanes have more than doubled their patrols over the Iraqi “no-fly” zones to at least 500 a day. They said the sharp increase was designed to confuse air defenses before a possible invasion.

The no-fly zones were set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds in northern Iraq and Shi’ite Muslims in the south from Baghdad’s forces. Iraq does not recognize the zones.

The United States also issued the latest in a series of accusations in a war of words with Saddam, charging that Iraq planned to kit paramilitary fighters out in U.S.-style uniform, have them attack Iraqi civilians and blame it on Western forces.

Complicating Bush’s focus on Iraq is North Korea’s ambitions to build a nuclear weapons program — a crisis that the United States has opted to tackle with diplomacy.

The president said Thursday that the best way to deal with North Korea was a multilateral approach involving the United States, Japan, China, South Korea and Russia.

Crunch meeting Friday

The United States wants a vote by the end of next week, but Secretary of State Colin Powell made it clear on Wednesday that it is ready to go to war with or without U.N. approval to disarm Iraq of alleged chemical and biological weapons.

Iraq denies it has such weapons and says it has complied with U.N. demands over disarmament.

Foreign ministers from all the major players are due to meet Friday at the United Nations to hear the latest update from top U.N. weapons inspectors.

However, the report is unlikely to shift positions. It was expected that the report would offer ammunition to both sides by stating that Iraqi cooperation has improved but is still insufficient.

The head of the U.N. nuclear agency is expected to express doubts on Friday over U.S. allegations that Iraq has tried to revive its secret nuclear weapons program, diplomats said.

In his report to the U.N. Security Council, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is expected to undermine Washington’s position just as it scrambles for support for a new resolution.

Bush’s domestic consensus regarding the war showed signs of fraying in the face of an international anti-war movement that has mobilized millions of people opposed to the war.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said this Thursday that an invasion of Iraq would be premature now, and accused the administration of failing to build international support for a war to oust Saddam Hussein.