President Bill Clinton warned Americans yesterday to brace for military action as the Pentagon ordered scores of war planes and more than 3,000 troops to the region.

``A failure to respond could embolden Saddam to act recklessly, signaling to him that he can with impunity develop these weapons of mass destruction or threaten his neighbours,'' said Clinton.

``We continue to hope, indeed pray, that Saddam will comply. But we must be prepared to act if he does not.'' General Henry Shelton, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the US could strike Iraq without warning. ``We feel that there is no requirement for an ultimatum to be given,'' he said.

The US defence secretary ordered deployment of 84 combat aircraft and more than 3,000 army troops in the Gulf region. As tension mounted, US secretary of stateMadeleine Albright postponed to tomorrow her departure for an Asia-Pacific economic conference in Malaysia and UN secretary-general Kofi Annan cut short a North Africa tour to return to UN headquarters in New York today.

The UN Security Council, meeting in special session after Russia demanded an explanation for a sudden decision to pull out all UN arms experts from iraq, issued a call for Baghdad to heed Annan's call that it resume cooperation with the inspectors.

But Iraq refused to back down on its decision to cut off the cooperation and deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz told UN special envoy Prakash Shah that Baghdad still insisted on moves to lift the eight-year-old oil embargo.

In Baghdad, Saddam Hussein today chaired a cabinet meeting to discuss a possible US military attack and the ``precautionary measures'' needed to be taken by ministries to face up the possibilities.

Saddam Hussein's cabinet denounced the US threats.

``The Iraqi cabinet considered deeply and carefully the possibility of anAmerican-Zionist strike that the US administration has threatened against our people and our homeland without any mandate or Security Council resolution,'' the state news agency INA reported. The agency's political commentator accused US president Bill Clinton of lying about Iraq to prepare the American public for an attack.

``The American president's lies are designed to prepare public opinion to accept a new US military attack against Iraq,'' the commentator said.

Earlier, UN personnel were evacuated from Baghdad and Richard Butler, the chairman of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) charged with disarming Iraq, said he ordered the pull-out on the `strong recommendation' of the US government.

Aziz denounced the withdrawal, saying it proved that UNSCOM inspectors worked for the United States and not the UN Security Council.

Aziz on mass-killer weapons panel: report

London: Iraqi deputy premier Tariq Aziz sits on a secret committee tasked with hiding weapons of mass destruction frominternational arms inspectors, Britain's Financial Times reported on Thursday.

It said western intelligence agencies were given the information on Aziz, his country's chief negotiator with the United Nations, by a recent defector from Baghdad.

The committee has already arranged for up to 100 missiles to be hidden, along with chemical warfare agents, documents relating to the biological weapons programme and details of key personnel, it added.

Iraq has denied such weapons exist and withdrawn cooperation from UN arms inspectors, prompting the latest surge in tensions with the international community.

According to the FT, western intelligence agencies have known for some time of the existence of the committee, but had not made the information public in order not to prejudice the work of the UN inspection team. The committee is also said to include Iraqi foreign minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf.