White House: Time Running Out for Iraq

WASHINGTON – President Bush said Tuesday "time is running out" for Saddam Hussein to disarm, even though he did not say when military action might be necessary.

Speaking at a photo op with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Bush said Saddam had 11 years to disarm but he hasn't given any evidence that he is complying with U.N. resolutions.

"Time is running out on Saddam Hussein.  He must disarm. I am sick and tired of games and deception and that's my view of timetables."

Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix has said that his group will need months to seek out Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But Bush said he is growing more impatient with Iraq and what the administration asserts is Baghdad's refusal to cooperate with inspectors.

"The United Nations spoke with one voice -- we said we expect Saddam Hussein, for the sake of peace, to disarm," Bush said.

"That's the question: Is Saddam Hussein disarming? ... So far I haven't seen any evidence that he is disarming. Time is running out on Saddam Hussein; He must disarm."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that weapons inspectors can continue, but that time is running out for Iraq to prove it is disarming.

"This is a question of not allowing Saddam Hussein to string the world along forever."

"The president has not put a specific date on [a deadline] ... but it's fair to say time is running out."

U.S. allies have urged the Bush administration to give U.N. inspectors time to carry out their work in Iraq. The inspection team has not reported evidence that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, but the White House insists the arsenals are being hidden.

Fleischer also drew a distinction between Iraq and North Korea and the threats they pose. North Korea hasn't invaded anyone since 1950, but Iraq has attacked Kuwait and Iran, and fired Scud missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia, Fleischer said.

Fleischer said that North Korea will have to comply with nonproliferation agreements to which it is a signatory and must dismantle its nuclear reactors, before the United States was willing to talk about future inducements

"Nobody in the world wants to repeat the pattern where North Korea has the ability to put the world through blackmail once again. And the most effective way to maintain and de-nuclearize North Korea and the Korean peninsula, is by having North Korea move forward on that which they promised the world: that they would not develop weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons."

Fleischer said that if North Korea does not comply, the United States and its allies--including China, Russia, South Korea and Japan--will continue to use diplomacy to negotiate their positions.

Fox News' Major Garrett and the Associated Press contributed to this report.