A senior U.S. official acknowledged it would be nearly impossible to round up the necessary votes to win passage in the U.N. Security Council for a U.S-British-Spanish resolution authorizing war. But the official said the leaders' gathering would remind the world that the countries head a coalition ready to act soon. 

The three allies intended to try to ratchet up pressure on Saddam - believed to have been lessened by France's insistence it would veto any war authorization - in a strong statement after their summit, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

Weeks of tendered compromises and extended deadlines have not paid off for the White House. They only have contributed to an impression of waffling and given anti-war forces in Britain more time to attack Blair. 

France and its two allies in the anti-war bloc, Russia and Germany, said in a joint declaration Saturday that there was no justification to use force and to stop weapons inspections. They called for a foreign ministers' meeting Tuesday to discuss a "realistic" timetable for Saddam to disarm. 

With that intransigence among the opposing countries and little give in the undecided group, Bush, Blair and Aznar were seen as likely to conclude at their Azores meeting to withdraw their resolution - either because they lack nine votes or merely to deny France the opportunity to cast a veto. 

Bush, in his weekly radio address Saturday, sought to prepare both Americans and Iraqis for a war that could begin within days if the resolution is withdrawn.