CINCINNATI, Ohio -- President George W. Bush Monday ordered Iraq to disarm immediately or face attack as France and Britain edged closer to agreement over the UN's message to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

In a speech, the U.S. leader accused Saddam of harboring terrorists and the "instruments of mass death and destruction," and warned that if not confronted now, the menace posed to the United States and its allies could become even more lethal.

"The time for denying, deceiving and delaying has come to an end. Saddam Hussein must disarm himself -- or, for the sake of peace, we will lead a coalition to disarm him," Bush said.

And he warned it was still not clear just how far Saddam was from developing and deploying nuclear weapons, in a speech seemingly aimed at not just Americans, but critics of his stance on Iraq abroad, AFP reported. "America must not ignore the threat gathering against U.S. facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."

Bush also called on the U.S. Congress -- which is expected to authorize him to use force against Iraq later this week -- to unite and strengthen Washington's hand in efforts to pressure the United Nations to act.

"Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable," Bush said. "The resolution will tell the United Nations and all nations, that American speaks with one voice and is determined to make the demands of the civilized world mean something."

in Washington, a co-sponsor of the resolution slammed what he called the administration's tendency to go it alone in foreign policy.

"The problem is that in both word and deed this administration frequently sends the message that others don't matter," Senator John Edwards said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Unilateral action will not win the war against terrorism. It will not stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction."

Edwards, a Democrat from north Carolina who does not hide his presidential ambitions, criticized Bush for disregarding the coalition-building efforts of past presidents in his haste to take on Saddam.

"The administration was wrong not to build an international consensus from the beginning," Edwards said.

Earlier, Bush continued to lobby world leaders, agreeing to continued consultations on Iraq in a birthday phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government opposes a U.S.-British proposal for tough UN action.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said after talks in Paris with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin that London might be prepared to accept a French proposal for a two-stage ultimatum to Iraq, rather than the single UN resolution favored by the United States.

Straw was in Paris to press the case for a single resolution mandating the return of weapons inspectors backed up by the threat of force if Iraq blocks their activities.

France has been urging a two-step process, with a first resolution detailing the inspectors' mission and a second threatening military action only if their work is interrupted.

Officials on both sides said there was room for accommodation between the two approaches.