Developments in the Iraq crisis on Sunday

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States was close to securing the necessary nine votes on the U.N. Security Council to pass a proposed March 17 deadline for Iraq to disarm. But he acknowledged France might veto the measure.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin headed Sunday to the capitals of the three African members of the Security Council -- Angola, Cameroon and Guinea -- hoping to win their support against the U.S.-backed deadline.

Senior Iraqi official Maj. Gen. Hossam Mohamed Amin dismissed the proposed March 17 disarmament deadline.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal expressed support for a United Arab Emirates proposal that Saddam Hussein quit power and go into exile to avert a war.

The Arab League will send a high-level delegation to Baghdad in the coming days to urge Iraqi officials to improve cooperation with weapons inspectors in a bid to avert war, officials said.

Iraq destroyed six more Al Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the number destroyed since March 1 to 46, almost half of Iraq's original arsenal of 100.

U.S troops unloaded trucks at a newly established forward-operating base in southeastern Turkey, only 100 miles from the Iraqi border. The base will serve as a logistics base for 62,000 U.S. troops, if Turkey allows the United States to use its territory.

Former President Jimmy Carter said in an editorial published in The New York Times that a unilateral attack on Iraq would not meet his criteria of a "just war" and would violate "respect for international law."