"The world is watching Saddam Hussein to see if he follows the words he uttered with deeds," Clinton said. "Our forces remain strong and ready if he does not."

The president spoke as pundits complained that the weekend's developments had left him without a coherent long-term strategy. "We had an opportunity here because Saddam Hussein had badly overplayed his hand. That opportunity has gone," former Republican US Secretary of State James Baker said. "We'll be back in the same situation a few months hence, maybe not with the sa me good opportunity to strike."

US air strikes were minutes away Saturday when news of an Iraqi letter promising to begin cooperating with UN weapons inspectors prompted Clinton to abort the operation, defence officials have said.

The WashingtonPost reported on Monday that Defence Secretary William Cohen, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and General Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had urged Clinton to ignore the Iraqi overture and strike anyway.

But Clinton sided with National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, who argued that world opinion was likely to turn against Washington if it unleashed strikes that might cause some 10,000 deaths, the Post said.

Time magazine said on Monday that the United States was angered by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's last-minute appeal to the Iraqi leader.

The news weekly said Clinton and Albright "were on the phone to Annan all week" to block a visit to Baghdad like that which ended a similar standoff in February.

"But on Friday night, encouraged by the pleadings of Iraqi and Russian diplomats, Annan disregarded Washington's private protests and sent an appeal on his personal stationery to Saddam," the article said.

Within hours of receiving the letter fromAnnan, Saddam flashed back his "yes-but" reply, forcing the Pentagon to put its plans for attacking Iraq on hold.

The following morning, Annan publicly gave a "positive" appraisal of Saddam's letter, deflating the momentum for military action before Washington could react, Time said.

Clinton, while keeping up the pressure on Iraq over UN arms inspections, said Washington would also intensify efforts to install a democratic government in Baghdad .

Overthrowing a regime in power for 20 years is much more easily said than done. Saddam Hussein's opposition -- the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south -- is divided and ill-prepared.

William Kincade of American University in Washington said Saddam Hussein still maintained "a very tight grip" on power because his forces "simply murder people who stand up to him."

US support of opposition groups also could plunge the Middle East into chaos.

US ally Turkey fiercely opposes a Kurdish state, and Washington's support of the Shiites wouldbenefit Iran at a time when Washington remains leery of normalising relations with Tehran.

Republican US Senator John McCain said he favors strengthening the `no fly' zones in the north and south of Iraq to foster the development of the Iraqi opposition.

"We have a lot of work to do to mount and support a credible resistance and I understand ... how difficult, complex and hard to manage and hard to protect an operation like this is," McCain said. "But frankly, it's our only option, because we have to get this guy out."

Former Democratic senator Sam Nunn said the answer was a strong regional alliance.

"We've got to structure a long-term alliance in that area that can deal with not only Saddam Hussein, but others in the region in protecting the strategic assets there, which is the oil," Nunn said.