Biden Urges Bush About Iraq Plans

WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged President Bush ( news - web sites) on Wednesday to rule out unilateral military action against Iraq, saying it was the "single worst option" for dealing with Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites).

Sen. Joseph Biden ( news, bio, voting record), D-Del., issued the appeal a day before Bush's speech on Iraq to the U.N. General Assembly. Bush is expected to ask the Security Council to compel Iraq to readmit U.N. weapons inspectors. It is not clear whether he will say the United States is prepared to use force against Iraq if the Iraqi president refuses to comply.

Biden, in remarks to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, said he will be "extremely disappointed" if Bush lays out a unilateralist approach in his U.N. speech that conveys the message, "`The world be damned, here we go.' That is not in our interest," Biden said.