"What are you doing here?" the consul general asked the man who was fast becoming one of the most famous faces in the world. "Well, I'm retired, so I have to get my paper that I'm still alive," said Blix, apparently oblivious to the fact that he was by now the owner of one of the most famous names on the planet.

He was carrying an American flag and yelling support for the troops in a delayed St Patrick's Day parade over the weekend when he saw one woman carrying a sign saying: "No blood for oil".

Music lessons, once the staple diet of middle-class, extra-curricular education, just got hip. From the Scratch DJ academy, among others, come DJ classes, bringing a whole new meaning to the three R's so vital to a good academic grounding, which now stand for rap, rhyme and rhythm.

Head up Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway and turn left on to Patriot Freeway, on the western tip of Texas, and you will find them in angst, determination and mourning. This base has borne the brunt of the American casualties from Iraq, with 12 soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company missing and believed captured or dead after they were ambushed on Sunday by Iraqi forces.

President Saddam, it is argued, can be treated as a fair target because he is chief of the Iraqi military at a time of war. "International human rights law allows you to target military commanders," said Jim Ross, the senior legal analyst at Human Rights Watch in New York. "The Geneva convention gives a great deal of leeway when it comes to attacking combatants."

The defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said: "What will follow will not be a repeat of any other conflict. It will be of a force and scope and scale that has been beyond what has been seen before."

In the latest sign of a growing intolerance to dissent against the war, imagined or real, protesters in Louisiana used a tractor to crush compact discs and other items from the band as the boycott on the airwaves intensified.

"I naturally feel sadness that 3 months of work carried out in Iraq have not brought the assurances needed about the absence of weapons of mass destruction or other proscribed items in Iraq," Mr Blix told the security council.

Anti-war sentiment and disapproval of President Bush's foreign policy has prompted citizens in eight out of nine European countries to support weaker diplomatic and security ties with the US, in the belief that its foreign policy is having a negative effect on their country. Britain is the only exception.

Having failed to secure the necessary nine votes, the co-sponsors of the resolution - Britain, the US and Spain - decided not to seek a vote and vowed to attack Iraq without council support if Saddam Hussein fails to disarm, leaving the UN in a state of chaos.

The British attempts to win backing from undecided countries on the security council and bridge the gap between France and America had still failed to bear fruit last night.

Only days after George Bush pledged to call for a vote, whether it might succeed or not, the administration said it would look at "all the options".

After a day of chaotic negotiations at the UN, the US state department predicted that support for the US-British-Spanish resolution setting an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein and a series of disarmament tests was firming up.

Guardian writers below explore the key issues confronting Mr Blair in the crucial next days:

But while the survey shows overwhelming support for military action, it reveals a nation divided on how and when to fight and that is aware of its worsening image abroad.

A security council source said the UK was opting for a list that was "simple, striking and snappy" to win over wavering voters on the security council for a resolution that would set down a deadline for the tests.

Britain and the US were furious that Dr Blix did not present what they regard as damning evidence and insisted that he attend yesterday's security council meeting to answer questions on the drone, cluster bombs and other outstanding issues.

He could have chosen anything. With such a huge majority and so little coherent opposition in parliament, there have been no end of issues on which Tony Blair might have taken a moral stance and shown leadership against either popular opinion or powerful vested interests over the past six years.

"I was just blown away. I had never heard anything like it, and right there I knew it was what I wanted to do."

With audiences confused, producers livid and picket lines erected, the drama spilled out on to the street where famous actors with a night off signed autographs, musicians put on an impromptu concert and union representatives paraded a giant inflatable rat.

The stakes were raised further by a French proposal that the leaders of the security council nations should go to New York to decide between war and peace, in a vote expected next week. The White House rejected the suggestion, the British were doubtful, but the French and Russians insisted last night that their presidents were willing to make the trip.

"We are ready to discuss the wording of that resolution and take on board any constructive suggestions of how the process on that draft resolution can be improved," Mr Straw said at the United Nations. "There is certainly the possibility of an amendment."

At a hastily convened meeting in Paris, the three foreign ministers of the anti-war axis hardened their stance against military action and in favour of inspections two days before the UN chief weapons inspector is due to report to the security council.

The British government, which expects to secure the backing of the US for the change, is to offer a reworked resolution that would give Iraq "a little more time" and set a deadline on which most of the UN security council could agree.

"I think these large turnouts represent a widening distance between the political oligarchy in Washington and the democracy," he says. "Right now it's just a sentiment, a feeling. It's difficult to tell where it's all going because it has not reached a critical mass. But it's there in a much larger measure than either the Bush administration or the media would like you to believe."

Witnesses said the blast sent victims flying in front of the terminal building at Davao airport on Mindanao island, in southern Philippines, where 260 US troops have been training local security forces in jungle warfare and anti-guerrilla operations.

"Talk about underdogs," said her college friend and adviser at the time, Tony Podesta. "I couldn't even find a professional fundraiser who she could pay to work for her."

The report, which was delivered to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, on Wednesday, and formally circulated yesterday evening, remained critical of the extent of Iraqi cooperation but noted that significant progress had been been made.