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Bush tells UN that the moment of truth has arrived

The time for UN debate was down to hours as this paper went to press, the likelihood of war against Iraq growing, after a one-day summit at which US President George W. Bush and three allied leaders bluntly demanded that Iraq be disarmed swiftly and completely.

Still defiant, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatened a wider war if attacked.

"We hope tomorrow the UN will do its job," Bush said Sunday at a news conference in the Azores Islands in the Atlantic where he and the leaders of Britain, Spain and Portugal met.

"Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world," he added.

Yesterday, Mohamed ElBaradi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, announced that the Bush administration had advised the agency to start pulling its inspectors out of Iraq.

Administration officials said the opportunity for diplomacy would end yesterday, whether the UN Security Council -- deadlocked for weeks -- approved or rejected a plan calling on Iraq to disarm, or even if the resolution were withdrawn.

The Security Council scheduled closed consultations at 10am EST (11pm Taiwan time) yesterday and arranged a meeting several hours later at UN headquarters in New York. But there was little or no evidence that France, Germany or Russia had dropped opposition to a resolution that threatened Saddam with war if he didn't immediately rid his regime of weapons of mass destruction.

France also called for an emergency UN ministerial session today to set a timeline for Iraq's peaceful disarmament and reiterated its threat to exercise its veto in the Security Council.

"France cannot accept the resolution that sets an ultimatum and envisages an automatic use of force," Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said yesterday on a French radio station.

Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and their summit partners met Sunday at a US air base in the Azores as the American-led military buildup in the Persian Gulf continued.

More than 250,000 troops, a naval armada and an estimated 1,000 combat aircraft are in the region, ready to strike if and when the president gives the word.

One administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bush planned to address the nation shortly after the diplomatic window closes yesterday -- possibly as early as yesterday evening.

French President Jacques Chirac said Sunday he was willing to accept a 30-day deadline for Iraq to disarm, provided the move was endorsed by UN weapons inspectors. "We just feel that there is another option, another way, a more normal way, a less dramatic way than war," he said in an interview on CBS 60 Minutes.

Vice President Dick Cheney brushed aside Chirac's proposal, listing a series of French actions in recent years he said had let Saddam avoid disarmament.

At his news conference in the Azores, Bush also was scornful of France's role in the diplomatic struggle over Iraq.

Noting he had called earlier this month for Security Council members to take a stand, he said: "France showed their cards. After I said what I said, they said they were going to veto anything that held Saddam to account."

Blair, flying home from the summit Sunday evening, told reporters that diplomats would work through the night to try and find common ground.

"People have got to decide whether they are going to allow any ... resolution to have teeth, to make it clear that there is a real ultimatum in it, and that's what we need to find out overnight," he said. "You cannot have a resolution which simply stipulates further discussion."

In Baghdad, Saddam was unbowed. "When the enemy starts a large-scale battle, he must realize that the battle between us will be open wherever there is sky, land and water in the entire world," he told his military commanders in remarks carried by the official Iraqi news agency.

Saddam also denied his nation has chemical weapons, as alleged.

There were unambiguous signs that war could occur within a short period of time.

The State Department on Sunday night ordered nonessential personnel and all family members to leave Israel, Kuwait and Syria in a precautionary move. The departure order updates an advisory last month that authorized those people to leave voluntarily.

Greece and China began evacuating staff in Iraq yesterday.

Bush said war could be averted if Saddam were to leave the country. There was no indication that would happen, however.

At their summit, Bush, Blair, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso issued a formal statement that said "any military presence, should it be necessary, will be temporary ... Our commitment to support the people of Iraq will be for a long time."

Prime Minister Tony Blair called an emergency Cabinet meeting on the crisis in Iraq yesterday night, his office said.

The prime minister has been struggling to contain a rebellion within his governing Labor Party by lawmakers opposed to military action that lacks UN backing. One Cabinet minister -- International Development Secretary Clare Short -- has threatened to resign and the press has reported other ministers may be preparing to do the same.
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