Countdown To Decision On Iraq

U.S. President George W. Bush and allied leaders agreed on one final attempt to win world backing Monday for the swift disarmament of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Monday, said Mr. Bush, "is a moment of truth for the world," speaking at a Sunday summit with leaders of Britain, Spain and Portugal.

"Now we make a final appeal to make a strong, unified message on behalf of the international community," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

President Bush urged other nations to support "the immediate and unconditional disarmament" of the Iraqi leader. France, Germany and Russia have opposed an additional United Nations resolution to set an ultimatum for the Iraqi leader to disarm. And efforts to win the votes of uncommitted nations at the U.N. Security Council faltered in recent days.

The four leaders met at an American air base in the Azores, Portuguese territory in the Atlantic Ocean.

They gathered with more than 250,000 troops gathered in the Persian Gulf area poised to strike if and when the president gave the word.

Saddam warned Sunday that if Iraq is attacked, it will take the war anywhere in the world "wherever there is sky, land or water."

Saddam's threat was made during a meeting with military commanders and his remarks were carried by the official Iraqi News Agency.

Saddam told his commanders: "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."

Saddam also denied Iraq has any weapons of mass destruction, as the United States and Britain claim.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Sunday Iraq has been preparing for war for months "as if war is happening in an hour."

"We are preparing ourselves as if war is happening in an hour. For month we've been preparing ourselves for this possibility. Our enemy is treacherous," Sabri said in a live interview with the Arabic satellite channel Al-Arabiya.

Asked to comment on the summit between Mr. Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar, Sabri replied:

"No doubt the international scene shows that there is a big impasse in which the Bush-Blair policies of war and the imperialism against Iraq and the Arab countries have fallen into. This impasse is causing embarrassment day after day through widespread rejection of this policy," he said.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said the agreement among the leaders marked "a last chance, one last attempt to reach the greatest possible consensus among ourselves."

President Bush sounded like he didn't expect reluctant countries to change their minds.

Asked whether Monday was the day that would determine whether diplomacy could work he replied, "That's what I'm saying."

"We hope tomorrow (Monday) the U.N. will do its job," Mr. Bush said.

The U.S. president was scornful of France's role in the diplomatic tug of war that has unfolded in recent months.

Noting that he said 10 days ago he wanted the 15 nations of the Security Council to show their cards, 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."

French President Jacques Chirac said earlier Sunday he was willing to accept a 30-day deadline for Iraq to disarm, provided the move was endorsed by U.S. weapons inspectors.

In Washington, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney brushed that suggestion aside in a broadcast interview, recounting a long list of French actions that he said had let Saddam avoid disarmament.

Blair noted that some nations oppose any ultimatum to Saddam.

The result, he said, is that the Iraqi leader is playing a game that "he has played over the last 12 years. Disarmament never happens but instead the international community is drawn into some perpetual negotiation."

"Now we have reached the point of decision," Blair added.

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "Is it time to bring the curtain down on this or is there some hope?" Cheney appeared to answer the question, saying, "There's no question but what we're close to the end, if you will, of the diplomatic efforts."

While saying that "a moment of truth is arriving," Powell suggested that the Iraqi president could avert a war in his country by fleeing to another nation along with his top lieutenants.

Powell said he thought there were countries that "would be willing to do that as their contribution to avoiding a war."

At the same time, he said would advise weapons inspectors, humanitarian aid workers and journalists now in Baghdad "to take a hard look at the situation they are in, and it would be probably better for them to start leaving or making plans to leave."

France and its two allies in the anti-war bloc, Russia and Germany, said in a joint declaration Saturday that there was no justification to use force and to stop weapons inspections. They called for a foreign ministers' meeting Tuesday to discuss a "realistic" timetable for Saddam to disarm.

Powell said he was discussing the idea with colleagues in Spain and Britain.

Several hundred anti-war demonstrators on Sunday blocked the road leading to the main entrance of the base, about 100 yards from the gate, where the meeting was held.