US President George W. Bush has announced the war against Iraq has begun and promised a "broad and concerted campaign" to disarm Baghdad and topple Saddam.
Mr Bush said the United States and its allies hadlaunched a war of "no half measures" on Iraq and it could belonger and more difficult than some had predicted.
"On my orders, coalition forces have begun strikingselected targets of military importance to undermine SaddamHussein's ability to wage war. These are opening stages of whatwill be a broad and concerted campaign," Mr Bush said in anlate-night Oval Office address.
He spoke little more than two hours after Iraqi PresidentSaddam Hussein ignored Bush's 48-hour deadline to go intoexile.
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Mr Bush said the United States had the support of 35 nations in the Iraqwar, ranging from the use of naval and air bases to help withintelligence and logistics.
He said the war on Iraq may not be as short as he andmilitary planners hope. "A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large asCalifornia could be longer and more difficult than somepredict," he said.
He said the aim will be a united, stable and free Iraq andvowed a sustained commitment to that goal.
"We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for theirgreat civilisation and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people," he said.
"This will not be a campaign of half measures. We willaccept no outcome but victory," Mr Bush said.