France and Germany voiced final objections to the US-led war on Iraq hours before the American deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq expires.
The French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said war would spawn more terrorism. Hi German counterpart German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said: "Germany emphatically rejects the impending war." Still the German government guaranteed US troops the right to fly over its territory."
Their remarks came as US-led combat troops in the Gulf, numbering about 150,000, took up battle positions for an invasion of Iraq along the demilitarized zone in northern Kuwait.
Mr Bush's deadline expires at 1 a.m. tomorrow morning Irish time.
It has been reported that no action will be taken before the deadline has passed, unless Iraqi forces attack first.
The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said his thoughts were with the ordinary people of Iraq as they faced the "disaster of war".
AFP