US President George Bush is preparing to address the nation as early as this evening to announce a US-British ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq in a matter of days or face military action, according to US officials in Washington.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said defiantly last night it was a "great lie" that Baghdad still possessed banned weapons and warned that Baghdad was ready to fight the United States "anywhere in the world".
Sometime late today, after a final round of telephone calls to wavering leaders on the UN Security Council, Mr Bush is expected to consult with his British and Spanish counterparts, Mr Tony Blair and José Maria Aznar on whether to abandon their quest for UN backing for war on Iraq.
After an emergency summit in the Azores yesterday, Mr Bush said he would not pursue support for a new Security Council resolution authorising military action if agreement had not been reached by the end of today.
The summit, called at short notice on Friday, was hosted by Portuguese Prime Minister Mr Jose Durao Barroso. The four leaders spoke briefly afterwards against a backdrop of flags making it look like a meeting of an international body.
"We concluded that tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world." said Mr Bush. "Tomorrow is the last day we can determine whether or not diplomacy can work.
"Many nations have voiced a commitment to peace and security, and now they must demonstrate that commitment to peace and security in the only effective way, by supporting the immediate and unconditional disarmament of Saddam Hussein."
"There is a simple choice," said Mr Blair after the hour long meeting on the Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic. "People have got to decide whether they are going to allow any second resolution to have the teeth to make it clear that there is a real ultimatum and that's what we are going to have to find out overnight."
The US, Britain and Spain have a resolution before the Security Council declaring that Saddam Hussein will have missed a last chance to disarm if he has not fully complied with UN demands by March 17th. The deadline is likely to be moved to March 21st if a vote is taken today, diplomats said last night.
However, the prospect of getting the resolution through the 15 member council remains slim and faces a French veto. Only one other country, Bulgaria, has voiced open support for the initiative. If nine votes are still out of reach - which would give a moral victory even if vetoed - the resolution will most likely be withdrawn.
Mr Blair, in an impassioned statement, said that without a credible ultimatum authorising force in the event of Iraq's non-compliance "then more discussion is just more delay" and the international community would be drawn into "perpetual negotiation". Saddam Hussein had still not provided proper evidence for the destruction of 10,000 litres of anthrax. The Iraqi leader put the country on a war footing on Saturday, dividing the country into four military zones to prepare for a US-led invasion which is widely expected by the weekend. "When the enemy opens the war on a large scale it should realise that the battle between us will be waged wherever there is sky, earth and water anywhere in the world," the Iraqi leader told army officers at a televised war council.
With war imminent, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, warned foreign journalists and other nationals, who include some 70 weapons inspectors, to make plans to leave Iraq to avoid the possibility of being held hostage.
The three leaders made a solemn pledge in their statement at yesterday's mid-Atlantic summit "to help the Iraqi people build a new Iraq at peace with itself and its neighbours."
They said: "The Iraqi people deserve to be lifted from insecurity and tyranny, and freed to determine for themselves the future of their country. We envisage a unified Iraq with its territorial integrity respected. We will support the Iraqi people's aspirations for a representative government that upholds human rights and the rule of law as cornerstones of democracy."