LAJES, the Azores (CNN) -- President Bush said Sunday the opportunity for a diplomatic solution to the confrontation with Iraq would end Monday, calling it "a moment of truth for the world."
Bush said he hopes the United Nations "will do its job," but warned that France's threatened veto of any U.N. resolution to authorize force means that "cards have been played."
Bush made his comments after a brief summit in the Azores with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. A British official had described the meeting as the "last chance for diplomacy."
"No one is pretending things are other than difficult," the British official said.
Frustrated by opposition to their hard-line stance on Iraqi disarmament, the architects of the "coalition of the willing" converged on Terceira, an island of the Portuguese Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, to decide what to do next.
The three countries are co-sponsors of a new U.N. resolution that would set out disarmament tests for Iraq with a do-it-or-else deadline -- a resolution that even sponsors concede has failed to garner the support it needs to pass through the U.N. Security Council.
Vice President Dick Cheney Sunday hinted Sunday at how near a Bush decision might be on whether to launch a war against Iraq.
"Given where we are, both diplomatically as well as in the region, we're getting close to the point where the president is going to have to make an important decision," Cheney told CBS's "Face the Nation."
Asked whether it was likely that Saddam might try to pre-empt a U.S. invasion by attacking first, he said, "That's a possibility."
Bush and Blair maintain they already have authority, under previous U.N. resolutions, for a military strike on Iraq, regardless of the outcome of the current debate.
When asked about Security Council efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to the crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN's "Late Edition," "The curtain is coming down now. We can't continue to go like this."
"It is unfortunate that there are members of the council who say 'give it more time, give it more time' and 'the inspections are working,'" Powell said.
Chirac would not object to 30-day timeline
France would not object to a 30-day timeline for U.N. weapons inspectors to wrap up their work in Iraq -- if the inspectors themselves set such a schedule, French President Jacques Chirac said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview with CNN Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
U.N. chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei are expected Tuesday to present to the Security Council a work program intended to outline how inspectors can address the key outstanding issues in the United Nations' effort to disarm Iraq.
France had been discussing a 120-day timeline for the ongoing inspections, which began in November.
France, Russia and Germany -- the key opponents to the use of force to disarm Iraq -- called for a ministerial level meeting of the Security Council after the inspectors' present their case.
The meeting would be to "approve the work still needed to be carried out and to set up a timetable in order to carry this out in a thorough, yet realistic, manner," a French official said.
There was no immediate reaction to the request from American or British diplomats. But in recent days, U.S. and British officials have expressed growing frustration over French efforts to thwart the resolution, which Chirac's government believes would be tantamount to giving a green light to military action.
In his Saturday radio address, Bush told the American people that "there is little reason to hope that Saddam Hussein will disarm" and he braced them for war.
"We must recognize that some threats are so grave, and their potential consequences so terrible, that they must be removed, even if it requires military force," he said.
Germans urged to leave, as Iraq goes on war footing
The German Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged Germans to leave Iraq, a ministry spokesman said. German Embassy staff in Baghdad will help make arrangements for any Germans who wish to leave. The Embassy is expected to be closed within three days, the spokesman said.
The spokesman said about 40 Germans, most of them journalists, are now in Iraq.
In Iraq, with about 250,000 U.S. and British troops in place for a strike, Baghdad's Revolutionary Command Council issued an order early Sunday putting the country on war footing, dividing Iraq into four regions with separate commanders.
Saddam himself was put in charge of the air force, as well as helicopter and missile units. His son, Qusay, will command the Baghdad area.
"This is being done to repel and destroy any foreign aggression," the council's order said.
Iraq also extended an invitation for Blix and ElBaradei to visit Baghdad "as soon as possible." That would be their fourth visit since the latest inspections regime was put in place in November.
Blix said he and ElBaradei would discuss the offer over the weekend and consult with the Security Council before making a decision on whether to go to Iraq.
Late Friday, the Iraqis sent Blix a report, in Arabic and English, addressing concerns by inspectors that Iraq has not provided a full accounting for its stockpiles of the nerve agent VX and anthrax. That report is still being translated.
Asked whether he thought this was the last weekend that the inspectors would be able to do their work in Iraq, Blix said, "I hope we can continue, but we'll see. It's not in our hands altogether."
CNN correspondents Dana Bash, Richard Roth, Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi and producer Caroline McDonald contributed to this report.
So fitting that a man named Moses should bring you this story...*sigh*
Cheers.😀
Bush said he hopes the United Nations "will do its job," but warned that France's threatened veto of any U.N. resolution to authorize force means that "cards have been played."
Bush made his comments after a brief summit in the Azores with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. A British official had described the meeting as the "last chance for diplomacy."
"No one is pretending things are other than difficult," the British official said.
Frustrated by opposition to their hard-line stance on Iraqi disarmament, the architects of the "coalition of the willing" converged on Terceira, an island of the Portuguese Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, to decide what to do next.
The three countries are co-sponsors of a new U.N. resolution that would set out disarmament tests for Iraq with a do-it-or-else deadline -- a resolution that even sponsors concede has failed to garner the support it needs to pass through the U.N. Security Council.
Vice President Dick Cheney Sunday hinted Sunday at how near a Bush decision might be on whether to launch a war against Iraq.
"Given where we are, both diplomatically as well as in the region, we're getting close to the point where the president is going to have to make an important decision," Cheney told CBS's "Face the Nation."
Asked whether it was likely that Saddam might try to pre-empt a U.S. invasion by attacking first, he said, "That's a possibility."
Bush and Blair maintain they already have authority, under previous U.N. resolutions, for a military strike on Iraq, regardless of the outcome of the current debate.
When asked about Security Council efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to the crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN's "Late Edition," "The curtain is coming down now. We can't continue to go like this."
"It is unfortunate that there are members of the council who say 'give it more time, give it more time' and 'the inspections are working,'" Powell said.
Chirac would not object to 30-day timeline
France would not object to a 30-day timeline for U.N. weapons inspectors to wrap up their work in Iraq -- if the inspectors themselves set such a schedule, French President Jacques Chirac said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview with CNN Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
U.N. chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei are expected Tuesday to present to the Security Council a work program intended to outline how inspectors can address the key outstanding issues in the United Nations' effort to disarm Iraq.
France had been discussing a 120-day timeline for the ongoing inspections, which began in November.
France, Russia and Germany -- the key opponents to the use of force to disarm Iraq -- called for a ministerial level meeting of the Security Council after the inspectors' present their case.
The meeting would be to "approve the work still needed to be carried out and to set up a timetable in order to carry this out in a thorough, yet realistic, manner," a French official said.
There was no immediate reaction to the request from American or British diplomats. But in recent days, U.S. and British officials have expressed growing frustration over French efforts to thwart the resolution, which Chirac's government believes would be tantamount to giving a green light to military action.
In his Saturday radio address, Bush told the American people that "there is little reason to hope that Saddam Hussein will disarm" and he braced them for war.
"We must recognize that some threats are so grave, and their potential consequences so terrible, that they must be removed, even if it requires military force," he said.
Germans urged to leave, as Iraq goes on war footing
The German Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged Germans to leave Iraq, a ministry spokesman said. German Embassy staff in Baghdad will help make arrangements for any Germans who wish to leave. The Embassy is expected to be closed within three days, the spokesman said.
The spokesman said about 40 Germans, most of them journalists, are now in Iraq.
In Iraq, with about 250,000 U.S. and British troops in place for a strike, Baghdad's Revolutionary Command Council issued an order early Sunday putting the country on war footing, dividing Iraq into four regions with separate commanders.
Saddam himself was put in charge of the air force, as well as helicopter and missile units. His son, Qusay, will command the Baghdad area.
"This is being done to repel and destroy any foreign aggression," the council's order said.
Iraq also extended an invitation for Blix and ElBaradei to visit Baghdad "as soon as possible." That would be their fourth visit since the latest inspections regime was put in place in November.
Blix said he and ElBaradei would discuss the offer over the weekend and consult with the Security Council before making a decision on whether to go to Iraq.
Late Friday, the Iraqis sent Blix a report, in Arabic and English, addressing concerns by inspectors that Iraq has not provided a full accounting for its stockpiles of the nerve agent VX and anthrax. That report is still being translated.
Asked whether he thought this was the last weekend that the inspectors would be able to do their work in Iraq, Blix said, "I hope we can continue, but we'll see. It's not in our hands altogether."
CNN correspondents Dana Bash, Richard Roth, Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi and producer Caroline McDonald contributed to this report.
So fitting that a man named Moses should bring you this story...*sigh*
Cheers.😀
