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The time for United Nations debate is down to hours, the likelihood of war against Iraq growing, after a one-day summit at which President Bush and three allied leaders bluntly demanded that Iraq be disarmed swiftly and completely. Still defiant, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatened a wider war if attacked."We hope tomorrow the U.N. will do its job," Bush said Sunday at a news conference in the Azores Islands in the Atlantic where he and the leaders of Britain, Spain and Portugal met."Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world," he added.By Monday, Mohamed ElBaradi, head of the International...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush told Saddam Hussein to flee Iraq or face a U.S.-led invasion, abandoning U.N. diplomacy Monday to brace Americans for war within days. The president, commander in chief of 250,000 U.S. troops poised at the borders of Iraq, planned to address the nation at 8 p.m. EST. A draft of his address circulated at the White House had Bush giving the Iraqi leader and his inner circle a firm deadline to seek exile. The deadline would be brief, just a few days, said three senior White House officials who declined to be more specific. They cautioned...

LAJES, Azores Islands (AP) - On the brink of war, President Bush and summit partners from Britain and Spain gave the United Nations a Monday deadline to endorse the use of force to compel Iraq's immediate disarmament. "Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world," said Bush, commander-in-chief of 250,000 troops ringing Iraq and ready to act with or without U.N. approval. He spoke Sunday after an Atlantic island summit with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Though the leaders pledged to seek compromise with U.N. foes through the night and all day...

The Azores Summit will go down in history as the time when the talking stopped. "Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world," said George W Bush, before reiterating his support for an interim authority in a liberated Iraq. Mr Bush added that today would be the last day when diplomacy could work."Without a credible ultimatum," said Tony Blair, "more discussion just means more delay." Appealing for the world to unite behind such an ultimatum, he added that "we are in the final stages. Now is the time when we have to decide." This was an ultimatum in all...

<p>LAJES, Azores Islands  — President Bush and allied leaders agreed on one final attempt to win world backing Monday for the swift disarmament of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world," the president said at a Sunday summit with allies.</p>

LAJES AIRBASE, Azores, March 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Sunday that Monday was the last day for a vote on a second U.N. resolution that would pave the way for a war on Iraq. Having said at a news conference that Monday was "a moment of truth for the world", Bush was asked by reporters if he meant the diplomatic window would close if by Monday the U.N. Security Council failed to pass a second resolution. "That's what I'm saying," he said. "Tomorrow is the day we will determine whether diplomacy can work," he...

Fox news just announced on Studio B that the White House has said that Monday is when the resolution will be put to a vote.

Iraq: the United States reaffirms with UNO the cut off date of March 17 The ambassador of the United States in the United Nations reaffirmed Wednesday in camera with his colleagues of the Security Council that "the limiting date of March 17 always held" for the disarmament of Iraq, according to several diplomats having taken part in the travaux.Un diplomatic of a country opposed to the draft Resolution anglo-hispano-American giving the green light to the war in Iraq declared that "Negroponte (the American ambassador) said that the date of March 17 tenait".Pour its share, a diplomat of a country...

Washington -- The balloon goes up on St. Patrick's Day. That is what people here in our nation's capital are saying. Last Thursday the President set the timpani rolling. At his press conference he made it clear that about the last drop of vigor had been wrung out of diplomacy. He might have added that the more we showed good faith by resorting to diplomacy the more difficult we were making it for our fighting forces…and for our diplomats. Friday at the United Nations our government and Britain's made it pretty clear: March 17 will be the day of Saddam's...

The White House says a UN Security Council vote on Iraq will take place this week and rejected a proposal to extend the deadline for Baghdad to disarm by one month. The United States and Britain so far have failed to muster the nine votes needed for passage of a resolution setting the stage for war with Iraq. But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declared: "The vote will take place this week." Fleischer also said a plan to extend the deadline for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to get rid of his alleged weapons of mass destruction to April 17 was...

Despite French and Russian veto threats, the Bush administration mounted an intensive diplomatic drive to win backing for a U.N. resolution in effect authorizing war with Iraq. Administration officials expressed a willingness to amend the U.S.-British-Spanish draft to get more support, but say they are firm on a March 17 deadline for Iraq to accept full disarmament or face the use of force. The U.S. battle for the resolution was being waged mainly by telephone, with the focus on the six elected members of the security council still officially undecided on how they will vote, including Guinea, Angola, Cameroon, Mexico,...

Monday, March 10, 2003 at 06:30 JST AIOI — The proposed March 17 deadline for Iraq to fully comply with all U.N. disarmament demands is Baghdad's absolute last chance to avoid military conflict, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe suggested Sunday. "The 17th is the final opportunity. There have been a number of 'final opportunities' until now, but this is the true final opportunity," Abe said in a speech in Aioi, Hyogo Prefecture, apparently indicating this is Iraq's last chance to avoid war. "There is enough time for Iraq to respond by the 17th," he said. Abe was commenting on...

WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that the United States had no plans to extend a March 17 deadline and would use "military force" if Iraq did not disarm by then. In interviews with various television networks, Powell also that a French U.N. Security Council veto of the second resolution on Iraq would have "very serious" impact on Washington's relations with Paris. Last week, the United States, Britain and Spain presented a resolution in the Security Council seeking its endorsement for the use of force to disarm Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein. France,...

Japan supports resolution giving Iraq March 17 deadline ______________________________________ Saturday, March 8, 2003 at 18:00 JST TOKYO — Japan supports a new revised U.N. Security Council resolution draft giving Iraq a March 17 deadline to comply with all U.N. disarmament demands and continue to urge council members to adopt it, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Saturday. "Japan supports the proposed resolution as something that will mark the final step of the global community's effort to pressure Iraq to disarm on its own," Kawaguchi said in a statement. Kawaguchi issued the statement as the Security Council remains divided over whether to...

U.S. Seeks March 17 Deadline for Iraq By DAFNA LINZER Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- With a quarter-million troops poised to swarm into Iraq, the United States and its allies moved to set March 17 as the final deadline for Saddam Hussein to prove he has given up his weapons of mass destruction. The ultimatum, in the form of a U.S.-backed resolution, hands the Security Council a new and immediate challenge: Vote in favor of a resolution that provides a 10-day window for an alternative to war or risk being left on the sidelines as the Bush administration...