Free Republic

Mar 17, 2003Asian Stock Markets Higher After Bush Delivers War Ultimatum to SaddamBy Dirk BeveridgeThe Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) - Shares in Asia's biggest stock markets rose more than 2 percent Tuesday morning, as many traders bet a war in Iraq will be short and decisive after U.S. President George W. Bush's ultimatum to President Saddam Hussein. Still, some traders remained cautious and some shares failed to hold on to all early gains after Bush delivered a live television address that gave Saddam and his sons 48 hours to quit Iraq or face war. "Most people think that...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Australia kicked out Iraqi diplomats while Canada and Indonesia called for more diplomacy after President Bush gave Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave or face war. Oil prices fell, the dollar was firm and Asian stock markets galloped higher after Bush, in a grim 13-minute televised address to his people, said, "The tyrant will soon be gone." Bush set the clock ticking to war, which could start as early as early Thursday morning Iraq time, after abandoning diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iraqi crisis through the bitterly divided U.N. Security Council. Australian Prime Minister John...

<p>THE PRESIDENT: My fellow citizens, events in Iraq have now reached the final days of decision. For more than a decade, the United States and other nations have pursued patient and honorable efforts to disarm the Iraqi regime without war. That regime pledged to reveal and destroy all its weapons of mass destruction as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War in 1991.</p>

<p>15:55 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Monday Saddam Hussein must flee Iraq or face a U.S.-led invasion, abandoning U.N. diplomacy to brace Americans for war within days. Bush was giving the Iraqi leader 48 hours to comply, administration officials said.</p>

France, Russia and Germany today delivered a defiant response to the 24 hour ultimatum on Iraq laid down yesterday by the US and UK. The three countries are standing firm in their opposition to any resolution that would authorise military action against Iraq while UN weapons inspectors continue to make progress. The French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, today told a French radio station: "France cannot accept a resolution that sets an ultimatum and envisages an automatic use of force."He reiterated France's threat to use its veto to block a resolution paving the way to war in the UN security...

Per FOX News Speech will last 10 to 30 minutes Bush will give Saddam "Less than one week to leave Iraq" Bush will also "give one more speech, on the eve of war, if and when that comes".

Developing...

Last minute briefing summoned by President Bush is attended by Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, CIA Director George Tenet and all chiefs of staff of the United States Armed Forces.United States President Bush's address at 0300 IST will be broadcast by all networks. He is expected to anounced that the diplomatic window is closed and Saddam must leave the country immediately.White House sources report after top level briefing: Saddam may be given 48 hours to leave the country.

Bush to address nation on Iraq Official: President to demand Saddam leave country Monday, March 17, 2003 Posted: 11:53 AM EST (1653 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush, during a Monday night national address, will make clear "time is very short" for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to avoid military action, an administration official told CNN. A 72-hour ultimatum "is in the right ballpark," the official said. Bush, in a televised address set for 8 p.m. ET, will demand that Saddam yield power and leave the country, the White House said. Saddam has a "very small opening, several days at best,"...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Abandoning diplomacy, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein a final ultimatum Monday to leave Iraq or face a U.S.-led war. The president planned an address to the nation at 8 p.m. to explain his decision. "This matter cannot continue indefinitely," Secretary of State Colin Powell said. The development came as the United States, Britain and Spain ended diplomatic efforts in the United Nations to disarm Saddam Hussein, withdrawing their proposed resolution setting an ultimatum and clearing the way for a U.S.-led war without Security Council approval. "It was our judgment that no further purpose would be served by...

TODAY is indeed judgment day for the international community over Iraq. That is the central message of yesterday’s transatlantic summit in the Azores between the US, Britain, Spain and Portugal. The words of both President Bush and Tony Blair were straightforward. Security Council resolution 1441 had unanimously condemned Saddam Hussein as in material breach of his obligation to disarm. After three and a half months, Saddam was still trying hard to avoid fulfilling that obligation. Mr Blair listed the areas of non-compliance: no interviews with Iraqi weapons scientists had been permitted outside of the regime and Saddam still refuses to...

JACQUES Chirac was looking for 30 days. Yesterday he was given 24 hours. After a brief meeting in a huge aircraft hangar in the middle of the Atlantic, the four countries of the "trans-Atlantic alliance" simultaneously laid down the gauntlet to Saddam Hussein, the UN Security Council, France, Germany and Russia. As President George Bush put it, the "moment of truth" had arrived. "Tomorrow’s the day that we will determine whether or not diplomacy can work," Mr Bush said. The clock was already ticking. As Tony Blair flew back to London, he said UN members had to make their minds...

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...

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair challenged U.N. members on Sunday to make their mind up "overnight" on a second resolution over Iraq. "There's a simple choice. 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," he told reporters on a plane back from a summit in the Azores. As well as reinforcing President Bush's stated Monday deadline for a fresh vote on Iraq at the United...

Tony Blair held an emergency 'war Cabinet' meeting yesterday to finalise plans for military action against Iraq and demand that the United Nations comes to a decision on the vital second resolution against Saddam Hussein within 24 hours. As Number 10 made clear that the chances of a diplomatic breakthrough in the Security Council were now 'bleak' and American bombers for the first time struck at targets in Iraq, the UN was given until tomorrow evening to come to a final choice on whether to back a second resolution or see America and Britain launch military action alone. If it...

BRITAIN and America are to issue a stark ultimatum to Saddam Hussein — get out of Iraq or face war later this week. Saddam will be given "days" to flee into exile before a US-led military invasion begins, according to senior officials in Washington and London. The details of the final warning will be discussed by George W Bush and Tony Blair at a summit with Jose Maria Aznar, the Spanish prime minister, in the Azores today. While telephone diplomacy will continue in a last effort to get the support of a majority of the United Nations Security Council, the...

<p>By pushing for a war resolution vote he might lose, President Bush has issued an ultimatum not just to Saddam Hussein, but to the United Nations. The president has made it clear to the Chiles and Cameroons that their votes won't determine whether Saddam will be disarmed. They will determine only if the Security Council will insist that its resolutions be taken seriously.</p>

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has warned Iraq that it must readmit weapons inspectors or face the consequences of military action. Mr Straw, speaking outside the Foreign Office, said that he and Prime Minister Tony Blair were holding "intensive discussions" with members of the United Nations Security Council following Iraq's offer to allow weapons inspectors back into the country. Mr Straw, who is due to meet Mexico's foreign minister later today, said that unless Iraq complied fully with the "spirit as well as the letter" of United Nations resolutions, then military action will have to follow to deal with the...