Posted on 03/18/2003 2:43:19 PM PST by smpc
SOON after midday tomorrow, Australian commandos will be within Iraq's borders as advance units of a military campaign to disarm and remove Saddam Hussein.
US President George W. Bush at noon yesterday (Sydney time) gave the Iraqi dictator 48 hours to leave his homeland with his sons or face "the full force and might" of the US military and her Australian and British allies. Mr Bush said in a 13-minute live televised address, also broadcast on Iraqi radio, "the tyrant will soon be gone".
"It is too late for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. All the decades and deceit and cruelty have now reached an end. Saddam Hussein and his sons [Uday and Qusay] must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at the time of our choosing."
Iraq publicly rejected the anticipated ultimatum in advance, stating defiantly Saddam was not leaving, effectively making Mr Bush's speech a declaration of war. Saddam himself vowed the invading troops would find Iraqi soldiers "behind every rock and every tree" ready to become martyrs for their country.
Earlier yesterday, an emergency meeting of Federal Cabinet in Canberra agreed to join the more than 250,000-strong British and US forces in military action if the ultimatum, as expected, was defied.
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldsun.news.com.au ...
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