Posted on 03/17/2003 9:25:19 AM PST by mhking
Bush to address nation on Iraq Monday, March 17, 2003 Posted: 11:53 AM EST (1653 GMT) 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," a second senior administration official told CNN. The president also was scheduled to meet with congressional leaders Monday at 5:45 p.m. ET, officials said. Word of the televised speech came just moments after United Nations representatives from the United States, Britain and Spain said they would not seek a vote on a second Security Council resolution aimed at disarming Iraq of alleged weapons of mass destruction. Saddam, in a statement read by an Iraqi television announcer, reiterated his stance that Iraq once had weapons of mass destruction but has since destroyed them. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected later Monday to inform the council that he is withdrawing U.N. weapons inspectors from Iraq. The United States had advised the United Nations to remove its inspectors from Iraq, and offered to help ensure their safe passage. After a Sunday summit with British and Spanish leaders in the Azores, President Bush said that Monday would be a "moment of truth" -- a final day for the United Nations to work out a diplomatic solution to the Iraqi crisis acceptable to the U.S.-led coalition. Senior British Cabinet member Robin Cook Monday resigned in protest over the Iraq crisis. Cook, a former foreign secretary and the government's leader in the House of Commons, met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair prior to an emergency Cabinet meeting on Iraq this afternoon. Along the Kuwait-Iraq border, the U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission on Monday pulled its remaining staff from both sides of the demilitarized zone separating the two nations. (Full story) Meanwhile, unnamed U.S. officials in Washington told CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr on Monday there was "more chatter in the system" pointing to the possibility that Iraq may be preparing to use chemical weapons in a possible U.S.-led war. Chatter is usually defined as monitored, yet unspecified, intelligence messages. The U.S. State Department urged all U.S. citizens to leave Kuwait due to the threat of war. The warning followed Sunday's notice for all U.S. Embassy nonemergency staff and family members to depart. Germany and Russia have already urged their citizens to leave Iraq and to avoid traveling there. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow continues to support a peaceful resolution of the crisis only and "any other option would be a mistake." There are 60 inspectors remaining in Iraq out of about 140 international staff. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix has said inspectors will need 24 to 48 hours to clear out of the country. The Iraqi government has had no immediate reaction about the possible pullout, but an Iraqi official stressed that the country has cooperated with the Security Council.
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Sa'eed al-Sahaf said: "We've done everything, and we will continue to cooperate with the Security Council..."
The continued threat of a U.S.-led war on Iraq came as a newly released CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll said 64 percent of Americans favor sending U.S. ground forces to remove Saddam from power -- up five percentage points from a similar survey earlier this month. The telephone poll interviewed 1,007 adults on Friday and Saturday.
CNN Correspondents Rym Brahimi and John King and CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report. For latest developments, see CNN.com's Iraq Tracker.
Official: President to demand Saddam leave country
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.
Rather difficult job from a bunker don't ya think?
Officials: UN chief Annan to give order for all staff to withdraw from Iraq on Tuesday (Reuters)
That means you too Blix.
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