Flee or face war, Bush tells Saddam
In a prime-time address to America, he told the Iraqi dictator to flee his country or face the might of American and British firepower.
US and British troops and aircrews in the Gulf were braced for the order to attack as no one believed Saddam would cut an run.
The president, commander in chief of 250,000 US troops poised at the borders of Iraq, addressed the nation at 1am Irish time this morning.
The US ultimatum came a day after Mr Bush and the leaders of Britain, Spain and Portugal held a brief summit on Azores Island and agreed to give UN diplomacy one last day.
Mr Bush planned to give the Iraqi leader and his inner circle a deadline to seek exile, said three senior White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The deadline would expire in the next few days, they said.
"The diplomatic window has now been closed," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declared yesterday morning, just 12 hours after Mr Bush's return from the Azores summit.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri confirmed Saddam would not budge, saying: "The only option is the departure of the warmonger Number One in the world the failing President Bush who has made his country a joke in the world."
Any hope of a diplomatic solution disappeared in the UN Security Council when Britain and the US withdrew their resolution, abandoning efforts to win UN backing for a war with Iraq.
British Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock blamed France for threatening to veto the resolution which would have issued Iraq with an ultimatum to disarm or face military action.
As war loomed ever nearer, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered weapons inspectors to leave Iraq. They are expected to begin leaving Baghdad today, joining an exodus of foreigners, including diplomats and US TV crews.
The latest draft of Mr Bush's address gave Saddam a firm deadline to go into exile or face military action, said two senior White House officials.
They would not say precisely how long the deadline would be, but said it was a matter of days.
Meanwhile, Mr Blair suffered his biggest political hit of the Iraq crisis yesterday when Robin Cook resigned in protest at his hawkish stance.
"It is with regret I have today resigned from Cabinet," the British Government's parliamentary leader and former foreign secretary said in a statement.
"I can't accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain now to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support," he said.
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