It’s the ‘moment of truth’ for the world

TODAY is the “moment of truth” for Saddam Hussein and the United Nations, George Bush and Tony Blair warned last night.

Following talks with Spanish premier Jose Maria Aznar in the Azores, US President and the British Prime Minister gave the UN a final day to issue the Iraqi president with a clear ultimatum if he continues to defy the world.

Mr Bush said: “Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world. Tomorrow is the day that we can determine whether or not diplomacy will work,” he added.

Mr Blair said there would be a final round of crisis talks to help break the “impasse” between Britain, the US and Spain on the one side and anti-war countries including France and Russia.

Mr Blair said now was the time to make a “final” appeal for “a unified message on behalf of the international community” that “authorises force” if Saddam “continues to defy the will of the international community” as set out in UN resolution 1441.

“But we are in the final stages because after 12 years of failing to disarm him, now is the time when we have to decide,” warned Mr Blair.

“The truth is that without a credible ultimatum, authorising force in the event of non-compliance, then more discussion is just more delay while Saddam remains armed with weapons of mass destruction, and continues a brutal, murderous regime in Iraq.”

Mr Bush said the three leaders were together for the last-ditch summit for a “good cause, and that is peace and security of this world”.

And in a sign that the trio now expect military action to happen, the president spoke of post-conflict Iraq.

If military force was required, the leaders would seek new Security Council resolutions to help rebuild Iraq after conflict.

As the three leaders were meeting in the Azores, a mass exodus of diplomats and aid agencies was under way from the Iraqi capital. Earlier yesterday five of the eight helicopters in Iraq for use by weapons inspectors were flown out of the country after a Western insurance company suspended its cover for the aircraft.

Unmovic, the UN weapons inspection organisation, said it hoped the remaining three, along with a few jeeps and a plane, would be sufficient to transport 134 people out in time.

Meanwhile, Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, said last night the Azores summit seemed to end with a divided message.

Mr Blix, in a live interview broadcast on Swedish public service SVT2 television, said he did not rule out visiting Baghdad but also that the UN was prepared to evacuate the weapons inspectors at short notice.

“I find the the message from there slightly divided. On the one hand President Bush seems to be talking mainly about how to liberate Iraq and make sure they have no weapons left there while Blair and Aznar on the other hand are giving more weight to having a last chance to unite the world and give Saddam an ultimatum,” Mr Blix said.

Saddam condemed the summit last night and said it was a “great lie” that Iraq still had banned weapons and accused the US of appointing itself chief judge of the world.