'Moment of truth' for world, U.N.

By Bob Kemper
Chicago Tribune

LAJES, Azores — President Bush and the leaders of Britain and Spain, meeting in an emergency summit on this isolated island chain yesterday, said the United Nations would have one final chance today to break the impasse over whether to go to war with Iraq.

An F-14A Tomcat on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in the Persian Gulf is part of a force that includes more than 250,000 ground troops and five aircraft carriers with about 300 aircraft. Associated Press

Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said they would spend the next 24 hours lobbying other members of the U.N. Security Council to back their resolution authorizing immediate action against Iraq. But they made it clear they would not allow U.N. discussions to drag on.

If the leaders fail to get the nine votes needed to pass the resolution, or if France sticks with its threat to veto a measure that moves the world closer to war, Bush said the resolution may be withdrawn and the leaders could begin making plans to invade Iraq without U.N. support.

In either case, the leaders declared, their dealings with the U.N. Security Council over the matter end today.

"What we cannot have is a situation where we simply go back for endless discussion," Blair said. "Now is the time when we have to decide."

Bush singled out France for pointed criticism.

"France showed their cards" by vowing to veto any measure that gave Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein an ultimatum, he said. "We'll just have to take an assessment after (today) to determine what that card meant," Bush said.

"It's difficult to take the French serious and believe that this is anything other than just further delaying tactics," Cheney said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Chirac showed no sign of backing down from his opposition, saying in a "60 Minutes" interview broadcast yesterday that France "will naturally go to the end" in refusing to endorse military action.

Instead, France called for an emergency U.N. meeting tomorrow to set a timetable for Iraq's peaceful disarmament, ignoring today's deadline set by the United States and its allies for the U.N. to authorize war.

Chirac also sought to ease the anger sweeping through America over France's refusal to align itself with Washington over Iraq.

"I want to say that France and I have always been friends of the United States," Chirac said.

U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix was also ignoring the threat of war for the moment and preparing to give the Security Council a 30-page report today listing about a dozen key remaining disarmament tasks that Iraq should complete in the coming months.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso, who hosted the summit on the island of Terceira, summed up the urgency of the meeting, calling it "the last possibility for a political solution" to Iraq.

"Maybe it's a small chance, a small possibility, but even if it's one in one million, it's always worthwhile fighting for a political solution," Barroso said. "This is the message that we can get from this Atlantic summit."

Cheney said Bush will decide in the "next few days" about launching an invasion of Iraq with the backing of Britain and a handful of other allies if final diplomatic efforts fail to win U.N. support.

"There is no question we are close to the end, if you will, of diplomatic efforts," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Clearly, the president is going to have a difficult and important decision in the next few days."

The only remaining chance that war could be avoided is if Saddam were to step down and leave Iraq, with top leaders of his regime, U.S. officials said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell issued a warning to U.N. weapons inspectors, journalists and other non-Iraqis to leave Baghdad — a warning Bush had pledged to give before launching an attack.

"It is a dangerous time in Baghdad," Powell said on CNN.

Iraq said that five of eight helicopters used by U.N. weapons inspectors left the country yesterday after a Western insurance company suspended coverage.

And Saddam reorganized Iraq into four military regions and put one of his sons and three close associates in charge of each.

In a meeting with military commanders yesterday, the Iraqi leader threatened a broader war if the United States attacks.

"When the enemy starts a large-scale battle, he must realize that the battle between us will be open wherever there is sky, land and water in the entire world," Saddam said, according to the official Iraqi News Agency.

Iraqi Vice President Naji Sabri said Iraq has long been preparing "as if war is happening in an hour."

Even as it braced for conflict, the Iraqi government destroyed two more of its banned Al Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the number destroyed to 70 since March 1. The United Nations ordered the missiles eliminated because they were exceeded a 93-mile range limit.

Iraq also handed over videotapes of mobile biological weapons laboratories to inspectors. Iraq says the videos show the laboratories do not violate U.N. resolutions.

The emergency summit at the Lajes air base that would be used to refuel planes in an Iraqi campaign was intended to demonstrate the leaders' willingness to exhaust all possible diplomatic solutions.

But the mood here was one of impatience. The Bush administration and Aznar made clear hours before they met that the second resolution was unnecessary.

Aznar said a U.N. resolution legitimizing war "would be politically desirable, but from the legal point of view it is not indispensable."

If Bush decides this week to pursue an invasion of Iraq, White House aides said, he would address the American public to outline why such a war is warranted. Karen Hughes, one of Bush's closest advisers, and Michael Gerson, his top speechwriter, were with Bush on the trip. The two typically collaborate on Bush's major addresses.

The United States, Britain and Spain issued two joint statements at the end of their summit. One underscored the importance of ties between the United States and Europe — ties seriously strained over events in Iraq.

The other pledged their commitment to work in a post-Saddam Iraq to install a democratic government and to remain in the country until it had recovered. The leaders said they would expect the U.N. to play a leading role in a postwar Iraq even if the global body refused to endorse the war.