Bush orders Saddam to quit

US President George W Bush has given Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war.

In a televised address to the nation, Bush said it was time for “decades of deceit and cruelty” to come to an end in Iraq. “Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours,” Bush said . “Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing.” Bush said the US had the legal right to protect itself and warned that Iraq’s weapons could be used by terrorists against Americans. “The danger is clear,” he said in his White House speech. He stressed that the US and other nations had tried to use diplomacy to ensure Iraq had no banned weapons of mass destruction since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. “Peaceful efforts have failed again and again,” he said. He added that he still believed in the role of the United Nations and said it had already given approval for force to be used if necessary against Iraq in earlier resolutions demanding disarmament.

Before his speech, Bush briefed senior politicians and officials at the White House. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said earlier that “any child” in Iraq knew a demand for Saddam to go into exile would fail. Yesterday, diplomacy collapsed at the United Nations when the US, UK and Spain withdrew a draft resolution authorising the use of force against Iraq amid threats of a veto from France. The US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, said: “The time for diplomatic activity is literally exhausted.” The US now has more than 250,000 troops in the Gulf awaiting orders. British and Australian troops are also ready for action. The Turkish Government says it will urgently reconsider a US request to deploy troops on its soil which would allow an invasion of northern Iraq to complement an expected attack on the south from Kuwait. The UN has ordered all its workers — including weapons inspectors — to leave Iraq.