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| Agence France-Presse |
| President Bush made clear that a war with Iraq could begin later this week. |
ASHINGTON, March 17 — President Bush tonight gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to go into exile or face attack from the United States and a handful of allies.
In an address to the nation from the White House, made hours after he had abandoned attempts to forge a united diplomatic front against Iraq, Mr. Bush made clear that hostilities could begin as soon as his two-day ultimatum expires, perhaps sooner if Mr. Hussein openly spurns the demand from the United States that he go and take his two sons with him. Mr. Bush warned diplomats, aid workers and journalists in Iraq to get out of harm's way immediately.
Mr. Hussein showed no signs of complying, and Mr. Bush's tone and language in his 15-minute address suggested that he expected nothing but continued defiance from the Iraqi leader.
For the president, the speech marked a failed end to six months of diplomacy intended to convince skeptical allies like France and Germany, and the United Nations Security Council, that weapons inspections had proven ineffective and that only through the immediate application of force could Mr. Hussein be disarmed.
Having been unable to get the United Nations behind him, Mr. Bush now faces a war with only Britain providing substantial military support and many other nations — as well as a portion of domestic public opinion — condemning him for what they have called a rush to war.
The president put the United States on heightened alert for terrorist reprisals and prepared the American people for a war he said was an act of self-defense against a country that had ties to terrorists and was still trying to amass, hide and develop biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. "Instead of drifting along toward tragedy, we will set a course toward safety," Mr. Bush said.
To the Iraqi people, Mr. Bush gave notice that he would soon begin an invasion that he said would liberate them from a murderous regime, and to the Iraqi military he issued a stark warning against using chemical and biological weapons or destroying their nation's oil wells. More than 250,000 American and British troops are now massed in the region. United Nations weapons inspectors, on whose work hopes among many nations for a peaceful outcome had been pinned, were told today to begin leaving the country.
"The tyrant will soon be gone," Mr. Bush said.
"War criminals will be punished," he added. "And it will be no defense to say, `I was just following orders.' "
Mr. Bush spoke less than 12 hours after giving up on an effort to bring the Security Council behind his plan to force an immediate showdown with Mr. Hussein. Although he did not name names, he was almost scornful of those nations that had opposed him, especially France, which had vowed to veto any United Nations resolution calling for the use of force.
"These governments share our assessment of the danger, but not our resolve to meet it," Mr. Bush said, speaking from a lectern in the Cross Hall in what aides said was likely to be the first of two addresses to the nation this week. They said he was likely to speak again once the hostilities start.
"The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities," Mr. Bush said. "So we will rise to ours."
Should Mr. Bush unleash the military, it would be the first major application since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks of his doctrine of pre-empting threats from rogue nations and terrorist groups with access to nonconventional weapons.
But in reaching this point, he has sorely tried NATO, the pillar of postwar security in the West. Domestically he has all but staked his presidency not only on winning a quick military victory but also on the potentially trickier task of bringing long-term stability to Iraq and the Middle East, and lifting the shadow of war from the troubled American economy.
Standing behind a lectern, with one of the most ornate vistas in the White House behind him, Mr. Bush spoke in measured tones, mixing terms of military resolve with references to humanitarian gestures and a vision of bringing liberty, if not democracy, to Iraq.
To the Iraqi people, Mr. Bush promised food, medicine and liberation from the "lawless men" who have ruled their country through fear and intimidation.
"We will tear down the apparatus of power, and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free," he said. "In a free Iraq, there will be no more wars of aggression against your neighbors, no more poison factories, no more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms."
He offered no new evidence of his contention that Iraq has ties to terrorist organizations including Al Qaeda, and he provided no new intelligence to bolster his assertions that Mr. Hussein had stockpiled chemical and biological weapons and continued to try to develop nuclear weapons.
But he said that Iraq, under Mr. Hussein, had the potential to one day assist terrorists in killing "thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country or any other."
Without providing details, Mr. Bush said some governments in the Middle East had delivered private messages to Mr. Hussein in recent days urging him to step aside. He said the refusal of the Iraqi leader and his sons to go into exile "will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing."
A Pentagon official said the wording of Mr. Bush's warning was intended to leave open the option of moving militarily in less than two days if Mr. Hussein publicly refuses before the deadline to leave Iraq.
Citing the possibility of terrorist reprisals or attacks by Iraqi agents, administration officials moved today to impose some of the most stringent security precautions seen in the United States since immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Officials said the administration urged the nation's governors tonight to call out National Guard troops or the state police to protect bridges, reservoirs, memorials and other government installations that could be terrorist targets. Without providing details, Mr. Bush noted that the United States had expelled people it suspected of having ties to Iraq's intelligence services.
Military commanders, who said they were ready to begin the invasion as soon as they got the order, continued to move the more than 225,000 American and 25,000 British troops in the region into position for a heavy air attack and a near-simultaneous ground invasion.
Prime Minister John Howard of Australia authorized troops from his country to fight alongside the Americans and British against Iraq. Turkey, which previously had balked at allowing American troops to launch a northern front against Iraq from its territory or to send planes and cruise missiles through its airspace, said its Parliament would reconsider its stance on Tuesday. Canada said it would not allow its troops to take part in the absence of a new United Nations resolution.
[China's new premier, Wen Jiabao, called Tuesday for "every effort" to avoid military conflict in Iraq and said Iraq must meet United Nations demands for disarmament, The Associated Press reported.]
Pentagon officials said they had "information" but no proof that an Iraqi Republican Guard division deployed in southern Iraq might have been equipped with chemical weapons.
Jay Garner, a retired American general who heads the Pentagon office that will oversee the occupation of Iraq, arrived in Kuwait today, a senior Pentagon official said.
The president met at the White House before his speech tonight with the leaders of both parties in Congress and then with senior members of crucial committees, including armed services, foreign affairs, intelligence and appropriations.
Government officials said Mr. Bush was likely to ask Congress within days of the start of the conflict for $60 billion to $90 billion to pay for the military action, aid to allies and the initial costs of occupying and rebuilding Iraq. They said no firm decision had been made as of this afternoon on precisely how much money he would seek.
Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, Mr. Bush's staunchest ally in confronting Iraq, paid his first serious political price for his stance. Robin Cook, a former foreign secretary who was leader of the House of Commons, resigned from Mr. Blair's cabinet, saying it was "wrong to embark on military action without broad international support," He is expected to become a leader of the antiwar forces in the governing Labor Party.
After a series of early-morning phone calls to other leaders and hearing a report from Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the president gave up whatever slim hopes he might have had of convincing the Security Council to back his hard line on Iraq.
Just after 9 a.m., Mr. Bush, Mr. Blair and Prime Minister José María Aznar of Spain instructed their United Nations ambassadors to walk away from the proposed resolution they had sponsored in the Security Council.
American officials said a vote on the resolution, had one been taken, would have been close, but France said the proposal would have been overwhelmingly rejected.
Despite leaving open the possibility that Mr. Hussein might still be persuaded by other Arab nations to step down to avoid an invasion of his country, diplomats and administration officials said no serious efforts were under way to negotiate Mr. Hussein's departure.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, suggested that turning to military action without agreement within the Security Council would scar the organization and leave the United States and its "coalition of the willing" without the world's moral backing.
"If this action is to take place without the support of the Council, its legitimacy will be questioned, and the support for it will be diminished," Mr. Annan said.
