Baghdad, March 19 (Bloomberg) -- The countdown to conflict in Iraq entered its final hours as Saddam Hussein rejected for a second day a U.S. ultimatum that he go into exile to avert a war. A U.S. proposal for Hussein to leave Iraq ``can never happen,'' Agence France-Presse cited Saadun Hammadi, speaker of Iraq's parliament, as saying today. Saudi Arabia offered Hussein exile, an unidentified diplomat told . U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday gave Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave the country and prevent a U.S.-led attack. The deadline expires at 4 a.m. tomorrow Baghdad time, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday. ``If he doesn't leave the country, he will make his final mistake,'' Fleischer said. U.S.-led forces preparing for an invasion of Iraq are moving into the demilitarized zone straddling the Kuwait-Iraq border, the U.K.'s Sky News reported. The troops are assembling in their forward battle positions, Sky cited an unidentified U.K. military official as saying.
The U.S. and U.K. have deployed more than 250,000 troops in the Persian Gulf in preparation for war. Bush delivered his ultimatum as France and Russia led calls for the United Nations Security Council to extend inspections to verify that Iraq is giving up banned weapons. The troop movements began today at 11 a.m. Baghdad time, Sky cited unidentified Kuwaiti military officials as saying. The demilitarized zone extends 5 kilometers (3 miles) south into Kuwait and 10 kilometers north into Iraq, Sky reported. The zone was set up after the 1991 Gulf war, which was sparked by an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Sandstorms
Sandstorms in the Kuwaiti desert may hamper the invasion. A sandstorm today blanketed the area, reducing visibility in the desert to less than 600 meters (1,969 feet). The Iraqi parliament opened an emergency session today in which Hammadi dismissed Bush's ultimatum for Hussein to go into exile as ``insolence and aggression,'' AFP said. The parliament was preparing a statement promising to inflict ``a lesson on the worthless,'' AFP said.
Unlikely to Hold Out
``I wouldn't rule out that he might raise the white flag once the allied troops are banging on the doors of Baghdad, but not a second before,'' Anthony Harris, former U.K. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates between 1994 and 1998, said in a telephone interview. ``I don't see him as the type of character to die in the last ditch.'' Six months of diplomacy to persuade Iraq to dismantle its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs failed, Bush said in his address. U.S. forces will still enter Iraq to disarm the country in the event Hussein goes into exile, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday. Iraq is ready to continue seeking a political and diplomatic solution to the Iraqi crisis even after the U.S. attacks the country, Iraqi ambassador to Moscow Abbas Khalaf said. ``There are ways to stop or to avert this war,'' Khalaf said today at a news conference broadcast by Russian television NTV. ``There's always room for a political solution, even amid fighting.'' At the same time, Khalaf said Americans may be attacked outside Iraq if the war starts. ``I don't exclude that the war won't have borders because there are 1 billion Muslims in the world,'' he said.
U.K. Vote
U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair late yesterday won parliamentary backing for sending troops to support U.S. forces in the operation. As many as 139 of his 441 Labour Party lawmakers supported an earlier motion saying the case for war hasn't been established and that UN inspectors must have more time to work. The motion was defeated, 396 votes to 217. France led UN opposition to an attack on Iraq by threatening a veto any U.S.-U.K. resolution that would lead to war. Criticism of France by U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw during yesterday's British parliamentary debate ``shocked and saddened'' France's government, the French Foreign Ministry said today in a statement. The U.S. State Department said at least 30 nations, from Italy to South Korea, are publicly backing the U.S.-led coalition on Iraq and 15 more support it without wanting to be identified.
Turkish Airspace
Turkey's government said it will ask parliament to allow U.S. warplanes to fly over the country in any attack on Iraq. The Turkish lira fell as much as 4.1 percent against the dollar after the government decided not to ask parliament to vote a second time on a U.S. request to allow 62,000 of its troops to use bases near Turkey's border with Iraq to establish a northern front in a war, endangering as much as $30 billion in U.S. loans. A new aid package is being negotiated by Turkey and the U.S. as part of talks over the use of Turkish airspace, Turkish Economy Minister Ali Babacan said today. Turkey needs the aid to avoid defaulting on its $160 billion national debt, investors said. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdelaziz, in a televised address yesterday to his nation on behalf of King Fahd, lamented the failure to reach an agreement that would prevent war and said his country won't participate in an invasion of Iraq.
The UN withdrew 56 arms inspectors and 80 support staff form Iraq yesterday. The UN World Food Program, World Health Organization and UN Children's Fund ordered aid workers to leave. Neighboring Iran pulled its remaining diplomats out of Iraq `` because of the risks of war,'' AFP cited an Iranian Foreign Ministry statement as saying. Russia, Cuba, the Vatican, Poland and some Arab states still have diplomats in Baghdad, AFP said.
Inspectors Plan Report
Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, and Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are scheduled to report to the Security Council today. They have drawn up a list of remaining demands on disarmament issues for Iraq to resolve, the UN said on its Web site. ``I don't think it is reasonable to close the door to inspections after 3 1/2 months,'' the UN cited Blix as saying yesterday. A Kuwaiti navy gunboat fired at Iraqi vessels suspected of trying to lay mines off Kuwait's coast, the London-based Times newspaper said, without citing anyone. The Kuwaiti vessel opened fire after the Iraqi boats failed to respond when challenged. The report didn't say when the incident took place. //www.quote.bloomberg.com