Bush: Monday a "Moment of Truth" on Iraq

U.S. President Bush said at an Iraq crisis summit that Monday was "a moment of truth for the world".

Speaking at a news conference in the Azores islands off Portugal after meeting with British Premier, Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Azner, Bush said Monday was the last day for a vote on a second U.N. resolution that would pave the way for a war on Iraq.

"We hope tomorrow the U.N. will do its job. If not, all of us need to step back and try to figure out how to make the U.N. work better."

"We concluded that tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world," he said. Bush also said he believed the United Nations must have a role in rebuilding Iraq after the removal of President Saddam Hussein.

"If we use military force in a post-Saddam Iraq the U.N. will definitely need to have a role...It's important for the U.N. to build a function if we're going to keep the peace,"he said.

The American leader once again demanded immediate and unconditional disarmament by Saddam Hussein. "The Iraqi regime will disarm itself or the Iraqi regime will be disarmed by force -- and the Iraqi regime has not disarmed itself," Bush said.

"We will push as quickly as possible for an Iraqi interim authority to draw upon the talents of Iraq's people to rebuild their nation. We are committed to the goal of a unified Iraq with democratic institutions."

"To achieve this vision, we will work closely with the international community, including the United Nations and our coalition partners. If military force is required, we will quickly seek new Security Council resolutions to encourage broad participation in the process of helping the Iraqi people to build a free Iraq."

America, Britain and Spain have maintained a hard line in pushing for Iraqi disarmament with force if necessary. The three sponsored a resolution which would have set Monday, March 17 as the deadline for Saddam Hussein to disarm or to "face the consequences", but were foiled in pushing it towards a vote, with France threatening to use its veto power to block it. The result has been a bitter deadlock over the Iraq issue in the U.N. Security Council.

Blair sees last chance to find common ground with U.N.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said at the news conference in Azores that a last attempt would be made tomorrow to find common ground with the U.N. on the Iraq issue.

"We'll undertake a last round of contacts to see whether there's still a way out of the deadlock," he said. At the same time Blair demanded a "clear ultimatum" from the U.N. if Saddam Hussein failed to comply with the destruction of his weapons of mass destruction. "Without a credible ultimatum, further discussions will only mean further delays," he said.

"Last stage" for diplomacy

Earlier, the White House signaled that the summit was the "last stage" for diplomacy.

"There is no question we are close to the end of the diplomatic efforts," U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said."Clearly the president is going to have to make a very, very difficult and important decision in the next few days," Cheney told NBC's "Meet the Press" ahead of the summit.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters traveling with President Bush on Air Force One:"We'll see precisely when diplomacy comes to an end, and this meeting will help to determine that course."

U.S. not interested in further peace proposals

Earlier, Washington shot down a new proposal put forward by Germany, Russia and France -- staunch critics of a U.S.-led military strikes against Iraq -- which called for an urgent meeting of foreign ministers at the U.N. Security Council to discuss what they describe as a "realistic" timetable for Saddam Hussein to disarm.

Similarly, the U.S. also dismissed an apparent willingness to compromise on French President Chirac's -- the fiercest opponent of war -- part when he said in a television interview that he would consider accepting an ultimatum that reduced the number of days given to Saddam to disarm from 120 to 30.

However U.S. Vice President Cheney told NBC's "Meet the Press that Chirac's compromise was a non-starter. "It's difficult for us to believe that 30 days or 60 more days are going to change anything."