Saddam, Bush begin countdown

‘‘Iraq does not choose its path on the orders of a foreigner and does not choose its leaders according to decrees from Washington, London or Tel Aviv, but through the will of the great Iraqi people.’’

Officials in Washington said the US was bombarding military units in the south of Iraq with leaflets, broadcasts and e-mails urging them to surrender rather than oppose a looming invasion.

The US Central Command said from its Gulf military headquarters in Qatar that 1.4 million leaflets were dumped on Iraq on Monday in the biggest drop to date in a months-long psychological warfare campaign of broadcasts and air drops.

The intention, official said, was in large measure to persuade Iraqi forces in the south to stand aside when US-led forces sweep north from Kuwait toward the oil fields around the southern oil centre of Basra en route to Baghdad.

Meanwhile, all UN international staffers in Iraq have left the country, a day after Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was pulling them out for safety reasons, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

‘‘The last plane has taken off from Baghdad to Larnaca, Cyprus. At the end of the operation, more than 300 international staff will have departed,’’ Eckhard told reporters at UN headquarters.

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, striving in Parliament to win over rebellious legislators in his ruling Labour Party to the cause of war, said the Iraq crisis ‘‘will determine the pattern of international politics for the next generation.’’

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said there was a coalition of about 45 nations that support taking military action against Iraq, one third of which prefer not to be named.

But France and Germany’s opposition to war remained adamant. ‘‘No matter how events evolve now, this ultimatum challenges our view of international relations. It puts the future of a people, the future of a region and world stability at stake,’’

French President Jacques Chirac said in a televised address. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said there was no reason to end the UN inspections aimed at disarming Iraq. ‘‘My question was and is: does the degree of threat stemming from the Iraqi dictator justify a war that will bring certain death to thousands of innocent men, women and children? My answer was and is: no,’’ he said on German TV.

In the Islamic world, there was near-unanimous opposition to the US and Britain. The Arab League condemned Bush’s ultimatum and Syria said the idea of changing regimes through foreign intervention was a ‘‘dangerous precedent.’’

The head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Abdelouahed Belkeziz, said war would be ‘‘a return to the principle of the strong bullying the weak and jungle justice’’ and kill thousands.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said the US operation was aimed at ‘‘changing the political map of the Middle East,’’ but added that weapons of mass destruction should be purged from the whole region. He played down suggestions that Iran might be next on a US list for so-called regime change.

Meanwhile, US troops in the Kuwaiti desert packed their gear and made final preparations on Tuesday for an invasion of Iraq. Some soldiers were up as early as 1.30 am, packing tents and kit to move to new positions in readiness for an imminent assault. Bush said this will come unless Saddam Hussein flees his country by 4.15 am (0115 GMT/06.45 IST ) on Thursday.

Troops in full battle gear were checking their rifles, machine guns and equipment. Some units dismantled their desert camps and loaded trucks with equipment, preparing to advance close to the Iraqi border, where they will sleep in the open.

Some 280,000 US and British troops are massed in the region, ready to inflict a massive, high-tech bombardment on Iraq’s largely ill-equipped forces and to drive deep into the country in a rapid helicopter and tank assault.

(with Sean Maguire and Adrian Croft of Reuters)