UNITED NATIONS (Reuters,March 17) - The United States has advised the United
Nations to pull its weapons inspectors out of Iraq, the head of the U.N.
nuclear watchdog said on Monday in the clearest signal to date that war is
imminent.

The advice, late on Sunday, followed an ultimatum from President Bush that
the world body had just one more day to give its blessing to a resolution
sanctioning the use of force to rid Iraq of suspected weapons of mass
destruction.

But with the divided Security Council due to begin consultations at 10 a.m.
(1500 GMT) on Monday in New York, France restated a veto threat that is
likely to signal the end of diplomacy and a green light for a U.S.-led war.

''Late last night I was advised by the U.S. government to pull out our
inspectors from Baghdad. Similar advice has been given to UNMOVIC,''
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the agency's
board of governors.

He said that he had immediately informed the president of the U.N. Security
Council and asked for guidance. He also informed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan. UNMOVIC is a U.N. agency looking for weapons of mass destruction.

About 135 inspectors remain in Iraq, a U.N. source told Reuters on condition
of anonymity.

An UNMOVIC spokesman in Baghdad said they had not yet received an evacuation
order. A plane is on standby to whisk them out once the order arrives.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told his military commanders earlier that if
Iraq were attacked, it would take the battle anywhere in the world ''wherever
there is sky, land or water.''

Bush's deadline followed a Sunday summit with Britain, Spain and Portugal on
an Atlantic island in the Azores. ''We concluded that tomorrow is a moment of
truth for the world,'' he said.

But French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told Europe 1 radio on
Monday: ''France cannot accept the resolution that is on the table in New
York... which poses an ultimatum and which envisages an automatic use of
force.''

Russia, which like France holds a veto in the council, also said the
U.S.-British-Spanish resolution on use of force ''has no chance'' of passing.
Germany, a council member without a veto, said it could not agree to any
resolution legitimizing war.

Britain and the United States, who have a 250,000-strong force in or around
the Gulf, advised their civilians to leave Kuwait, which is the likely launch
pad for an invasion of Iraq.

As conflict loomed, U.N. observers, who have monitored the Iraq-Kuwait border
since the 1991 Gulf War, stopped operations in the demilitarized zone, which
invasion forces would have to cross. They said they expected to quit the zone
later on Monday.

Britain landed some of its seaborne marines on a Kuwaiti beach on Monday
after a forecast of violent sandstorms that could hamper an amphibious
assault. A British officer, Captain Alan Massey, told his men war could come
''within very few days.''

'SUMMIT OF OUTLAWS'

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf branded the Azores
gathering a ''summit of outlaws'' and told reporters in Baghdad: ''They are
in a hurry to carry out a foolish aggression on Iraq but they will fail.''

Bush said the 15-member Security Council had to agree in the next 24 hours on
a resolution laying the groundwork for war. He left no doubt that the United
States and its allies would otherwise move to invade Iraq without explicit
U.N. backing.

After weeks of trying to get the minimum nine votes for the resolution,
Washington has ended up with only one nation, Bulgaria, publicly declaring
its support.

France wants a minimum of 30 days for Iraq to meet final disarmament tasks
set by chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix. The Bush administration has
rejected that.

Britain accused France on Monday of taking the pressure off Saddam. ''The
damage done by this threat of a French veto to the whole diplomatic process
has been enormous,'' Mike O'Brien, a junior minister at the Foreign Office,
told BBC radio.

If Paris stands firm, London and Washington are expected to give up on the
U.N. process rather than face humiliating defeat.

Bush is expected to go on television this week warning Americans of the
coming war and giving U.N. inspectors and humanitarian workers time to quit
Iraq, U.S. officials say.

In Baghdad, Saddam said on Sunday it was a ''great lie'' that Iraq still had
banned weapons and branded the United States ''the unjust judge of the
world.'' Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said tens of thousands of ''martyrs''
were ready to fight Americans.

''When the enemy opens the war on a large scale it should realize that the
battle between us will be waged wherever there is sky, earth and water
anywhere in the world,'' Saddam told officers at a meeting reported by the
state Iraqi News Agency.

Villepin is considering attending a Security Council meeting on Tuesday when
Blix is to speak about key tasks for Iraqi disarmament, diplomats say. If he
comes other foreign ministers are bound to follow, for the fifth time this
year.

Both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria
Aznar face overwhelming domestic opposition to a war. Blair also faces a
potential revolt in his Labor Party if war goes ahead without explicit U.N.
backing.

The resolution before the council has a March 17 deadline for Saddam to scrap
or account for any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Britain has
offered to put off that date for some days if the measure has a chance of
adoption.

If there is no vote on the new resolution, the United States, Britain and
their supporters are likely to argue that an invasion is justified by
Resolution 1441, adopted on November 8, which threatened ''serious
consequences'' if Iraq did not disarm.

Blix has been invited to Baghdad although diplomats said it was unlikely at
this point he would go. He said he was still evaluating the invitation.

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