IRAQ: FRENCH AND GREEK DIPLOMATS LEAVE BAGHDAD AS SADDAM HUSSEIN REJECTS U.S. ULTIMATUM THAT HE SHOULD GO INTO EXILE.

Record ID: 645803

  • Title: IRAQ: FRENCH AND GREEK DIPLOMATS LEAVE BAGHDAD AS SADDAM HUSSEIN REJECTS U.S. ULTIMATUM THAT HE SHOULD GO INTO EXILE.
  • Date: 18th March 2003
  • Summary: (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 18, 2003) (REUTERS) WS: EXTERIOR OF THE GREEK EMBASSY. CLOSE-UP OF TWO FLAGS FLYING SCU/CU: OF GREEK FLAG. (2 SHOTS) MV: SOLDIER AT ENTRANCE TO EMBASSY. MV: EMBASSY STAFF LOADING LUGGAGE INTO VEHICLE. MV: EMBASSY STAFF SAYING GOODBYE TO EACH OTHER. TRACK: CAR REVERSING, THEN DRIVING AWAY. (2 SHOTS) LAS/PAN DOWN: EXTERIOR OF THE FRENCH EMBASSY. MLV: EMBASSY STAFF PACKING, MAN WALKING TO VEHICLE. (2 SHOTS) MV: EMBASSY STAFF LOADING LUGGAGE INTO VEHICLE. MV: STAFF SAYING FAREWELL TO THOSE STAYING BEHIND. SCU: WOMAN SITTING IN CAR, PAN TO MAN EMBRACING A TEARFUL WOMAN AS THEY SAY GOODBYE. MV/SCU: OF WOMAN CRYING AS SHE HUGS THE MAN AND SAYS GOODBYE. (2 SHOTS) MV/SCU: YOUNG WOMAN WATCHING THE SCENE AND WEEPING. (2 SHOTS) CU: ANOTHER WOMAN WEEPING. SCU: SOLDIERS STANDING OUTSIDE EMBASSY ENTRANCE. MV: FRENCH AMBASSADOR CLOSING THE GATES OF THE EMBASSY, SECURING LOCK AT THE TOP OF THE GATE, TURNING AND SAYING GOODYE TO AN ELDERLY MAN. (2 SHOTS) MV: FRENCH AMBASSADOR WALKING AWAY FROM EMBASSY TOWARDS CAR. 24 VARIOUS: CAR DRIVES AWAY, FOLLOWED BY TWO OTHER VEHICLES. (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3N3TQRQCSJ57S90631R2ELTKC
  • Story Text: A defiant President Saddam Hussein, dressed for battle, rejected on Tuesday a U.S. ultimatum that he should go into exile and said Iraq was ready to repel any U.S.-led invasion.
    Meanwhile, U.N. arms inspectors, French and Greek diplomats left Baghdad on Tuesday, joining the foreign exodus out of Iraq ahead of an expected U.S.-led onslaught.
    Iraqi state television on Tuesday (March 18) showed Saddam in a military uniform for the first time in several years, chairing a joint meeting of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council and the Baath Party leadership.
    "The meeting stressed that Iraq and all its sons were fully ready to confront the invading aggressors and repel them," a television announcer said, reading a statement released after the meeting.
    "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," the statement added.
    Saddam's appearance came just hours after U.S. President George W. Bush issued a 48-hour ultimatum demanding the Iraqi leader quit the country along with his sons or face war.
    The United States and Britain have some 280,000 troops massed around the Gulf and American commanders say they are ready to strike whenever Bush gives the order.
    Iraqi television said Saddam also chaired a cabinet meeting, attended by his son, Qusay who is senior Ba'th Party member and supervisor of the Republican Guard. At the cabinet meeting, Saddam told ministers:
    "This battle will be the last war for Iraq for a while against any arrogant (power) and the last aggressive war launched by America against the world for a while.
    "God willing, victory will be yours and your enemy will be repelled because it is on the side of falsehood. Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)."
    White House officials said the deadline for Saddam's exile would expire at 4:15 a.m. Iraqi time (0115 GMT) on Thursday (March 20). Bush says Saddam is hiding weapons of mass destruction, a charge rejected by Baghdad.
    Earlier, Saddam's eldest son Uday also rejected the ultimatum for Iraqi leaders to go into exile or face war.
    "The proposal...comes from a person who is not completely capable or fit," Uday said in remarks issued by his office.
    "The proposal should be that Bush leaves office in America, he and his family," Uday said. Bush also directed his exile ultimatum at Saddam's two powerful sons Uday and Qusay.
    Also on Tuesday, U.N. arms inspectors, French and Greek diplomats left Iraq, joining the foreign exodus out of the country ahead of an expected U.S.-led onslaught.
    The departure of the diplomats, who have been active in trying to resolve the Iraqi crisis with the United States through peaceful means, sent a clear signal that the hour of battle was very close.
    Witnesses said the French and Greek ambassadors, along with their embassy workers, departed Baghdad by car in a convoy headed for the Jordanian capital of Amman. Envoys had said they would leave within 24 hours before the attack.
    The evacuation of the last Western diplomats cast a pall over the city, giving the definite impression that the countdown for war has begun.
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