US President Bush last night issued an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein demanding that the Iraqi leader and his sons must leave the country within 48 hours or face military action.
In a televised address to the nation Mr Bush said the failure of Saddam Hussein to leave Baghdad "will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing".
Mr Bush advised journalists and aid workers to leave Iraq immediately and, in a message to the Iraqi army, warned against burning oil wells or using weapons of mass destruction.
"It is not too late for the Iraqi military to act with honour by permitting the peaceful entry of coalition forces," he said. "Do not fight for a dying regime".
Cities and towns across the US came to a halt at 8.00 p.m. EST (1.00 a.m. Irish time), as the president made his case for unleashing over 250,000 US and British forces against the Gulf nation of 22 million people.
Directing his remarks to the domestic audience, he claimed that Saddam Hussein had a "history of reckless aggression" and a "deep hatred of Americans" and had trained terrorist groups linked with al Qaeda.
As he spoke the US government raised its threat level to "high" as the CIA issued a warning of an "almost certain" attack on Americans in the coming days by al Qaeda.
"Events in Iraq have now reached the final days of decision," said Mr Bush. "Peaceful efforts to disarm the Iraqi regime have failed again and again and again because we are not dealing with peaceful men."
Mr Bush said: "The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities, so we will rise to ours."
Part of his speech - translated onto Arabic wavelengths heard in Iraq - was directed to Iraqis. The US "will tear down the apparatus of terror and help you build a new Iraq, prosperous and free," he said. There would be no more executions of disidents. "The day of your liberation is near".
As news of the ultimatum reached Baghdad yesterday, the Iraq Foreign Minister, Mr Naji Sabri, rejected it, saying the only option to secure peace was the "departure of the warmonger number one in the world - the failing President Bush who made his country a joke."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered UN weapons inspectors and humanitarian staff to leave Iraq after diplomacy at the United Nations collapsed early yesterday in acrimony and finger-pointing.
With the UN Security Council bitterly divided, the US, Britain and Spain withdrew their UN resolution authorising war on Iraq, blaming a threatened French veto for their failure to get international backing for war.
"It was our judgment that no further purpose would be served by pushing this resolution," Mr Powell said.
The French Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin said in Paris that a large majority of the 15-member council opposed war, and France "regrets a decision that is not justified today and that risks serious consequences for the region and the world."
Washington and London were left struggling with the repercussions of their crushing diplomatic failure. In Britain, the leader of the House of Commons, Mr Robin Cook, in an electrifying speech in the Commons, resigned saying he cound not support a war opposed by the UN and a majority of the British people.
Mr Bush's ultimatum followed a summit in the Azores with the British and Spanish prime ministers on Sunday which gave the Security Council one more day to make up its mind.
In his address Mr Bush said: "No nations can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed... not with Saddam Hussein in power."
He claimed the US had sovereign authority to use force in its defence and cited earlier material breaches of UN resolutions to authorise the use of force.
Saddam Hussein earlier denied having any banned weapons. "We are not weapons collectors," he said.
"But we had these weapons for purposes of self-defence when we were at war with Iran for eight years and when the Zionist entity (Israel) was, and it still is, a threat."