US, British, Spanish Leaders to Meet on Iraq: White House

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, March 15, 2003

US, British, Spanish Leaders to Meet on Iraq: White House

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US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar will meet in the Azores islands on Sunday in a "final pursuit" of diplomacy to seek a new UN resolution on Iraq, the White House announced on Friday.

"In an effort to pursue every last bit of diplomacy the President will depart Sunday morning for the Azores to meet Prime Minister Blair and with Prime Minister Aznar to discuss prospects for resolving the situation peacefully with diplomacy in final pursuit of a United Nations resolution," spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Senior US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said earlier Friday that the leaders also are likely to discuss how to manage a post-war Iraq in case Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is ousted by a US-led military invasion.

The meeting comes when diplomats sources in the United Nations predict failure of a draft UN Security Council resolution on Iraq co-sponsored by the United States, Britain and Spain.

Appearing at a Congressional hearing on Thursday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested that Washington might not go for avote on the doomed draft resolution, reversing earlier statement by President Bush that the United States would call for a vote regardless of the results.

"The options remain, go for a vote and see what members say or not go for a vote," Powell said. "All the options that you can imagine are before us and (the United States will) be examining them today, tomorrow and into the weekend."

President Bush, who usually spends weekends at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, plans to leave for the summit on Sunday, US officials said.

The Azores Islands is a mid-Atlantic refueling stop about 900 miles (about 1440 kilometers) west of Portugal.

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