Hours Until Deadline : War Jitters Grow; Mood Grim in D.C.

With the approach of the U.N. deadline for Iraq to release Kuwait suddenly measured in hours, bids for peace were drowned out today by rumblings of war.

As the clock ticked toward a deadline today of midnight EST (9 p.m. PST) for Iraq to withdraw from the emirate or face possible attack, the mood in Washington was grim and the message one of resolve.

President Bush was briefed early today by his intelligence and national security advisers. Late Monday, he signed the congressional resolution authorizing him to use military force to drive Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.

Bush walked the grounds of the White House today at dawn “just to reflect on the day,� spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

“I would say that the President is at peace with himself. He’s ready to make the tough decisions ahead that are necessary,� he said.

Later, Fitzwater said a decision on launching an attack against Iraq is likely to come “sooner rather than later� after the U.N. deadline passes.

The U.N. Security Council met today to work on a final peace offer that would guarantee that Iraq would not be attacked if it pulls out.

“We will be talking about and supporting a final appeal to Saddam Hussein,� the British ambassador, Sir David Hannay, said as he entered the Security Council chambers. “I believe that a number support the idea of a largely political appeal.�

But France said its last-minute initiative to avoid war in the gulf had failed. “There is a fatal moment where one must act,� French Premier Michel Rocard told lawmakers in Paris. “This moment has, alas, arrived--after we have done everything to avoid it.�

The French plan offered a Middle East peace conference so Hussein would not fully lose face. That provision was unacceptable to the Americans.

In Paris, Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said he would not visit Baghdad to promote the French peace initiative. Dumas had said he would make a special trip to the Iraqi capital if it would be useful in encouraging Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait.

Bush telephoned Edmund Browning, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and the Rev. Richard C. Halverson, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, and “asked them to pray for the country,� Fitzwater said.

The Pentagon reported that Hussein was showing no signs of withdrawing his troops. Spokesman Pete Williams said Iraq instead was adding to its forces and stretching its defensive lines westward from Kuwait into Iraq.

Kuwait’s government-in-exile said “the hour of liberation is near.� The Kuwaiti ambassador to Syria, Ahmed Abdulaziz Jassem, said Hussein bore full responsibility if there was war.

Some Pentagon and Administration officials have privately predicted that Bush would wait for several days after the deadline to give Hussein an opportunity to boast he defied the deadline.

Belgium, meanwhile, proposed that U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar appoint a mediator to lay the groundwork for a Middle East peace conference.

In Baghdad, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis demonstrated. “We will die for you, Saddam!� yelled women carrying AK-47 rifles.