Bush told Sharon date and time of war on Iraq

LONDON , December 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. President George Bush told Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon that the U.S.-led war on Iraq will start on February 21 at " midnight ", a British newspaper reported Sunday, December 29.

The Sunday Express said Bush gave the date and time to Sharon in a telephone call over Christmas.

"The timing is confirmed by British defense chiefs, who have been told to expect war in the second or third week in February," according to the newspaper.

But Israeli public radio quoted an official in Sharon 's office as "categorically denying these reports," Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The Sunday Express said the war would witness "the most devastating air strikes the world has seen."

The newspaper gave no source for its report.

In a radio address to Americans on Saturday, December 28, Bush renewed demands to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "to disclose and destroy his arsenal of weapons" of mass destruction.

After a month of scrutinized inspections, U.N. arms experts failed to find any evidence substantiating American and British allegations that Iraq is pursuing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

One million refugees will flee Iraq war

In a related development, the Independent quoted aid agencies as warning that "one million refugees could flee Iraq if Britain and America do not pull back from war".

The same warning of a "humanitarian disaster" were echoed Saturday, December 28, by British International Development Secretary Clare Short.

Breaking ranks with Prime Minister Tony Blair, she insisted war against Iraq cannot be justified because it would cause "devastating suffering" to the Iraqi people.

"An all-out war that caused devastating suffering to the people of Iraq would be wrong," Short underline, urged Bush to follow the course set by the U.N.

According to the Independent, "humanitarian charities working in and around Iraq predicted that as well as vast numbers being forced across the borders into Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Iran, Iraqis could contract life-threatening diseases, including typhoid and cholera, on an 'epidemic scale'".

Although London is working on contingency plans to fund a humanitarian operation, the agencies fear such efforts "will come too late for many".

In statements last week, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers stressed that a "war in Iraq will be a disaster from the humanitarian perspective."

The Independent added that "preparations are being made for upwards of one million refugees to flee ( Iraq ) in the event of " war.

Aid agencies are already working with Iraq's neighbors to set up refugee camps and stockpile medical and sanitation equipment as well as food and water supplies in place to avert the worst of the looming crisis, it said.