וול סטריט: החוזים העתידים מורים על ירידות של עד 1.6% בפתיחה

With News Agencies and Haaretz Service

Long columns of U.S. and British troops, armored vehicles and trucks advanced through swirling sand toward the Iraqi border Wednesday, positioning themselves to invade on short notice.

White House officials are refusing to say whether they will keep to President Bush's 48-hour deadline for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to leave the country, which expires at 0100 GMT on Thursday.

Major General Buford Blount III, commander of 3rd Infantry Division, ordered on Wednesday his 20,000 troops and 10,000 tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and fuel trucks to line up near the border.

The 3rd Infantry Division is the only armored force in the region and is likely to attack Iraqi defenses head-on in the event of war. Troops of the 101st are expected to be flown in on helicopters to seize key installations ahead of the 3rd Division.

At the Army's Camp New Jersey, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division' 3rd Brigade summoned his officers for a "battle update" briefing. "We are one day closer to making history, everybody," said Col. Michael Linnington.

About 300,000 troops - most of them from the United States, about 40,000 from Britain - waited within striking distance of Iraq. Backing them are scores of attack helicopters and more than 1,000 airplanes.

At sea, the aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman moved a step closer to war footing, getting ready to conduct operation flights around the clock.

Saudi Arabia proposes exile for Saddam Hussein to stop war U.S. ally Saudi Arabia has proposed for the first time that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should go into exile as a last-ditch effort to avert war, a Saudi diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

"The kingdom, and other parties, are exerting maximum effort to prevent a devastating war and they have proposed the idea of exile for Saddam and securing a safe haven for him and his family," the source told Reuters.

The United States has issued Saddam with an ultimatum to quit Iraq with his two sons by early Thursday Baghdad time or face an invasion by some 280,000 U.S. and British troops.

Saddam and his son Qusay have rejected the demand.

Saudi Arabia is the second Gulf Arab state to call for Saddam to step down, but the diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the kingdom was not planning to offer the Iraqi president refuge.

Iraqi lawmakers warn U.S. faces 'unexpected' reprisals for war Iraq's parliament went into emergency session on Wednesday, with loyal deputies pledging to lay down their lives for President Saddam Hussein and some warning that the United States would face "unexpected" reprisals if it went ahead with its pledge to invade.

"We'll sacrifice our blood and souls for Saddam," several legislators chanted as the session started, waving their fists in the air and drawing applause from others in the chamber.

Some warned Speaker Saadoun Hammadi told deputies, all loyal to Saddam, that they should rally behind their leader and dismissed U.S. threats to invade Iraq if he did not go into exile.

"Iraq is not the country that will accept what the U.S. administration has told it," Hammadi said.

"We reject and denounce it and we are all standing together behind our leader, and we're ready to defend our land. The fate of invaders is the same -- failure and the curse of history.

"The people of Iraq, who gave us this responsibility by electing us as its representatives, stand today as one rank, as one voice, as one rifle against the criminal oppressive aggression of the U.S. and its allies."

A succession of deputies, some in traditional Arab dress, most in Western-style suits, then spoke, seated behind their desks. They were unanimous in rejecting the U.S. ultimatum.

Some called on U.S. President George W. Bush to go into exile, one denouncing him as the "pharaoh of our time".

"The whole world has a right to say to little Bush, step down you idiotic criminal. Step down you pharaoh of our time, its Nero!," bellowed deputy Khaled Abdel Aziz Salim.

"You have not learned from your predecessors. You should step down and let the world live in peace or the consequences will be grave and the whole of America will carry your guilt and expose it to the unexpected."

Bush has said that Saddam and his two sons must leave Iraq by early Thursday Baghdad time or face invasion by some 280,000 U.S. and British forces massed in the Gulf.

Iraqi state television reported on Tuesday that Saddam had rejected the ultimatum and had vowed to fight: "The meeting stressed that Iraq and all its sons were fully ready to confront the invading aggressors and repel them."