PARIS, March 17: Reacting to President George W. Bush’s “ultimatum” to President Saddam Hussein to “flee or face a war”, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has said that “it is important that France’s message be heard until the last minute.”

Mr Raffarin, who until now had largely been mute on Iraq affair, said “we did fight a good fight against war and we did so till the end”.

Similarly, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin noted: “It’s been hard imagining what more we could do to stop this American war machine.”

President Chirac indeed told American TV viewers on Sunday that if the war had to be unleashed, he hoped for a quick victory, as, he noted, “the more rapid the victory the less important will be the damages suffered.”