With president Bush warning that today is "a moment of truth for the world", the papers react to the latest developments.

Telegraph

"Yesterday, as Mr Bush reminded the world, was the 15th anniversary of Halabja, where thousands of Kurds were murdered by Saddam's chemical weapons. It is absurd to suggest that the opposition of one or more members of the security council deprives the proposed use of force to disarm Iraq of its legitimacy. Yet the exhausting and undignified diplomatic wrangling at the UN has given precisely that impression. Mr Blair famously believes in big tents, and the UN is the biggest tent of all. But by trying to include everybody, he has risked jeopardising the moral high ground that America and Britain already occupied. Yesterday's summit finally dispelled the illusion that the UN is or can be the sole arbiter of war and peace. It is not a question of unilateralism versus multilateralism, but of action versus words."

FT

"While there is no real doubt US military might will prevail, the huge war now in prospect could cause huge political damage - to the Atlantic alliance, the European Union and the UN, as well as to relations with the Arab and Muslim world. Looking back on the diplomacy that led to this point is not a pretty sight - for anyone...It would do incalculable damage - not only to Washington and its allies but in the Middle East - if Mr Bush Jr's newly professed commitment to an equitable regional peace were to prove hollow."

Guardian

"Whatever the attorney general may say in the Lords today, the pretence that the US and Britain are acting legally in circumventing the UN is preposterous. Resolution 1441, upon which their case mainly rests, invoked, embraced and superseded all previous Iraq-related resolutions. It specifically did not authorise the use of military force. If it had, it simply would not have been passed. Mr Blair and Mr Bush also risk breaching the UN charter, as Kofi Annan notes. They have no legal mandate to attack, let alone a mandate for regime change and an indefinite occupation. Rarely has war been launched from such shaky ground. Rarely have a war's proponents been so blind, so wrong and in such a rush."

Times

"Britain may find it hard to admit that the resolution is dead but Gordon Brown made clear yesterday that the country needed no new legal basis for going to war. It is now abundantly clear that there are not the votes for a second resolution, no matter how it is phrased or amended. What matters now is how to end the fruitless bickering and co-ordinate, as far as possible, an international response to the problem. The past few weeks have seen the United Nations in disarray and a once-united West badly divided. The main beneficiary of this division and confusion has been Saddam Hussein. The Azores summit has drawn a line in the sand."

Independent

"This is a situation that no national leader should find himself in, least of all Mr Blair. He has spent enormous amounts of time and political capital trying to obtain a majority in the UN that he has so far been unable to obtain and would actually be better off without. That does not reflect well on his advisers. The decision to continue working through the UN is the most heartening aspect of yesterday's summit. Returning to the security council, with a new draft resolution if necessary, is by far the wisest course, and however urgently Mr Bush wants a decision, it should on no account be rushed."

Mail

"The parade of cabinet ministers who spent yesterday submitting themselves to TV and radio interviews testifies to the acute nervousness in Downing Street at the scale of the looming Labour revolt. Mr Blair could face as many as 30 resignations by ministers and their parliamentary private secretaries if the UN doesn't consent to war. As if that were not bad enough, more than half Labour's backbenchers are likely to defy the prime minister tomorrow, in an even worse revolt than last time when 122 of his own MPs voted against him...Yet while huge issues hang on the coming days and weeks, the prime minister can be sure of one thing. When the troops go into battle, they will - rightly - have overwhelming public support."

Express

"As has been the case all along, Saddam is the only person who can stop this war. Instead of co-operating with the UN, he has continued to play his deadly game with the UN inspectors and has let the chance of peace slip away. As time runs out for this evil dictator, the British and American troops in the Gulf finally know when the waiting will end. They are about to embark on a war that no one wanted but which must be executed if the world is ever to feel safe."

Sun

"The Azores summit certainly put into clear focus the simple issue at stake...Has the world got the guts to back its warning to an evil dictator with action? There was anger in the voices of Blair and Bush and frustration in their gestures. This was directed not just at Saddam but at France and Germany. It is a tragedy that Europe and America don't stand together on the big issues, said Blair. He might as well have added that the same applies back home. Tomorrow the Commons votes on whether it backs Blair on Iraq.

"The justified Yes vote must surely see the end of the Cabinet careers of Clare Short and Robin Cook. Or are they all talk and no action when it means they lose their chauffeur-driven limos? The nation will be watching to see who opposes war because of a genuine crisis of conscience. And who is just making trouble when they should be backing the brave men and women waiting in the desert."

Mirror

"There is no longer any doubt that this rush to military action is one of the most sordid episodes since the second world war. Mr Bush is only interested in blitzing Iraq. What makes it so much more terrible for the people of Britain is that our government is being dragged in and plumbing disgraceful depths to justify involvement. The concerted attack on France is shameful and degrading. Cabinet ministers toured TV and radio studios to condemn president Chirac and accuse the French of being responsible for war. This is hypocrisy run riot and doublethink of scandalous proportions."