Azores Summit

The Azores Summit was a meeting held on 16 March 2003 at Lajes Air Base on Terceira Island in the Azores archipelago, Portugal, between the heads of government of the United States (George W. Bush),[1] the United Kingdom (Tony Blair), Spain (José María Aznar), and Portugal (José Manuel Durão Barroso, who also served as the host).

[2] At the Azores Summit, the decision was made to issue a 24-hour ultimatum to the Iraqi regime headed by Saddam Hussein for disarmament under threat of a declaration of war.

[3] In Spain, the Azores Summit was widely criticized and, according to some experts, it was a turning point that marked the beginning of the fall of the People's Party, which would be further accentuated by the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

[8] Apart from the ultimatum, the Azores Summit adopted a statement on transatlantic solidarity in which the signatories intended to state their particular points of view regarding the common values on both sides of the Atlantic pertaining to democracy, freedom, and the rule of law, and that together they would confront the two threats of the 21st century: terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

[11][12] The invasion of Iraq has also been linked to the solution of the Arab–Israeli conflict,[13] the new geopolitical strategy of the United States,[14] the large economic oil interests in the area,[15][16] and a real testing ground for the US military industry, which constitutes a very important part of its gross domestic product.