The Lajes Summit, Portugal, Mar 2003

In the middle of the Atlantic, George W. Bush (USA), Tony Blair (UK) and José Maria Aznar (Spain), hosted by the Portuguese prime-minister Durão Barroso, were together in the 16th March 2003 afternoon to a summit that clearly marked the parameters of the new international order, said the analysts. The Azores Declaration on Iraq adopted by the leaders meeting at the Lajes base, which is jointly run by the United States and Portugal, said the position taken by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein weakened the authority of the Security Council. The message was very clear: the time for diplomacy over Iraq had ended.

The Lajes base, officially designated Air Base No. 4, is on Terceira, one of the nine islands making up the Azores archipelago, strategically located in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, between the American and European continents.The summit could not have been held in the capitals of any of the three countries without a full-scale military mobilization.

Taken during 2003-03-16 - 2003-03-16
Source US DoD/José Luís Ávila Silveira/Pedro Noronha e Costa/Wikipedia
License No Rights Reserved

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