Cracks appeared Tuesday in the U.N. trade embargo against Iraq as Saddam Hussein sought to circumvent the economic noose around his country.

Japan, meanwhile, announced it would increase its aid to countries hardest hit by enforcing the sanctions. Hoping to defuse criticism that it is not doing ids share to oppose Baghdad, Japan said up to $2 billion in aid may be sent to natioNs most affected by the U.N. embargo on Iraq.

President Bush on Tuesday night promised a joint session of Congress and a nationwide radio and television audience that “Saddam Hussein will fail” to make his conquest of Kuwait permanent.

“America must stand up to aggression, and we will,” said Bush, who added that the U.S. military may remain in the Saudi Arabian desert indefinitely.

“I cannot predict just how long it will take to convince Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait,” Bush said.

More than 150,000 U.S. troops have been sent to the Persian Gulf region to deter a possible Iraqi invasion of Saudi Arabia.

Bush’s aides said the president would follow his address to Congress with a televised message for the Iraqi people, declaring the world is united against their government’s invasion of Kuwait. Saddam had offered Bush time on Iraqi TV.

The Philippines and Namibia, the first of the developing nations to respond to an offer Monday by Saddam of free oil—in exchange for sending their own tankers to get it—said no to the Iraqi leader.

Saddam’s offer was seen as a none-too-subtle attempt to bypass the U.N. embargo, in effect since four days after Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, by getting poor countries to dock their tankers in Iraq.