Bush warns against inaction on Iraq as some allies voice skepticism

Washington - President Bush expressed frustration Tuesday with allies reluctant to wage war against Iraq, saying Saddam Hussein has been given "ample time" to disarm and pledging anew to bind with like-minded world leaders to confront Baghdad.

"This business about more time, how much time do we need to see clearly that he's not disarming?" Bush told reporters after meeting with economists to tout his $670 billion tax-cutting plan.

He was responding to suggestions from allies, including France and Germany, that they would wage a major diplomatic fight to prevent the Security Council from passing a war resolution against Iraq. Bush said he will lead a "coalition of the willing" to disarm Iraq, if necessary, as aides said he is willing to do so without the United Nations.

"Time is running out," Bush said. He said Saddam possesses weapons of mass destruction and is a "serious threat" to the United States and its allies, many of whom want U.N. inspectors to have more time to do their work.

"It appears to be a rerun of a bad movie. He is delaying. He is deceiving. He is asking for time. He's playing hide and seek with inspectors. One thing for sure is, he's not disarming," Bush said. "So the United States of America, in the name of peace, will insist that he does disarm and we will keep pressure on Iraq."

In a flash of impatience, Bush said of reluctant allies, "Surely our friends have learned lessons from the past."

"This looks like a rerun of a bad movie and I'm not interested in watching," he said.

Bush's broadcast came amid rising resistance to war from France and other allies and after the White House earlier urged world leaders to avoid the "dead end road" of the 1990s when, it said, Iraq flouted U.N. resolutions against weapons of mass destruction.

In unusually blunt language, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer responded to suggestions that allies would wage a major diplomatic fight to prevent the U.N. Security Council from passing a war resolution.

France told the Security Council there is no justification yet for military action against President Saddam Hussein and hinted that it might veto any resolution authorizing that.

Fleischer reminded reporters Tuesday that President Bush has said he will confront Saddam without the United Nations, if necessary, to disarm Iraq.

"The United States will not go it alone," he said. Fleischer declined to list the countries that have pledged support to Bush.

But British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has backed the U.S. stance of launching military action without U.N. support, said Tuesday, "We must not give a signal to Saddam that there is a way out of this. There is no way out for Saddam on this issue."

Meanwhile, the Army is sending its most modern combat division to the Persian Gulf region and the Navy is dispatching two aircraft carriers to join two others already within striking distance of Iraq, officials said Tuesday.

The Army's 4th Infantry Division, equipped with tanks, attack helicopters and artillery to defeat armored forces, is heading a group of 37,000 soldiers ordered to reposition in the Persian Gulf region. Their equipment will be shipped first, with the soldiers to go when final basing arrangements are worked out, U.S. officials said.

Fleischer said Bush had gone to the U.N. last September "recognizing that throughout this process it would be necessary for us and other nations around the world to continue to put spine into the United Nations and the rest of the international community so the world did not slide back into the dead end road that the 1990s represented in terms of allowing Saddam Hussein to continue to build up his weapons while the world looked the other way."

At the U.N. Monday, however, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said that "if war is the only way to resolve this problem, we are going down a dead end."

"Since we can disarm Iraq through peaceful means, we should not take the risk to endanger the lives of innocent civilians or soldiers, to jeopardize the stability of the region, and further widen the gap between our people and our cultures. We should not take the risk to fuel terrorism.," he said.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned that a military strike against Iraq "would involve considerable and unpredictable risks for the global fight against terrorism" as well as regional stability.

And Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan of China suggested a go-slow approach, saying at a news conference that the Jan. 27 inspectors' report is "not a full stop of the inspection work but a new beginning."

"There's more work to do in terms of the inspection and it will take some time," Tang said, adding that the inspectors' work is "proceeding well."

After a difficult two days at the United Nations, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that "there will be many conversations between me and my colleagues on the Security Council and, I suspect, between heads of state and heads of government to determine what the next steps should be."

The inspectors are due to report Jan. 27 on 60 days of searches for weapons on mass destruction. The Council tentatively plans to meet on Wednesday.

"If Iraq is disarming there may be a solution to this crisis without conflict," Powell said. "But if Iraq is not disarming, the United Nations cannot simply turn its head away." -- Washington Post

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