Use of Force Not Ruled Out, Baker Warns : Mideast: He vows not to appease Hussein’s aggression. The harsh words dampen talk of a diplomatic settlement.

In a hint that the Bush Administration may be considering some new action soon against Iraq, Secretary of State James A. Baker III warned Monday that “Saddam Hussein must realize there is a limit to the international community’s patience.”

Baker, in a toughly worded speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, repeatedly emphasized that the United States may have to resort to military action in the Persian Gulf.

“All options are being considered,” he said. “And let no one doubt: We will not rule out a possible use of force if Iraq continues to occupy Kuwait.”

Baker appeared to be trying to dampen speculation that a settlement of the gulf crisis might be in the works as a result of recent diplomatic initiatives by the Soviet Union. His speech also seemed designed to emphasize once again that the Bush Administration will not accept any deal that gives Iraq a part of Kuwaiti territory.

“We are not going to appease this aggression,” Baker said. “. . . The United States opposes any attempt to reward Iraq for its aggression--even if it (Iraq) plans the siren song of a ‘partial solution.’ ”

The secretary described the stakes in the gulf standoff in the broadest possible terms, arguing that the future of the world depends on the outcome.

“It is a vital struggle in which we and the international community must prevail,” Baker declared. Iraq’s aggression, he said, is a challenge to world peace, to stability in the Middle East and to the global economy.

“This struggle is about the kind of world we want to live in, the kind of nation we are and the kind of legacy we want to leave for our children,” Baker told the luncheon audience at the Beverly Hilton.

“The Cold War is over. We fought and we sacrificed and persisted for over 40 years because we would not accept a world that was safe for the likes of Josef Stalin. The American people have not come this long, hard way to make the world safe for the likes of Saddam Hussein.”

Baker saved his harshest rhetoric for Iraq’s treatment of the Kuwaiti people.

“It is a story of barbarism in its most crude and evil form, the rape of Kuwait,” he said. He described accounts of Iraqi soldiers summarily shooting two Kuwaiti children and of other soldiers releasing lions and tigers from the Kuwait city zoo.

Baker also took care to warn the Iraqi leader once again that there would be massive retaliation against any Iraqi use of chemical weapons. Saddam Hussein, the secretary said, “must realize, and I’d like to stress this point, that should he use chemical or biological weapons, there will be the most severe consequences.”

During a question-and-answer session, Baker was asked whether the United States could accept an outcome in which Iraqi troops pulled out of Kuwait but Hussein retained his military power and continued to threaten other countries in the Middle East.

Baker said that in such a case, the Bush Administration would seek to contain the Iraqi leader, both through collective security measures and through a continuation of the current economic sanctions against Iraq. In particular, Baker said, the United States would seek to maintain sanctions against Iraq “for military equipment and for spare parts for his (Hussein’s) military machine.”