Bush Offers to Send Baker to Baghdad for Talks With Hussein : Diplomacy: President also invites Iraq’s foreign minister to Washington to ‘go extra mile for peace.’ But he remains pessimistic.

President Bush, declaring that he wants to “go the extra mile for peace,” Friday offered to send Secretary of State James A. Baker III to Baghdad to meet with President Saddam Hussein and invited Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz to Washington the week of Dec. 10.

But Bush made it clear that, although he is ready to talk, he is not willing to compromise.

“I am not suggesting discussions that will result in anything less than Iraq’s complete withdrawal from Kuwait, restoration of Kuwait’s legitimate government and freedom for all hostages,” the President said at a White House news conference.

Going even further, Bush suggested that even a full Iraqi withdrawal might not be enough to bring an end to the U.S.-backed trade embargo against Hussein’s government.

“There have to be some safeguards put into effect” to guard the region against future Iraqi military aggression, Bush said. A return to “the status quo ante “ -- the situation before Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait--”will not be enough,” Bush said.

Given that hard line, Bush, not surprisingly, acknowledged that he does not hold out great hope for a diplomatic solution to the Persian Gulf crisis by Jan. 15. Under a resolution adopted Thursday by the U.N. Security Council, the United States and its allies are authorized to use military force against Iraq if it has not withdrawn from Kuwait by that date.

Although he denied that Baker’s trip amounts to an ultimatum to Iraq, “I can’t tell you that I think--that I think we’re going to have great success on all of this,” Bush said.

“There can be no face-saving,” he added. “It isn’t, you know, a trip of concession.”

The purpose of the offer, he said, is to impress Washington’s determination on Hussein “one on one--Baker looking him right in the eye.”

Iraqi officials made no immediate response to Bush’s surprise offer of talks. Administration officials said Bush made the decision over the last few days and did not seek a response from Baghdad ahead of time.

As Bush sought to send a strong message to Iraq about the need to withdraw from Kuwait, he tried to reassure Americans of his concern for the lives of U.S. troops and his determination that the Persian Gulf will not become “another Vietnam.”

“People say to me: ‘How many lives? How many lives can you expend?’ Each one is precious,” Bush said in an emotional response to a question about casualties.

“I’ve been there. I know what it’s like to have fallen comrades and see young kids die in battle,” he added. “It’s a tough question, but the President has to make the right decision, and these are worldwide principles of moral importance.

“Should military action be required, this will not be another Vietnam,” Bush said. “This will not be a protracted, drawn-out war.”

The decision last month to roughly double the number of U.S. troops in the gulf was necessary to guarantee a force strong enough to minimize casualties, Bush said.

“If there must be war, we will not permit our troops to have their hands tied behind their backs, and I pledge to you there will not be any murky ending,” Bush said. “If a shot is fired in anger, I want to guarantee each person that their kid whose life is in harm’s way will have the maximum support, will have the best chance to come home alive and will be backed up to the hilt.”

Bush rejected arguments by several prominent military and civilian experts who have suggested that the United States should wait a year or more to allow sanctions to work against Iraq before launching an attack.

“Those who feel that there is no downside to waiting months and months must consider the devastating damage being done every day” to the U.S. and international economies by the disruption of oil markets, Bush said.

“Our economy, as I said the other day, is at best in a serious slowdown. And if uncertainty remains in the energy markets, the slowdown will get worse,” he said.

In hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, several prominent witnesses, including two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former secretary of defense, argued that economic sanctions alone potentially could force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait--but only if Bush is willing to wait until next fall or later.

Administration officials have said repeatedly in recent weeks that they do not believe either domestic or international support for the anti-Iraq effort can be sustained that long.

Bush also repeated his contention that Iraq’s drive to build a nuclear weapon imperils U.S. forces, and he criticized a prominent member of Congress, Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), who had accused Bush of exaggerating the danger posed by Iraq’s rudimentary nuclear program.

“I disagree with the senator, and if he wants to gamble on the future about the construction of atomic weapons by Saddam Hussein, I don’t,” Bush said. “I’m deeply concerned about Saddam’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Imagine his ability to blackmail his neighbors, should he possess a nuclear device.”

Meanwhile, in an apparently conciliatory move Friday, a group of Iraqi officials took fruit, vegetables and a case of cigarettes to the besieged American Embassy in Kuwait, Bush said. The Americans were also told by the Iraqis to make a list of medical supplies they needed, he said.

“This could be a positive sign,” Bush said.

Shortly after the invasion, Hussein ordered all missions closed in Kuwait, which Iraq considers its 19th province. The embassies that refused were surrounded by troops and their utilities were cut off.

Only the U.S. and British embassies remain open, but with much-reduced staffs. At the U.S. Embassy, the eight remaining personnel have been surviving on canned tuna and rice, Bush said.

Bush’s decision to send Baker to Baghdad “at a mutually convenient time between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15” was an abrupt turnabout in Administration policy. As recently as the beginning of last week, senior Administration officials had denied any plans to send a high-level envoy to Iraq.

But as Baker sought to line up votes in the U.N. Security Council for the resolution approving the use of force against Iraq, diplomats repeatedly emphasized the need for one final peace effort before war begins. And Administration officials conceded that they have felt considerable pressure to demonstrate to voters at home that no effort at peace has been skipped.

Judging from initial responses, Bush’s move was having the desired effect on both domestic and world opinion.

Congressional Democratic leaders praised Bush’s announcement. “Direct contact and dialogue is very important,” said Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has been highly critical of Bush’s policy.

Similar statements came from world leaders.

Friday afternoon, Bush said that he had talked by telephone with Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Turkish President Turgut Ozal and the exiled emir of Kuwait.

“They have all been very, very positive,” he said.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar said that he “fervently hopes that these contacts will lead to a just and peaceful settlement of the present crisis.”

Even countries that have opposed U.S. policies reacted favorably to Bush’s announcement.

At the United Nations, Libyan Ambassador Ali Treikki called Bush’s statement a “good step forward for a peaceful solution.” And Yemen’s U.N. ambassador, Abdallah Saleh Ashtal, called it “the best news we have had in a long time.”

In Amman, Jordan, Taher Masri, a former foreign minister and influential member of the Jordanian Parliament, called the President’s proposal “very significant.”

“The Iraqis have been asking for direct contact with the Americans,” he said. “Now, Mr. Bush is saying there will be two meetings, with Foreign Minister Aziz going to Washington and Secretary Baker later going to Baghdad.”

“I want to be cautious in my assessment,” Masri added. “You know this could fail and then the President could go to the American people and the Congress and say: ‘I have done everything I could.’ ”

Baghdad, however, was silent, with a spokesman for the Iraqi Embassy in Washington saying that officials would have no comment.

The only reaction from Hussein’s government came from his ambassador to Paris. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., he called Bush’s offer “a very important step toward peace.”

“We hope it is going to achieve what we are all striving for, negotiations instead of beating the drums of war,” said the ambassador, Abdul Razzack Hashimi. “And this is really . . . I consider it very good news.”