U.S.-Iraq Talks ‘On Hold’ : Hussein ‘Ought to Get Moving’ on Date--Bush

President Bush said today direct talks with Iraq to resolve the Persian Gulf crisis are “on hold” pending an agreement with Saddam Hussein on a date for Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s trip to Baghdad.

The foreign minister of Iraq, Tarik Aziz, had been expected in Washington next week for the first round of talks, but Bush said today that Hussein’s proposal of Jan. 12 for a return visit from Baker is too close to the U.N. deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.

“We have offered 15 dates, and he ought to get moving” and accept one, Bush said of Hussein.

He added: “Saddam Hussein is not too busy to see on short notice” such figures as Muhammad Ali, Ramsey Clark and former British Prime Minister Edward Heath.

Bush said Jan. 12 wouldn’t leave time for Iraqi forces to leave Kuwait by the United Nations deadline three days later.

“That deadline is real,” Bush said, adding that Iraqi forces must be “totally out, totally out” by then.

Bush originally invited Hussein to receive Baker in Iraq any time between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15. “I wish now I had been a little more explicit in my first announcement,” he said.

“I did not offer to be a part to Saddam Hussein’s manipulation,” Bush said, adding that “The Aziz meeting is on hold, I guess,” pending agreement on a date for Baker’s trip.

Bush made his comments on the White House lawn before boarding a helicopter for a weekend trip to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md.

He said he has been considering seeking congressional support for offensive military action in the Persian Gulf if Iraq doesn’t withdraw from Kuwait by the Jan. 15 deadline.

“I think it would send a very strong signal to the world” if Congress explicitly endorsed his Persian Gulf policy, he said.

In related developments:

* Pentagon officials said thousands more medical personnel were being dispatched to join the U.S. deployment in Saudi Arabia.

* The last organized planeload of U.S. hostages, including Ambassador Nathaniel Howell and the last U.S. embassy officials from Kuwait, headed for Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington today.

* On the financial markets, traders said the continued stalemate of U.S.-Iraqi talks drove oil prices up in trading today. Light sweet crude oil for January delivery was up $1.43 per barrel at $27.85 early this afternoon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.