Western, Arab Allies Stand Firmly Behind U.S. Ultimatum to Baghdad : Coalition: Nations applaud Bush’s action. Saudis and Kuwaitis show relief that a deadline is set for an Iraqi pullout.

President Bush’s high-noon deadline for an Iraqi withdrawal in the Gulf War met with strong approval Friday from key Western and Arab allies, including France, Germany, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

At a meeting of European leaders in Paris, French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said the Bush deadline is the product of consultations with the allies, and “having participated in making the decision, you understand that we can only approve it.”

He said Bush and French President Francois Mitterrand talked shortly after the announcement was made and that the two leaders are in “perfect agreement.”

Other foreign ministers and defense ministers from the nine-nation Western European Union also reacted favorably when informed about the Bush ultimatum, Dumas said, noting that “a turn around the table showed that we had the same reactions, although the situation was not the same for all the countries, either on the ground or in the United Nations,” where France and Britain are permanent members of the Security Council.

Other countries represented at Friday’s meeting of European leaders were Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

In Britain, Prime Minister John Major backed up Bush, declaring that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must “stop fooling about” over the future of Kuwait.

Emerging outside No. 10 Downing Street to make a statement, Major said: “Iraq now knows precisely what they have to do. We are not prepared to bargain with them, and we are certainly not prepared to be strung along by them.

“I think everyone will know precisely where the blame will lie for any events that follow subsequently,” he said, referring to the possibility of imminent military action.

In Bonn, chief German government spokesman Dieter Vogel also issued a statement supporting the U.S.-declared deadline.

“Today’s United States government statement in the name of the Gulf coalition is based on the resolutions of the United Nations,” Vogel said. “This sets a clear deadline for him (Hussein). It is now all up to Saddam Hussein to take this chance to end the war, and with it the suffering of those in the region affected by the Iraqi aggression.”

The Kuwaiti government welcomed the Bush ultimatum. “We feel relief that he (Bush) is going to give him a certain time to get out,” Hasan Sanade, deputy information minister, said of Hussein. “If he (Hussein) withdraws, I think there will be no ground war. If he doesn’t, I think there will be no alternative.”

Kuwaiti officials late Friday said they had not had a chance to study the most recent proposal from Moscow, in which Kuwait city would be evacuated of Iraqi troops within four days.

But they said any peace proposal, to be acceptable, must contain these factors: an immediate, unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait; reparations for the billions of dollars in damage to Kuwait; freedom of prisoners and detainees; and the trial of those accused of torturing Kuwaitis. Many Kuwaitis say they believe this must include the apprehension of Hussein, who they say ordered the mistreatment of Kuwaitis.

But Sanade said he does not believe that Hussein’s removal from power must be a condition for resolution of the conflict: “Look. I would like him to be out of the scene. But I am not saying that the coalition is responsible for this. I am saying the Iraqi brothers and sisters should get rid of him.”

The Saudi and Kuwaiti governments both expressed relief at the prospect of the Bush-imposed deadline because they, too, had grown uneasy at the prospect of Iraq dragging out the crisis and ultimately remaining a threat to its neighbors in the Gulf.

“The Gorbachev plan was disastrous,” said a Saudi Defense Ministry official, referring to Thursday’s peace proposal from Moscow. “It’s obvious and clear what Saddam’s trying to do is trying to get away with this crime without any punishment whatsoever.”

Hussein, he said, “wants to make a speech saying, ‘I am a hero, but I’m forced to withdraw because the imperialists of the world conspire against us, and we have to give up.’ I am very happy that President Bush recognizes the ploy for what it was and gave him till 12 noon tomorrow (today).”

In a joint statement issued before the Bush announcement, delegates to the Western European Union, a collective security alliance, expressed strong reservations about the Soviet peace plan accepted by Iraq as a basis for withdrawal.

Although praising the Soviet initiative as “a step in the right direction,” the European leaders said that “key aspects remain imprecise or defective.”

Many of the leaders, such as French Minister of Defense Pierre Joxe, appeared relieved that the uncertainty over the deadline for withdrawal had been resolved by President Bush’s announcement.

“For several days,” Joxe said, “we have heard from the Iraqi side their intention to evacuate Kuwait in a manner that up to now was neither unconditional nor immediate. There are now several hours for the Iraqi leadership to make the decision that they should have made for several months.”

Joxe, a hard-liner who replaced controversial former Minister of Defense Jean-Pierre Chevenement, who resigned because of his opposition to the war, said the ground war has already been set.

“Everybody knows that the withdrawal from Kuwait can be done very quickly just as the invasion was very quick,” Joxe said.

Joxe said that French interviews with captured Iraqi soldiers, reported to him Friday by Gen. Maurice Schmitt, French army chief of staff, showed “there are many Iraqi soldiers who are completely convinced that, for military and diplomatic reasons, the sole reasonable way out is the evacuation of Kuwait.”

Tempest reported from Paris; Murphy reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Times staff writers Tyler Marshall, in Berlin, and William Tuohy, in London, contributed to this story.