Bush Warns Iraq Against Using Copters

President Bush, taking his first clear step to aid Iraqis fighting against Saddam Hussein, warned the Iraqi leader Wednesday against the use of combat helicopters to suppress internal rebellions.

“I’m warning them do not do this,” Bush said, adding that Iraq’s use of helicopters for combat missions inside its territory would violate the terms of the temporary cease-fire ending the Persian Gulf War.

Bush’s statements, made in a press conference on a visit here, appeared to mark a significant toughening of U.S. terms for peace and a major widening of allied efforts to aid the rebellions against Hussein.

Officially, the Administration in the past has insisted it was not taking sides in the fighting within Iraq, although neither Bush nor his top aides have hidden their distaste for Hussein. Now, however, Bush--declaring that it “is impossible to have normalized relations with Iraq while Saddam Hussein is in there”--appears to have decided on a more active role, taking steps to limit the tools Hussein can use in his fierce attempt to hold onto power.

Since the end of the war two weeks ago, allied forces have forbidden the Iraqis to fly any fixed-wing military airplanes, in large part to guard against the possibility of an attack on allied forces occupying much of southern Iraq.

The restriction on airplanes was part of the terms for the current temporary cease-fire agreed upon 10 days ago in a meeting between Iraqi officers and the allied commander, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, according to Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.

But that agreement allowed Iraq to fly helicopters “because their transportation was fouled up,” Cheney said in an interview Wednesday with The Times.

At the time, a Pentagon official said, “I don’t think anyone focused on the idea that there would be major insurrections. At that point, no one was talking about having revolts going on all over the place.”

Since then, however, revolts have spread rapidly across Iraq. And in the last day or two, U.S. and Saudi Arabian AWACS radar planes and allied reconnaissance missions over Iraq have detected widespread use of Soviet-made Hind helicopters against rebels in several cities of southern and central Iraq.

“They’re using them as gunships,” the Pentagon official said. “What we’re seeing is that the Iraqi army is becoming an army of occupation in their own land.”

The Administration now appears to have decided to flex its muscle to try to stop that tactic.

Bush did not say what the United States and its allies might do if Iraq continues using the helicopters, but he said the issue “is one that has got to be resolved before we’re going to have any permanence to any cease-fire.” U.S. officials repeatedly have said that allied forces would not give up the large chunk of southern Iraq they occupy until a permanent cease-fire is reached.

At the same time, Bush used his press conference to warn Iran against using the civil strife within Iraq as a pretext to seize any Iraqi territory, saying that would be “the worst thing they could do.”

Bush quickly added that he had “no evidence that that’s what Iran is trying to do,” but the President and his aides have been eager to reassure Iraqi military officials that the United States will not try to dismember the country.

Administration officials are, however, keeping up a steady flow of anti-Hussein statements. “I would hope he goes down in flames at some point,” Cheney said, although, he added, “we’ve not established that as a military objective.”

Bush’s visit here marked the beginning of a four-day trip to consult with allied leaders that will continue today with a meeting on the Caribbean island of Martinique with French President Francois Mitterrand.

Stopping in Canada first was designed as a political boost to Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, a friend of Bush who is in serious trouble in the polls.

Bush signed an agreement on acid rain, which did little but codify pollution restrictions already in U.S. law but which provided a politically useful photo opportunity for Mulroney. And the President effusively praised Canada’s sharply limited participation in the anti-Iraq coalition.

Mulroney, for his part, tied himself as closely as he could to Bush, emphasizing the closeness of the relationship between the two.

During the joint press conference, however, Mulroney did briefly and obliquely lecture the President on the subject of arms sales to the Middle East.

“We could be much more active in that area if we wanted,” Mulroney said. “We have all the technology in the world. We have all the resources we need. We could be big arms merchants. We’ve chosen not to be, even though it’s a very lucrative business. We’ve chosen not to because it’s fundamentally inconsistent with our policy to develop it, to peddle it, to finance it and then to deplore its use.”

Standing next to Mulroney, Bush made no direct reply to the remark. Later, however, he expressed hope that with the destruction of Iraq’s military, nations of the Middle East, including Israel, might feel their security is less threatened and would, therefore, not seek as many arms.

The President’s aides have made clear that while the Administration will push for some form of Middle East arms control, Bush will not swear off further arms sales to the region.

Times staff writer Melissa Healy in Washington contributed to this report.