Military: Diplomatic efforts continue as U.S. works to build coalition. Bush says that there is no imminent attack.

President Bush ordered U.S. warplanes to begin moving to bases in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday as a prelude to what the administration says will be a long and difficult war against terrorism.

“Some forces have been ordered to be positioned. There will be more,” Pentagon spokesman Adm. Craig Quigley said of the deployment, dubbed “Operation Infinite Justice.” “As the president has said, this is going to be a long-term process involving a variety of branches of the government, among them the Defense Department.”

Bush will address a joint session of Congress at 6 p.m. PDT today to underline his determination to punish those responsible for last week’s terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said the president will call for sacrifice and patience from Americans in a war that will not produce a quick victory.

Despite the beginning of a military deployment to the Middle East, Rice said, Bush will not use the speech to announce imminent military action.

In Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf gave a televised speech Wednesday urging his nation to get behind his decision to offer full support in the U.S. campaign against terrorism. Pakistan likely would play a key role if U.S. forces move against Afghanistan in a bid to capture Osama bin Laden.

“When you are faced with two calamities and must choose one, then it is better to choose the lesser one,” Musharraf said of his decision to back the United States and abandon Pakistan’s ally and fellow Islamic nation.

Since hijacked airliners crashed into their targets in New York, near Washington and in a Pennsylvania field last week, the administration has focused its fury on Bin Laden and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that harbors him. On Wednesday, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft seemed to suggest that the U.S. retaliation will go far beyond Afghanistan.

“It’s pretty clear that the networks that conduct these kinds of events are harbored and supported, sustained, protected by a variety of foreign governments,” Ashcroft said at a news conference. “And it’s time for those governments to understand, with crystal clarity, that the United States of America will not tolerate that kind of support for networks that would inflict this kind of damage on the American people.”

A few hours later, the White House sought to soften Ashcroft’s remarks.

The attorney general “intended his comment to refer to foreign governments being involved in terrorism in general, not in this attack in particular,” a White House official said. He said reports that the United States will target Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are untrue.

While the Pentagon prepared for war, Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell continued their effort to enlist as many governments as possible in what officials said will be a coalition unlike any ever assembled.

Bush said that not all foreign governments will want to publicly endorse the U.S. campaign. But he said the United States will accept secret help as readily as public support.

“Some nations will be willing to join in a very overt way,” Bush said. “Other nations will be willing to join by sharing information. And information in a campaign such as this is going to be incredibly important.”

Briefing reporters at the White House, Rice elaborated: “This is a different kind of coalition. This is not the Gulf War coalition, where we all mobilize our military forces and march off to war after 100 days. Different countries are going to play different roles. There are going to be countries that you may never hear of their contribution.”

Bush and Powell met Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Bush also telephoned the presidents of South Korea, South Africa and Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic that shares a border with Afghanistan.

U.S. Shows Sympathy for Russia on Chechnya

Most leaders expressed solidarity with the United States and promised to do their part in the fight against terrorism. Sometimes, however, U.S. officials curtailed long-held policies to avoid friction with governments that it needs in the anti-terrorism coalition.

For instance, officials who for months have been urging Russia to exercise restraint in its response to rebellion in Chechnya now are expressing sympathy for what Moscow long has labeled a counter-terrorism program.

“Russia is facing a difficult challenge in Chechnya, and we know it’s a challenge they must respond to,” Powell said, with Ivanov at his side.

For his part, Ivanov said: “All means must be used in the fight against terrorism, beginning from political and legal means and including, when and if necessary, use of force.”

In Moscow, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said his country has not reached any decision on whether or how to participate in an anti-terrorist action.

“We are open to consultations and discussion of questions connected with the joint fight against the centers, camps and bases created in Afghanistan and on other territories,” Karimov said after talks with Russian Security Council Chairman Vladimir B. Rushailo.

“If the investigation proves that this terrorist act was prepared on the territory of Afghanistan, there must be retaliation,” Karimov added. “The U.S. has not declared a war on Afghanistan but is fighting against international terrorism.”

In Pakistan, the government reportedly told multinational companies that the safety of their foreign employees in the country can no longer be guaranteed. Many Western embassies told their citizens to leave Pakistan.

Air Force Bases Gearing Up

The Pentagon’s order to begin deploying warplanes has forced a round of activity at Air Force bases around the country where the fighter craft are based.

“Some military forces are being repositioned to prepare for and support the campaign against terrorism and to identify and locate terrorists,” said Lt. Michael Meredith, spokesman for the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force base in Virginia. The command is in charge of all air combat units based in the continental U.S.

The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt left port in Virginia on Wednesday and headed for the Mediterranean to join two other U.S. carriers, the Carl Vinson and Enterprise, that are already there. Together the three carry more than 210 Navy strike and support aircraft, Associated Press reported.

Some of the forces will leave their bases to move to the region as early as today. They will coordinate the refueling of fighters and bombers as they deploy from the United States to the Gulf, the officials said, establishing ground communications at various places along the air route.

Nearly 200 U.S. Air Force warplanes already are stationed at bases in the Persian Gulf, Turkey and the Indian Ocean region. The deployment is expected to push that land-based total to nearly 300.

Word that U.S. military units are being readied for combat produced a late-day rally in the stock market, which had been declining since reopening Monday after the terrorist attack that devastated New York’s financial district.

The redeployment gives the Bush administration much of the air power it would need to carry out the military options it is considering in the region, said defense experts and former military officials.

“This keeps their options open,” said Daniel Goure, a former Pentagon official now at the Lexington Institute, a conservative think tank in northern Virginia.

And it is probably intended as a reminder to the Taliban of America’s might at a time when they are considering whether to give up Bin Laden.

“You want to have an intimidation element,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution. He noted that a display of U.S. power also may help convince U.S. allies in the region that America is serious about carrying through with its threatened military campaign.

Defense officials have said recently that they are considering a full spectrum of military options, ranging from commando raids to air strikes and even large ground forces.

If the White House chooses to conduct large-scale airstrikes, the Pentagon might move more heavy bombers--such as the B-2 Stealth or the older B-52s--into the region. The B-2s also can fly, with air refueling, direct from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Although the Pentagon released no specific information on the planes’ destinations, they are probably headed for bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where most U.S. military aircraft in the region are kept.

Others may go later to Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean where the United States has added heavy bombers in other recent military crises.

Bills on Terrorism Could Take Weeks

In other action Wednesday, Ashcroft met with congressional leaders for more than an hour to discuss a package of anti-terrorism legislation being assembled by the White House.

But while the attorney general said he would press for passage of the measures “as soon as possible,” several members said it probably would be weeks, if not longer, before any legislation clears Congress.

Lawmakers from both sides said they are in general agreement on most provisions of the package but want to proceed cautiously as they explore ways to expand law enforcement’s investigative powers without compromising individual liberties.

“We discussed a variety of issues,” Ashcroft said. “And there is, on many of those issues, very substantial agreement. We need every tool that’s available to us, tools that respect the Constitution of the United States and the rights of American citizens, to curtail the potential of additional terrorist acts.”

Emerging from the meeting, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said many members were focused on the civil liberties implications of the proposals, asking Ashcroft about the “capacity to keep track of Joe Bad Guy without snooping on me too.”

Times staff writers Paul Richter, Greg Miller, Eric Lichtblau, James Gerstenzang and Edwin Chen in Washington; Tyler Marshall in Islamabad; Maura Reynolds in Moscow; and Carol J. Williams in Berlin contributed to this story.