Bush Puts Nuclear Use in ‘Options Available’

President Bush on Wednesday defended a politically charged Pentagon proposal to create new types of nuclear weapons and expand the nation’s list of potential nuclear targets, saying that a commander in chief “must have all options available.”

Bush backed the notion of a more flexible nuclear arsenal, suggesting that it is critical to deterring post-Cold War threats to the United States and its allies, even as he said his administration remains committed to nuclear arms reduction.

“We want to make it very clear to nations that you will not threaten the United States or use weapons of mass destruction against us or our allies or friends,” Bush said.

The president’s remarks--his first since details of the classified Pentagon document emerged last weekend--came during a White House news conference that he called to pressure Senate Democrats who are blocking a White House appeals court nominee, Charles Pickering.

Bush complained bitterly about the Senate’s treatment of Pickering but spent much of the 45-minute session discussing his administration’s diplomatic efforts, his planned trip to Latin America next week and the progress of the evolving war on terrorism.

At one point, Bush described how his decisions on the war in Afghanistan have been colored by lessons he gleaned from the U.S. experience in Vietnam. He said he is careful to be sure that the nation’s mission is clear and mindful of the need to separate military considerations from the pressures of domestic politics.

While stressing that the United States will be “judicious and wise” about troop deployments, he said that national objectives and military analysis, not political pressure, should guide deployment decisions.

“Politics ought to stay out of fighting a war,” Bush said. “There was too much politics during the Vietnam War. There was too much concern in the White House about political standing.”

Asked whether he worries that U.S. efforts to help other countries excise terrorist cells might escalate into more direct military involvement, Bush said he doesn’t relish sending U.S. soldiers abroad but would not adhere to the post-Vietnam ethos in which “the definition of success in war was nobody lost their life.”

He also sought to connect the objectives of the current conflict to those of the most storied--but also most costly--war of the 20th century. The war on terrorism, he said, “is more akin to World War II than it is to Vietnam. This is a war in which we fight for the liberties and freedom of our country.”

His comments came as the bloodiest battle to date in Afghanistan--a 10-day engagement near Gardez in which eight Americans died--was winding down. In general, the U.S. military in Afghanistan has employed a strategy largely reliant on air strikes and proxy forces that has protected American soldiers from much of the front-line fighting.

Bush said he is pleased with the progress of the war. He said he does not know whether Osama bin Laden is alive but said that, at the least, the Al Qaeda leader is on the run, his terrorist network has been crippled and his host government has been destroyed.

“He’s the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited, and met his match,” Bush said of Bin Laden. “He has no place to train his Al Qaeda killers anymore.”

Preparing for his trip to Mexico, El Salvador and Peru next week, Bush praised House passage Tuesday of a bill that would allow thousands of foreigners to seek legal residency in the United States, even if they entered the country illegally. Currently, these immigrants are required to return to their native countries as they apply for green cards.

“That’s a good reform,” Bush said, adding that he hopes the Senate will move quickly to approve the bill. The measure is one ingredient in a package of immigration-easing reforms that Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox were pursuing before the Sept. 11 attacks disrupted the talks.

Bush also sounded new warnings to Iraq, as Vice President Dick Cheney continued a trip to the Middle East seen largely as an effort by the administration to lay the groundwork for potential action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Iraq is among seven nations on the expanded list of potential U.S. nuclear targets listed in a classified Pentagon report that was submitted to Congress earlier this year, and whose contents were first reported in The Times on Saturday.

The document, called the Nuclear Posture Review, calls for the creation of “low-yield” nuclear weapons that could be used against smaller targets, including chemical or biological weapon facilities buried deep underground.

The document has created a stir in Washington, where several leading Democratic senators have expressed alarm at the report, saying it could undermine efforts to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The review has also drawn protest from leaders of China, North Korea and other nations identified in the document as potential targets.

Bush sought to soften the aggressive posture outlined in the report but signaled that the United States is moving to strike a new balance between disarmament and deterrence.

“My interest is to reduce the threat of a nuclear war,” Bush said, noting that the administration is pursuing disarmament negotiations with Russia and is even prepared to consider unilateral reductions in its nuclear arsenal.

But Bush did not back away from language in the report calling for new categories of weapons. “I view our nuclear arsenal as a deterrent, as a way to say to people that would harm America that . . . there is a consequence,” Bush said. “And the president must have all options available to make that deterrent have meaning.”

Bush opened his news conference by attacking Senate Democrats who have stymied the nomination of Pickering to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Bush defended Pickering’s commitment to civil rights and dismissed Democratic allegations that the nominee has a troubling record on issues ranging from employment discrimination to voting rights.

Pickering’s nomination is scheduled for a vote today in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it is expected to be defeated on a party-line vote. Bush argued the matter deserves consideration by the full Senate and criticized Democrats for what he said is a pattern of obstructing worthy judicial candidates. He complained that only 40 of his 92 judicial nominees have so far been confirmed.

“This is unacceptable,” Bush said. “It is a bad record for the Senate.”

But Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, rejected Bush’s complaints, saying the committee is moving quickly on the appointments but has been delayed by the need to “undo the damage of the last six years,” in which Republicans who controlled the Senate repeatedly blocked the nominees of President Clinton.