Bush Solicits Foreign Allies on Iraq Plan

President Bush launched a diplomatic offensive Friday with calls to the leaders of Russia, China and France in which he appealed for collaboration in dealing with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and he prepared for talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair today to coordinate a strategy to take to the United Nations next week.

The calls drew a warning from Russia’s president against military action and caution from France’s leader that U.N. approval must precede any attack.

The summit at Camp David in Maryland will focus on whether to introduce a U.N. resolution that would toughen the terms requiring Iraq to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction, according to U.S. officials. The United States and Britain are hoping to redefine the existing U.N. framework for disarming Iraq by adding a time element and the threat of force to back it up.

Bush and Blair will discuss imposing a deadline on Baghdad for eliminating nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, possibly within six months to a year--a schedule that former U.N. weapons inspectors believe is not feasible. Bush will also press for a zero-tolerance, or “one strike and you’re out” clause, the officials said.

An Iraqi violation then would justify the use of force against Hussein’s government.

“The minute [Hussein] blinks and the Iraqis say that the inspectors can’t go to a palace or that they have to wait because [Hussein] is there and he needs time to leave, that’s it,” said a State Department official who requested anonymity. “The clock stops--and Iraq will be in material breach of a U.N. resolution, with all that implies.

“The goal is to make clear this is the last chance,” the official said. “He can’t fudge or ‘cheat and retreat’ again and get away with it. And he will pay the heaviest price if he does.”

The U.S. and Britain, permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, also hope to work out a broad strategy for winning support of the other three permanent members--Russia, China and France--as well as the wider world, U.S. officials said.

If Bush and Blair can agree on specifics, Britain would introduce a draft resolution after the president speaks at the United Nations on Thursday, according to U.S. officials.

Both nations would also present a more detailed case against Hussein. Britain is expected to make public as early as next week a document outlining the danger Baghdad poses, while the U.S. has compiled two dossiers to be hand-carried by special teams assigned to brief dozens of governments over the next few weeks, according to U.S. and British sources.

Bush and Blair on Friday began consultations with Russia, China, France and other key governments to convince them that the time has come to get tough on Hussein.

At the White House, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said the contacts were intended “to begin this process of collaboration, to do exactly what the world would expect and exactly what the world deserves, which is a free exchange of information, a discussion about the consequences and the risks.”

But based on initial reaction, Bush and Blair face an uphill battle. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin rebuffed both leaders with warnings that an attack on Iraq would be unjustified and globally disruptive.

“During the conversation, the Russian president expressed strong doubts regarding the grounds for the possible use of force against Iraq, from the point of view of international law and policy,” presidential spokesman Alexei Gromov told Russian news agencies about the Bush call.

“Putin underscored the need to coordinate political and diplomatic efforts to implement existing U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iraq,” Gromov said. He added that Putin urged Bush to find a common strategy with other world leaders on ways to improve global security and the war against terrorism.

Putin told Blair that he saw “real potential” for a peaceful resolution of the standoff over Iraq’s alleged buildup of weapons of mass destruction and its refusal to allow the return of U.N. weapons monitors. Putin warned both leaders that he could see no legal basis for waging war against Iraq and that such aggression could lead to “serious, negative consequences” for the global coalition against terrorism and the troubled search for peace in the Middle East.

Blair also met Friday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal, who delivered a letter from Crown Prince Abdullah expressing the kingdom’s discomfort with the heated talk about an attack on Iraq.

“The content of the letter reflects on the current state of affairs at this critical juncture and on the need for a united stand that could save the region from danger and lead to a stability based on a just and comprehensive peace,” the Saudi Embassy in London said in a statement released after the meeting. The crown prince has in effect ruled Saudi Arabia since 1996 because King Fahd is in poor health.

In Moscow, other senior Russian officials added their voices to Putin’s warnings that any strike against Iraq would have grave consequences.

“We believe a policy of diplomatic steps and decisions might allow us to find a long-term settlement of the situation around Iraq, which would meet the interests of regional stability,” Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov told reporters.

In a veiled warning to Washington, Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov indicated that Russia would be unwilling to sign off on any proposal presented to the U.N. Security Council that allowed armed intervention to force the inspections. “The Russian delegation expects that the issue of a military operation will not be raised in the Security Council and that we will not have to make a decision on it,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

In France, President Jacques Chirac told Bush that the return of inspectors is the best course of action--and that no military assault should take place without the backing of the Security Council.

If Hussein’s government refuses to accept the U.N. inspections, “it is up to the Security Council to take the appropriate measures,” and “those measures should be decided at that moment,” the French leader said, according to spokeswoman Catherine Colonna.

Chinese officials provided few details about Bush’s call to President Jiang Zemin.

Fleischer, Bush’s spokesman, countered that Russia, France and China remain “open to the president’s ideas and they want to listen.” He added: “They have some thoughts of their own, of course.”

Asked if any of the leaders Bush spoke with flatly opposed the president’s proposed course, Fleischer said: “No, the president did not hear that message.”

The White House also came under pressure from congressional leaders, who said they will press for more evidence on the dangers represented by Hussein’s government and arsenal.

“Some of our questions were answered, but there are a lot more out there that need to be addressed before we can make any conclusive decision on what needs to be done,” Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said on NBC’s “Today” show.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said Congress will need to spend a significant amount of time in a “very deep and rigorous examination of facts” before deciding whether to give formal approval to the White House to take action against Hussein.

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Wright reported from Washington and Williams from Moscow. Times staff writers Sebastian Rotella in Paris, James Gerstenzang in Washington and Henry Chu in Beijing contributed to this report.