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Bush Vows U.N. Vote on Iraq Within Days

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Times Staff Writer

President Bush vowed Thursday to bring the confrontation over disarming Iraq to a head within days, saying he will push for a U.N. Security Council vote even if it means defeat for the U.S. request to use force.

“No matter what the ... count is, we’re calling for the vote,” the president told reporters during a rare prime-time news conference at the White House. “It’s time for people to show their cards, let the world know where they stand.”

In a calm voice, Bush pressed his argument that inaction against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is more dangerous than war.

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“The risk of doing nothing, the risk of hoping that Saddam Hussein changes his mind and becomes a gentle soul, the risk that ... inaction will make the world safer is a risk I’m not willing to take for the American people,” he said.

The president insisted, as he has for months, that time is running out for a decision.

“I meant what I said when I said this was the final phase of diplomacy,” he said.

The news conference came on the eve of what is expected to be a decisive U.N. debate on the merits of using force to disarm Iraq, a case the administration has failed to make with many key allies.

In the face of clear opposition from veto-wielding council members France, Russia and now China, there were increasing signs Thursday from Britain and the Bush administration that they are open to amending their draft resolution on Iraq.

The allies are now considering giving Iraq a “little bit more time” -- possibly days and not more than two weeks -- to comply with the U.N. disarmament effort, U.S. and British officials said at the United Nations. They are also discussing an ultimatum for Hussein to comply or leave Baghdad, diplomats said.

France, Russia, Germany and other council members have proposed presenting Iraq with a specific list, provided by chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, of the most important disarmament tasks, or “benchmarks,” perhaps paired with a deadline.

U.S. officials are considering a separate set of demands that could include allowing all Iraqi scientists who have worked on weapons programs to leave the country for private interviews with inspectors, diplomats said.

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But both Washington and London are concerned that a list of benchmarks would only raise more problems and prolong negotiations on whether Iraq had met the requirements.

In the news conference, Bush sidestepped questions on whether the United States would agree to such new proposals.

“That’s what the United Nations Security Council has been talking about for 12 long years,” Bush said, just hours before Blix was to give a pivotal report to the council. “It’s now time for this issue to come to a head at the Security Council, and it will.”

The 45-minute news conference -- only the second Bush has conducted in prime time during his presidency, the first coming shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks -- was consumed by two foreign policy issues: Iraq and North Korea.

Bush said he is optimistic that the crisis over North Korea’s apparent intention to build nuclear weapons can be resolved through diplomacy, not war. He did not repeat the statement he made last week that the United States also has a military option available.

“We are working hard to bring a diplomatic solution, and we’ve made some progress ... and I’m optimistic that we’ll come up with a diplomatic solution,” he said.

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Bush rejected the suggestions of critics who say he should open direct talks with North Korea and said he still wants the problem solved multilaterally, as a “regional issue.”

“This is a regional issue. I say regional issue because there’s a lot of countries that have got a direct stake in whether or not North Korea has nuclear weapons,” he said, naming China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

‘Responsibility’ Cited

“I think the best way to deal with this is in multilateral fashion, by convincing those nations that they must stand up to their responsibility along with the United States to convince Kim Jong Il that the development of a nuclear arsenal is not in his nation’s interests, and that should he want help in easing the suffering of the North Korean people, the best way to achieve that help is to not proceed forward” with a nuclear program, he said.

He appeared to put the onus on China and other neighboring countries. “In my judgment, the best way to deal with North Korea is to convince parties to assume their responsibility,” he said.

But Iraq was the major issue Thursday night. Anxiety over the crisis with Baghdad has grown at home and abroad in recent weeks as more than 200,000 U.S. troops have taken up positions in the Persian Gulf region. On Thursday, Moscow advised more than 700 Russian nationals to leave Iraq. Long-standing allies have recently dug in their heels, vowing to halt what they see as a U.S. rush to war.

Public opinion around the world is heavily against a war. At home, polls indicate that a majority of Americans want to support the president but that they also would prefer to go to war with some kind of allied support.

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To that end, Bush used the news conference to try to assuage foreign qualms about the proposed war, including fears that civilian casualties will be enormous, that Iraq will be decimated, and that the United States will colonize a defeated Iraq economically and politically.

“In the event of conflict, America also accepts our responsibility to protect innocent lives in every way possible,” the president said. “We will bring food and medicine to the Iraqi people.

“We will help that nation to build a just government after decades of brutal dictatorship. The form and leadership of that government is for the Iraqi people to choose. Anything they choose will be better than the misery and torture and murder they have known under Saddam Hussein.”

Bush insisted that strained relations with allies such as France, Russia and Germany would recover.

He even expressed optimism that at the last minute some reluctant members -- as they did in November during the vote on the first Security Council resolution, which returned weapons inspectors to Iraq that same month -- will change their vote in favor of the resolution sponsored by the U.S., Britain and Spain.

“If I remember correctly, there was a lot of doubt as to whether or not we were even going to get any votes on this,” Bush recalled. “And the vote came out 15 to nothing.”

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‘We Will Act’

The president said he was not concerned that the United States might appear callous to world opinion if it launches a military operation against Iraq without U.N. approval.

“I’m confident the American people understand that when it comes to our security, if we need to act, we will act, and we really don’t need United Nations approval to do so,” Bush said.

In more than two years as president, Bush has held only eight formal news conferences, only two of which were in the evening, when most Americans could tune in.

Reaction from Capitol Hill was swift and divided along party lines.

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said Bush “again made a persuasive argument about the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein and why he must disarm or face the consequences.”

“I do not want our children and grandchildren to live in a world where every day they fear some regional strongman with weapons of mass destruction,” Voinovich said.

But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) warned that a “bully-in-the-schoolyard approach” could inflame tensions in the Middle East and create a breeding ground for more terrorists.

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“We knew it would never be easy to disarm Saddam,” Kennedy said. “But as long as U.N. weapons inspectors are making progress, we should not pull the trigger on war.”

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Times staff writers Robin Wright, Doyle McManus and Richard Simon in Washington and Maggie Farley at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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