Bush: It's time for action - President vows an end soon to Iraqi 'threat to America'

WASHINGTON - President Bush took the nation to the brink of war Thursday night, declaring that only a few more days of diplomacy remained for the United Nations to persuade Saddam Hussein to abandon all weapons of mass destruction.

Acknowledging stiff resistance on the U.N. Security Council to a strike against Iraq, Mr. Bush said he was determined to seek a vote for a new U.S.-backed resolution that would surely lead to war.

"It's time for people to show their cards," he said during a prime-time White House news conference, "and let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam."

Mr. Bush emphasized that he had not yet decided on war, declaring it his last option. Still, he made clear, as more than 200,000 U.S. military personnel converged on the Persian Gulf, that the other options had all but run their course.

"This is a true, real threat to America," he said. "And, therefore, we will deal with it."

The president said that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington had turned all of America into a battlefield and that he had a constitutional obligation to protect the nation at all costs.

"That's what I swore to do," he said. "I put my hand on the Bible and took that oath. And that's exactly what I am going to do."

Describing himself as a man of deep faith, Mr. Bush said he prayed every day "for guidance and wisdom and strength."

"If we were to commit our troops, I would pray for their safety," he added, "and I would pray for the safety of innocent Iraqi lives as well."

"It's a humbling experience to think that people I will never have met have lifted me and my family up in prayer," Mr. Bush said. "And for that, I'm grateful."

Turning to the potential battlefield abroad, the president said Turkey's refusal so far to allow thousands of U.S. troops to pass through for an attack on Iraq from the north would not cause "any more hardship for our troops," who would be forced to take alternate routes.

"Turkey's a friend. They're a NATO ally. We will continue to work with Turkey," the president said, adding that U.S. military commanders would rely on their backup plans if necessary.

Responding to a direct question, the president said he intended to give weapons inspectors and others still working in Iraq time to get out ahead of a military strike. But again he emphasized that the time had drawn near.

"The journalists who are there should leave," he told the inquiring reporter bluntly. "If you're going and we start action, leave."

If it comes to war, Mr. Bush said, he could assure the friends and families of U.S. military personnel that they would have the best equipment and the "best plan available for victory."

And he repeatedly emphasized that the United States would do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties in Iraq.

"We care about the suffering of the Iraqi people," he said, pledging to provide food and medicine.

The president's campaign to disarm Iraq, however, has drawn increasingly vocal protests at home and abroad. And his latest bid for support in the U.N. Security Council has stalled.

Of the 15 council members, only Britain, Spain and Bulgaria are rallying behind the new U.S.-backed resolution to enforce last's fall U.N. declaration that Iraq would face "serious consequences" if it did not disarm.

And of the five permanent members with veto power, France, Russia and China have vowed to block the resolution.

The chief U.N. weapons inspector, Hans Blix, will update the council Friday on the progress of inspections in Iraq, and a vote on the new resolution could come as early as Monday.

No matter what the count is, Mr. Bush vowed Thursday night, "we're calling for a vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council."

Still, the president made clear he is prepared to go to war to disarm Iraq, with or without U.N. support.

"When it comes to our security, we really don't need anybody's permission," he said.

Mr. Hussein is a "direct threat to this country, our people and to all free people," Mr. Bush said. "If the world fails to confront the threat posed by the Iraqi regime, refusing to use force, even as a last resort, free nations would assume immense and unacceptable risks."

In the few remaining days of diplomacy, the president said, he hopes that Mr. Hussein will finally abandon his programs to develop chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons - or, perhaps, leave the country.

"That'd be fine with me," Mr. Bush said, "just so long as Iraq disarms after he's exiled."

The president's 52-minute news conference in the ornate White House East Room was his second there. His first was on Oct. 11, 2001, a month after the terrorist attacks.

During the last two years, he's held just six other formal, solo meetings with reporters, mostly in the White House press briefing room.

At other times, as often as several times a week, he takes a few questions from a small pool of reporters as he meets with world leaders or goes about his other business. And occasionally he grants an interview.

"The president thinks it's important to communicate with the American people, and he has many different ways of doing it," said White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.

Thursday night's news conference was the latest in a series of carefully orchestrated forums for the administration to press its case against Iraq.

Mr. Bush gave a nationally televised evening address on Iraq a week ago. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is in New York lobbying skeptical members of the U.N. Security Council, is expected to make the rounds on Sunday's morning news shows, along with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. And the president is expected to address the nation at least once more before any war.

"I meant what I said," Mr. Bush said Thursday night. "This is the last phase of diplomacy."

Let's Roll !

Still, the president made clear he is prepared to go to war to disarm Iraq, with or without U.N. support.

"When it comes to our security, we really don't need anybody's permission," he said.
Mr. Hussein is a "direct threat to this country, our people and to all free people," Mr. Bush said. "If the world fails to confront the threat posed by the Iraqi regime, refusing to use force, even as a last resort, free nations would assume immense and unacceptable risks."

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