Bush speech wins cautious international welcome, but concerns over war still deep

TOKYO (AP) - President Bush's call for increased pressure on Iraq won guarded support in initial reactions from Asia and Australia Tuesday. But his strongly worded attack on Iraqi President Saddam

Tuesday, October 8th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TOKYO (AP) - President Bush's call for increased pressure on Iraq won guarded support in initial reactions from Asia and Australia Tuesday. But his strongly worded attack on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein deepened concerns over the possibility of war.

In his speech, Bush called Saddam a â€œmurderous tyrantâ€ and said he may be planning to attack the United States with biological or chemical weapons and could have a nuclear bomb in less than a year.

Along with opening a week of debate in the U.S. Congress over resolutions to give the president authority to attack Iraq, the speech was seen as an attempt to rally reluctant allies abroad.

Initial reaction from Australia and Japan was supportive. But a senior politician in the predominantly Muslim country of Malaysia expressed concern that Bush was ignoring world opinion.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Bush's speech renewed pressure on Saddam to disarm or face military strikes.

â€œSaddam Hussein wouldn't even be contemplating letting weapons inspectors back into Iraq if he didn't fear the military threats from the United States,â€ Downer said. â€œWe think the speech is a very measured and considered speech. It puts the pressure in this debate very much on the shoulders of Saddam Hussein.â€

Australia has been one of Washington's staunchest allies in his campaign against Saddam and Prime Minister John Howard has not ruled out sending Australian troops to serve in a U.S.-led strike aimed at toppling the Iraqi leader.

In a statement issued just hours after Bush's speech - but not directly mentioning it - the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils condemned the United States' aggressive stance against Iraq.

â€œThe U.S. government is on an uncontrollable pathway of destruction and has turned the war on terror into a war for oil,â€ the statement said.

Doubts over Bush's hardline approach were also heard in the largely Muslim nation of Malaysia.

â€œWe are for the U.S. if it is a force for good but we cannot support the U.S. if it pursues the course of unilateralism with scant regard for world opinion,â€ said Hishamuddin Hussein, Malaysia's youth and sports minister.

â€œMaybe Saddam is evil, and he must not be allowed to develop weapons of mass destruction, but the U.N. must be given a chance to explore a peaceful solution,â€ he told delegates at the East Asian Economic Summit being held in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Japan supports Bush, but has also been reserved on the use of force.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's spokeswoman, Misako Kaji, said Tokyo welcomed Bush's confirmation in the speech that it remains important to pursue a U.N. Security Council resolution.

â€œFrom that perspective, we welcome it,â€ she said.

Koizumi himself had no immediate comment, and chief Cabinet spokesman Yasuo Fukuda did not touch on the subject in his regular morning news conference.

Although Japan has said it will â€œresolutelyâ€ continue diplomatic efforts along with the United States to assure that Iraq disposes of any weapons of mass destruction, officials have questioned the need for the use of force.

In a meeting with Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Razak in Tokyo last week, Koizumi said there was no â€œguiding principleâ€ to back up an attack and stressed the importance of a United Nations resolution before any military action is taken.

The idea of military action remains highly sensitive with the public.

â€œIt's better if they don't go to war,â€ said Toshiro Kobayashi, a shopkeeper in Tokyo. â€œIt would be one thing if war would solve the problem, but terrorist acts will happen again.â€

Though not responding specifically to the speech, about 50 anti-war activists gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, to protest any plans for an attack on Iraq.

The protesters, representing 46 civic and religious activist groups, issued a statement saying U.S. plans to attack Iraq cannot be justified â€œand will instead threaten world security.â€

During the protest, part of a program marking the first anniversary of the U.S. air raids against Afghanistan, activists decorated small mock paper missiles with flowers as a symbol to promote peace.