President courts 3 U.N. Security Council members as he opens international lobbying on Iraq

<br>WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Bush is using telephone diplomacy Friday to try to persuade three skeptical nations _ China, Russia and France _ that action against Iraq is urgently needed. <br><br>The

Friday, September 6th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Bush is using telephone diplomacy Friday to try to persuade three skeptical nations _ China, Russia and France _ that action against Iraq is urgently needed.

The stakes are huge: Each could use their clout in the United Nations to veto resolutions aimed at Saddam Hussein.

Bush, who has been accused of maintaining a go-it-alone foreign policy, is trying to build a global coalition for action against Iraq, just as his father did in 1991 for the Gulf War.

Opening the international phase in his campaign to win similar backing, Bush targeted three of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council for telephone calls. The United States and Britain are the other two permanent members.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a staunch backer of the U.S. call for regime change in Baghdad, meets with Bush at his Camp David presidential retreat on Saturday. The president meets Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who said Thursday he has yet to see evidence to justify Canadian support for a military campaign against Iraq.

Bush is calling Presidents Jacques Chirac of France, Jiang Zemin of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia. All three have voiced deep doubts about military action against Iraq.

France and China have said any military action against Iraq should be decided by the United Nations. Russia opposes war with Iraq, but its stand is clouded by growing economic and diplomatic ties to the country.

Bush's conversations could lay the groundwork for his administration's likely request that the Security Council adopt a resolution setting a deadline for Iraq to admit weapons inspectors or risk punitive action. By not specifying there would be an attack on Baghdad, the administration hopes to avert a Chinese, or more likely, a Russian veto, two administration officials said.

Bush was unlikely to raise the issue of the resolution with the leaders on Friday, a senior administration official said. Nor was Bush to present to the three leaders any evidence that the American public has not already heard, this official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other officials said Bush planned to restate the argument he made in public Wednesday, that the Security Council was obligated to hold Iraq accountable for not complying with the U.N. resolutions. Bush did not intend to propose or even float any new initiative for dealing with Saddam in the telephone calls.

The officials confirmed he was reviewing several ideas, including giving Saddam a last-ditch deadline for allowing unfettered access to weapons inspectors, but said the president and his advisers had determined that Friday was too soon to show his hand.

Indeed, he does not plan to break major new ground in a Sept. 12 address to the United Nations; aides who have seen early drafts say Bush makes a forceful case for ousting Saddam and warns the United Nations that its credibility and relevancy is on the line. While there is no ``huge divergence'' on what to say, the topic is still the subject of lively discussions within the administration, one official said.

Aides say concrete plans to oust Saddam will likely wait for another speech, perhaps a joint session of Congress, once Bush is finished consulting with allies and lawmakers and makes a final decision on how to handle Saddam.

It wasn't clear whether Bush would have answers at the ready if questioned Friday about what impact war in Iraq would have on the Mideast peace process or the war on terrorism; or about what postwar scenario he envisions in Iraq, if he chooses to attack.

``I will remind them that history has called us into action, that we love freedom, that we'll be deliberate, patient, strong in the values we adhere to,'' he said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld planned to meet with the president Friday at the White House.

Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and CIA Director George Tenet met at the Pentagon on Thursday with the bipartisan group of senators, many of them members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Later, Cheney and Tenet met with congressional leadership on Capitol Hill.

In remarks to reporters, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle indicated he will not be rushed to judgment on Iraq.

``I'm more concerned about getting this done right than getting it done quickly,'' the South Dakota Democrat said. ``And getting it done right means that we have to ensure that we have the answers to questions that you've heard many of us ask now for the last several days.''