WASHINGTON -- President Bush challenged France and two other allies Monday to reverse course and allow NATO to make plans to defend Turkey against Iraq. He also accused Iraq's Saddam Hussein of "trying to stall for time" by offering last-minute concessions.
"I think it affects the alliance in a negative way when you are not able to make a statement of mutual defense," Bush said after France, Germany and Belgium vetoed a U.S.-backed measure to authorize NATO to make plans to protect Turkey.
The faltering of unity within the alliance coincided with Bush's uphill struggle to muster support from the U.N. Security Council for force to disarm Iraq. There, too, France's opposition stands in Bush's path.
Bush said France was a longtime friend of the United States, but he said the decision was shortsighted. "I hope they'll reconsider," he said.
But in the view of the leaders of France, Germany and Belgium, Turkey does not need the equipment now, and planning for Turkey's defense could send what they consider a wrong signal to Baghdad.
"If Turkey is ever attacked, we will stand at its side, that is not an issue here," Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said at a news conference in Brussels. "At issue is, are we at a logical point where we are at war?"
Turkey responded by invoking a clause in NATO's mutual defense treaty requiring immediate consultations. It was the first time in 53 years that a member of the Atlantic alliance publicly activated the emergency measure.
"Saddam Hussein has to disarm. If he doesn't, we will disarm him," Bush said after a meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch U.S. ally against Iraq.
The leaders met at the end of the day that brought several setbacks to Bush's diplomatic efforts. France, Germany and Russia sought more time for weapons inspectors, while French President Jacques Chirac said there is no justification for war at this time. France led efforts to prevent NATO from planning for Turkey's defense.
"Upset is not the proper word," Bush said when reporters asked for his views on France's diplomacy. "I am disappointed that France would block NATO from helping a country like Turkey to prepare," he said.
The remarks were part of an aggressive White House campaign to try to sway world and public opinion in advance of Friday's report by U.N. weapons inspectors. Bush intends to use the report to force a decision from the U.N. Security Council: Back the U.S. push to disarm Saddam or stand aside as he leads a coalition to do so.
Earlier Monday in a speech to a convention of religious broadcasters in Nashville, Tenn., Bush denounced Saddam as the true enemy of Iraq's people. He said the Iraqi leader regards them as "human shields, entirely expendable when their suffering serves his purpose."
While Bush was in Tennessee, Howard met with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, both of whom signaled Bush's irritation with the NATO decision. Rumsfeld said the planning would go ahead outside NATO, if necessary.
Powell said the allies had a legal obligation to protect Turkey and to make sure it "is not put at any risk."
Sitting with Howard in front of the Oval Office fireplace, Bush said the decision was "shortsighted." He added, "I hope they would reconsider."
"I think it affects the alliance in a negative way when you're not able to make a statement of mutual defense."
The president dismissed efforts by Saddam to avert war by allowing U-2 surveillance planes to fly above Iraq and to permit interviews of scientists.
"This is a man who is trying to stall for time," he said.
"The reason we need to fly U-2 flights is they're not disarming."
Without mentioning France or other like-minded nations by name, Bush noted that some have called for more U.N. inspectors in Iraq. He dismissed that assertion, saying "one or two" inspectors would be enough if Saddam was not hiding his weapons.
Iraq has repeatedly denied assertion that it has weapons of mass destruction.
Much as his father, former President George H.W. Bush, did before the first war against Iraq in 1991, Bush portrayed Saddam as evil and a danger to his own people and the world.
Saddam, he said, was positioning his military forces within civilian populations to shield the military and then blame anti-Iraq coalition forces for civilian casualties in the event of war.
"Saddam Hussein has broken every promise to disarm. He has shown complete contempt for the international community," Bush told the broadcasters.
Later, with Howard, Bush said Australia was a member of his "coalition of the willing," a term he usually uses to describe countries willing to disarm Iraq even without U.N. approval. Bush said it was up to Howard to say how far Australia was willing to go.
The prime minister did not specifically commit troops to the Bush coalition, but said Saddam is a rogue leader who poses a grave threat.
Meanwhile, Bush's attempt to rally the U.N. Security Council to use force to disarm Iraq sustained setbacks. Already wavering members of the council were confronted Monday with Iraq's approval of the use of U.S.-made U-2 surveillance planes by weapons inspectors and a pledge to pass legislation next week to outlaw the use of weapons of mass destruction.
"The inspectors are now free to use the American U-2s as well as French and Russian planes," Ambassador Mohamed al-Douri told The Associated Press.
Iraq had blocked the use of the planes, which inspectors said they needed in their search for banned weapons.
The U.S. response was frigid.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "The bottom line is one of disarmament and the president's interest is in disarmament. This does nothing to change that bottom line."
Al-Douri delivered the letter to the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, run at U.N. headquarters by Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector.
It could reinforce the inclination of a majority of council members to extend inspections rather than go to war to force Iraq to disarm.
Powell brushed aside Germany's opposition to war, saying after a meeting with President Lucio Gutierrez of Ecuador that Germany could not veto a resolution because it was not a permanent member of the council.
After meeting with Powell and Rumsfeld, Howard said Australia had already deployed forces to help in a war with Iraq.
"Australia does not believe all of the heavy lifting should be done by the United States and the United Kingdom alone," he said.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher described the Iraqi moves as tactical retreats and said Baghdad still had not indicated whether it would comply quickly and fully with U.N. disarmament demands.
"I haven't seen anything worth getting excited about," Boucher said. In fact, he said, "one has to question whether those ideas would have any relevance."
