MUNICH, Germany - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reaffirmed the administration's doctrine of pre-emptive military action Saturday and offered an impassioned defense of the decision to invade Iraq, saying former president Saddam Hussein's defiance had forced the United States to act.
While acknowledging that the decision to attack an enemy before being attacked depends on having "elegant intelligence" about the opponent's intentions and arsenals, Rumsfeld argued forcefully for striking first, particularly in cases involving the potential use of a biological agent or other weapons that could cause thousands of deaths.
"The greater the risk and the danger, the lower the threshold for action," he said, speaking at a conference on U.S. and European security issues here.
The invasion of Iraq marked the first application of the Bush administration's preemptive approach. The disclosure recently of errors and gaps in the U.S. intelligence assessment of Iraq's weapons programs before the war has raised fresh concerns about the U.S. doctrine, both in the United States and abroad.
"I agree you can't wait to absorb the first blow," Josef Joffee, editor of the German publication Die Zeit, told Rumsfeld during a question-and-answer session. "But what are we going to do about intelligence in a situation where intelligence is absolutely vital so we don't shoot the wrong guy?"
Rumsfeld responded that gathering intelligence in a world of secretive governments, fiber-optic cabling and underground tunneling is "a very difficult thing to do," but he said he hoped the new U.S. presidential commission announced Friday to investigate intelligence shortcomings would lead to improvements.
Rumsfeld's unyielding remarks surprised many of the conference participants. In recent weeks, the Bush administration has made a point of trying to move relations with European allies beyond last year's divisions over the Iraq war and toward a focus on new cooperative initiatives against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In the process, the administration also has been seeking more European troops for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
At last year's conference - an annual event that draws several hundred senior government officials and national security experts, mostly from European countries - Rumsfeld clashed openly with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer over Washington's reasons for preparing to invade Iraq. This year, many had expected Rumsfeld to strike a measured tone. Most other speeches and remarks during the day were notably free of contention.
Fischer, delivering the opening address, did start with a jab about Iraq, saying the German government "feels that events have proven the position it took at the time to be right," adding, "we were not and are still not convinced of the validity of the reasons for war."
He also expressed "deep skepticism" about an enlarged role for NATO in Iraq, though he made clear his government would not block a possible alliance move to take command of a multinational division in south-central Iraq now under Polish and Spanish leadership.
But Fischer quickly sounded a conciliatory note, outlining a proposal for the United States and Europe to join in developing a broad new strategy for fostering "modernization and stabilization" in the Middle East. U.S. officials traveling with Rumsfeld welcomed the initiative, noting similarities with President Bush's call last autumn for efforts to promote democracy in the region.
Rumsfeld, in his prepared remarks, launched into a spirited defense of the invasion, arguing Hussein brought it on himself. He noted decisions by Kazakhstan, Ukraine, South Africa and, most recently, Libya to open their arsenals of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction to inspection, and contrasted this openness with Hussein's "path of deception and defiance" before the war.
"It was his choice," Rumsfeld said of Hussein. "If the Iraqi regime had taken the steps Libya is now taking, there would have been no war."
Facing some critical audience questions afterward, Rumsfeld became animated and loud at times. Asked what the United States could do to improve its much-deteriorated image in the world, Rumsfeld blamed news coverage by Arab television networks for contributing to the decline by promoting "highly negative" stories.
"I know in my heart and brain that American ain't what's wrong with the world," he said.
