U.S. acts to thwart European policy

Faced with a European rebellion on Iraq, the Bush administration scrambled on Monday to keep its strategy for rallying UN support for imminent military intervention from losing steam - or being overtaken.

Washington's response was a fast and furious counterattack, with administration officials publicly talking tough and privately expressing confidence that the United States would prevail in the end.

U.S. officials insisted that what looks like a growing diplomatic schism in the Western alliance on two issues - how long UN weapons inspections should continue and whether Nato should now begin preparations to protect Turkey in the event of war - is nothing more than a blip on the screen.

"Our argument now has so much momentum that it will be hard for any group of countries to derail it for long. In the end, the power of the argument will ultimately isolate those in denial," said an administration official who requested anonymity.

Many in Washington considered Monday a day of serious setbacks for the United States, but President Bush simply dismissed an initiative by France, Russia and Germany to beef up the inspections and prolong the process. He countered that the United Nations needed only "one or two" inspectors if Iraq really fulfilled its obligation to voluntarily disarm.

He also expressed deep disappointment in France, Germany and Belgium for failing to support Turkey's bid for Nato protection, which he said was "shortsighted."

"I think it affects the alliance in a negative way when you're not able to make a statement of mutual defense," he said.

Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld predicted that Nato members would in the end guarantee Turkey's protection - or that the United States would merely do whatever it takes on its own to reassure a country vital to its war plan for Iraq.

And Secretary of State Colin L. Powell continued to work toward a second UN resolution on Iraq.

He conducted intense behind-the-scenes telephone diplomacy, as talk circulated of a possible compromise on a new UN resolution that will likely be taken up in Security Council discussions next week.

The United States, sources say, would like a resolution that has at least three components, stating that Iraq has failed to comply with its UN obligations to disarm, and therefore is in material breach of UN resolutions, which means it is time for the regime in Baghdad to face serious consequences.

However, the options for a second resolution are not likely to take definitive form until after chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix's interim report on Iraqi cooperation with inspections due on Friday at the Security Council Council.

U.S. officials said they believe they can eventually isolate France and get it to agree to not to use its Security Council veto against a compromise measure.

To counter the appearance of an emerging counter-coalition at the United Nations, the United States continued plugging ahead in solidifying its own so-called "coalition of the willing" that is prepared to stand with Washington to forcibly disarm Iraq even without a UN endorsement.

And the State Department challenged the viability and relevance of the efforts by France, Germany and Russia to block U.S. attempts to win a new UN resolution endorsing military action.