U.S. launching 'final phase' of Iraq consultations

The United States said yesterday it was beginning a "final phase" of diplomatic consultations to gather support for more pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm in order to avoid war.

Critical to the U.S. strategy will be Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations on Feb. 5. Powell plans to offer what U.S. officials say is declassified intelligence of Iraqi attempts to conceal suspected weapons of mass destruction and of links to the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, charges denied by Iraq.

President George W. Bush, preparing a possible strike against Iraq, rejected arguments put forth by France and Germany that Iraq can be contained by letting U.N. weapons inspections proceed.

"In my judgment you don't contain Saddam Hussein. You don't hope that therapy will somehow change his evil mind," Bush said as he visited Grand Rapids, Michigan, to reprise themes from his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

Bush will meet Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Thursday for talks expected to focus on Iraq and U.S. military preparations for a possible attack on the country, a U.S. senior official said.

Bush also will meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday at the White House and close ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday. He will make telephone calls to world leaders and dispatch U.S. envoys abroad.

With thousands of U.S. troops pouring into the Gulf region, Bush and his diplomats are expected to discuss with allies whether imposing a final deadline on Iraq would help build support for the U.S. president's cause. Berlusconi and Blair were to be asked for their views on this.

"We are now entering the final phase," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. "During this final phase, what is about to unfold is a diplomatic window" in which Bush and the United States would intensify consultations with European allies and the United Nations.

This phase is expected to last several weeks, not months, and U.S. officials were skeptical that Saddam would ultimately comply with U.N. disarmament demands.

The Bush administration is struggling to convince reluctant allies and some Democrats on Capitol Hill that Saddam is an imminent threat requiring use of force.

Powell, who along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld briefed about 100 members of Congress on Iraq, raised anew the possibility that war could be averted.

"If he were to leave the country and take some of his family members with him and others in the leading elite who have been responsible for so much trouble during the course of his regime, we would I'm sure try to help find a place for them to go," Powell told reporters at the State Department.

Bush sought to prepare the public for the possibility of a war in his State of the Union speech Tuesday, saying the United States was prepared to act in concert with its allies, even without direct U.N. backing. "The course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of others," he said.

Bush's speech was regarded as critical to his attempt to convince Americans there is a real threat from Iraq, with polls saying many would like to give U.N. inspections more time as demanded by U.N. Security Council members.

Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts on Wednesday introduced a nonbinding resolution calling for continued support of the inspections process and urging Bush to get renewed congressional approval before sending U.S. troops to war with Iraq.

"The inspectors are building their case, and Saddam Hussein is feeling the pressure of the international community," Kennedy said. "Clearly, the inspections should continue.

Bush and top aides have been trying to establish a connection between Iraq and bin Laden's militant network to bolster their case that Iraq poses a threat. The absence of a link has hampered attempts to connect Iraq to the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"They have concrete evidence" of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, told reporters after being briefed by Powell and Rumsfeld. "I became more convinced after this meeting."

Others said they heard little new.

"Most of the material is in the public domain that is being discussed in there," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, a North Dakota Democrat. "The largest impression I drew from it was that we are moving fairly quickly toward conflict."

In an interview with ABC News, Iraqi Deputy Prime Tareq Aziz "absolutely" denied Iraq has any connection to al Qaeda. "And I challenge Bush and his government to present any, any evidence of that," he said.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Powell would provide such evidence.

Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing that "the evidence has grown" about such a link with "every day that has passed." He did not reveal the nature of the evidence, but said "one of the elements of Secretary Powell's presentation will be on that subject."

Administration officials do not think their case is as clear as what ambassador Adlai Stevenson was able to present to the United Nations in 1962 exposing Soviet missile deployments in Cuba. One reason they have cited is that nations have learned to hide their secrets better in the last 40 years.

Intelligence experts said the evidence the United States will showcase next week will be circumstantial.

"Those people who want smoking guns are probably not going to get them," said Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"But the United States does have a great deal of additional evidence on Iraqi activities, imports and facilities."