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Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 01:03 a.m. Pacific
Bush focuses less on ousting Saddam By Bob Kemper
WASHINGTON — President Bush, who for months has urged world leaders to help the United States topple Saddam Hussein, said yesterday that the Iraqi leader could remain in power if he complies with United Nations resolutions, a prospect Bush considers unlikely. "The stated policy of the United States is regime change," Bush told reporters at the White House. "However, if (Saddam) were to meet all the conditions of the United Nations, the conditions that I've described very clearly in terms that everybody can understand, that in itself will signal the regime has changed." But Bush added, "We don't believe he's going to change." In addition to disarming, Bush is demanding that Saddam halt his alleged support of terrorism, stop persecuting minorities in Iraq and account for soldiers missing from the 1991 Persian Gulf War. As the administration courts skeptical foreign leaders, Bush has placed less emphasis on the need to replace Saddam and focused instead on Iraqi disarmament. "I believe the free world, if we make up our mind to, can disarm this man peacefully," Bush said. "But if not — if not — we have the will and the desire, as do other nations, to disarm Saddam." Administration officials insisted Bush's comments — and similar remarks made by Secretary of State Colin Powell over the weekend — did not signal a change of policy at the White House. Bush emphasized his resolve to use force against Saddam early on, in order to assure the Iraqi leader that the U.S. was serious about his disarming, but it was never a foregone conclusion for Bush that military action would be necessary, administration officials said. "Diplomacy needs to be backed by force, especially in matters like this," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "The only way to really plan on getting compliance would be to plan on changing the regime. And that's something that this administration has taken seriously." Also yesterday, Bush vowed to enlist other world powers in persuading North Korea to scrap its nuclear-weapons project but indicated he has no plans to use force as he might with Iraq. "This is a chance for people who love freedom and peace to work together to deal with an emerging threat," he said. Bush, using a more restrained tone than he does when lambasting Iraq, was addressing North Korea's confession about a nuclear program for the first time since administration officials reported it to Washington 16 days earlier. He said he would use meetings over the next week with leaders of China, Japan, Russia and South Korea to discuss how to convince North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "that he must disarm." Today, North Korea warned the United States not to "strong arm" it.
"If the U.S. persists in its moves to pressurize and stifle (North Korea) by force, the latter will have no option but to take a tougher counter-action," the official Workers Party daily Rodong Sinmun said. "The only way out for the U.S. is to opt for reconciliation and peace, not strong-arm policy." A day earlier, North Korea had called for talks with the United States over the issue.
Information from The Washington Post, The Associated Press and Reuters is included in this report.
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