We will consult with our friends and hope they will join us: Bush

PRAGUE, November 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday, November 20, pledged to consult allies on any possible military action against Iraq.

“If the decision is made to use military force, we will consult with our friends and we hope that our friends will join us,” Bush said during a joint appearance with Czech President Vaclav Havel ahead of the two-day NATO summit to endorse its widest-ever expansion.

The U.S. leader said NATO’s support would make “more real” the possibility that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “gets the message” of a tough new U.N. resolution and abandons any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

“If the collective will of the world is strong, we can achieve disarmament peacefully.

“However, should he (Saddam) choose not to disarm, the United States will lead a coalition of the willing to disarm him,” he vowed.

Havel told reporters NATO “should give an honest and speedy consideration to its engagement as an alliance” in any conflict with Iraq, which has denied having weapons of mass destruction.

NATO was expected to adopt a statement underlining the alliance’s support for the U.N. resolution but falling well short of committing members to enforcing it by force if necessary.

Aware that even Washington’s close NATO partners are not eager to back U.S. action against Iraq, Bush pledged to consult allies before taking action and left it up to each nation individually to decide what role it will play.

“It’s a decision that each country must decide as to how, if and when they want to participate and how they choose to participate,” he said on the eve of the NATO summit.

Asked specifically about what role there might be for Germany - which has said it will not take part in such military action even if U.N.-approved – Bush replied: “It’s a decision Germany will make.”

He also vowed, without offering any details, to “take appropriate action” after Iraqi air defenses opened fire on U.S. and British warplanes enforcing so-called “no-fly zones” over northern and southern Iraq.

The no-fly zones were self-styled by the United States and Britain in the wake of the 1991 Second Gulf War and are not authorized by any U.N. resolution.

Bush’s comments came as the 19-nation NATO was set to invite seven new members, all former Soviet dominions, and embark on an effort to revamp its military structure to face new global threats.

NATO’s largest-ever expansion is expected to include invitations to Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania to join the alliance, in theory at its next summit in 2004.

“I welcome the idea of countries joining NATO whose history has taught them the need to protect freedom at all costs, countries whose admission to NATO will invigorate our alliance,” Bush said.

As U.S. fighters patrolled the overcast skies over Prague, Bush also endorsed NATO’s moves towards creating a rapid response force comprising 21,000 combat-ready troops ready to deploy within days to any global hotspot.

“It is a necessary job to transform our strategy, our military strategy to meet the true threats we face.

“The enemy is not Russia, the enemy is global terrorists who hate freedom,” said the U.S. leader.

Possibly the most important aspect of such a force would be its stated purpose of acting outside NATO’s traditional sphere of operations, the European theater, where it was meant to deter any Soviet aggression.

That could make the force a key asset in the war on terrorism that Bush declared after terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Bush was to meet with a number of key NATO leaders Wednesday before using a speech to the Prague Atlantic Student Summit to sound twin clarion calls for the alliance to transform and expand.

On Wednesday, Bush was to discuss issues including Iraq in separate meetings with Havel and Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, and NATO Secretary General George Robertson.

Bush - who will meet here Thursday, November 21, with French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair - will travel on to the Russian city of Saint Petersburg on Friday, November 22, for talks on Iraq and the war on terorrism with President Vladimir Putin.

Bush will reassure Putin that NATO poses no threat to Moscow and reiterate his support for his Russian counterpart’s iron-fisted solution to a recent hostage-taking by Chechen fighters in Moscow.

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