Bush phone campaign gets a poor reception

A FLURRY of telephone calls from US President George Bush to world leaders, in a bid to drum up support for an attack on Saddam Hussein, fell on deaf ears yesterday.

Bush telephoned leaders of China, Russia and France, but he made little noticeable progress on his plan to oust the Iraqi leader.

He was joined in the diplomatic blitz by his staunchest ally, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who spoke to French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The support of China, Russia and France for military action is seen as crucial, because along with the US and Britain they make up the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Each could use their clout in the UN to veto resolutions aimed at removing Saddam.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush "told the foreign leaders that he values their opinion and he stressed that Saddam Hussein was a threat and that we need to work together to make the world peaceful."

He said Bush has not decided how to oust Saddam, thus did not share any strategic plans with the leaders during his conversations.

But during the course of the day both men were cautioned by other key world leaders about the potentially dangerous implications of any military campaign against Baghdad might have.

The telephone blitz followed on the bombing by up to 100 British and US jets of a military facility south-west of Baghdad after Iraqi forces attacked one of their patrols in the no-fly zone.

Coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons to hit an air defence command and control facility at a military airfield 240 miles west and slightly south of the Iraqi capital.

Mr Bush talked for a total of 30 minutes with Mr Chirac, Mr Putin and President Jiang Zemin of China.

French leader Jacque Chiraq's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said that her boss repeated his long-standing position on the issue to Mr Bush that any military action against Baghdad be decided by the UN Security Council.

President Putin told Mr Blair, who is flying today to Camp David for strategy talks with Mr Bush, that he has serious reservations about using force to topple Saddam.

The Russian President said there was "real potential" for a political solution to the crisis around Baghdad's alleged weapons programmes, Kremlin spokesman Alexei Gromov reported.

Mr Putin also expressed doubts that the use of force would correspond to international law.

And he warned it could have negative consequences for the entire Middle East as well as the preservation of the international anti-terrorist coalition.

European Commission president Romano Prodi, meanwhile, said the US had not yet made out the case against Saddam.

Asked about America's claims about the Iraqi dictator's arsenal, he said: "I need evidence... as a good ally and not a 'yes' man, I need to discuss and to have evidence and everyone understands that."

In a speech to the UN next week, Bush plans to restate the argument that the Security Council was obligated to hold Iraq accountable for not complying with the UN resolutions, US officials said.

The officials confirmed he was reviewing several ideas, including giving Saddam a last-ditch deadline for allowing unfettered access to weapons inspectors, but said the president and his advisers had determined that Friday was too soon to show his hand.