- CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters)
- Confronted with a nuclear challenge from North Korea and the possibility
of war with Iraq, President Bush resolved on Tuesday to try to find peaceful
solutions to both in 2003.
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- His New Year's eve vow came even as the United States
built up its military presence in the Gulf region and the communist regime
in Pyongyang added a fresh twist to the Asian nuclear crisis by hinting
it might pull out of a global non-proliferation treaty because of Washington's
threats.
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- "We hope to resolve all the situations in which
we find ourselves in a peaceful way," Bush told reporters at a coffee
shop in the tiny town of Crawford near his family ranch. "And so that's
my commitment, to try to do so peacefully."
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- But Bush drew distinctions between the two international
threats. He expressed confidence that diplomacy could head off North Korea's
nuclear ambitions while reminding Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that the
growing U.S. military presence in the Gulf was designed to make sure he
"heard the message."
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- Asked about the potential cost of a war against Iraq,
Bush countered: "An attack from Saddam Hussein or a surrogate of Saddam
Hussein would cripple our economy."
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- White House budget officials say they have not put a
price tag on a possible war with Iraq and that the only baseline for budget
planners was the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict, which cost more than $60 billion.
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- U.S. officials have argued that Saddam could go after
U.S. interests or supply weapons to extremist groups like al Qaeda, which
the United States accuses of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
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- DISCOURAGED BY IRAQI RESPONSE
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- "Our economy is strong, it's resilient, we've got
to continue to make it strong and resilient," Bush said. But he added:
"This economy cannot afford to stand an attack."
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- A unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution passed last
month gave Baghdad a final chance to reveal all details of its weapons
programs, as required by resolutions stemming back to the 1991 Gulf War
-- or face U.S.-led military action.
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- Bush said Iraq's response so far had been "discouraging."
Washington has accused Baghdad of withholding information about its weapons
programs in its arms declaration. Saddam has denied possessing any weapons
of mass destruction.
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- "His declaration was short, and the international
community recognized that, that he wasn't forthcoming," Bush said.
He added that the choice was Saddam's to make and said he hoped "this
can be done peacefully."
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- By comparison, the U.S. president played down the dispute
with North Korea over its pursuit of a nuclear arsenal, saying Washington
and Pyongyang were engaged in a "diplomatic showdown ... not a military
showdown."
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- In his first public remarks on the North Korean threat
in two weeks, Bush said "all options are always on the table for any
president," but he suggested that, unlike Iraq, force was not under
consideration.
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- "I view the North Korean situation as one that can
be resolved peacefully through diplomacy," he said, stressing that
the United States was working with its allies to help convince North Korea
to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
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- WORK WITH ALLIES
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- "There's strong consensus not only among the nations
in the neighborhood and our friends, but also at the international organizations,
such as the IAEA, that North Korea ought to comply with international regulations,"
he said. "I believe this can be done peacefully through diplomacy,
and we will continue to work that way."
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- But a senior North Korean envoy added a new dimension
to the crisis on Tuesday when he said Pyongyang was unable to meet its
obligations under the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that
it signed in 1985.
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- U.S. officials are pushing what they called a "tailored
containment" strategy that calls for increasing diplomatic and economic
pressure on North Korea. They have refused direct talks with Pyongyang,
saying that would reward bad behavior.
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- Tensions have escalated since North Korea expelled U.N.
nuclear arms inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and
announced it would reopen a mothballed nuclear reactor at Yongbyon that
had been frozen since 1994 under a separate U.S.-North Korean agreement.
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- Washington has said it will not launch a pre-emptive
attack on North Korea, which -- along with Iran and Iraq -- Bush has designated
part of an "axis of evil" for trying to develop weapons of mass
destruction.
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- Bush praised South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun,
for calling on Pyongyang to back down and abide by its international obligations.
He said the incoming South Korean leader was sending officials to Washington
to discuss the issue and hoped to visit the United States himself soon
after his inauguration in February.
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- But current South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said
on Monday that pressuring and isolating the already impoverished communist
state would not work. Russia has urged Washington to tone down its "aggressive
rhetoric" toward Pyongyang.
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- Writing in Tuesday's New York Times, former secretary
of state Warren Christopher said the Bush administration's focus on Iraq
had obscured the far greater danger posed by North Korea.
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