Bush sets out case for US first strikes

Assault on Iraq looms as speech rejects policy of containment.

President Bush locked himself even more firmly into an attack on Iraq when he warned this weekend that the US must take "pre-emptive action" against potential enemies, and repudiated the old cold war policy of deterrence and containment.

In his first major speech since returning from Europe last week, he shrugged off his allies' concerns, his generals' caution and the threat of conflagrations in the Middle East and south Asia to make a powerful case for US first strikes. The possibility of nuclear war between India and Pakistan was not mentioned.

Though the word Iraq was never used either, the coding was not deep and Mr Bush made his clearest move yet into a position where inaction may be electorally untenable.

He was speaking at the graduation ceremony at West Point, the military academy that produces the country's future generals. "The gravest danger to freedom lies at the perilous crossroads of freedom and technology," he told them.

"Even weak states and small groups could attain a catastrophic power to strike at great nations. Our enemies have declared this very intention and have been caught seeking these terrible weapons. They want the capability to blackmail us or to harm us or to harm our friends. And we will oppose them with all our power."

He then explained his new thinking on foreign policy. "For much of the last century, America's defence relied on the cold war doctrines of deterrence and containment. In some cases, those strategies still apply, but new threats also require new thinking. Deterrence, the promise of massive retaliation against nations, means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend.

"Containment is not possible when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies.

"We cannot defend America and our friends by hoping for the best. We cannot put our faith in the word of tyrants who solemnly sign non-proliferation treaties and then systematically break them. If we wait for threats to fully materialise, we will have waited too long," he said.

"All nations that decide for aggression and terror will pay a price. We will not leave the safety of America and the peace of the planet at the mercy of a few mad terrorists and tyrants."

He added: "In this world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act."

His audience, packed into the academy's football stadium, included the 958 graduates as well as nearly 40,000 friends and relatives. They applauded enthusiastically.

However, earlier there was an indication of the president's tetchiness and tiredness. Before his speech, he made a few uplifting comments to be piped to participants in a Washington charity fun run, but was then told that a problem with the phone line meant no one had heard a word.

"What are you talking about?" correspondents overheard him snap at a technician. "You mean, they haven't heard a word yet. God-dang it!" Mr Bush re-broadcast his comments - but the runners also failed to hear the second attempt, this time because the PA system malfunctioned.