Bush began his Friday with phone calls to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Jacques Chirac to discuss how to deal with the threat posed by Iraq.

At a regular press briefing, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer Friday told reporters that "the president, in each of his conversations, said he was calling because he wanted to make sure that the United States was consulting with our allies around the world. And he told these leaders that he valued their opinions."

"The president stressed that Saddam Hussein is a threat and that the United States was going to work together with the world to make the world more peaceful, and we welcome their role and their involvement," Fleischer said.

Bush noted to each of the three leaders that he has not made any decision about the next course of action to take, Fleischer said.

All three countries, permanent members of the United Nations Security Council along with the United States and Britain, have expressed their opposition to US moves toward a military attack on Iraq. Any of the council's five permanent members could veto Security Council resolutions on Iraq.

The US president also informed each of the three leaders with whom he spoke that following his speech at the United Nations next week, the United States will send a group of American officials to each of their nation's capitals to consult further with its allies, Fleischer added.

Bush is scheduled to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair Saturday at the presidential retreat Camp David.

A White House official said earlier Friday that it was the beginning of the process that the president outlined Wednesday to consult with friends and allies on how to remove the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his relentless acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.

In his phone conversation with Bush, Putin "expressed serious doubts regarding the grounds for the use of force in relation to Iraq, in terms of both international law and global politics," the Kremlin spokesman Alexei Gromov said.

Putin underscored the need to coordinate political and diplomatic efforts in implementing existing UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq, said Gromov.

Meanwhile in Moscow, top Russian Foreign Ministry officials also echoed President Putin by urging for a political settlement to the Iraqi conflict.

"We believe a policy of diplomatic steps and decisions might allow us to find a long-term settlement of the situation around Iraq, which would meet the interests of regional stability," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said after meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Laszlo Kovacs.

For his part, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said he hoped Russia would not have to exercise its veto right on the use of force against Iraq in the 57th UN General Assembly due to start next week in New York.

In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna told reporters that Chirac in his telephone conversation with Bush reaffirmed that the international community must show determination to settle the Iraq problem and all intervention against Baghdad should be decided by the UN Security Council.

Chirac told Bush that "the attitude of the international community should be determined and its reaction should be fully legitimate," Colonna said.

Chirac also stressed that the international community is facing a real problem concerning the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Arms control is indispensable for regional security and France wishes to see the unconditioned return of UN inspectors into Iraq, said the spokeswoman.

If the Iraqi regime, "which has made its people suffer so much, insists on rejecting the return of inspectors, it is up to the Security Council to take appropriate measures," she added.

The Bush administration has named Iraq as part of an "axis of evil" and warned of a military strike against the country for its alleged development of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

So for, only Britain has shown support for Bush's position of ousting Hussein. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Friday: "It would be wildly irresponsible to argue that patience with Iraq should be unlimited or that military action should not be an option."

"No other country but Iraq poses same unique threat to the integrity of international law," Straw said. "No other country but Iraq has same appetite both for developing and for using weapons of mass destruction."

( September 7, 2002)