Pentagon Briefs Bush on Iraq
(January 16, 2001)

New York Times, Eric Schmitt and James Dao.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 — George W. Bush, the nation's commander in chief to be, went to the Pentagon today for a top-secret session with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to review hot spots around the world where he might have to send American forces into harm's way.

About half of the 75-minute meeting in the secure conference room where the military chiefs conduct their most sensitive business, focused on a discussion about Iraq and the Persian Gulf, two participants said. Iraq was the first topic briefed because "it's the most visible and most risky area" Mr. Bush will confront after he takes office, one senior officer said.

Mr. Bush did not say how he would deal with Iraq, the participants said, but asked several questions about President Saddam Hussein and American allies in the region, before the generals briefing him addressed other possible flashpoints, including the Balkans and the Korean peninsula.

"Iraqi policy is very much on his mind," one senior Pentagon official said. "Saddam was clearly a discussion point."

Iraq looms large among the national security challenges Mr. Bush will face. During the campaign, he criticized the Clinton administration as allowing the international coalition against Iraq to erode, and for permitting sanctions against Iraq to loosen.

But it was the president-elect's father, President George Bush, who left Mr. Clinton with what critics say was unfinished business, by defeating Mr. Hussein in the 1991 Persian Gulf war, but not dislodging him.

In the past year, Mr. Bush and his advisers have talked about strengthening the sanctions and bolstering the fragmented Iraqi opposition groups, but the president-elect has been careful not to lay out a specific strategy.

Mr. Bush arrived at the Pentagon this morning surrounded by a cast familiar with the building: Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, who was secretary of defense under Mr. Bush's father; Gen. Colin L. Powell, the secretary of state- designate and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs; Donald H. Rumsfeld, a former secretary of defense who is Mr. Bush's choice for the same job; and Condoleezza Rice, the president-elect's pick for national security adviser.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen held a 45-minute briefing in his office for the group, touching on a variety of issues, including the nation's nuclear arsenal, before the session with the Joint Chiefs.

Hours after his meeting with Mr. Bush, Mr. Cohen gave a speech that was part valedictory and part rebuttal to Mr. Bush's repeated criticisms against the Clinton administration's military policies during the campaign.

On Iraq, for instance, Mr. Cohen argued that sanctions had worked.

"Saddam Hussein's forces are in a state where he cannot pose a threat to his neighbors at this point," he said. "We have been successful, through the sanctions regime, to really shut off most of the revenue that will be going to rebuild his military."