LONELY ROAD TO WAR

Reports circulating in Washington as President Bush heads to Europe about a private outburst by the president indicate how he is regarded by some allies and how close he has brought the nation to war with Iraq.

A prominent German industrialist who recently visited the White House was reported to have brought from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder congratulations to the president on his handling of the military campaign in Afghanistan. Mr. Bush is said to have thanked the visitor. But then, in an abrupt change in tone, denounced Germany’s foreign minister for refusing to support a projected American-led military effort to overthrow Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein. Mr. Bush’s harsh words are said to have included a common anatomical obscenity and the offensive remark naturally was reported back to Berlin.

In another encounter – this one widely seen on television – Mr. Bush put Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair on the spot when they met at the president’s ranch in Texas. At their joint press conference, the question of a military operation against Iraq came up. Mr. Bush said, “I told the prime minister the policy of my government is to remove Saddam and that all options are on the table.” Mr. Blair, who faces fierce opposition at home on the issue, was circumspect, saying that Britain agrees “that Iraq would be a better place without Saddam Hussein. … But how we proceed, that is a matter that is open.”

The incident, at what had been billed by the London press as a “war summit” to plan for an invasion of Iraq, made Mr. Blair seem like a wimp, reinforcing criticism in the British press that he is “more poodle than partner.” Britain has been a stalwart ally in the effort to root out Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network in Afghanistan. For the British, Iraq is quite another matter. More than 100 Labor members of the House of Commons have publicly opposed any action toward Iraq, and at least one member of Mr. Blair’s cabinet has threatened to resign over the issue.

If Germany and Britain, both active allies in Afghanistan, are reluctant to join the United States in operations to overthrow Saddam Hussein, so, too, are most of the Arab countries who supported the drive his force out of Kuwait 10 years ago. Not one of them appears likely to agree to provide air bases and troop staging areas for an American invasion of Iraq, much less any military assistance of their own. The only possibility being mentioned in the area is Turkey, which is already in a shaky economic and political state.

And yet, without much awareness by the American public, the Bush administration is headed for the use of force to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The entire Washington establishment assumes that it’s a done deal, that the question is not whether but when.