He’s Mentally Ready to Attack Iraq, Bush Says : Military: The President meets with Congress members and resumes blunt warnings to Saddam Hussein.

WASHINGTON —  President Bush told members of Congress on Thursday that he is mentally prepared to order an attack against Iraqi forces and that the best chance for peace is for Saddam Hussein to understand that if there is war, “he’s going to get his ass kicked.”

One day after a senior U.S. commander in Saudi Arabia said his forces will not be ready on Jan. 15 to launch an attack, the President resumed what has become his primary message: a blunt and almost daily warning directed at the Iraqi president in the hope that he will recognize Bush’s readiness to unleash a massive attack.

To members of Congress just back from the Persian Gulf and facing the likelihood of debate early next month over whether to support the use of force, Bush made it clear he has “crossed the Rubicon” of deciding whether to order the still-growing U.S. force into action, if necessary.

Emerging from one of two meetings Bush held with members of Congress on Thursday, California Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the President meant that “he’s at peace with himself, that if military force is necessary . . . he can live with it.”

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Bush “had crossed the Rubicon in his own mind in terms of being willing and able to use force and to defend the principles involved.” But he said the President had, in effect, accepted the possible use of force when he first ordered U.S. troops to the gulf last summer, just after Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2.

The expression “crossing the Rubicon” comes from Julius Caesar’s decision in 49 BC to lead his forces across the small river, the Rubicon, that divided Gaul from the Roman Republic in what is now north-central Italy--a move that began a civil war.

With Bush and other Administration officials emphasizing the likelihood that warfare will erupt if Hussein does not withdraw from Kuwait, the President in recent days has been portrayed by his advisers as being at ease with his decisions.

“I think he has worked this thing and wrung it out to such detail that he’s quite comfortable with where he has ended up with the options available to him,” one senior White House official said.

California Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) said Bush told one group of House members that Hussein does not comprehend the force he would face.

“The greatest potential for preventing any kind of an armed confrontation is to make sure that Saddam Hussein be made really aware that, to quote him (Bush), that ‘if we get into an armed situation, he’s going to get his ass kicked,’ ” Gallegly said.

The President was also said by his visitors to have challenged any suggestion that economic sanctions be given several more months to pressure Hussein into a withdrawal from Kuwait.

“I don’t think we should be waiting until next summer,” Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.) quoted the President as saying.

As he prepared to leave Washington today for Camp David, Md., where he is planning to spend the next 11 days, Bush faced the increasing likelihood that when Congress returns Jan. 3, the capital will become embroiled in a debate over the use of force in the gulf.

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) said Congress will probably debate Persian Gulf policy early in January. But he said the precise timing of such a debate depends on whether Secretary of State James A. Baker III goes to Baghdad to meet with Hussein--a visit that remains very much uncertain.

The White House has continued to make clear that it would not object to a vote in Congress if it can be assured that such a vote would strongly support Bush’s policy and would mirror a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use of all means necessary to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait if they have not been withdrawn by Jan. 15.

Fitzwater said there have been “all kinds of discussions” over the possible language of a congressional resolution.

“Every member of Congress that comes down here talks about the resolution, and everybody’s got their idea of what it should be. Every committee up there (at the Capitol) has got 40 brilliant little staff guys running around, drafting resolutions,” he said.

At the center of the Administration’s concern over a congressional debate is the fear that it could suggest to Hussein that Bush lacks enough political support to launch an attack, thus weakening the threats that Bush hopes will lead the Iraqi president to retreat.

Mitchell said that in meetings with foreign leaders during his just-completed gulf visit, he reiterated that the United States is united in the feeling that Iraq must get out of Kuwait, by military force if necessary.

“The only question is whether this (use of force) will be the first resort or a last resort,” Mitchell told a reporter.

Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) said he favors continuing the sanctions, and he cautioned that the United States would suffer two-thirds of the allied casualties in any war with Iraq. But he said he agrees that if Hussein refuses to leave Kuwait because of economic sanctions or diplomatic efforts, force must be used.

“Our forces are prepared to win,” he said.

Of a seven-member Senate delegation that included Mitchell and Simon, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (D-Ala.) was the most hawkish.

“Our troops are ready,” he said. “I have the feeling we’re moving toward war, and it depends strictly on what Saddam Hussein does. . . . I hope Saddam Hussein will come to his senses. Sanctions will take too long.”