Bush calls for Europe to fight terrorist 'blackmail'

President George Bush has denounced Saddam Hussein as a threat to all civilisation and appealed to Europe to stay united with America in combating global terrorism.

Mr Bush, in an historic first address by a US President to a German parliament,wound up the first stage of a week-long tour of Europe with a warning to those who chose to ignore regimes, such as Iraq's, which sought to produce weapons of mass destruction.

He told MPs in the revamped glass-domed Reichstag in Berlin: "Let us speak the truth: if we ignore this threat, we invite certain blackmail. Make no mistake, we must confront this conspiracy against our liberty and our lives."

In a clear reference to President Saddam, Mr Bush said: "The authors of terror will use nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. No inner voice of reason or conscience will prevent their use. Wishful thinking may provide comfort but not security."

He also made it clear that terrorism was a threat that went beyond the United States: "Those who despise freedom are also familiar with the map of Europe," he said.

He stopped short of demanding direct European support for a new wave of military intervention against such regimes, but called on Europe to join America in increasing diplomatic pressure and intelligence activity and cutting off financial aid to terrorists.

Mr Bush's speech, which contained a pledge to increase American aid to developing countries by 50 per cent as a further means of countering terrorism, was greeted with a standing ovation by nearly all the deputies in the 669-seat Bundestag, although his address was momentarily interrupted by deputies from the left-wing Party for Democratic Socialism, who waved a banner reading: "Mr President, No More War."

Yet differences between the United States and Germany over Iraq were clearly not resolved during earlier talks between Mr Bush and the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. "We are keeping our options open," Mr Bush said after the meeting.

Mr Schröder insisted: "There is no reason to act at present." Evidently irritated, he added: "Personally I think speculation about this issue should be banned."

Mr Bush's 19-hour stopover in Berlin was accompanied by mass and occasionally violent street protests by thousands of demonstrators, brandishing placards with slogans such as "Warmonger Bush", who were vociferous in their condemnation of American plans for an eventual attack on Iraq.

Mr Schröder's government, which faces a general election this year, is also opposed to the possibility, fearing that such action would destabilise the entire Middle East region. German public opinion appears to support the Chancellor. A poll published last week found that 76 per cent of Germans think that America is "too involved" in the affairs of other countries.

One of the few insights into German thinking on Iraq was provided yesterday by Mr Schröder's foreign affairs spokesman, the Social Democrat MP Hans-Ulrich Klose. He said in a radio interview that however difficult the issue might be, if America attacked Saddam Hussein he "could not imagine" that Germany would fail to offer support if asked to do so by its American ally.

It was left to Germany's parliamentary president, Wolfgang Thierse, to point to the Schröder government's additional irritation with the Bush administration over steel tariffs, the environment and the International Criminal Court, in a speech that was intended to welcome Mr Bush to the Reichstag building.

However, after a wide-ranging address that included references to George Bush Snr's wholehearted support for German reunification as US president more than a decade ago, Mr Bush Jnr was able to retort: "Those who exaggerate our differences play a shallow game and hold a simplistic view of our relationship."

Mr Bush later left Berlin for Moscow, where he is scheduled to sign a joint treaty today with President Vladimir Putin that cuts the number of long-range strategic nuclear warheads held by both countries by more than two-thirds over the next decade.

Yesterday Mr Bush described the treaty as "the most dramatic nuclear arms reduction in history" and one which recognised that "Russia and the West are no longer enemies".

* Airliners flying into Italian air space during next week's summit of Nato heads of state must have guards on their planes to prevent suicide missions like the 11 September attacks, the Italian government said yesterday. Up to 20 world leaders, including President Bush and President Putin, are expected in Italy for the Nato meeting on Tuesday, which will be held in a vast military airbase near Rome.