Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company  
The New York Times
March 17, 2003, Monday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 14; Column 1; Foreign Desk 

LENGTH: 809 words

HEADLINE: THREATS AND RESPONSES: TALK SHOWS;
Two Disciples Spread Word: The End Is Near

BYLINE:  By ALESSANDRA STANLEY 

BODY:
Hours before President Bush declared in the Azores that the world had reached "a moment of truth," his top aides fanned out across the Sunday morning talk shows to prepare his audience at home.

"There is no question but that we are very close to the end," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said on the ABC News program "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos. On the NBC News program "Meet the Press," Vice President Dick Cheney warned, "We're getting close to the point where the president's going to have to make an important decision."

The very fact that Mr. Cheney was drafted to make an hourlong presentation on his first talk show appearance in seven months was significant. As Tim Russert, the host of "Meet the Press," put it in his introduction, "We know how serious things are when we hear from this man."

Sunday talk shows are not really discussions. For any administration, an appearance by a top government official on "Meet the Press" or "Face the Nation" is what a haute couture show is to fashion designers -- an opportunity to present the new line.

This White House staff in particular is so disciplined about staying "on message" that on most Sundays viewers can click the remote from one presidential aide discussing United States policy in Iraq or North Korea and hear the sentence completed by a different adviser on another network.

The performances yesterday by Mr. Powell and Mr. Cheney were slightly different. Both men spoke with one voice in warning that the time of reckoning for Iraq was at hand. But a few contrasting remarks hinted at their past differences on how to rein in Iraq. Even their moods foreshadowed the president's terse, emotional tone as he issued a one-day ultimatum to the Security Council.

Each man is a practiced television guest, adept at holding a steady tone and straightforward expression. (Each wore a white shirt, navy suit and a flag lapel pin, though Mr. Powell had discreet dots on his dark tie; Mr. Cheney chose a brasher red and orange pattern.)

Normally poker-faced, Mr. Powell mentioned France as often as Iraq, (12 times) and was at times more testy about the recalcitrance of President Jacques Chirac than that of Saddam Hussein. Mr. Powell seemed to give vent to a personal pique Mr. Bush signaled in the Azores when he complained: "France showed their cards. After I said what they said, they said they are going to veto anything that held Saddam to account."

Mr. Cheney seemed less incensed than disdainfully amused by France's behavior, perhaps because he, unlike Mr. Powell, never expected Europe to find common ground with the United States. Mr. Cheney has an easy, persuasive manner on television, always sounding unruffled and confident as he weaves the first names of his interviewers ("Bob" or "Tim") into his replies. Mr. Powell is more formal. But beneath his smooth, avuncular demeanor, Mr. Cheney articulated a far more radical -- and more frightening -- new world order.

Mr. Powell's anger at France seemed to have been brought on by his thwarted ambition to mount a multilateral action against Iraq. Mr. Cheney's indifference suggested he was always ready and eager for the United States to go it alone.

He contended that the old "20th-century strategies and institutions" that kept the peace during the cold war were not suited to a 21st-century campaign against terrorism. (His views were echoed by Mr. Bush: "And we hope tomorrow the U.N. will do its job. If not, all of us need to step back and try to figure out how to make the U.N. work better as we head into the 21st century.")

Mr. Cheney did not bother to argue that there was a connection between the terrorists who attacked on Sept. 11 and Mr. Hussein, a link Mr. Powell had tried to establish before the Security Council earlier this year. Instead, the vice president stated that the United States must attack Iraq "in order to ensure that we don't get hit with a devastating attack when the terrorist organization gets married up with the rogue state that is willing to provide it with the kinds of deadly capabilities that Saddam Hussein has developed and used over the years."

Mr. Cheney stated with his usual confidence that an American occupation of Iraq would not destabilize the region; citing experts, he argued that fundamentalism would more likely be tamed than inflamed by an American show of force. But he undercut his own air of omniscience when he explained that the reason he and his colleagues did not take Baghdad and overthrow Mr. Hussein after the Persian Gulf conflict in 1991 was because they had been misinformed.

Experts, Mr. Cheney said, had assured Washington that Mr. Hussein would quickly fall from power. "Of course that didn't happen," Mr. Cheney said. "He's proven to be a much tougher customer than anybody expected."
 

http://www.nytimes.com

GRAPHIC: Photo: Vice President Dick Cheney at the taping of "Meet the Press" in Washington, his first talk show appearance in seven months. (Meet the Press)

LOAD-DATE: March 17, 2003