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Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed the forceful opposition from France and Germany as unimportant chatter from "old Europe." Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was responsible for pushing Bush to solicit U.N. support, was reportedly so "incandescent" with rage at France's broadside that he struck a harsh new tone, aligning himself with the advocates of war. "Inspections will not work," he declared, and "it's an open question right now" whether the U.S. would seek further U.N. approval before acting. Yet the Administration is concerned that European resistance could nourish American antiwar sentiment. At the gathering of global elites last week in Davos, Switzerland, Richard Haass, the State Department's director of policy planning, was sent into a packed session to answer questions about whether war was inevitable or necessary. After a rough ride, he acknowledged Bush "has yet to persuade the international community" that military action is needed.
U.S. officials say Bush will probably give the inspections more time--but only a little more--before insisting on a final decision. The President will use the time to try again to make the strongest case for war, in hopes of still bringing old allies aboard. But at heart the Administration thinks the furor won't do more than delay the inevitable. As a senior adviser to Bush once put it, "The way to win international acceptance is to win. That's diplomacy: winning." --Reported by J.F.O. McAllister/London, James Graff and Nicholas Le Quesne/Paris, Marguerite Michaels/United Nations and Massimo Calabresi/Washington