8-02-2001: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt accused President Bush on Thursday of a ``go-it-alone'' approach to world affairs that has worried allies, presented Russia with unwise ``ultimatums'' and ultimately may imperil U.S. security.

Speaking to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Gephardt outlined a strategic framework for dealing with Russia and emphasized the need for an engaged and collaborative approach to international problems with allies and other countries.

Gephardt, who recently returned from a trip to Europe and Russia, said he would work to build a bipartisan majority in the U.S. Congress that would block deployment of a missile defense system that might violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and would look favorably on Russia's eventual membership in NATO.

The Missouri Democrat's comments echoed similar criticism by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle last month. On the eve of Bush's trip to the G8 summit of world leaders in Europe, Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, told USA Today the administration was ``isolating ourselves, and in so isolating ourselves, I think we are minimizing ourselves.''

The White House called Daschle's statement ``unseemly, unwise and inaccurate.'' There was no immediate response from the White House on Gephardt's speech.

Gephardt, from Missouri, is considered a potential Democratic presidential candidate in the 2004 election.

He said that on his recent European trip he found ``a pressing desire for American engagement in the world and for collaboration and dialogue with our European partners.'' ``Europeans are worried that America is on the sidelines,'' Gephardt said.

'GO-IT-ALONE POLICIES'

``They think the Bush administration has embraced go-it-alone policies that undermine international security, hurt our economic and environmental interests and prevent us from seizing a historic opportunity for engagement with Russia,'' he said.

As evidence, Gephardt referred to a number of international agreements and treaties that Bush has rejected, including the Kyoto protocol on global warming, an accord designed to enforce the Biological Weapons Convention, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and an accord creating an International Criminal Court.

Bush recently held two meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) and sent top aides to Moscow in an effort to work out a new strategic framework between the two major nuclear weapons powers on missile defenses and reductions in their arsenals.

The president has said the ABM Treaty is antiquated and does not allow the United States to pursue defenses against missiles from ``rogue states'' like North Korea.

Gephardt complained Bush has issued ``ultimatums'' to the Russians, telling them if they do not agree on the U.S. position to jettison the ABM Treaty, the United States will go forward anyway.

``I don't think these ultimatums are wise. And they are likely to have negative consequences for U.S. security and our position in the world,'' Gephardt said.

In particular, he defended the network of arms control treaties that had ``preserved stability in the last 30 years because the two superpowers agreed to the rules of the road and wrote them together with other nations.''

``We negotiated. We collaborated. And we signed the ABM, the INF (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces), the CFE (Conventional Forces in Europe) and the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) treaties,'' he said.

'YOU'VE GOT TO COLLABORATE'

``That's a successful track record. And we face peril today if we abandon it along with our friends and allies and potential partners around the globe.''

Gephardt insisted that ``you've got to collaborate in today's world.''

``That doesn't mean it's easy. It doesn't mean you give up what you believe in and what you're trying to do. It doesn't mean you sacrifice any of America's interests. ... I think our long-term security interests depend on a successful collaboration with NATO, with Europe, with Russia and ultimately also with China and others nations,'' he said.

He endorsed continued research and testing on missile defense technologies, but said he hoped there would be a bipartisan majority in Congress to stop deployment of a missile defense system or certain tests that might violate the ABM Treaty.