The verbal attack on Iraq came as the administration is preparing a new national security strategy that a US defense official said is expected to call for pre-emptive military action against states that support terrorism and seek weapons of mass destruction.

"If you want to know a world class liar, it's Saddam Hussein," Rumsfeld told hundreds of military personnel assembled at the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet here. "He's a pro at disinformation."

Rumsfeld's comments were prompted by an Iraqi statement Sunday asserting that Baghdad was ready to prove that it had no secret program to develop nuclear weapons nor possessed chemical or biological weapons.

"I say he's lying," Rumsfeld said. "It's not complicated."

Rumsfeld stopped short of threatening military action against Iraq, telling the troops "the final answer as to what else might be done is above my pay grade."

But here as in earlier stops on an overseas tour, he stressed that the United States faces a new, more urgent threat in the form of states with weapons of mass destruction allied to faceless terrorist groups.

A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a Washington Post report that pre-emptive military action to counter the threat was expected to be adopted as a formal option in a new national security strategy.

President George W. Bush previewed the new doctrine in a graduation speech to West Point cadets June 1, warning that pre-emptive military action may be necessary.

In talking points prepared for a NATO defense ministers' meeting earlier this week in which he urged the alliance to take the offensive, Rumsfeld said "absolute proof cannot be a precondition for action."

"Terrorist states are seeking weapons of mass destruction, let there be no doubt," Rumsfeld said here. "We have all the evidence anyone needs."

Aboard the USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer that just arrived in the Gulf, he told sailors that they were in "a war that is very different."

As he spoke sentinels armed with shotguns kept watch over the harbor and patrol boats mounted with machineguns circled the ship.

The heightened port security measures have become common since the October 12, 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.

"There aren't armies, and navies and air forces that we're competing with," Rumsfeld said.

"But there are very well trained people, well financed people, terrorists who make it their business to kill men, women and children," he said.

"Our task is to recognize that it's not possible to defend against that. The only thing we can do is to go find them and to stop them," he added.

Earlier in Kuwait, his first stop in the Gulf, Rumsfeld said it was known that Iraq had weaponized chemical agents and had long had an active nuclear weapons program.

"It's also clear they're actively developing biological weapons," he said at a press conference before flying to Bahrain.

US concern about biological weapons, which are devastating but difficult to detect, was raised by Rumsfeld last week at NATO where he presented what European participants said was a sobering briefing.

Though familiar with chemical and nuclear weapons threats, the alliance has paid less attention to the consequences of biological weapons, officials said.

While skirting the question of military action against Iraq, Rumsfeld said in Kuwait he hoped that Saddam's regime would be changed before he left office.

"The United States government for a number of years now has believed that the solution for Iraq would be regime change," he said.

"What might take place prospectively is not something for me to be talking about," he said. "But clearly if you want the policy of our country it is that the regime of Saddam Hussein is a destabilizing factor in the region."

A senior US defense official traveling with the secretary said the subject of US military action did not come up in his talks in Kuwait, where he met with the Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the crown prince and other top officials.

In Bahrain, Rumsfeld met with King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa as well as with the crown prince, the prime minister and the defense minister.

Rumsfeld travels Tuesday to Qatar, the last of three Gulf states he is visiting to thank for their crucial support for the US military presence in the region.

He was expected to head to India on Tuesday and then to Pakistan for talks aimed at easing the crisis between those two nuclear armed South Asian states.

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