Nations must join in terror fight: Cheney

In remarks at the World Economic Forum, Cheney defended the US-led invasion of Iraq, yet struck a conciliatory tone to ease trans-Atlantic relations strained by the war.

"We must act with all urgency this danger demands," Cheney said.

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Ideologies of violence must be confronted at the source by nurturing democracy throughout the Middle East and beyond, Cheney said at the forum held in this Swiss alpine resort. Cooperation among governments and international institutions is even more important today than in the past, he said.

The vice president insisted, however, that if diplomatic efforts aren't enough to defeat terrorism and stop the proliferation of weapons, America and other nations must be prepared to use force.

"Direct threats require decisive action," Cheney told the more than 1,500 world political, corporate and opinion leaders who gathered here in eastern Switzerland to discuss security, economic and other global issues.

Last year at the forum, when anti-Americanism sentiment ran high, Secretary of State Colin Powell took the podium for the United States and called on all nations to back US efforts to force Iraq to disarm.

The Bush administration used Saddam Hussein's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion, but no weapons have been found.

Still, with the Iraqi regime ousted and Saddam in US custody, Cheney faced a less hostile audience.

He said the attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001, gave all nations "the merest glimpse of the threat that international terrorism poses to us all." Nurturing democracy, especially in the Middle East, is essential to halting terrorism, Cheney said.

"Democracies do not breed the anger and the radicalism that drag down whole societies or export violence," he said. "Terrorists do not find fertile recruiting grounds in societies where young people have the right to guide their own destinies and to choose their own leaders."