WASHINGTON (AP) – In somber tribute to soldiers of wars past, President Bush said Monday he will commit “the full force and might of the United States military” against Iraq if Saddam Hussein refuses to disarm swiftly.

As the rubber-stamping Iraqi parliament condemned a U.S.-backed United Nations resolution, Bush used two Veterans Day addresses to underscore his impatience.

“The time to confront this threat is before it arrives, not the day after,” he told several dozen veterans during an East Room ceremony.

Behind the scenes, Bush has approved tentative Pentagon plans for invading Iraq should a new U.N. arms inspection effort fail to rid the nation of weapons of mass destruction. The strategy calls for a land, sea and air force of 200,000 to 250,000 troops, administration officials said, as they sought to build up pressure on Saddam to relent.

“We have to keep, in a sense, a gun pointed to the head of the Iraqi regime because that’s the only way they cooperate,” Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told National Public Radio’s “The Tavis Smiley Show.”

The talk of war grew to a crescendo just three days after the U.N. Security Council approved a tough new resolution with an unexpected 15-0 vote. Iraq has until Friday to accept the resolution that would send U.N. inspectors back to Baghdad after an absence of nearly four years with broad new powers to go anywhere at any time backed by the threat of force.

With the clock ticking, Bush traveled across the Potomac River to visit Arlington National Cemetery, lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, praise America’s veterans and pledge his resolve against terrorism and Iraq.

“We will not permit a dictator who has used weapons of mass destruction to threaten America with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons,” the president said. “This great nation will not live at the mercy of any foreign plot or power.”

Standing beneath the marble dome of the cemetery’s flag-draped amphitheater, the president drew cheers and whistles of approval when he declared, “The dictator of Iraq will fully disarm or the United States will lead a coalition to disarm him.”

In Baghdad, Iraq’s parliament condemned the U.N. resolution as full of lies, and a senior lawmaker urged that it be rejected – a prospect that likely would bring on war.

Rice dismissed the response and the parliament itself.

“I don’t think anyone believes this is anything but an absolute dictatorship and this decision is up to Saddam Hussein,” she told reporters at the White House.

Even if Saddam accepts the resolution, Rice said she would remain skeptical.

“They are obligated to accept, but the U.N. thought it best to ask for return-receipt requested,” she said.

Bush himself said Iraq is behind the eight ball.

“No enemy that threatens our security or endangers our people will escape the patient justice and the overwhelming power of the United States of America,” he said in the East Room. “Should military action become necessary for our own security, I will commit the full force and might of the United States military, and we will prevail.”

Bush began his day with a pre-dawn visit to the Vietnam War Memorial. As a chilly rain pelted his umbrella, Bush placed an American flag at the base of the black granite wall, where 58,229 names of those killed or missing in the war from 1959 to 1975 are inscribed.

Later, at the East Room reception, Bush said America owes its freedom to the ex-soldiers gathered before him and its greatness to their postwar service. “Our veterans from every era are the finest of citizens,” the president said. “We owe them the life we know today.”

He carried the theme to the cemetery, where white headstones honor 260,000 American heroes.

“We remember those who served America by fighting and dying on the field of battle, and we remember those veterans who lived on for many decades to serve America in many ways,” Bush said.