HAWKS in the American government are pushing President George W Bush to take a much tougher line towards Russia, putting Washington and Moscow on a collision course.

Hardliners are trying to wrest control of foreign policy from Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, who is widely blamed for failing to predict the Russian invasion of Georgia 10 days ago.

White House advisers say that events in the Caucasus have strengthened the hand of neo-conservatives, who have been steadily losing influence in Washington since the Iraq campaign.

The hawks are pushing for America to press NATO to bring Georgia and the Ukraine into the alliance by the end of the year to deter further Russian aggression.

Allies of Vice President Dick Cheney are also pressing Mr Bush to seek Russia's expulsion from the G8 group of leading economies. They were instrumental in pushing ahead with a missile defence deal with Poland on Thursday, which led to Russian threats that Poland was a target for Moscow's nuclear arsenal.

"We've got to get Georgia and the Ukrainians into NATO,'' said a former White House official who still advises the Bush administration. "What we've got now, promising them future entry but not yet, is the worst of all worlds. It is a red rag to the Russians.''

Charles Kupchan, the former director of European affairs on America's National Security Council and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said: "For the neo-cons, this is the gift on a silver platter because it justifies their view of the world and provides reason to return to a policy of militarised containment of Russia.

"There is a troubling sense that there is a longing to return to a world that is more black and white. You would think we were in a new Cold War.'' This week, Ms Rice travels to Brussels, where she will meet NATO and EU foreign ministers to rally support for Georgia.

Her reputation has taken a serious hit in Washington, where she first made her name as a Russia expert in the 1980s. She is blamed for underestimating Russia's strength and desire to make a power play in the Caucasus.

Conservatives claim that Miss Rice failed to make it clear to President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia when she visited there a month ago that America would not provide military assistance in his confrontation with Russia over South Ossetia.

"She took her eye off the ball,'' the former White House official said. "Her entire career has been based on being nice to the Russians, and look where's that's got us.''

Some officials in the State Department, stung by the criticism of their performance, believe Mr Bush's rose-tinted view of Georgia, driven by his wish to promote the country as a model democracy, is to blame for convincing Mr Saakashvili he could act with impunity.

Prof Kupchan said: "The US was giving mixed signals to Saakashvili. Through private channels it was saying, 'You have to behave', but publicly it was portraying him as a knight in shining armour. There was an underestimation of the return of Russian power and an under-appreciation of how disgruntled Russia was becoming.''

Ms Rice's falling stock has potential significance beyond the Russia dispute.

Along with Robert Gates, the defence secretary, she has been a bulwark against hawks, who have urged a tougher line on a wide range of issues, including Iran's nuclear programme.

Washington officials say that the Bush administration was caught unawares by events in Georgia, where usable intelligence for making political judgments was frequently thin on the ground.

Mr Bush rejected suggestions that he should return home early from the Olympics. When he did come back he was "irritated'' to learn that the State Department and CIA's assessment that Russia would not push into Georgia proper had proved inaccurate.

An official who advises the Pentagon said that the affair had exposed the folly of Mr Bush's belief that he could trust Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"There was little understanding of how serious this was," the official said. "He thought he could talk to Putin and sort it out. That turned out to be wildly optimistic."

Many, however, fear that Washington hawks will make the situation worse.

James Collins, the US ambassador to Moscow between 1997 and 2001, said America should at least show that it understood Russia's defence interests, even if it could not accommodate them.

He said that NATO's attitude that Russia has "no veto'' on its activities "was perceived as, 'We don't care what you think. We're doing it our way.' That leads to confrontation.'' © Telegraph