ASHINGTON, Sept. 17 ・President Bush declared at the Pentagon this morning that he wanted Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in last week's terrorist strikes, brought to justice, and he pointedly recalled the frontier posters urging the capture of criminals "dead or alive."

Hours after speaking at the Pentagon, where a hijacked plane was crashed last Tuesday, he visited Washington's largest Islamic center. There he asked the public to view Arabs and Muslims living in the United States as American patriots, saying that intimidation and harassment of them "will not stand in America."

And while he repeated his determination to hunt down and punish those responsible for the terrorist attacks, he added, "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam."

Mr. Bush's appeal was amplified by the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Mueller, who told reporters that his agents were already investigating suspected hate crimes against Arab- Americans and would prosecute them vigorously.

Mr. Bush's twin messages of retaliation abroad and tolerance at home were delivered as he completed plans for calling up 35,000 military reservists to patrol American harbors and airspace. Then he convened a late-afternoon meeting of his economic advisers to review the damage to an already weakening American economy. For the first time, he spoke of using government spending to stimulate the economy.

Aides said he concluded the meeting by ordering them to assemble a "comprehensive package" to bail out the country's major airlines, though the White House would not say if he would back the industry's request for $20 billion in loan guarantees to keep operating at a time few Americans are flying.

The president also seemed to be preparing the country today for the likelihood of casualties in what he said would be a long war, one likely to be fought by unconventional means.

"We will win the war, and there will be costs," Mr. Bush said.

But he warned that even if Mr. bin Laden were found, "there are other terrorists in the world," and, turning on his Texas twang, promised to "get them running and to find them, and to hunt them down."

As he arrived at the Pentagon, a smoky smell still hung in the air, drifting over from the west side of the building where the hijacked jet slammed into the outer ring and killed 188 people, including those aboard the plane. After meeting with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and senior military officers, Mr. Bush stepped into the Pentagon cafeteria, where one employee began quietly singing "God Bless America." Gradually it spread throughout the room, and soon Mr. Bush also joined in.

He also spent five minutes talking to the pregnant widow of one of those killed in the attack, rubbing her back and giving her a peck on the cheek as he left.

His trip there, and then to the Islamic Center of Washington, on Embassy Row less than two miles from the White House, seemed part of an emerging White House strategy of trying to portray Mr. Bush as a resolute wartime leader, a compassionate father figure, and an economic strategist. After the White House was criticized for how little Mr. Bush was in evidence on the day of the attack, it may now be "overcompensating," said one Republican figure close to the White House.

Mr. Bush's comments about Mr. bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire believed to be in hiding in Afghanistan, came when he was asked if he wanted the suspected terrorist dead. "I want him ・I want justice," the presdient said. "And there's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said: `Wanted: Dead or Alive.' "

Later his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, made it clear that Mr. Bush was not simply reminiscing about late-night Westerns, and would be happy to have Mr. bin Laden served up either way.

Mr. Fleischer said that the executive order prohibiting United States officials from engaging in assassinations remained in effect. But he quickly added that the rule "does not limit the United States' ability to act in self-defense." He did not say whether the battle against Mr. bin Laden and his organization fit that definition, but he left the strong impression that it did.

In describing his war goals in broad terms, Mr. Bush also talked about destroying the al-Qaeda network of terrorists, a goal Secretary of State Colin L. Powell began discussing over the weekend. Senior White House officials said that the remarks were intended to underscore that Mr. bin Laden's arrest or death would mark only the beginning of the war. Over the weekend Mr. Powell described al-Qaeda as a "holding company" for a variety of terrorist groups.

Mr. Bush will spend much of the week trying to build an international coalition to wage war on terrorism, but he and other officials acknowledged today it will be unlike any coalition ever before assembled.

A senior administration official today described it as essentially three concentric circles: Longtime allies like Britain that may provide troops and equipment, states near Afghanistan and other terrorist hot spots that could provide landing locations, intelligence or overflight rights, and finally smaller states and organizations that "have small capabilities but add an important voice."

Mr. Bush will be pressing his cause tomorrow when the president of France, Jacques Chirac, will be at the White House for a previously scheduled visit. Then, on Wednesday, Indonesia's new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, will arrive. She has a tenuous hold on the world's most populous Islamic nation, and one official said today "we expect she will have to be very careful" in expressing support for Mr. Bush.

Then, on Thursday, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain arrives for a hastily scheduled visit to discuss joint action. Mr. Bush also spoke today to the emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who is to come to Washington on Oct. 4.

The administration said nothing today about its military plans, and Mr. Bush stressed again the need for secrecy, saying he would never discuss his options. But Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, speaking about the crisis for the first time, said he expected the United States would also be "waging a financial war."

"What you're going to see now is an all-out attack" on terrorists and suspected terrorists, "and then systematically going after their financial assets," Mr. O'Neill said.

He said he would set up a Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center, drawing on expertise from the Customs Service, the Internal Revenue Service, Secret Service, the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. to track the money that supplies the terrorists. But the Treasury has long had an office charged with doing that, equipped with massive computers that seek to track money flowing around the world.

Mr. Bush's visit to the Islamic center was part of an effort, White House aides say, not to repeat one of American history's greatest injustices: the treatment of Japanese- Americans during World War II.

Mr. Bush invited several Islamic leaders to participate in a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral last Friday. And today he used his hourlong visit to the Islamic center to make it clear he is focusing on terrorists, not Muslims. "Islam is peace," the president said. "These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war."

He added later that Arab-Americans and Muslims should not have to fear for their safety as they move through their daily lives. Nonetheless, he said, since the attack women "don't want to go about their ordinary daily routines because, by wearing cover, they're afraid they'll be intimidated.".

The president of the Council on American-Islamic relations, Nihad Awad, who attended the session with Mr. Bush, said, "We thank the president for taking the initiative to reach out to the American Muslim community during this time of national crisis. His supportive remarks will help set a tone of tolerance and inclusion for our society."

In talking about the hijackers, however, Mr. Bush kept up his bellicose language. He once again called them "barbarians," and graphically described the terror they wrought on the airplane that ultimately crashed in Pennsylvania ・a plane administration officials say they believe was on a kamikaze mission toward the White House or capital.

"They slit throats of women on airplanes in order to achieve an objective that is beyond comprehension," Mr. Bush said, in a comment his aides said was based on newspaper reports of the killing of a flight attendant. "And they like to hit, and then they like to hide out."

Beating such a foe, he said, is "going to require a new thought process." Later he added: "It's going to take a long time to win this war."