Posted on 09/22/2002 3:11:06 PM PDT by HAL9000
A FIRST draft of US war plans for strikes on Iraq has been released, while lawmakers have expressed confidence of broad congressional support for a military campaign with or without UN backing.Boldly-outlined Pentagon plans for a "narrowly-focused but extremely intense" military offensive against Baghdad, which Washington accuses of developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, were made public.
The Pentagon has already begun choosing targets for US warplanes and missiles, the size and shape of the troop deployments on the ground and a likely timeline for a US invasion, the Washington Post reported.
Different from the 1990-91 Gulf War that was waged by US President George W. Bush's father, former president George Bush, the offensive is designed to be an attack on a government, not a country.
"Our interest is to get there very quickly, decapitate the regime, and open the place up, demonstrating that we're there to liberate, not to occupy," a military planner was quoted as saying.
A small, fast-moving invasion force relying on Special Operations troops instead of conventional deployments of battalions, would probably carry out the US offensive, which could include a simultaneous ground and air assault, the Post reported.
Army General Tommy Franks, the head of the US Central Command, which is waging the US-led campaign against terror in Afghanistan, will ultimately be responsible for any US plans for war, which must first be authorised by the US Congress.
Bush last week presented a resolution to lawmakers that would grant him sweeping powers to oust Saddam, even if the United Nations declines to pass measures authorising members to enforce disarmament mandates.
The Bush proposals have been criticised as open-ended and as failing to focus on a wide, UN-led effort to throw Iraq open to inspections and ultimately produce a regime change in Baghdad.
But Arizona Republican John Kyl insisted today that the United States "cannot rely upon the United Nations necessarily to grant us the authority that we'll need".
"We can never subject our security interests to the United Nations or the Security Council of the United Nations on the grounds that somehow that's a moral objective force out there."
Therefore, he said, "the Congress will authorise what the United States needs to do in our best interest".
Alabama Republican Richard Shelby expressed confidence that Bush's proposal would pass the US Congress "by overwhelming numbers".
"And there are going to be a lot of Democrats that support it," he predicted.
Carl Levin, the Democratic chair of the Senate's Armed Services Committee, disagreed, saying that in its current form the resolution was unpassable.
"Oh, it's much too broad. There's no limit at all on presidential powers. There need to be some changes," the Michigan senator told Fox News Sunday.
"It's a go-it-alone resolution, ultimately."
Senate Democrat Joe Biden, the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, told CBS that while Washington would like the support and backing of its UN allies, "we should reserve the right to move along regardless of what the UN does".
"But I think it will matter to the president when and how and if he uses force, depending on what kind of support he has around the world."
Democrates warned the American public must be fully aware of the consequences of military action - both human and financial - and the goals of that military action, before a bullet is fired.
"The American people have no idea what the president knows, and that is he's going to have to stay in Iraq with thousands and thousands of troops ... billions of dollars," Biden said.
"I do think Americans may be ready to go to war to dislodge weapons of mass destruction from Saddam Hussein."
Anything that's being reported now is either someone's speculation written to fill news content requirements or a belief that's been allowed to take hold to ensure Saddam has no idea real what's coming. JMHO.
President Bush and his team have something HUGE up their sleeve. I just feel it.
Like what?
LOL.... well maybe they dropped or left a computer disc lying on the park bench again..... Yep that's it..
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