Options on Attacking Iraq
Excerpt:
ASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — The Pentagon has completed and delivered to President Bush a highly detailed set of military options for attacking Iraq, Pentagon and White House officials said today.
The commander of forces in the Persian Gulf region, Gen. Tommy R. Franks, presented the war-planning document to Mr. Bush in early September, just days before the president spoke to the United Nations on Sept. 12 and demanded that it authorize military action against Saddam Hussein. In his speech, Mr. Bush made clear that the United States was prepared to act unilaterally.
The highly classified plans, which were presented to the Joint Chiefs of Staff shortly after the president was briefed, are the most specific plans the military has presented to Mr. Bush so far.
"The president has options now, and he has not made any decisions," Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman, said in an interview today. He noted that Mr. Bush had asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in August to send him options that were more concrete than earlier concepts.
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In early July, Mr. Rumsfeld and General Myers sent General Franks a classified written directive about five pages long, spelling out in detail what the war plan should contain: the role of allies, how to address Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, how to stabilize the country after a war; all issues underlying the primary goal: deposing Mr. Hussein.
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