Posted on 09/21/2002 6:27:27 PM PDT by bonesmccoy
President Bush has received a detailed Pentagon plan containing military options for deposing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a senior defense official said Saturday
The highly classified plan, delivered to the White House in early September by Gen. Tommy Franks, the Central Command chief who would execute any military action in Iraq, will undergo additional refinements in the weeks ahead, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On a visit to U.S. troops in Kuwait, Franks said Saturday his forces are ready if called upon.
"We are prepared to undertake whatever activities and whatever actions we may be directed to take by our nation," he said at a news conference. But he also noted: "Our president has not made a decision to go to war."
Thousands of American and Kuwaiti forces are preparing to begin a large-scale training exercise, called Eager Mace, using amphibious, ground, air and naval forces. The exercise, which is held periodically in the Kuwaiti desert — most recently in May 2001 — has not been publicly announced.
Franks' delivery of his war plan to Bush was first reported in Saturday's New York Times. The newspaper cited officials familiar with war planning as saying the Franks' plan contains the number of ground troops, combat aircraft and aircraft carrier battle groups that would be needed to knock out Iraq's air defenses and military communications and then seize Baghdad.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee ( news - web sites) this week, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a key concern of war planners is the possibility that Iraq would launch an attack on U.S. and allied forces in the region using weapons of mass destruction. He suggested that Iraq's means of delivering such weapons — by ballistic missile, aircraft or other means — would be among the priority targets at the outset of a U.S. attack.
As Bush considers his options for using military force against Iraq, his administration is simultaneously consulting with Russia and other countries on a new U.N. resolution that would threaten Iraq with war if it does not meet its decade-old obligation to disarm.
Russia is leaving the door slightly open to compromise on the U.N. resolution. Russia's decision could turn on whether it gets new and convincing evidence that Saddam is building up stockpiles of dangerous weapons.
Talks will continue at the United Nations ( news - web sites), where the United States and Britain are trying to overcome resistance from Russia, China and France to leveling new demands without proof.
A defiant Iraq announced Saturday that Baghdad would reject any new U.N. resolutions Saddam's government believes are unfavorable.
"The American officials are trying ... to issue new, bad resolutions from the Security Council," Iraq's state-run radio said.
There was no immediate comment from the White House.
Bush's request for a congressional resolution to authorize the use of force against Iraq continues to draw a mixed reception.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., criticized Bush's approach and said "we must not be hell-bent on an invasion until we have exhausted other possible options to assess and eliminate Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction program.".
"We must not act alone," he said. "We must have the support of the world."
But Sen. Joseph Lieberman ( news, bio, voting record), D-Conn., said there was now broad support among Democrats for Bush's resolution. "We feel that the president should be authorized to take military action (without) the U.N. if the U.N. will not do it," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
The shooting has already started. The only question is how fast they can do "regime change" and that takes a replacement system.
Letting the UN run a one month cycle is ok. It will allow State Dept. to continue to coalition build for the solution after the war is over and Saddam is gone. Politically, this also permits the White House to control the discussion on the news channels instead of having Gephardt/Daschle doing their "economic" whining.
Then, around the new moon in November, whamo. If we're massing overwhelming force, then perhaps the nation can have a good Christmas.
"First Ladies Nancy Reagan, Ladybird Johnson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rosalyn Carter, Betty Ford, and Barbara Bush sit together at the National Garden Gala, 'A Tribute to America's First Ladies.'" By Barbara Kinney, Washington, DC, May 11, 1994
These events have been published by our national press. Strangely the source has been the government of Iraq.
The attacks on personell are contained in Iraq's loud protests filed with the UN in the past three weeks over "civilian" casualties that resulted from our air defense supression strikes in the "no fly" zones. Iraq protested them as unprovoked attacks on civilian targets.
The disarray in the western desert was portrayed two weeks ago by Saddam himself as a "redeployment" of his troops to meet his changing defense strategies. He announced that troops were being recalled to Bagdad to strenghten his efforts to defend Bagdad with street to street fighting to repel the invasion.
No secrets exposed here. The events have been published. You just don't understand Saddamspeak.
Youbetcha
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