U.S President George W. Bush said that he would keep "all options available" for dealing with Iran, Iraq and North Korea, nations he has dubbed the "axis of evil."
"Make no mistake about it, if we need to, we will take necessary action to defend the American people. And I think that statement was clear enough for Iraq to hear me," the president declared.
These remarks, made during a joint White House appearance with visiting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, came amid speculation that Iraq will be the next target of Washington's "war on terrorism." "Saddam Hussein needs to understand I'm serious about defending our country," said Bush. "I will reserve whatever options I have. I'll keep them close to my vest."
Speaking later to a budget subcommittee at the House of Representatives, Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed Bush's statements and confirmed that Washington was considering "non-diplomatic" and "non-political" options with regard to Iraq.
"All options are available to him and he is pursuing them all," Powell told the panel. "He is looking at what we do politically, what we do diplomatically and he is always reviewing non-diplomatic, non-political options, but he has made no decision beyond the policies we are currently pursuing."
For the moment, that policy is insisting on the return to Iraq of UN weapons inspectors, demanding that Baghdad adhere to UN resolutions and looking at ways to oust Saddam, Powell said.
Bush is "committed to regime change," he said. "How to achieve regime change -- through opposition activity, military activity, other kinds of activity -- all of those options are under consideration."
Plans
Meanwhile, the British newspaper The Guardian reports that the Pentagon and the CIA have begun practical preparations for an attack on Iraq involving up to 200,000 US troops that is likely to be launched later this year with the goal of removing Saddam Hussein from power.
US and diplomatic sources told the London-based publication that Bush's war cabinet, known as the "principals committee", agreed at a meeting in late January that the policy of containment has failed and that active measures should be taken to topple the Iraqi leader.
But, according to a US intelligence source familiar with CIA preparations, the plans for a parallel overt and covert war only landed on the president's desk in the past few days.
The blueprint for a campaign against Iraq has evolved from a contingency plan drawn up by the joint chiefs of staff that envisaged the use of a 200,000-strong US force, the bulk of which would invade from Kuwait, said the British newspaper. However, it may be that the actual force used will be less numerous, relying more on covert and special forces operations.
Central Command has already set up forward headquarters in the Arab Gulf from which each of the component services will be able to coordinate the war. The air force headquarters (Afcent) is at the Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia, according to The Guardian. The army headquarters (Arcent) is in Kuwait, while the navy (Navcent) is in Bahrain.
Central Command's marine component (Marcent) is also projected to move to Bahrain in the next few days, weeks after the main marine force left Afghanistan. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
