Three U.S. strategic B-1 bombers headed for southwest Asia as a top Iraqi diplomat rejected the possibility President Saddam Hussein would seek exile.
The deployment of the bombers came as the United States continued its military buildup in the region. "We have three takeoffs this morning," said Lieutenant Megan Frail, a spokeswoman at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, where the B-1 bombers are based.
More such planes and their crews are expected to deploy to an undisclosed location in the region, AFP said.
The U.S. Air Force also is deploying F-15 fighter units from the United States, F-16 fighters from Germany, along with surveillance aircraft, helicopters and unmanned Predator spy planes.
Troops from the 3rd Infantry Division, the largest ground combat unit ordered deployed so far, have started leaving their bases at Fort Benning and Fort Stewart in Georgia for Kuwait, officials said.
Despite these developments, Britain is pressing for war against Iraq to be delayed for several months, possibly until the autumn, to give weapons inspectors more time to provide clear evidence of new violations by Saddam Hussein's regime, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.
According to the report, senior British officials believe that there is no clear legal case for military action.
Senior diplomats have told the British Government that there is a good chance of securing United Nations Security Council approval for military action later in the year if Saddam can be shown unambiguously to be defying the disarmament conditions set out in resolution 1441.
Meanwhile, warplanes from a US-British coalition bombed air defense communications sites in southern Iraq in retaliation for attacks on aircraft enforcing a "no-fly" zone, the military said.
The strike targeted cable repeater facilities between the southern towns of Al Kut, Basra and An-Nasiriyah, the US Central Command said in a statement.
In Baghdad, a military spokesman said US and British warplanes bombed civilian targets in southern Iraq.
On the diplomatic front, Iraq rejected rumors that Saddam Hussein would agree to step down and seek exile outside his country. In Russia, Iraqi ambassador Abbas Khalaf called such suggestions "completely absurd -- nonsense."
Khalaf maintained US officials had "launched this canard after failing in their attempts" to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
He told Interfax news agency that "Saddam Hussein enjoys excellent health, is in a determined mood, in perfect control of the situation and believes in our victory."
The German newspaper Tageszeitung, citing well-informed Russian and US diplomatic sources, reported in its Thursday edition that Putin's administration was offering Saddam exile in Russia in a bid to avert a war. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
