Attack Could Be Launched Within Days

The Pentagon has provided President George Bush with options for an attack against Iraq that could be launched within days and without using Turkey as a staging area for American troops in the north, military officials say.

Speculation about a possible early strike is also growing in Europe, with reports of an air blitz to be launched against Iraq on March 13.

This would be followed by a land invasion from March 17, the Daily Express quoted unnamed government sources as saying.

With the diplomatic negotiations over Iraq appearing to enter a critical final phase, General Tommy Franks met on Wednesday at the White House to discuss war plans with Mr Bush and his top national security advisers. General Franks reviewed the plans last week in Qatar with his top commanders from the army, navy, Marine Corps, air force and special operations.

Mr Bush had made no decision on whether to order an attack, the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and General Franks said later, declining to comment on the meeting.

But other Bush Administration officials said the 75-minute meeting focused on all aspects of the war plan, including alternatives to using Turkey as a staging area for American troops to open a northern front in Iraq.

"If the President of the United States decides to undertake action, we are in a position to provide a military option," General Franks said after the meeting.

Since mid-February, military officials have said there were sufficient forces in the Persian Gulf region to mount an offensive. But that has assumed that an offensive would begin with whatever forces were available, and that the weaponry for important units like the 4th Infantry Division and 101st Airborne Division would not arrive in time for the start of the war.

With 225,000 American and 25,000 British service personnel now in striking distance of Iraq, the military options available to Mr Bush, while still incomplete, were firming and could be ordered on short notice if the diplomatic string ran out, military officials said.

Pentagon aides said Mr Bush would probably not want to wait long to use force after the diplomatic efforts ended. Further delay at that point could risk allowing President Saddam Hussein to strike pre-emptively, perhaps by firing Scud missiles at Israel, the aides said.

The navy has five aircraft carriers in the Gulf and eastern Mediterranean — each with 45 to 50 attack planes — that are in position to strike. Nearly two dozen ships and submarines capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles accompany those carriers.

There are about 700 air force, navy and Marine Corps combat planes in the region.

A Turkish general on Wednesday endorsed a plan to send as many as 62,000 US troops through Turkey to open a second front in northern Iraq.

A day earlier, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, said: "There'll be a northern option with or without Turkey."