- WASHINGTON -- President Bush is preparing for military action against Iraq
and lining up support from allies in the Middle East, U.S. officials and
diplomats from the region say.
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- A White House official says Vice President
Cheney is expected to discuss efforts to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
when Cheney visits 10 Middle East countries in March.
U.S. officials say no decision has been made about timing or the scope
of the campaign. But a foreign leader who met with top administration officials
last week told his aides that he is convinced Bush has decided to confront
Saddam.
Military action is unlikely before May, when the United Nations Security
Council will vote on new sanctions against Iraq. A showdown could erupt
then if Saddam refuses to re-admit U.N. weapons inspectors.
Likely military options range from a limited intervention to help rebel
groups to ''Desert Storm lite,'' a reprise of the 1991 Gulf War that could
involve as many as 200,000 U.S. troops, Iraq experts say.
Bush has said Iraq belongs to an ''axis of evil'' that is trying to develop
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Other signs of a looming showdown:
* U.S. military commanders for the region have been transferring their
headquarters from U.S. locations to the Persian Gulf since late last year.
* Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and U.S. officials talked
last week about how Israel might respond to an Iraqi retaliatory attack.
* Nervous Iraqi neighbors appear to be reluctantly accepting action against
Iraq.
Jordan's King Abdullah told visiting members of Congress recently that
he is reconciled to a confrontation, a source familiar with the talks says.
Officials in Saudi Arabia say privately they would back a realistic plan
to get rid of Saddam, according to a Western source. The source says he
is ''cautiously optimistic'' that the Saudis would let U.S. forces in the
kingdom participate in an assault on Iraq.
Turkey also has signaled it would support military action so long as it
is consulted and Iraq's Kurds aren't allowed to seek an independent state
that could attract Turkey's Kurdish minority, diplomats say.
At home, Bush can expect strong support for war with Iraq, according to
a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll conducted over the weekend. In the survey of
1,001 adults, 82% agreed with Bush that Iraq is ''evil,'' and 88% said
it is important to remove Saddam from power.
The CIA has reactivated a covert program to topple Saddam, according to
Tony Cordesman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies. The CIA declined to comment.
The administration has announced that it is giving $2.4 million to the
anti-Saddam Iraqi National Congress.
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