- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military is now
ready with a major force in the Gulf region to launch an invasion of Iraq
if President Bush decides to go to war against Baghdad, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday.
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- "I would characterize it as ample," Rumsfeld
said of the force of tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops massed
in the area in recent weeks. "We are at a point where, if the president
makes that decision (to attack), the Department of Defense is prepared
and has the capabilities and the strategy to do that."
-
- Rumsfeld was speaking in an interview in Public Television's
"The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."
-
- "Yes," he responded flatly when asked the U.S.
and British forces were ready now to go to war. "There will be a large
coalition. There will be a lot of countries" involved in any such
effort, he added, repeating assertions that an international coalition
would quickly emerge if Bush decided to move.
-
- Defense officials say the United States and Britain have
gathered more than 150,000 troops in the region along with dozens of warships
and hundreds of aircraft. But Rumsfeld refused to discuss exact troop totals,
saying "I don't do numbers."
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