US, UK said to plan seaborne invasion for Iraq

6.15pm

The United States and Britain are reported to be planning a massive seaborne invasion if war broke out against Iraq.

A British defence ministry source said the United States and Britain were planning a major invasion of Iraq from the Gulf as the first stage in any ground war.

"Discussions on future amphibious operations are at an advanced stage," the source said.

The source said planners were leaning towards an amphibious assault in part because of the difficulties of protecting a large ground-based army from chemical or biological attack.

"Would you really put 200,000 troops in one place and let them be targets for an attack?" the source said.

The top US military commander, Gen Richard Myers, said his forces were ready to go into battle against Iraq and the New York Times reported today that US intelligence agents were already working with anti-Saddam Kurdish groups in northern Iraq.

The spectre of war has loomed steadily larger in recent days, with the United States condemning Iraq's UN-ordered weapons declaration delivered on December 7 as a "material breach" of Security Council Resolution 1441 on Iraqi disarmament.

Scores of UN arms inspectors are scouring Iraq for evidence of banned nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, but Washington has made clear it believes it has enough evidence of its own to justify military action if Iraq does not come clean.

President George W Bush - who has publicly declared he wants to force President Saddam Hussein from power - had a smallpox vaccination on Saturday, setting an example for hundreds of thousands of US troops who fear they may come under attack by biological agents.

Iraq denies possessing weapons of mass destruction and a newspaper owned by Saddam's eldest son Uday on Saturday likened US and British leaders to ruthless Mongol conquerors of old.

"The eternal problem of the evil US administration is that the barking of its dogs is still going on even though there is no justification," Babel said in an editorial.

On a pre-Christmas visit to US troops at Bagram Air Base, headquarters of US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, Gen Myers said US political leaders had indicated that a war to topple Saddam could still be avoided.

"The job of the US military and our coalition partners is to be ready to do what our presidents ask us to do, and my president asks me to do," the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said. "We will be ready to do that no matter what month it is."

The US military is forging ahead with a build-up that could see more than 100,000 troops in the Gulf region in January or February.

In Damascus, Syrian Vice President Zuheir Masharqa accused Washington of turning a blind eye to Israel's nuclear weapons while threatening war with Iraq over its alleged arms programmes.

"The priorities of US policies clash with the interests and hopes of the (region's) people, increasing their outrage against US policies," Masharqa told a meeting of key Syrian political parties in Damascus.

"There is no justification allowing the US administration to (rightfully) launch a war against Iraq, no matter how numerous the pretexts are," Masharqa said.

"It is Israel that has a large arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, and it is Israel that represents the most dangerous core of terrorism in the region and the world."

Israel is widely believed to have about 300 nuclear warheads, but its policy is never to publicly discuss the issue.

Syria, which took part in the 1991 Gulf War that drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait, has since rebuilt ties with Iraq after decades of rivalry.

The New York Times quoted Kurdish and Western officials as saying US intelligence agents had been working with Kurdish officials in northern Iraq in recent weeks.

"Recruiters for an American-sponsored opposition group have been selecting candidates for a programme to train scouts and translators that one day may help American forces inside Iraq," the paper said.

"American military planners have visited secluded corners of the country to examine potential basing sites for use in a war, according to a Western expert familiar with the activity," the Times said.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq