U.S. LINES UP SUPPORT FOR CONFRONTATION WITH IRAG.
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By Barbara Slavin and Judy Keen
USA TODAY
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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.

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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    H3 Align="Center">Wednesday February 13, 1:33 AM
    US HAS NO PLANS FOR ANOTHER WAR POWELL. The United States has no plans to go to war with any nation, US Secretary of State Colin Powell revealed.

    President George W. Bush "has no plans on his desk right now to begin a war with any nation," Powell told a Senate budget committee hearing on Tuesday.

    "The president is not asking for a war budget."

    With respect to Bush's controversial comments about "an axis of evil," involving Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, Powell said the administration favoured diplomacy over might in pursuing its goals with the regimes in these countries.

    "With respect to Iran and North Korea, there are no plans to start a war with these nations. We want to see a dialogue."

    But he made a distinction between these two members of the triumvirate and Iraq, which he described as causing a "higher level of concern."

    "We are examining options with respect to regime change," in that country, he told US lawmakers.

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