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Reuters. 20 September 2002. U.S. military favors Feb. for Iraq strike - report WASHINGTON -- U.S. military planners see February as the best time to start a war against Iraq and would depend greatly on defecting Iraqi troops to help topple Saddam Hussein, The Washington Times reported on Friday, citing senior defense officials. The newspaper quoted two defense sources as saying February would be the most likely time to strike and that hostilities would probably be over no later than April, before the oppressive heat of the Persian Gulf spring and summer sets in. According to the newspaper, the planners see a military build-up being completed in a matter of weeks rather than the six months it took in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the newspaper reported. The officials told the newspaper the Pentagon was still debating the size of the force that would be needed to conduct a war in Iraq, with numbers ranging from 75,000 to 250,000 soldiers. The plan called for the troops to be widely dispersed to avoid establishing large base camps that could be easily targeted by Iraq's Saddam's mobile Scud missiles, the report said. The sources also were quoted as saying that the United States would rely on defectors and dissidents within Saddam's army. "We know the names of every division commander," a military official said. According to the newspaper, military planners were looking at ways to take out as many targets from the air as possible in the opening day of a campaign against Iraq using Tomahawk cruise missiles and B-2 stealth bombers. Once Iraq's surface-to-air missile sites were destroyed, B-52 and B-1 bombers would join the war, targeting critical command centers and Saddam's known headquarters, the report said. A Pentagon spokesman declined comment on the report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ProletarianNews http://www.utopia2000.org --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
