- President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he has ordered
the US military to prepare for an attack on Iraq, despite reports that
the Pentagon's deployment of troops in the Persian Gulf region may have
to slow to accommodate the re-entry of United Nations weapons inspectors.
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- "We've asked our military to prepare for a conflict
in Iraq, if it proves necessary," Mr Bush said in a signing ceremony
at the White House rose garden. "We owe them every resource, every
weapon and every tool they need to fulfil their missions."
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- Mr Bush reiterated that he has still not yet decided
whether to use force to oust Saddam Hussein, and the White House acknowledged
that the negotiations over the wording of a UN resolution to disarm Iraq
could collapse without an agreement.
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- Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush's spokesman, said talks over the
resolution would end soon, but the outcome could be "either an agreement
or a failure to reach agreement, and it could be either one right now".
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- If it is agreed, the draft UN resolution contains language
that would give Iraq a month to declare all its weapons of mass destruction,
plus an additional three-and-a-half months to send in inspectors and have
them report back their findings to the UN.
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- Such a timetable would push back any military intervention
until the spring, later than most military analysts had expected.
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- Mr Bush's comments came as he approved the largest increase
in US military spending since the end of the cold war, signing a $355bn
defence appropriations bill that will give the armed forces an additional
$37.5bn over last year's funding.
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- http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/Story
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