US: As thousands of troops head for the Gulf and the US Central Command moves from Florida to the region, the momentum towards war with Iraq is building fast.
But the rationale for an invasion of Iraq is being increasingly questioned in the United States as UN weapons inspectors fail to find evidence of banned weapons, and contradictions emerge in US policy towards North Korea.
War planning continued at the highest level in the White House yesterday.
Gen Tommy Franks, who would lead any US assault on Iraq, briefed US President Bush and his national security team on the massive deployment of American forces in the Gulf.
The Pentagon is rapidly moving troops, ships and aircraft - including F-15E and F-15C fighters and B-1B bombers - to the Gulf to augment 60,000 US personnel already in position.
The US Central Command headquarters is being moved from Tampa, Florida, to a command centre in Qatar in the central Gulf, and will be ready for operation by February, according to US defence officials. The US army's mobile biological weapons testing laboratory is also being shipped to the Gulf.
The focus of the crisis returns to the United Nations today when the 15-member Security Council hears a report from chief weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr Mohamed El Baradei, on Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration of last month.
In an initial assessment of Iraq's declaration on December 19th, Dr Blix concluded that it contained several gaps. According to the November 8th UN resolution that set up the new inspections, omissions in the declaration are not a justification for invasion.
The UN inspectors will make a full progress report on January 27th.
Despite Iraq's co-operation with inspectors, the US administration refuses to accept that Iraq is acting in good faith and may initiate military action without any obstruction of inspectors. "They \ are not being forthcoming or particularly cooperative," said US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, this week.
Meanwhile, the US faces growing domestic questions about why it is adopting a hawkish policy towards Iraq, which has accommodated UN inspectors, and a diplomatic approach to North Korea, which has just expelled nuclear inspectors.
White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer confirmed yesterday that the US was willing to talk to North Korea about dismantling its nuclear weapons. "The ball is in their court," he said, while ruling out negotiations on other matters.
The prospect of war with Iraq is dividing Americans. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found 55 percent in favour of war only with UN support.
An ABC News poll on Monday showed 35 per cent felt North Korea was a greater threat.
Major anti-war demonstrations are planned for January 18th in Washington and San Francisco.
A call by France on the United States and Britain to share intelligence reports on Iraq was aimed at maximising chances of disarming Iraq peacefully, the French ambassador to the UN said yesterday.
In Moscow, the French Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, said he had written to the 14 other members of the Security Council urging them to provide "all means" and "all information" to the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq. - (AFP)