Franks Briefs Bush on Plan for Iraq Invasion Force

The Journal said the new plan Army General Tommy Franks outlined at the White House at a meeting of the National Security Council Monday hewed closer to a proposal for a 50,000 to 80,000-strong invasion force, backed by heavy air power, was gaining support among Bush administration officials. Further details were not immediately forthcoming.

White House officials called the meeting a “routine update,” while Pentagon sources said to CNN that plans being conceptualized for toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were “well along” and continually evolving.

"We're not talking about what he talked to the President about," said Lieutenant Colonel Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman when asked about the report.

However, it was the latest in a series of leaks on an internal debate on how best to oust Hussein.

While no military action is imminent, options range from an invasion requiring a 250,000-strong force attacking Iraq from three directions to a direct assault on power centers in Baghdad that would combine ground and air power.

News agencies report that according to experts, the U.S. is capable of launching a rapid attack on Iraq by marshaling 50,000 troops at the Kuwaiti border in roughly a week, airlifting them in, and bringing their tanks and heavy equipment on ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

If any military action were to be undertaken against Iraq, Franks would command the force. He also oversaw the war in Afghanistan.

Although he has raised the threat of a military invasion, Bush, however, has given no indication that any decision has been made on how to oust Hussein.

The White House has rejected Iraqi invitations to both the U.N. and U.S. lawmakers to inspect suspected biological, chemical and nuclear weapons sites certifying whether Baghdad possesses weapons banned by U.N. resolutions.