Global warning
Surface-to-air missiles were deployed to protect the Pentagon one of the targets of the September 11 attacks and F-16 fighters were placed on 24-hour alert near the Capitol building in Washington, amid intelligence-led threats of an impending al-Qaida attack on American soil.
Osama bin Laden yesterday threatened, in a message to an Islamic news agency, to personally take part in a suicide bomb attack on North America.
London's airports were placed on level one security alert following the arrest of a grenade-carrying suspected terrorist at Gatwick. The security operation at Heathrow was described as the largest in the history of the Metropolitan police force. Roads leading to Stansted Airport were closed by armed police.
As an extra 1,700 police were drafted in for counter-terror operations in London, Home Secretary David Blunkett said Britain faced a "real and serious threat" from al-Qaida. With chief weapons inspector Hans Blix set to make his crucial address to the UN Security Council in New York at 4pm Irish time today, the sabre rattling increased across the globe.
At a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr Rumsfeld declared last night: "Our policy historically has been generally that we will not foreclose the possible use of nuclear weapons if attacked."
Japan warned it would launch a pre-emptive strike against North Korea if it had firm evidence Pyongyang was planning a missile attack.
Saudi Arabia, which is hosting some two million Muslims for the haj pilgrimage, deployed more than 10,000 troops at the holy sites and at key airports and sea ports.
US intelligence claimed they had detected movement of explosives by the Iraqis into southern Iraq, perhaps to destroy oil wells if an attack comes from Kuwait. More than 50,000 US troops are already in Kuwait.
The US and Britain seized on a finding that Iraq has missiles of prohibited range as proof it is defying the United Nations.
Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, in Italy to meet the Pope, dismissed suggestions Baghdad's missile programme breached UN rules and accused the US of planning to invade Iraq to dominate the Middle East and its oil.
US and defence officials say small units of elite US Special Operations forces are already operating inside Iraq, stepping up contacts with opposition groups and helping plan the seizure of large portions of Iraq should President George W Bush give the order to go to war.
As it emerged yesterday 200,000 US troops have already passed through Shannon Airport this year, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a tough letter to EU leaders, demanded that next week's emergency EU summit on Iraq not rule out military action to uphold the authority of the UN.
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