US troops ready for Iraq battle

THE United States said it has massed enough troops in the Gulf to attack Iraq, and Turkey appeared to come round yesterday to letting its territory be used to launch part of the expected assault.

Washington pressed on with its drive towards war by working on a UN Security Council resolution that it hoped would secure support from an international community not convinced of the need to use force against Baghdad.

While many nations say UN inspectors must get more time to establish if Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, Washington, backed by its main ally Britain, says Iraq has already lost this argument and President Saddam Hussein must now be removed.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television: "If it is necessary to have a conflict, it is all for the purpose of making Iraq a good neighbour that is not developing weapons, that is not threatening its neighbours ... so we are going into Iraq not to destroy the place, but to make it better."

Defence officials say that the US and Britain have amassed more than 150,000 military personnel in the region, along with dozens of warships and hundreds of aircraft. But US plans to open a northern front in any invasion of Iraq have been complicated by the reluctance of Turkey to let its soil be used by up to 40,000 US troops.

Turkey has driven a hard bargain with its NATO ally in the face of popular opposition to a war, concern about Kurdish rule in northern Iraq and worries about the economy.

With US troops waiting at sea, Washington signalled willingness to improve a promised aid package which officials say totals $6bn in grants and up to $20bn in loan guarantees.

Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul told a meeting in Istanbul: "They understand our worries, we understand theirs. A result will be reached in the coming days."

The US also faces political resistance to a war from international partners including NATO ally France; Russia, a partner in its war against terror; and China, like the other two a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council.

French President Jacques Chirac repeated yesterdayit would be premature to go to war on Iraq and that arms inspections could still produce a peaceful solution to the crisis. "Everything argues for the fact that the goal can be achieved by peaceful means, that is to say through inspections, and not by military means," he said at the end of a summit with African leaders.

But with the US saying it's ready for war, Iraqi preachers yesterday urged worshippers to fight the "infidel invaders" with all available means.

"Fight America, fight the Zionists and the enemies of Islam with every means. Attack their fleets, their troops and their equipment," Sheikh Bakr Samarei said in a sermon at Baghdad's Abdel-Qader Kilani mosque. "It is your duty to God."

"You are the nucleus of Islam and you are requested at this moment, at this hour to sacrifice yourselves in the name of God, not as suicide bombers, but as fighters," he said.