Rumsfeld orders 60,000 more troops to the Gulf

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered about 62,000 more US troops to head for the Gulf in coming days, doubling the size of the force in the region.

The movements make clear that the Pentagon intends to have sufficient force in place for an Iraq war as early as the first weeks of February, although the White House says President George Bush has not yet decided to attack.