US and Britain ready to attack Iraq - Rumsfeld

Britain and the US are now ready to launch an invasion of Iraq if London and Washington decides to go to war against Baghdad, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said.

Speaking on the US television programme, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Mr Rumsfeld described the forces ranged against Iraq in the Gulf as “ample”.

“We are at a point where, if the President makes that decision (to attack), the Department of Defence is prepared and has the capabilities and the strategy to do that.”

Asked if British and US forces were now ready to go to war, he replied: “Yes.”

He said the forces in the Gulf constituted a “large coalition”. “There will be a lot of countries,” he said.