Things are heating up in Iraq

The White House insists war is a last option. And no single move indicates invasion is imminent. Instead, like a puzzle built piece by piece, a series of developments over the past month form a picture of a nation preparing for combat.

Last week, the Pentagon began deploying some elements of the 45,000-member 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, as well as about 1,300 engineers and intelligence officers based in Germany.

Reports indicate that retaliatory attacks by U.S. and British war planes patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq have increased in intensity.

New York Times reports the president's advisers are close to finalizing a plan for an 18-month occupation of Iraq by a large American military force � the largest such operation since the administration of post-World War II Germany and Japan.

Iraq's oil would be sold to help pay for reconstruction, while Iraqi officials who helped the invasion or were not essential to the Iraqi regime might escape punishment.

Here's the link: www.cbsnews.com...

This war is going to happen no matter what. And it will happen sooner rather than later.

plus the UK is gonna deploy 20,000 troops to the persian gulf

late Jan, early Feb for the start....

We'll have to wait until the 27th. And if they haven't found anything US will come into a difficult position. Many countries won't support a war without UN approval. So if US invade Iraq without any UN approval things will get complicated.

but the writing is on the wall. You don't deploy that many troops if you don't intend to use them. The cost is simply too great for each day they're sitting there twiddling their thumbs....

This whole UN farce is just about over...lets face facts. A small group of inspectors can't possibly cover the vast deserts of Iraq, and that's where most of the WMD are sitting, in underground bunkers linked by tunnels (to hide from satellite and other surveillance). Heck, I went to middle school with the kids whose fathers built them! (the bunkers, not the WMD, though some likely did that as well). (School is SAIS-Riyadh for those curious).