Frankendesign

Iraq attack plans alarm top military
US and UK commanders 'scratching their heads' to make sense of invasion
Richard Norton-Taylor and Julian Borger, Washington

The Guardian | July 30 July 2002

Military commanders on both sides of the Atlantic are privately expressing deep unease about American plans to invade Iraq, believing they are ill thought out with the strategy to achieve the ultimate objective - toppling Saddam Hussein - far from clear.

It will be a "gargantuan task" which could spark off a conflagration across the Middle East, a European military official warned yesterday.

A senior British military source said it was clear there was a "desire of the US government [to attack Iraq] on their own if necessary". He added: "We are scratching our heads to see what could make strategic sense." (...)
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Britons left in jail amid fears that Saudi Arabia could fall to al-Qaeda
Martin Bright, Nick Pelham and Paul Harris

The Observer | 28 July 2002

Saudi Arabia is teetering on the brink of collapse, fuelling Foreign Office fears of an extremist takeover of one of the West's key allies in the war on terror.

Anti-government demonstrations have swept the desert kingdom in the past months in protest at the pro-American stance of the de facto ruler, Prince Abdullah.

At the same time, Whitehall officials are concerned that Abdullah could face a palace coup from elements within the royal family sympathetic to al-Qaeda.

Saudi sources said the Pentagon had recently sponsored a secret conference to look at options if the royal family fell. (...)
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