SURPRISE! :

Bush and Blair agree terms for Iraq attack : Military hatch new option for invasion (Simon Tisdall and Richard Norton-Taylor, July 27, 2002, The Guardian)

Tony Blair has privately told George Bush that Britain will support an American attack on Iraq if Saddam Hussein refuses to accept resumed UN weapons inspections.

President Bush's "understanding", based on conversations with the prime minister, is that he can count on Mr Blair, according to well-placed Bush administration officials.

The agreement between the leaders comes as diplomatic, military and intelligence sources revealed details of a new plan for the invasion of Iraq, which could take place sooner than had previously been presumed.

The plan involves a slimmed-down force of around 50,000 troops, which could be deployed within a matter of days.

It had been widely assumed that the US could not deploy sufficient numbers of troops needed for the task before the end of this year at the earliest.

Now senior officials are saying a sudden military strike could be launched as soon as October.

It certainly doesn't hurt that such an invasion would coincide with crunch time in the midterm elections here in the States. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 27, 2002 5:43 AM