Report: U.N. plans for postwar Iraq

LONDON -- The United Nations has secretly drawn up a plan to establish a post-Saddam Hussein government in Iraq if U.S.-led forces invade the country and drive him out of power, a newspaper reported today.

The Times of London said the plan envisages the United Nations stepping in about three months after a successful war against Iraq and steering the country toward self-government. It said the plans resists British pressure to set up a full-scale U.N. administration.

Asked about the report, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told the Associated Press: "We do not comment on leaked documents."

General: It will be two-front war

WASHINGTON -- The nation's top military officer said Tuesday that a war against Iraq would be a two-front fight, despite Turkey's resistance to allowing U.S. ground forces to move into northern Iraq through its territory.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the United States aims for a short conflict that minimizes civilian casualties, and that the war might end before there is a battle for Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the U.S. commander for Middle Eastern operations, met Tuesday with senior Pentagon officials, with much of the discussion focusing on options for establishing a northern front in Iraq if Turkey continues to refuse to allow U.S. troops to move through its territory. Franks is scheduled to brief President Bush on the plans today.

Saudi 'shield' troops enter Kuwait

AL SALMI, Kuwait -- Several thousand Saudi troops crossed into Kuwait on Tuesday, the last but probably largest contingent of troops from Persian Gulf states deployed to protect the tiny emirate during a war in Iraq. The convoy represented Saudi Arabia's contribution to the Gulf Cooperation Council's 8,000-man Shield Force, which is expected to play a defensive role in Kuwait if hostilities break out.

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