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If that prospect has alarmed the State Department, which hopes to accomplish much by words instead of bombs, it positively terrifies some of Washington's allies. The French have been jittery from the start about the Administration's use of the word war, and anything that might turn that war into a contest between "the West" and half the Islamic world makes their blood run cold. A top British diplomat acknowledged that London had heard the case to widen the war but said, "What we see in terms of policy is very measured. We have seen no evidence of hasty rushes to judgment or pounding the sand." Still, the argument over the nature of the Iraqi regime has been running through Washington during five presidencies. It would not take much evidence of Iraqi complicity in the atrocities of Sept. 11 to resuscitate it.
For now, however, the Administration is committed to Powell's plan, one that a senior European diplomat calls "ruthless prioritization." The short-term priority is to deal with the Taliban and its response to Bush's ultimatum. The longer-term goal is to build a strategy for concentrating on terrorism itself. "There's a sequence to follow," says the European source. "You've got to take them one at a time." In its initial phases, the military plan hence concentrates on Afghanistan. Last week the preparation for presenting the final options to Bush hit a brief snag. On Thursday, Shelton reviewed the plans with Army General Tommy Franks, commander of Central Command, and with the commanders of the U.S. special forces. There was something in the plans that Shelton didn't like — "He wasn't comfortable with the targets," says a source — but by Friday the brass was ready for a presentation to the President; it took place in the White House at 1 p.m.
The U.S. has the ability to wage terrifying war on Afghanistan. There are already several hundred American warplanes in the region, based in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and aboard two aircraft carriers, the U.S.S. Carl Vinson and the U.S.S. Enterprise. Washington wants to conduct the air war from a new command center just outside Riyadh, but the Saudis are balking. (If the past is any guide, the U.S. will eventually get its way.) Another pair of carriers, the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk and the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, could be ready to attack within a week. The Pentagon and the State Department have arranged for basing bombers and refueling planes in Bahrain and Oman. B-52 and B-2 bombers, flying from the U.S. and the tiny speck of Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean, will also be serviced by tankers flying out of Thailand. Air Force Special Operations MH-53J Pave Low helicopters may be based in both Uzbekistan and Pakistan, close to Afghanistan's borders. (After initially seeming enthusiastic about basing rights, the Uzbeks appear to have had second thoughts.) The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is sailing to the theater, with 2,000 Marines and support helicopters; it will join another similar unit already in the region. Three guided-missile destroyers are on their way, and the Pentagon has readied active-duty ground forces for possible deployment. The core of such forces are likely to come from the Army's 18th Airborne Corps., which includes the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg.