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Administration officials say President Bush's advisers are recommending he declare Iraq in violation of the U.N. disarmament resolution. But the officials say advisers do not consider the offense an immediate cause for war.
Bush is to be briefed as early as Wednesday on the options for responding.
An official who doesn't want to be named says Bush's national security team has concluded the declaration is full of holes. He says the holes include Iraq's failure to explain what happened to Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapons program after 1998, and the denial of any nuclear weapons programs inside Iraq.
One official involved in the talks calls the Iraqi document "an incredible joke."
Meantime, there are reports of an internal squabble over the U.S. battle plans for Iraq.
A story in The Washington Post says top Army and Marine generals are challenging the theory that Saddam Hussein's government will crumble as soon as an attack begins.
The generals say some parts of the battle plan appear riskier than the usual military practice. They think civilian Pentagon officials should pay more attention to planning for the worst -- namely drawn-out street fighting.
But Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells the Post he's not underestimating Baghdad. He says it would be a "terrible mistake" for anyone to predict the course a war will take.
The Post says there's talk at the Pentagon of large-scale troop movements or mobilizations being announced after the holidays.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
