US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said late Monday he had ordered an update of all US contingency war plans, including those outlining possible military action against Iraq.
He also refused to give any details about the plans, even if President George W. Bush decided to bring about a regime change in Iraq through military means.
"You do not let anybody in on war plans," Rumsfeld said in an interview on US television. "If you have plans as to how one is going to conduct an operation, you do not let anybody know what those are."
The defense secretary said he had recently ordered a review of dozens of Pentagon plans for hypothetical battles and other emergency situations that might involve US troops.
"We're reviewing all of them and updating them," Rumsfeld said. "And we're elevating the risks so that they can be judged, and they can be brought up to an appropriate level of potential value."
Rumsfeld's comments came as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was poised to begin talks in Ankara with top Turkish officials on security cooperation in the region and Turkey's possible role in US efforts to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that Washington has a secret blueprint for a massive attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
The plan, described as a preliminary operational "concept," outlines a simultaneous land invasion of Iraq from Turkey, Jordan and the Gulf region supported by massive air strikes against Iraqi targets, including airfields, highways and fiber-optics communications sites, according to the report.
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