US President George W Bush on Thursday convened his war cabinet to discuss the plans for invading Iraq.

Central Command chief General Tommy Franks, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet all attended the briefing for Bush.

The White House meeting is likely to be the last face-to-face briefing between Bush and Gen Franks before the war begins.

"They don't want to tip off the timing with another meeting," an official was quoted as saying.

Gen Franks told the cabinet how he plans to capture Iraq, either with or without stationing a large number of ground troops in Turkey to open a northern front against President Saddam Hussein's forces.

"If the president of the United States decides to undertake action, we are in a position to provide a military option," Gen Franks said at a Pentagon press conference.

"There is no doubt we will prevail," he said.

If war does come, Rumsfeld said at the same press conference, "the Iraqi regime will be gone, and Saddam Hussein would be removed from power."

The UN Security Council next week is scheduled to debate a new resolution being pushed by the Bush administration that authorises an attack on Iraq. After that debate has ended, an invasion could come at any time, the US official said.

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