New York: The US is establishing contacts with Iraqi groups capable of sabotaging communication and command infrastructure in a bid to get rid of Saddam Hussien without bombing or marching into Baghdad.

US is opening lines to "people who can do World War II-style resistance", breaking up communications and command infrastructure, 'Time' said in a report on November 25, quoting officials.

The sabotaging prior to war, officials said, brings double benefit.

It prepares ground if a full-blown invasion proves necessary and it just may be enough to topple Saddam without having to bomb Iraq and march into Baghdad, the magazine said in its upcoming issue.

"We've embarked on steps that help us prepare for a military option inside Iraq," the State Department official was quoted as saying.

"But that doesn't constitute a crossing of the Rubicon. None of these steps are irreversible, and all of them could help promote the longer-term destabilisation of Saddam's government."

US and British warplanes have moved to a more aggressive posture while enforcing Iraq's no-fly zones, the Northern and Southern regions from which Iraqi planes are banned.

"We're responding differently, hitting multiple targets when we're fired upon and it tends to be more important targets," says a Pentagon official.

Also, the US is beginning to work more closely with the Iraqi Kurds, the report said.

US officials told the magazine that within the past few weeks the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has opened two stations in Iraqi Kurdistan, one in Salahaddin and another in Suleimaniyah.

PTI