New York: With the intention of mounting pressure on Baghdad to disarm, US is steadily increasing its military build-up in the Gulf region that would enable it to attack Iraq in January.

"The pieces are going into place that are the basic building blocks for a combination of military options," a media report quoting Senator John W Warner, a Republican who will take over as chairman of the armed Services Committee next month said.

About 60,000 soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen, as well as about 200 warplanes, were in or near the region. The Army alone has 9,000 soldiers, 24 Apache helicopter gunships and heavy equipment for two armoured brigades in Kuwait, the 'New York Times' reported.

Taken together, these are unmistakable signs that before long, President Bush would be in a position to order an attack, within days, on Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein, senior military officials were quoted as saying.

"This is really their last chance to decide to either have a peaceful resolution, which requires giving up those weapons, or have us to do it by force," Deputy Defence Secretary Paul D Wolfowitz said this week in Turkey.

Nearly 1,000 military planners, led by Gen Tommy Franks, had assembled in Qatar and other gulf states for a computer-simulated exercise that begins on December 9 and was intended as a model for an offensive against Iraq, officials said.

Equipment for a third brigade was steadily arriving on ships usually based in the Indian Ocean, and some material would be stored at Camp Arifjan - a new logistics base South of Kuwait City, the 'Times' said.

By late next week, four aircraft carriers would be poised to strike Iraq on short notice, with a fifth in Southeast Asia ready to steam to the Gulf in a crisis.

Two of the carriers, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, were heading home, but the Navy would keep their crews together about two weeks longer than the usual 30 days after arrival in case they are ordered back to the gulf, the daily said.

For now any talk of war is muted as the administration prepares to review Iraq's declaration of any weapons of mass destruction that it may possess.

The process of dealing with Iraq's disclosure – including any subsequent diplomatic discussions, further weapons inspections and possibly another United Nations resolution – could delay any attack for weeks or months, officials said.

Pentagon officials were quoted as saying that the armed forces could attack now, if required, but several diplomatic and military steps would need to be completed before the United States could go to war on its own terms.

The administration wants to use Turkey as a major staging base for American ground troops, who would swoop into Northern Iraq to protect the vast oil fields of Kurdistan and combine with allied forces pushing up from Kuwait.