The total number of US troops in the Gulf region surrounding Iraq is now reported to exceed more than a quarter of a million.

Some 90,000 US troops are stationed just miles away from Iraq in the desert of Kuwait. The Iraqi forces along the border will likely be among the first to face an American invasion.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein chaired a meeting of the country’s top military and political leadership today. This comes just 24 hours before chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix will deliver a briefing to the UN Security Council that Baghdad views as a make or break moment in the current crisis. Baghdad has begun implementing a number of internal security measures.

• Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! correspondent, reporting from Baghdad.

Related link:

• Iraq Journal