The target of a US military attack on Iraq would be Saddam Hussein's narrow power base not the country's civilian infrastructure, said US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld.
But he refused to discuss any details of US war planning and called those who have leaked such information poorly informed people whose talk puts the lives of US troops at risk.
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"I have said, and the president has said, that the small group of people that run Iraq and have run it for a good many years have repressed the people, and in a very real sense the people of that country are hostages to a small group of dictatorial, repressive government officials," he said.
"The United States hasn't, and never has had, any problem with the Iraqi people".
Referring to reports that any US military attack on Iraq would seek to avoid inflicting extensive damage on the nation's infrastructure, MrRumsfeld said: "They're saying the obvious.
"Obviously no one would want to harm the people of that country. We favour the people of that country. But what the president will decide to do is entirely in the future".
The White House acknowledged the Pentagon has submitted a detailed set of military options for action against Iraq. Officials said the options would be refined further in the weeks ahead and that Mr Bush had made no decision to go to war.
AP