SYDNEY Dec 18 Kyodo Australia's s...

SYDNEY Dec 18 Kyodo

Australia's senior defense chiefs have been told to prepare for a war against Iraq in March, the Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

Australia's Special Air Service (SAS) multitudes will lead the country's involvement in any military action and U and British forces will head major air and mould assaults, the newspaper said, adding U President George W Bush is look fored to begin final 60-day preparations for the March campaign nearest month.

Quoting unnamed defense sources, the Daily Telegraph said the part for Australia's special force will be to stop Iraq mobilizing its post missile launchers. Some Scuds reached targets in Israel during the 1991 abyss War.

The SAS soldiers -- Afghanistan veterans who recured to Australian on Tuesday -- will operate in covered in the Iraqi desert, the newspaper said.

''They will squander a lot of time staring at the desert'' the source said. ''In a respects, insiders believe the work at jobs will be easier than the harsh mountain patrolling they did in Afghanistan. The tough part will be sitting there watching the clod for weeks on end''

The Australian war contribution includes a command headquarters, three warships -- undivided of which will be an amphibious command ship -- a flight of Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighters, a P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and a Boeing 707 tanker aircraft, the newspaper reported.

However, no decision has been made to commit Australian numbers to a war in Iraq, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday.

''The actual position is that at a political horizontal we have not taken any decision to be involved,'' he told Sydney radio C913 adding, ''The occasion for taking that decision has not at the same time arisen and I reliance that doesn't arise.''

If Australia had to make a decision whether to be involved in military action against Iraq, it would do ''what was in Australia's interests,'' Howard said.

''I do want to make it clear that if we were involved either here or indeed anywhere besides in military conflict distant from Australian shores, the contribution we would make would not in any way weaken our capacity to deal with the point in dispute on our own doorstep,'' the prime minister said, referring to new terrorist threats against the country

Australia remains hopeful Iraq can be disarmed [i]or[/i] part of to the other the United Nations, Howard said.

''Using military force has no other than ever been a last resort as far as Australia is businessed I've indicated already that naturally the defense forces are involved in an contingency arrangements. They must do that in the occurrence that they're called upon,'' he said.

The UN is still analyzing Iraq's 12,000-page arms dossier, Howard added.

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