Rumsfeld send Pentagon planners back to drawing board over Iraq

Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is very unhappy with the various military plans and options that generals and admirals have presented him on how to deal with Iraq, sources told CNN Thursday.

Rumsfeld told the Pentagon to rework military options for Iraq, saying he wants to see a plan for lightning-quick attacks against Iraq and sources said he wants the plan to be developed quickly so he can brief President Bush in the next few weeks.

Sources say both Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney are becoming deeply involved in the planning progress. Sources said both men are leading the administration view that it is time to move against Iraq soon.

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The development comes as experts on Iraq continue testimony Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Iraqi threat to the United States and possible U.S. responses, including a military attack on Iraq. The two-day hearing began Wednesday.

Saying that Iraqis are "ready, indeed eager for change" after years of repression by Hussein's Sunni regime, Iraqi scholar Phebe Marr said there would have to be long-term U.S. military and political commitment in Iraq, which has not had experience with democracy.

Marr was one of two Iraq specialists who testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Iraqi threat to the United States and possible U.S. responses.