WASHINGTON, Aug 21: President George Bush called his top national security advisers to the presidential ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Wednesday amid media reports that the United States is planning a military offensive against Iraq.

But the White House strongly insisted that the meeting was being called to discuss military reforms and should not be seen as a planning session on Iraq, as news reports are portraying it.

Despite the administration’s admonitions, the fact that the lineup for the meeting involves all key members of Bush’s national security team does nothing to discourage the media speculation. Bush will meet at his Texas ranch with Vice President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and others. “The purpose of the meeting is to talk about transformation of the Defence Department,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer

The meeting will focus on reforming the US military’s weapons, strategy and finances, and developing a system to defend against a missile attack on the United States, the White House said. Reporting the meeting, several US television channels said on Wednesday that the chances of a US attack on Iraq are creeping upward as President Bush moves closer to those in his Republican Party who favour an all-out attack on Saddam Hussein’s regime. Another indication the United States was getting ready for war with Iraq came from US oil companies, which said Tuesday that during the past five months they had drastically cut imports from the Gulf state. US diplomats and oil industry analysts said the move signals a desire to locate alternative sources of crude before Bush sends troops into Iraq.

Although it is not yet clear if Washington will launch an offensive aimed at removing Hussein from power, it is becoming obvious that those in the administration who have urged caution and patience are being drowned out. Even newspapers that have taken editorial stands against a new war with Iraq have begun guessing when Bush will give the go-ahead for an invasion.

Analysts regarded with concern a news report on Tuesday that Bush is reading a new book on Iraq by Eliot Cohen, a Johns Hopkins University scholar who is seen as a hard-right hawk. The book, “Supreme Command,” urges the US president to ignore his generals who oppose the war and listen instead to civilian advisers who say Hussein must be taught a lesson.