GULF WATCH: Day 116 : A daily briefing paper on developments in the crisis : Diplomatic Front:

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) criticized President Bush for meeting with Syrian President Hafez Assad and said sanctions should be given more time to work before the United States decides to use military force to compel an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait. Noting Assad’s links to terrorism, Mitchell said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Bush’s meeting with the Syrian leader in Geneva last week was “a serious misjudgment.” Congress opens hearings this week on the President’s Persian Gulf policies.

In Cairo, visiting Canadian Foreign Minister Joe Clark said he opposes setting a deadline for an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait. Secretary of State James A. Baker III plans to go before the U.N. Security Council this week to seek a resolution authorizing the use of force to compel an Iraqi withdrawal. But Clark said that writing a deadline into that resolution would be counterproductive.

Military Front:

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said Iraq is working “very hard” to build a nuclear bomb and could, in the “worst-case” scenario envisioned by U.S. intelligence, have a “crude” nuclear device in hand within a year. Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Cheney cited the nuclear threat as one reason why the Bush Administration is working “very aggressively” to ensure that “we’ve got the capability to use military force should that be required” to force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. However, the defense secretary also added that the specter of Iraq obtaining nuclear weapons means that the gulf crisis will not end even if Iraq bows to pressure and withdraws from Kuwait.

Iraq announced that it is mobilizing 60,000 farmers for military service and it once again threatened to attack Saudi Arabia with missiles if U.S. forces launch an offensive against Iraq.

Hostage Front:

More Western hostages left Iraq as an Iraqi charter jet carrying 104 Germans and one British national arrived in Frankfurt, Germany. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, visiting Baghdad in a bid to secure the release of some of the hundreds of Americans held hostage in Iraq, met with Hussein on Sunday, but no details of the meeting were announced.

The Saudi Military Deployment:

Army: 38,000

National Guard: 56,000

Navy: 7,200

Air Force: 16,500

Tanks: 550

Aircraft: 180

Warships: 8