GULF WATCH: Day 148 : A daily briefing paper on developments in the crisis : Military Front:

President Bush has decided that problems caused by postponing military action against Iraq outweigh the political and military risks of an early offensive, senior Administration officials said. His conclusion is based on the belief that delaying an attack much beyond the U.N. Security Council’s Jan. 15 deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait would significantly increase the number of American casualties, the officials said.

Responding to concerns expressed by top military officials, the President told reporters: “Don’t believe these reports you’re reading” that U.S. forces will not be fully prepared to launch a military offensive action by mid-January. “The situation is just right,” he said.

Members of Company A from the Marines Barracks in Washington, D.C., are being sent to the Persian Gulf, the first such deployment since 1906. Company A Marines are known for their ceremonial duties as guards at the White House and other tourist attractions.

Diplomatic Front:

President Saddam Hussein told Iraqi ambassadors summoned to an emergency session in Baghdad that he is ready for “serious and constructive dialogue” with the United States, but he insisted that any talks also address the Palestinian issue, the official Iraqi News Agency reported. If talks occur, President Bush told reporters, “there’s not going to be a compromise with this man” over demands that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait by Jan. 15.

Political Front:

Thousands of Iraqi women and children demonstrated outside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to protest the forced diversion of an Iraqi cargo vessel carrying food bound for Iraq.

The Sea Blockade:

* Number of ship interceptions: 5,833

* Number of ships boarded: 713

* Number of ships diverted: 30

* Number of participating countries: 17