Top US generals have been giving some indications of how they intend to ensure a short, clean war against Iraq, the New York Times reported on 4 March. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, told reporters that the action would be 'much, much different,' from the 1990-91 Gulf war. 'The best way [to keep war short] would be to have such a shock to the system that the Iraq regime would have to assume early on the end was inevitable,' he said. Other military officials elaborated, revealing that the war would begin with 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles being launched in the first 48 hours, followed swiftly be a ground invasion. Myers said that an attack would be mounted on two fronts despite the decision of the Turkish parliament not to allow US troops to deploy on its soil. The likely alternative is more limited operations out of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.