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CNN's Carl Rochelle reports on Clinton's meeting Sunday
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton is likely to make a decision on whether to use military force against Iraq within the next 24 to 48 hours, a high-placed source said Sunday.

Clinton held a two-hour meeting on Iraq with his National Security team on Sunday, receiving briefings from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and CIA Director George Tenet.

After the meeting, a White House official said Clinton asked for the advisers to report back to him during the next few days. "At this point, the president has made no decision," the official said.

U.S. officials say they want to end Iraq's refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors by using diplomatic pressure on President Saddam Hussein, although an attack on key military targets is also being considered.

Annan

One source told CNN said that if the United States decides to use force against Iraq, it could do so quickly. The Pentagon considered military action in a previous standoff with Iraq over arms inspections that was defused in February by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"Everything is prepared, because it was prepared once before," said the source, who asked to remain unidentified.

Sources confirmed to CNN that the United States has abandoned hope of enforcing the U.N. weapons searches and has turned more to containing Iraq through sanctions and the use of force.

U.S. officials concede that an attack on Baghdad would mean the expulsion of the remaining U.N. inspectors and the end of the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM), which was established to monitor Iraq's weapons program.

U.S. analysts say Clinton faces tough choices.

If he does not have full international backing, any military assault could seriously upset allies in the region, particularly Arabs, and may have little effect on Iraq's long-term ability to produce chemical and biological arms.

Only Britain has said that it fully supports military action if necessary to force Iraq to comply with U.N. demands.

If Clinton continues a policy adopted after the last standoff in February, putting the onus on the United Nations to solve the dispute by diplomacy, he risks damaging U.S. credibility as well as the revival of a serious threat to stability in the Middle East.

Reuters contributed to this report.