U.S. Sen. Brownback, R-Kan., has reiterated his opposition to a ground invasion of Iraq by the United States.

Brownback said President Bush met to discuss Iraqi dangers with congressional leaders. But the senior Kansas senator said he still supports a broader diplomatic approach to solving problems from the region instead of an armed U.S. invasion to topple the Iraqi regime.

In a teleconference Wednesday morning with Kansas news reporters Brownback said he still favors U.S. assistance to internal opponents of the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein rather than a “Gulf War II” type of attack on Iraq.

Brownback said there is no question that Saddam is “an evil man” with chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction at his disposal. But, Brownback said, the best course for defanging Saddam and fanatical Islamic terrorist movements is to encourage democracy in Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the Sudan.