Pentagon Bolstering Military Forces in Gulf

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 05, 2002

Pentagon Bolstering Military Forces in Gulf

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The Pentagon is taking steps to prepare for a rapid massing of U.S. forces around Iraq in the weeks ahead, bolstering stocks of military equipment and ammunition in the Persian Gulf, expanding command facilities and readying Navy aircraft carriers in U.S. ports to steam to the region.

Defense officials have sought to keep the buildup as low-key as possible, to avoid upstaging the delicate political and diplomatic maneuvering underway to win authorization from Congress and the United Nations for possible U.S. military action against the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Many of the military moves have come under the cover of training exercises or routine operations.

But they reflect a growing seriousness on the part of the Bush administration about the possibility of war. Pentagon officials said the actions are meant to enable a faster deployment if President Bush decides to attack.

"We can do a certain amount of things now that will help shorten the time needed to get everything else in place later," a senior defense official said. "It doesn't mean that we're definitely going to do anything, but it hedges our bets."

The stealthy nature of the buildup has fed suspicions that the Pentagon is preparing for a surprise attack on Iraq. But in interviews, defense officials dismissed such speculation as unrealistic. Before any military action, they said, there will need to be a mobilization of several Army divisions, scores of Air Force aircraft and armadas of ships, plus a call-up of tens of thousands of reservists -- moves that would not go unnoticed.

Given the time required to get these forces to the Gulf region, the earliest an attack is likely to come is January, the officials said. But the measures being put in place will allow U.S. forces, after arriving in the region, to swing quickly into action against Iraq and avoid a prolonged and costly lingering of forces in Kuwait and other planned staging areas.

"I think you'll probably see a rolling start," a senior military officer said. "It won't be getting everything there and spending two or three months getting comfortable."

The Air Force, whose warplanes likely would lead off any assault, has stepped up production of the satellite-guidance kits used to turn "dumb" bombs into precision munitions and has been replenishing the stocks of bombs it keeps in the region after dropping many over Afghanistan.

U.S. authorities also have approached Britain for permission to move B-2 bombers from Missouri to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, a British base about 3,400 miles from Baghdad. It was used by the United States as a staging point for B-52 bombers in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

For months, the Air Force has been upgrading airfields in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman to handle expanded U.S. air operations and be prepared for the possibility that U.S. access to airfields in Saudi Arabia might be limited by Saudi reluctance to support an all-out attack on Iraq. A backup command post for running an air campaign has been established in Qatar to substitute for an elaborate U.S. command center completed last year at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base.

The Army kept about 2,000 soldiers in Kuwait for much of the 1990s as a tripwire against possible Iraqi aggression, but it has tripled the size of that force since November. A brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division is there now. The Army has acknowledged transferring equipment from its Qatar stockpile to Kuwait last summer to allow for larger Army exercises there, and more Army gear is being shipped to the Gulf from stocks in Germany, officials said.

About 2,000 Marines, members of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, also are in Kuwait in an exercise, dubbed "Eagle Mace," that affords training close to the Iraq border. The Belleau Wood, flagship of the Marines' three-ship "amphibious-ready group," has been off the coast of the Horn of Africa as a launching pad for possible Special Forces operations in Somalia or Yemen. But defense officials said the ship could easily shift into position nearer Iraq.

Two Navy carriers, along with their customary accompaniment of destroyers, cruisers and submarines, are within striking distance of Iraq. The George Washington, which deployed in June, is in the Mediterranean; and the Lincoln, which got underway in July, is in the northern Arabian Sea. Another carrier, the Harry S. Truman, is due to leave Virginia in December.

Maintenance work and air crew training on three other carriers on the West Coast -- the Constellation, the Nimitz and the Carl Vinson -- have been accelerated to prepare them for possible deployment to the Gulf region as well, Navy officials said. Still another carrier, the Kitty Hawk, based in Japan, would be available for Gulf action.

Next month, the U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for military operations in the region, plans to move a staff of 600 people to Qatar from its headquarters in Florida. Although billed as a training exercise, the move will allow the establishment of a main command post that could be used in the event of war. A senior defense official said more troop movements to the Gulf could be announced within the next week or two, including the arrival of an Army headquarters contingent that would command land forces in a war.

Two weeks ago, Gen. Richard G. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, disclosed that the Pentagon had resumed inoculating certain troops for anthrax. Although other defense officials said the resumption had been planned for months, the move meant important protection for U.S. forces facing the threat of biological attack.

The military buildup has been accompanied by an increase in U.S. airstrikes on Iraqi air defense targets, reflecting what Pentagon officials say has been an increase in Iraqi provocations. But the types of targets also have expanded. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld disclosed last month that he had directed commanders to focus retaliatory strikes on air defense communications centers in an attempt to degrade Iraq's air defense network.

On Thursday, U.S. warplanes dropped thousands of leaflets over the southern zone, warning Iraqi air defense crews they will be attacked and destroyed if they track or fire at American and British aircraft. Defense officials said the leafleting was not the opening of a psychological war campaign. But it indicated a Pentagon effort to increase pressure on Iraqi military units, many of which the U.S. military hopes to persuade not to fight in event of an invasion.

"This is part of an overall program to make sure that the folks on the ground understand what their risk is, and how the coalition views their attacks on our aircraft," Rear Adm. David Gove, deputy director for operations on the Pentagon's Joint Staff, told reporters yesterday.

Source: agencies

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