US Navy Hospital Ship Leaves for Gulf Region

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 07, 2003

US Navy Hospital Ship Leaves for Gulf Region

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The US Navy's 1,000-bed hospital ship USNS Comfort left the port of Baltimore on Monday for the Gulf region, in one of the strongest signals that the United States is preparing for a military showdown with Iraq.

With a crew of about 300 Navy personnel and 61 civilian mariners, the ship is equipped to provide care for troops injured in biological and chemical attacks. The converted tanker, which has 12 operating rooms, was sent to New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to assist emergency crews.

Navy officials said it would take about three weeks for the Comfort to arrive at the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, meaning its arrival will coincide with the Jan. 27 date for a crucial report from UN weapons inspectors on Iraq's weapons programs.

Meanwhile, the Tarawa Amphibious Ready Group, carrying about 4,000 sailors and Marines, set sail from San Diego toward the Gulf on a regularly scheduled six-month deployment. The group carries aircraft and landing vehicles for mounting ship-to-shore attacks.

The departure of the hospital ship and the amphibious assault ships was part of a military buildup in the Gulf region intensified since Christmas.

The Pentagon has ordered up to 50,000 ground troops, two aircraft carrier battle groups and scores of combat aircraft to prepare for deployment in the Gulf region in January and February,adding to the 60,000 US military personnel already there.

Since the beginning of the new year, more than 11,000 troops from the 3rd US Infantry Division have been alerted to prepare forimmediate deployment in the Gulf region.

One of the division's combat brigades was sent to Kuwait in September and much of the division's equipment has already been shipped to the region.

The 3rd Infantry specializes in desert warfare and has a special focus on the Middle East. Many of its senior soldiers tookpart in the Gulf War.

The Pentagon also ordered some units of the 45,000-member 1st Marine Expeditionary Force last week to deploy from California to the Gulf region.

The Washington Post reported Monday that the military is assembling a ground force that could include three to four heavy Army divisions, an airborne division, a Marine division and an assortment of Special Operations forces.

The Army has summoned commanders of four of its best-equipped and most capable divisions for an exercise called Victory Scrimmage at the end of the month. In it, commanders will use computer simulations to run through Iraq war scenarios, the reportsaid.

The units include the 1st Armored, the 1st Mechanized Infantry,the 1st Cavalry with its mix of tanks and helicopters, and the helicopter-heavy 101st Airborne.

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