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Marines In Persian Gulf Placed
On DEFCON 2 Alert - Report

By Canoe Staff
Canoe.ca
9-14-2


The Canoe.qc.ca web site has learned that American Marines in the Persian Gulf have been placed on DEFCON 2 alert status, a possible precursor to war with Iraq.
 
A senior source inside the Expeditionary force of American Marines - a special operations unit that is usually first on the scene - told Canoe.qc.ca that President Bush has put U.S. military forces in the Middle East and Southeastern Asian on high alert.
 
The senior source, who addressed U.S. Marines stationed in Canada, added that Delta elite corps, Rangers and Marines throughout the world would be ready to move "within less than 18 hours."
 
The news is eerily reminiscent of the atmosphere prior to the U.S.-Allied Forces invasion of Iraq in the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war.
 
On Thursday night, from Ellis Island, Bush said that America "has entered a great struggle" and he will "pursue the terrorists in cities, and camps, and caves across the earth... to rid the world of terror."
 
Bush vociferously added; "We have no intention of ignoring or appeasing history's latest gang of fanatics trying to murder their way to power... What our enemies have begun, we will finish."
 
DEFCON, an acronym for Defense Readiness Conditions, is defined on the U.S. Department of Defense web site as "a uniform system of progressive alert postures... graduated to match situations of varying military severity."
 
It consists of five stages defined as follows:
 
DEFCON 5 Normal peacetime readiness
DEFCON 4 Normal, increased intelligence and strengthened security measures
DEFCON 3 Increase in force readiness above normal readiness
DEFCON 2 Further Increase in force readiness, but less than maximum readiness
DEFCON 1 Maximum force readiness.
 
Following the September 11 terrorist attacks the U.S. Military declared a DEFCON 3 alert, the same state of emergency during the Middle East War in 1973. Military forces have remained in a hightened state of alert since the attacks and the subsequent U.S. offensive in Afghanistan.
 
In recent weeks The White House has been attempting to gain support from its allies for another possible military offensive against Iraq. Britain and Israel are already on board, but several NATO nations, including France, Germany and Russia have voiced their opposition to such action.
 
Thursday President Bush will address the United Nations to demand that Iraq admit weapons inspectors and urge world leaders to insist on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's compliance.
 
Bush's address was preceded Wednesday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging Iraq to admit inspectors or face any consequences the Security Council decides to impose.
 
Three rounds of U.N.-Iraq talks since March have failed to get Iraq to agree to the return of inspectors, who left in December 1998 ahead of U.S. and British airstrikes to punish Hussein's government for not cooperating with inspections. U.N. resolutions and the agreement that ended the Gulf War bar Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction. Iraq also is under orders to allow any such weapons in its arsenal to be destroyed.
 
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., was to depart for Iraq on Wednesday to inquire about the possibility of U.S. negotiations with Baghdad. Rahall told the Associated Press that he supported the intervention of the U.S.-led coalition that liberated Kuwait from Iraqi control 11 years ago. But this time, he said, "I have a lot of unanswered questions."
 
CNN reported Wednesday that Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. Central Command, presented updated war plans targeting Iraq in a Pentagon meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the meeting Franks detailed specific target lists for Iraq and which U.S. weapons would be used to destroy each target.
 
President Bush has so far been unable to get congressional approval for military action in Iraq.
 
"I will be extremely disappointed if the president goes and enunciates a unilateral approach: 'The world be damned, here we go.' That is not in our interest," Senator Joseph Biden told the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.
with files from The Associated Press
<http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/defcon2_sep11-can.html>http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/defcon2_sep11-can.html





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