- AL UDEID, Qatar - The quiet
preparations now underway in the Persian Gulf and at U.S. bases in Europe
and Asia are building an army that will be ready for war against Iraq as
early as December.
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- If all goes according to plan, the U.S. Air Force and
Navy will first destroy Iraq's radars and command and control centres,
then sap the morale of its army, a process calculated to take between a
few weeks and two months.
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- Then, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps will invade by land
from Kuwait and Turkey, by sea from the northern Persian Gulf, and by air
from whichever airports in the region or Europe the 101st Airborne Assault
Division and/or the 82 Airborne Division choose to launch from.
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- This timetable dovetails with the probable schedule of
UN weapons inspectors. Once they enter Iraq, most likely before the end
of October, a clock will start ticking in Washington.
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- Baghdad will have about 37 days to show it has given
the inspectors unfettered access to places where nuclear, chemical or biological
weapons may be made or stored. If it does not comply, the United States
will have the men and equipment in place to remove Saddam Hussein from
power by force, whether the rest of the world is onside by then or not.
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- For several months, the Pentagon has been assembling
the pieces of a complex and expensive jigsaw, benefiting from lessons learned
in the 1991 Gulf war.
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- Back then, it took six months to bring 500,000 ground
troops and their equipment together. This time, it may take as little as
a month to get 100,000 ground troops in place -- the smaller number is
due to the fact the Pentagon believes Iraq's forces are much weakened since
the Gulf war.
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- Their weapons, fuel and food should be in the region
when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ends in early December.
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- The Navy will provide the most obvious evidence war is
imminent. It already has two aircraft carriers within striking distance
and up to four others preparing to get underway by December.
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- When two or more of these additional carriers leave their
home ports in Virginia and California, the bombing phase of the war is
probably not more than two or three weeks away.
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- Figuring out the exact rhythms of the Air Force and Army
is a little trickier -- they are not nearly as open to the media as the
Navy.
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- But the United States has been moving prodigious amounts
of army gear and equipment in or near the region since the Gulf war, in
Qatar and Kuwait in particular.
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- It has also chartered a fleet of roll-on, roll-off ships,
each capable of carrying equipment for up to 20,000 soldiers. Matching
the gear from these ships with troops from several divisions should not
take more than a few weeks.
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- The troops are being trained in Texas and California
for specific missions, such as building Bailey bridges over the Euphrates
River and conducting urban warfare in Baghdad.
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- Getting the Air Force in position is much easier. Once
it gets its orders, more than 1,000 fighter jets and bombers could be in
position and ready to go within a week.
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- Central to its efforts will be its new base in Al Udeid,
Qatar, with a five-kilometre runway -- the longest in the Middle East.
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- A recent visit to the airfield provided glimpses of 11
jets from a U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Wing parked in two groups. Six
appeared to be wide-body KC-10s, massive in-air refuelling tankers. Another
five looked like 40-year old KC-135s, the tanker variant of the Boeing
707.
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- A sixth KC-135 circled overhead briefly before landing.
A few minutes later a Black Hawk helicopter clattered out over the chalky
desert towards the Saudi border.
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- With U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia deteriorating,
Qatar is now home to a three-star Air Force general. By Christmas, it is
expected 100 or more tanker aircraft will be based here.
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- Hangars and reinforced bunkers may already be sheltering
bombers and fighters. Somewhere underground is a backup command centre
for officers of U.S. Central Command, usually based in Tampa, Fla., in
case they are unable to use a similar facility in Saudi Arabia.
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- About 600 strategists from the Florida command are expected
in Qatar any day now for an exercise called Internal Look. When they return
home is an open question.
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- In Kuwait, travellers passing through the international
airport can see fleets of U.S. Air Force C-5A Galaxies and C-17 jets disgorging
cargo almost every night.
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- But, as in Qatar, most of the U.S. military's recent
activities in Kuwait have been kept out of the spotlight. This includes
Eager Mace, a "routine exercise" that began last week in which
the Marines' 11th Expeditionary Unit came ashore from amphibious assault
ships.
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- A drive through the desert north and west of Kuwait City
near the Iraq border quickly turns up further signs of the U.S. military.
Several military fuel bowsers are on the road, as are empty army flatbed
trucks designed to carry 70-tonne M1-A1 Abrams tanks.
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- Kuwait is also the base for U.S. Air Force fighters enforcing
the UN ban on Iraqi flights south of the 33rd parallel, the southern "no-fly"
zone. A battery of U.S. Army Patriot missiles was pointed north toward
Iraq near the perimeter of an air base.
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- Closer to Kuwait City, at Camp Doha, a U.S. Army CH-47
popped into the sky and headed north. The 3rd U.S. Army moved its headquarters
and a three-star general here earlier this year. The general presides over
370 tanks and other armoured vehicles that have been kept battle-ready
for years in 40 climate-controlled warehouses.
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- Security at the biggest U.S. Army base in the region
is extremely tight. Sensors mounted on the wall check for traces of biological
or chemical weapons, while other instruments register movement.
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- A concrete barricade keeps traffic 100 metres from the
base, except at a choke point where a warren of barricades hems in vehicles
so military police can search them.
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- The Army has been rotating as many as 10,000 troops at
a time through Camp Doha. Now in residence are soldiers from the 3rd Infantry
Division (Mechanized) from Fort Stewart, Ga., headed to another "routine
exercise" near the Iraqi border.
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- Specialist Web sites indicate there is enough kit already
in Kuwait for another 10,000 armoured troops. The tanks, armoured personnel
carriers and artillery for two more brigades are only a week away at a
base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean leased from Britain.
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- At Bahrain, the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet
is under the command of a third three-star officer. This admiral is responsible
for the dozens of U.S. and coalition warships already in the Persian Gulf,
the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, as well as the Marines now in Kuwait,
another group of Marines off the coast of Yemen and a third group expected
to arrive by sea in the next few weeks.
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- In Bahrain, a civilian airfield handles U.S Air Force
transport flights to Europe, Asia and the United States, and U.S. Navy
P-3 Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft. At a military airfield nearby,
the U.S. Air Force has B-1 bombers. Somewhere in the emirate is a unit
of elite Navy Seals.
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- To enforce the northern no-fly zone, the United States
keeps three types of warplanes at its NATO base in Turkey and has asked
permission to bring in more air power.
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- More refuelling tankers and reconnaissance aircraft are
kept at bases in Oman and B-52 bombers are based at Diego Garcia.
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- The island may also soon be home to B-2 bombers.
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- THE U.S. MILITARY PREPARES FOR WAR
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- TURKEY: U.S. air base at Incirlik, home to 1,700 troops,
is used to police no-fly zones. Located 500 nautical miles from Baghdad,
beyond Iraqi missile range.
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- KUWAIT: Camp Doha is home to 3rd army headquarters and
more than 350 tanks.
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- BAHRAIN: Headquarters of U.S. 5th fleet and base for
4,200 military personnel plus pre-positioned equipment stockpile.
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- SAUDI ARABIA: U.S. keeps 6,000 personnel and undisclosed
number of planes at Prince Sultan air base.
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- DIEGO GARCIA: Tanks, armoured personnel carriers and
artillery assembled at Indian Ocean atoll leased from Britain. 12,000-ft
runway used to launch B-52 bombers.
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- DJIBOUTI: 800 U.S. special forces troops assembled,
reportedly under CIA command to cloak their operations.
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- QATAR: Upgraded al-Udeid air base to become forward
command base for attack. 600 U.S. strategists to arrive in November. Runway
is longest in Middle East.
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- AT SEA: Fleet of U.S. aircraft carriers planned for
Gulf in case U.S. loses air bases in Arab states.
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- © Copyright 2002 National Post
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- http://www.nationalpost.com/world/story.html?id={3B60672C-890E-4217-B252-3EC888C5B10C}
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