- PARIS (AFP) -- While the
UN Security Council stalemate drags out, the United States has quietly
been building up its military forces close to Iraq, apparently preparing
for a new Gulf war -- with or without international approval.
Over the past two months, the number of US servicemen and women in the
region has soared to around 50,000, about 400 military aircraft are now
stationed there, and at least three aircraft carriers and their assorted
escort ships are on their way.
Many of the deployments have been done discreetly, with no fanfare. And
those that have been noticed have been described as "war games"
by the Pentagon.
But analysts have not failed to notice what is now the biggest massing
of US military might in the region since the 1991 Gulf war.
The announcement last week by General Tommy Franks, the head of the US
Central Command area that takes in the Middle East, that he was moving
his headquarters from Florida to Qatar underlined the seriousness of the
deployments and how imminent military action could be.
The fact that the movements have been taking place while the UN Security
Council debates a US-British draft resolution shows how keen US military
planners are to have all their pieces in place should they get the order
to attack Iraq.
The optimum time for any such campaign would be during winter or very early
spring -- before the crushing heat and machine-clogging dust of summer.
Most of the US troops are stationed in Kuwait, either in a series of desert
tent camps strung along the Iraqi border or in Camp Doha, which acts as
the army command base. A few hundred are in Saudi Arabia and in Qatar.
Two Patriot anti-missile batteries are also located in Kuwait, and another
two are in Saudi Arabia, according to the specialist website GlobalSecurity.org.
US aircraft are in Turkey's southeastern Incirlik airbase, in Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. B-2 bombers are also being moved to Britain
from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
Two US aircraft carriers, USS Abraham Lincoln and USS George Washington,
are already in the region, with the latter due to return. Another three
-- USS Constellation, USS Nimitz and USS Harry Truman -- are expected to
arrive in December and January, while the carrier USS Kitty Hawk slipped
out of Japan late October for an undisclosed destination.
In addition, US army engineering units that might be sent to Iraq are receiving
portable fold-out bridges, the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported Sunday.
Such equipment suggests that, unlike the last Gulf war, US forces may be
preparing for a mass ground invasion of Iraq, for which it would be required
to cross the Euphrates river which traverses the country.
Three US Navy cargo ships -- USNS Bellatrix, USNS Bob Hope and USNS Fisher
-- have also been sent to US ports to take on heavy combat equipment, machinery
and vehicles that may include possibly tanks and helicopters. US officials
have refused to give any details of their missions.
Plans have also been activated to call up retired merchant marine sailors
to fill gaps in what appears to be a huge logistical transport operation
to the Middle East by the US military that would involve around 50 chartered
freighters.
The advanced state of the US deployment leaves only a few last-minute touches
before US attacks could begin.
They would likely take the form of the radar-evading Stealth bombers taking
off from their US bases, the rapid deployment of elite helicopter-borne
soldiers, and the call-up of thousands of National Guard and reserve forces
to cover for the departed troops.
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