-- U.S. to Send 7,000 More Marines to Gulf-Officials --
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has told 7,000 Marines
from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to prepare to go to the Gulf
along with other U.S. troops and arms in a major American
military build-up for possible war with Iraq, Marine Corps
officials said on Friday.
"No deployment order has been received, but they have been
authorized to be ready to quickly pre-stage and embark aboard
Navy ships," one of the officials, who asked not to be
identified, told Reuters.
The Marine Corps troops, support warplanes and helicopters
would come from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force based at
Camp Lejeune and include air support elements from Marine Corps
air stations at Cherry Point and New River, North Carolina,
according to the officials.
The United States has already begun sending more than
12,000 armored and infantry troops from the state of Georgia
and from Germany and thousands of Marines from California to
the Gulf. Other U.S. forces are also move in a new year's surge
expected to more than double the 60,000 troops the United
States now has in the Gulf region.
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10-Jan-2003 15:12:45 GMT
Source RTRS - Reuters News |
