Rumsfeld ordered 'significant' forces in Gulf
By Reuters
WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed an order this week sending "significant" ground forces, combat aircraft and logistics support to the Persian Gulf, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
Rumsfeld signed a 20-page classified order on Tuesday to send an array of forces and capabilities to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and other Gulf nations in the coming weeks, the newspaper reported, citing senior defense officials.
"It's a little bit of everything, and it's very comprehensive," the report in Saturday's editions quoted an unnamed official as saying. "It's heavy on the logistics side," the official added.
The developments came as the United States builds up its presence in the Gulf region before a possible war on Baghdad. President George W. Bush has said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must comply with a UN resolution to end any programs to develop weapons of mass destruction or face possible military attack.
The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command said the USNS Comfort, an 272-metres-long hospital ship that can treat soldiers attacked with chemical and biological weapons, has been ordered to set sail as early as Monday.
The Pentagon has decided to notify up to 50,000 ground troops that they may be sent to the Gulf early in 2003. The United States currently has about 60,000 troops in the region.
A U.S. official said on Friday that the Defense Department also has placed two aircraft carriers on alert for possible use against Iraq.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Navy has been directed to have the USS George Washington and either the USS Abraham Lincoln or USS Kitty Hawk, with cruisers and destroyers, ready to head to the Gulf on 96 hours' notice.
The George Washington returned to Virginia only last week from a deployment to the region.
The Post also reported that the size of the force in the Gulf will be smaller than the roughly half-million assembled during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Reacting to the order, the U.S. Army alerted the 1st and 3rd brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division, headquartered at Fort Stewart, Georgia, that they might soon be deployed. The division's 2nd brigade is already in Kuwait, the report said.
The 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is also likely to deploy, as well as the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, with 17,500 troops, based at Camp Pendleton, California, it cited defense officials as saying.
The final U.S. troops could be flown directly into Iraq, current and former defense officials said.
Officials were cited as saying the Air Force's Air Combat Command said five air units had received deployment orders in the last 24 hours.
Defense officials also expect the Air Force to move F-117 Stealth fighters from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico to Al Jaber air base in Kuwait, the paper reported.
The final buildup is also expected to involve 200,000 to 250,000 reserve and National Guard members, some sent to the Gulf and some activated to guard U.S. bases, it also said. |
