UAE Sends Ships, Forces to Defend Kuwait
By ANWAR FARUQI
Associated Press Writer
February 12, 2003, 7:15 AM EST
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The United Arab Emirates said Wednesday it will send tanks, attack helicopters, warships and about 4,000 troops to Kuwait to help defend that country from an Iraqi attack if the United States goes to war against Saddam Hussein.
A top military official speaking on condition of anonymity said the Emirates is sending a mechanized brigade backed by Apache attack helicopters, Leclerc tanks, BMP3 amphibious armored vehicles, a missile boat and a frigate in the coming days.
The small island nation of Bahrain also said Wednesday it would send a frigate and an unspecified number of troops.
Fellow Persian Gulf states have also agreed to dispatch a combined military force to Kuwait, preparing for the likelihood of war even as they hope for a diplomatic end to the U.S.-Iraq crisis.
The decision to send the combined force, known as the Peninsula Shield, was made in Saudi Arabia Saturday at a meeting of ministers of the six Arab Gulf states.
The forces will be under the command of the host country, Kuwait, the Emirates official said, speaking by telephone from Abu Dhabi, the nation's capital and largest of its seven emirates.
Peninsula Shield, based in Hafr al-Baten, a northeastern Saudi base near the Iraqi border, has some 5,000 troops. It was unclear how many of those troops would be sent to Kuwait, or how many Emirates troops would be involved in that deployment.
A Bahraini Information Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press in Manama that Bahraini forces were on their way to Kuwait. As part of its contribution, Bahrain was dispatching its only frigate, Sabha -- a gift from the U.S. Navy. It also was sending some troops, the official said. He would not elaborate.
Other Gulf nations have not yet said publicly what they would contribute to Kuwait's defense.
Peninsula Shield proved powerless in August 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait and remained in the country until a U.S.-led coalition expelled Saddam Hussein's army seven months later. The council's oil-rich members have small armed forces and rely heavily on the United States and other Western allies for their defense.
With tens of thousands of U.S. troops already in Kuwait, the country could become a launch pad for any war on Iraq.
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