U.S. Looks at Alternative War Plans Without Turkey
abcnews.go.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. defense officials said on Saturday they could quickly adjust their war plans for Iraq after the Turkish parliament refused to grant U.S. troops access to the country's bases for a possible invasion.
"U.S. military planners make their living by planning for contingencies," a senior U.S. defense official said. "Our plans are flexible enough to meet any change."
Though far from ideal, a strong option would be to insert thousands of troops into northern Iraq aboard Air Force cargo planes landing on existing primitive airstrips or highways, analysts say.
U.S. officials still held out hope that Turkey would come around, and have asked the NATO ally for "clarification" after the parliament first appeared to pass and then to reject Washington's request.
But Washington, which offered Turkey a multibillion-dollar package of economic aid as an inducement, cannot afford to wait much longer. U.S. ships are waiting with supplies off Turkey's Mediterranean coast to unload and will need to be redeployed elsewhere.
The government in Ankara could seek another vote on the motion, which would clear the way for the deployment of 62,000 American troops in Turkey.
But Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called the parliamentary decision a "completely democratic result."
"What more do you want? It was a completely democratic result. May it be for the best," the Anatolian news agency quoted Erdogan as saying.
The United States has been pressing Turkey for months for the green-light to mount a "northern front" from its bases but has said it would deploy its troops elsewhere if there was no deal.
In a sign of just how important these bases are to U.S. war plans, Washington has offered Ankara up to $30 billion in grants and loan guarantees to help shield its frail economy if war breaks out.
"We are seeking clarification and waiting to see what the Turkish parliament's decision is," said Tara Riegler, a State Department spokesman.
Beyond the military advantages of mounting an attack on neighboring Iraq from Turkish soil, Ankara's active support in the campaign against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would give Washington the comfort of a Muslim ally in a war many in the region deride as an anti-Islam crusade.
The bulk of U.S. forces being sent to the region are being gathered in the Gulf, signaling the main brunt of an attack would come from the south. But opening a second northern front could shorten the war, U.S. planners believe.
"Obviously the more assistance one gets, the easier it is; the less assistance one gets, the more difficult it is. But nonetheless it's do-able," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last month.
Officials say the Pentagon had already drawn up contingency plans in case Turkey balked.
Loren Thompson, a Lexington Institute defense analyst with close ties to the U.S. military, said last month that one strategy being planned involved the insertion of about 5,000 U.S. ground troops using the rugged C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft.
In the Kurdish northern areas of Iraq, there are large tracts of land that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has no control over -- and many boast air strips suitable for landing a C-17. Thompson said U.S. forces first could airlift a very small ground force via helicopter to seize airstrips and secure the area before bringing in the C-17s.
A downside to such a strategy is that the number of troops and amount of equipment that can be transported in an airlift is limited. |
