It's perhaps the saddest and sorriest position I've ever seen the US in during all of my adult life. At least the Vietnam War was a pile on of administrations making lies and mistakes. But what we're seeing today is entirely coming out of Bush's pockets.
How do you think the UN Security Council members feel having their homes and offices spied upon by American's National Security Agency? Franly, I'm not sure Bush is fit to teach eight grade social studies.
Anyway, here's some news on the troop buildup. More troops entering the region. This will be nice for Cheney's Haliburton buddies since Haliburton's subsidiary has a no-ceiling contract to feed overseas military personal. Geez, it used to be that the ole' army cook was a pretty good guy, but I guess he's been privatized out of a job.
thestar.com
U.S. invasion force nears 300,000
Total includes troops now deploying from Germany, Texas, Louisiana
Mar. 4, 2003. 09:58 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. army's oldest armoured division, Old Ironsides, got orders today to head for the Persian Gulf as the total of U.S. land, sea and air forces arrayed against Iraq or preparing to go neared 300,000.
The commander who would lead the war, Gen. Tommy Franks, met Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon and was to consult President George W. Bush at the White House on Wednesday. Last week Franks reviewed his war plan with commanders at his Gulf post.
The pace of troop movements and high-level consultations suggested the military was close to ready for the opening of what would be a multi-directional assault to disarm and depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
In addition to the U.S. troops based in Kuwait and every other country on the Arabian peninsula except Yemen, there are five aircraft carrier battle groups nearby, each with about 50-strike aircraft aboard and including 30 to 40 vessels armed with Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles.
A sixth carrier, the USS Nimitz, is en route to the Gulf to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Still to be resolved was the important question of whether Turkey would allow its territory to be used for tens of thousands of U.S. ground forces to open a northern front against Iraq. Three dozen ships carrying weaponry and equipment for the army's 4th Infantry Division, which would spearhead the attack from Turkey, are waiting in the Mediterranean for a decision.
In Wiesbaden, Germany, home of the U.S. army's 1st Armoured Division, known as Old Ironsides, officials said the unit received orders today to deploy to the Central Command region. No dates were released.
Portions of another Germany-based army unit, the 1st Infantry Division, already are in Turkey to help receive and move forward the weaponry and equipment of the 4th Infantry Division. But that is on hold pending a final decision by the Turkish government on hosting U.S. forces.
The army also received orders this week to deploy the 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas. The 2nd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Polk, La., also received deployment orders. Together, the 1st Armoured, 1st Cavalry and 2nd Armoured Cavalry will deploy about 60,000 troops, officials said.
That is in addition to the approximately 230,000 U.S. air, land and sea forces already on Iraq's periphery. Those include about 65,000 marines afloat and in Kuwait, which would be the main launching pad for any ground assault into southern Iraq.
The main army combat unit in Kuwait is the 3rd Infantry Division, although it is being joined by about 20,000 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division this week. There also are elements of the 82nd Airborne Division in Kuwait.
If the 4th Infantry Division, whose soldiers are still at their home base at Fort Hood, Texas, is unable to position itself in Turkey it may be redirected to Kuwait. A decision is expected within days.
The air force has F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers, as well as F-117A stealth fighter-bombers, at Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, as well as F-15s, F-16s and a wide variety of surveillance and other support planes at Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia. The air force also has more than 200 aircraft at two air bases in Kuwait, and other planes in Oman, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The navy has two aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean - the USS Harry S. Truman and the USS Theodore Roosevelt - and three in the Gulf - the USS Abraham Lincoln, the USS Constellation and the USS Kitty Hawk. |
