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To: robnhood who wrote (193610)	9/25/2002 12:10:00 PM
From: robnhood	Respond to of 436258

<<-- DJ US Marines Start To Unload Equipment For Kuwait War Games -- KUWAIT (AP)--With the threat of a U.S.-led war against Iraq looming, U.S. Marines poured off two U.S. warships with their equipment Wednesday for a large-scale training exercise to be held with Kuwaiti forces. Cmdr. Steven Ritchie, captain of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Mount Vernon, described the activity as a "regularly scheduled exercise," although he conceded the setting could not be ignored. "It raises the awareness level I think slightly just because we are so close to Iraq," Ritchie told Associated Press Television News. "But it doesn't change anything that we are doing here." The U.S. military has described the war games, called Eager Mace, as routine training held periodically with the Kuwaitis since the Gulf War. Neither side has publicly announced the exercises. With public opinion in the region against a U.S. strike on Saddam Hussein, Arab governments have been sensitive about being seen as cooperating militarily with the U.S. Kuwait has said it opposes a unilateral strike against Iraq. The USS Mount Vernon and the amphibious transport USS Denver arrived in Kuwait Monday. Capt. Joseph Cross, an artillery battery commander, said it will take the 1,000 Marines on the two ships about a week to off-load their weapons and vehicles. They will spend two weeks training with Kuwaitis, he told APTN. The exercises will include daytime and nighttime artillery live fire in desert training grounds as well as convoy movements, he said. Pentagon officials have said Eager Mace would begin in late September and continue into October. It will use amphibious, ground, air and naval forces. If the U.S. attacks Iraq, soldiers could mass in Kuwait and push northward toward Baghdad. The exercises provide an opportunity to get soldiers and material in place for such a scenario. About 9,000 U.S. military personnel are permanently stationed in Kuwait. The U.S. Air Force uses two Kuwaiti bases to patrol a no-fly zone over southern Iraq established after the Gulf War to protect Shiites who rose against the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In Oman, the head of the U.S. Central Command's land component, Gen. David McKiernan, met Wednesday with the commander of the Omani Army, Gen. Ahmed al-Nabhani. The Omani defense ministry said the men discussed cooperation. It did not elaborate and the U.S. embassy in Muscat declined to disclose any details about the meeting. (END) DOW JONES NEWS 09-25-02 12:07 PM- - 12 07 PM EDT 09-25-02>>