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Politics : Attack Iraq? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (3138)	12/12/2002 2:54:42 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 8683

Rumsfeld Tours U.S. Base in Qatar URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,72806,00.html Thursday, December 12, 2002 CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar — Amid a buildup of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, Defense Secretary Donald M. Rumsfeld met Thursday at a desert encampment with the U.S. general who would run a war against Iraq. Rumsfeld was giving a pep talk later to several hundred troops at this base on the outskirts of the capital city of Doha. Earlier, the United States won Qatari approval for major improvements to an air base in this Persian Gulf nation that would play a central role if President Bush ordered war against Iraq. Upon his arrival in the Qatari capital Wednesday night, signed an agreement giving the go-ahead for several construction projects at al-Udeid air base. He said they would improve the quality of life for the 3,300 U.S. troops there and given them more "state-of-the-art capability." He did not disclose details from the classified document. At a news conference following the signing ceremony, Rumsfeld rebutted suggestions that the work at al-Udeid was related to American preparations for war against Iraq. Qatar, a thumb-shaped peninsula jutting off the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, has emerged as a key American ally, and Rumsfeld was spending a full day Thursday touring Camp As Sayliyah, where the U.S. Central Command has set up a new command post. Rumsfeld met with Gen. Tommy Franks, the Central Command commander who has been here for a week preparing for and overseeing the conduct of an exercise, called Internal Look, that is testing the new command post's communications links with Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and special operations commanders elsewhere in the Gulf. In the event of war in Iraq, Franks likely would run it from As Sayliyah. In an interview with CNN at his Doha hotel, Rumsfeld was asked whether he was pleased with the battle plan for a possible war in Iraq. "Sure. General Franks and his staff have done a very good job," he said. Rumsfeld said it remained unclear whether war would be necessary and held out the possibility that Saddam Hussein would change his pattern of behavior and decide to cooperate with the United Nations and disarm. "People do unusual things when under duress," he said. The new command post was developed, and the exercise planned, before the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, but the current tension with Iraq has led to speculation that Internal Look is a rehearsal for an invasion of Iraq. Central Command officials refuse to discuss the scenarios being tested during the computer-assisted war game, which is scheduled to end early next week. The exercise does not include troop movements. While at Camp As Sayliyah, Rumsfeld also planned to have lunch with Franks and other senior officers, make an address to the troops at a "town hall"-style meeting, and then hold a video teleconference over secure lines with the Central Command subordinate commanders in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Earlier this week Rumsfeld visited Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti to consult on fighting terrorism in the Horn of Africa.