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To: pallmer who wrote (4963)1/21/2003 10:22:49 AM
From: Softechie  Respond to of 29602
 
I see Fed will cut its rates to 1% next week...GDP ain't growing at all and they're facing double-dip recession...keep that printing press humming AG!



To: pallmer who wrote (4963)1/21/2003 12:17:58 PM
From: pallmer  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29602
 
-- Two More U.S. Carriers, 37,000 Troops Going to Gulf --

By Charles Aldinger and Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has ordered two more
U.S. aircraft carriers and another 37,000 combat troops to
deploy to the Gulf region for a possible war with Iraq, defense
officials said on Tuesday.

The moves by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will bring
to four the number of U.S. carriers within striking distance of
Iraq and boost to more than 100,000 the number of U.S. troops
ordered to the Gulf this month, the officials told Reuters.

The USS Abraham Lincoln will move to the Gulf from Perth,
Australia, and the USS Theodore Roosevelt will soon deploy from
training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of
the United States, according to the officials, who asked not to
be identified.

The carriers, each including 75 warplanes and battle groups
of warships armed with cruise missiles, would join the USS
Constellation and USS Harry S. Truman in the region. The
Constellation is in the Gulf and Truman in the Mediterranean
Sea.

The new troop movement is centered around the high-tech 4th
Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, and other supporting
units, including the division's 3rd Brigade at Fort Carson,
Colorado.


HIGH-TECH DIVISION

The division is considered one of the Army's most elite
units. It is equipped with the military's most advanced M1-A2
tanks and Apache "Longbow" attack helicopters, according to
Cecil Green, a civilian spokesman for the unit at Fort Hood.

"It (the unit) uses a variety of sensors, communications
devices and other technological equipment to help the commander
... understand where his troops are on the battlefield, where
the enemy is on the battlefield, and to better control his
combat capabilities," Green told Reuters.

"We're anticipating the equipment moving some time in the
next few days and the troops soon thereafter," he added.

Green and other defense officials would not identify the
country or countries to which the troops were being sent.

The announcement from Fort Hood said only that the
"repositioning" of forces from "Task Force Ironhorse" would be
in support of the war on terrorism and could be used in a
combat role if President Bush made such a decision.

Rumsfeld earlier this month ordered 62,000 Army soldiers
and Marines to the Gulf as part of the biggest build-up of
American forces in the region since the 1991 Gulf War.


BRITAIN ADDING TROOPS

Britain also said on Monday it was sending 26,000 troops to
the Gulf to join 4,000 British marines. The aircraft carrier
Ark Royal has already set sail, leading a fleet of 16 British
ships.

The troop deployments by the United States and Britain came
as France told Washington at the United Nations it would not
support an attack on Iraq in the coming weeks, a position
diplomats said was shared by most of the 15 U.N. Security
Council members.

Bush said on Tuesday it was clear Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein was not cooperating with United Nations demands he get
rid of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons but that he had
not made up his mind to go to war. "I will let you know when
the moment has come," he said at the White House.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was convinced he
could win public support for military action against Iraq if it
were necessary.

Baghdad denies it is developing such weapons.

In addition to the buildup of troops, expected to put more
than 150,000 U.S. military personnel in the Gulf by the end of
February, the U.S. Navy has also alerted two more aircraft
carriers for possible deployment to the region to bring the
American total to six.

But officials said Rumsfeld had made no decision on such a
step.



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21-Jan-2003 17:12:09 GMT
Source RTRS