Hurray! The Marines have landed! They must have really pushed that convoy from San Diego to get there so fast.
washingtonpost.com
In Kuwait, a Rehearsal for War
Marines Land on Beaches as Simulated Exercises End
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, February 13, 2003; Page A22
KUWAIT CITY, Feb. 12 -- More U.S. Marines came ashore on the beaches of Kuwait today and, at the U.S. military's command center, generals wrapped up a five-day computer-simulated exercise in what amounted to a dress rehearsal for war.
The exercise, called Lucky Warrior, used the computers to examine how various U.S. military units on the ground just south of Iraq would coordinate and communicate during combat. The idea was to make sure that when artillery is firing, helicopters are flying and war planes are bombing, they do so in concert.
The exercise was the first of its sort since Gen. Tommy R. Franks, who heads the U.S. Army's Central Command, which has responsibility for the Middle East, led the war-gaming exercise Internal Look from his new regional base in Qatar two months ago. Overseen by Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, who would lead U.S. and British land forces in any invasion of Iraq, the exercise involved about 2,000 officers and key personnel from different services. Unlike recent training drills in the desert, it took place on the computer display screens of command centers in Kuwait.
While calling it successful, officers would not disclose details of the scenario tested by this week's exercise or permit reporters to observe. "It allowed us to refine our command-and-control capabilities," said Marine Capt. David T. Romley, a military spokesman.
As the virtual exercise wound up, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a premier amphibious force that fought in Afghanistan and can conduct Special Forces operations, arrived from California, splashing through the surf with tanks and armored vehicles. At the same time, Arab neighbors began dispatching forces to Kuwait to help defend the tiny emirate against any Iraqi attack.
The United States has more than 50,000 troops in Kuwait to prepare for a southern thrust into Iraq if President Bush gives the order. Tens of thousands more are on the way. British forces have begun arriving as well, and Australia has dispatched a small detachment. Germany and the Czech Republic have small units here to help respond to chemical, biological or nuclear attacks.
The Arab contingent is part of a Persian Gulf regional force called Peninsula Shield, which was ordered to Kuwait during a weekend meeting in Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates is sending 4,000 troops as well as tanks, armored vehicles, a couple of ships and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. Bahrain said it was sending a frigate and ground troops. Kuwait's defense minister, Jaber Mubarak Sabah, said he expected the forces to arrive in days.
Other gulf countries, notably Saudi Arabia, did not disclose whether their soldiers would join the deployment. Some officials in the region have discussed the possibility of an Arab force that would move into Iraq to prevent an all-American occupation after U.S. troops topple President Saddam Hussein , but gulf officials stressed that the troops being sent to Kuwait would be there to defend a fellow Arab country.
"These forces will not take part in any military operation against Iraq," Prince Khalid bin Sultan, the assistant Saudi defense minister, told the newspaper Okaz . "The deployment of these troops in Kuwait, at this country's behest, is aimed at protecting its territory."
As the U.S. buildup continued, about 2,000 Marines arrived with the expeditionary unit that staged the amphibious landing at an undisclosed Kuwaiti beach. The Marines, who left San Diego on Jan. 6 aboard the USS Tarawa, USS Duluth and USS Rushmore, were the first expeditionary unit to land in Kuwait and would give commanders another tool in an attack against Iraq. Two separate amphibious task forces from the East and West coasts are also en route to the region.
Along with the Marines came 29 aircraft, including AV-8B Harrier jets and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters, as well as M-1A1 tanks, Amtrack amphibious armored vehicles and TOW and Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Military officials provided pictures showing Marines and their equipment launching off the ships in hovercrafts or aboard the Amtracks and rolling onto the beach 15 or 20 minutes later. "They add a small but potent powerful force that have the capability to do a wide range of missions," said Romley.
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