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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Huang who wrote (13163)	2/26/2003 10:26:32 AM
From: Ed Huang	Respond to of 25898

US forces still not ready for Iraq Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 February, 2003, 08:00 GMT By Nick Childs BBC Pentagon Correspondent Many troops are still on their way to the Gulf Last week on American television, the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that the United States and its allies already have "ample" forces arrayed against Baghdad, should President Bush decide to launch an attack. But senior defence officials and analysts still say that doesn't mean a war could start immediately. Even if President Bush issued an "execute" order on a war plan now, it would still take the US military a while to get its forces into battle formation. Even those forces in the region would have to be moved from their training and preparation areas into position to launch an attack. In overall terms, the Pentagon now has over 200,000 personnel within striking distance of Iraq - 105,000 of those in Kuwait. And those numbers are going up by the day. Fewer than 1991 That's not an invasion force - it includes all army, marines, navy, and air force personnel. And it's a lot fewer than the half-a-million personnel the Americans massed in 1991. US/UK MILITARY DEPLOYMENTS 150,000 US troops in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia - including Afghanistan 70,000 of these are in Kuwait 35,000 British ground and air forces to be deployed in the region Key maps: Deployments Attack strategies But Mr Rumsfeld said at a meeting of the Hoover Institution think-tank in Washington on Tuesday that Iraqi conventional military capabilities were less than 50% of their level in the last Gulf conflict. Still, there are important capabilities that are not quite in place. One is the crack 101st Airborne Division. Senior defence officials say they may not need all the division in place at the start of a conflict. But defence analysts say that, with a war plan that hinges on speed, it would be preferable to have the US Army's premier airborne assault formation in position. And that could still take two to three weeks. Summer looming And then there is Turkey. With a green light to go ahead with a build-up there, it will take the Pentagon at least a couple of weeks to flow forces - including the 20,000 troops of the 4th Infantry Division based in Texas - into the country. All these factors would seem to point to mid- to late-March as the optimum time for an attack as far as Pentagon planners are concerned. And that, for the moment, would also seem to fit in to the diplomatic timetable being laid down by Washington and London. But how much longer could the US military hang on if necessary? Senior officers have repeatedly insisted that there is no cut-off point, that they could maintain significant force levels in the region for some time, and that the United States possesses an "all-weather" force that could fight in the heat of the summer if necessary. But Donald Rumsfeld said to the Hoover Institution that it is "stressful" to maintain a build-up for long periods, and that it's "clearly preferable" not to fight in Iraq in the summer news.bbc.co.uk