Number of U.S. troops in Gulf is expected to nearly double

Wall Street Journal
December 19, 2002
By Greg Jaffe

The Pentagon is gearing up to nearly double the number of U.S. troops in the Gulf region by early February, accelerating its military buildup to be ready to launch an attack on Iraq.

A defense official said more than 50,000 U.S. ground troops are likely to flow into the Gulf region, in addition to the 60,000 now there, in a move designed to ratchet up the pressure on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The British are likely to send as many as an additional 15,000 to 20,000 troops to the region.

U.S. defense officials said that if pushed into action, an allied attack to disarm Baghdad could begin within days just with U.S. troops in the region now, though that would be less than ideal. Of the force there now, about 15,000 are U.S. Army and Marine ground troops, most positioned in Kuwait; the rest are Air Force and Navy personnel.

But the January buildup would allow a far more potent attack. The move also is likely designed to put pressure on the rest of the United Nations Security Council to push for more aggressive inspections, and to suggest the U.S. patience for the inspection process is limited.

The officials cautioned that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hadn't formally signed off on the order to notify troops of likely deployment to the region, though his approval is expected in the coming days.

The planned move comes as the Bush administration prepares a strong denunciation of Iraq's recent 12,000-page declaration that it has no weapons of mass destruction. There was still debate within the administration over whether to declare Iraq in "material breach" of the latest U.N. resolutions. Although most administration officials were eager to use that term, Secretary Rumsfeld has made the case strongly during the past two days that the U.S. shouldn't do so unless it intends to launch an invasion.

Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence officials predicted Mr. Hussein would try to destroy his oil fields and power plants and then blame the U.S. if attacked. The officials, who briefed reporters in the Pentagon, said Mr. Hussein likely would try to trigger a humanitarian crisis in his country to mobilize international opinion against a war if the U.S. attacks. The intelligence officials also predicted Mr. Hussein will use his biological and chemical weapons if he believes his regime is about to fall.

Under the Pentagon plan, the buildup of U.S. forces would likely begin after the new year. A defense official familiar with the plans said it should be significantly more "visible" than the buildup in the region so far. The large numbers of ground troops are designed in part to send a message to Mr. Hussein that he must disarm immediately or face an invasion, this official said.

The troops would consist of combat forces, maintenance and logistics troops, and would flow into the region from bases in the U.S. and Europe. They would include a mixture of active-duty and reserve units.

The U.S. military has slowly been building up its stores of equipment in the region during the past six months. Currently, the Pentagon has enough tanks and armored personnel carriers to support about four brigades or 55,000 ground troops. "We already have a whole lot of equipment in the region, and equipment will continue to flow in the coming weeks," said another senior defense official.

Moving the additional 50,000 troops to the region will allow the Pentagon to get soldiers acclimated and allow them to do some limited training in the desert before a possible war.

By the standards of the first Gulf War, when the U.S. had nearly 500,000 troops in the region, the U.S. presence will be relatively small. Ultimately, it could build to as many as 250,000 troops, but most of those likely wouldn't be in the region when the fighting starts.

Instead, in what Pentagon officials have characterized as a "rolling start," the troops would flow into the region only if needed, with many of the troops a few days away from the fighting. By limiting the footprint of U.S. troops in the region, defense officials hope to reduce their susceptibility to attack by chemical weapons.

The Pentagon also is planning to send military engineers to bases in Turkey in January to begin upgrading those bases for possible use by U.S. troops. Construction on those bases isn't likely to begin until at least Jan. 15, and it would depend on the Turkish government's signing off on the troops' presence, which it has so far refused. It isn't clear how long the construction would take.

 
_____
Nieuwe Oorlog 2002 | Ander Nieuws week 52