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| Axis of Evil |
| U.S. War Staff Assembles in Persian Gulf |
| 2003-01-08 |
| War may not be at Iraq's doorstep yet, but American war planners soon will be. Amid an accelerating flow of U.S. troops and weapons to the Persian Gulf region, the battle staff that would run a military campaign against Iraq is beginning to assemble at a command post in the central Gulf. Battle planners from Central Command are heading from their permanent headquarters in Tampa, Fla., to Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar to be in position to carry out any attack order from President Bush, senior officials said Tuesday. The officials stressed that the move to Qatar does not mean war is imminent or inevitable. But it is an important step in the assembling of troops, weapons, supplies and technology needed to carry out an invasion. The same Central Command planners were at the command post last month for a weeklong exercise before returning to their headquarters in Florida, but this time it is not an exercise. A senior official who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity said the movement of Central Command battle planners, which began this week, is part of an accelerating buildup of forces in the Gulf region. Tens of thousands more combat forces are scheduled to flow into the region over the next few weeks. Among the forces expected to deploy from U.S. bases in the next several days are F-15E and F-15C fighters and B-1B bombers. Also headed to the Persian Gulf is the Army's mobile biological weapons testing laboratory. The Maryland-based lab, which helps tests samples to confirm whether a biological attack has taken place, probably will be based with headquarters units in the region, said Col. Erik Henchal, the Army's top biological defense expert. Amid the force buildup, U.S. warplanes continued to strike at Iraqi air defenses in the southern part of the country. On Wednesday they targeted air defense communication sites between the cities of Al Kut and An Nasiriyah. Central Command said the airstrikes were executed after Iraqi air defense forces fired anti-aircraft artillery at U.S. planes patrolling the southern "no fly" zone and Iraqi military aircraft entered the zone. On Monday U.S. planes targeted two Iraqi military radars near the city of Al Amarah, south of Al Kut on the Tigris River. Iraqi officials said Wednesday that two people were killed and 13 were injured in Monday's attacks. Jim Wilkinson, the Central Command director of strategic communications, confirmed the decision to send the battle planners to Qatar, but declined to provide details on when they would arrive or when the command post would be ready to kick off a war. "Central Command continues to cycle personnel into and out of the region," Wilkinson said. "We refuse to discuss deployments in advance. However, you can expect to see continuing deployments to Qatar and elsewhere in support of ongoing diplomatic activities." Other officials said the command post at As Sayliyah will be operational before the end of the month. In December, the commander of Central Command, Gen. Tommy Franks, oversaw an extensive computer-based exercise at As Sayliyah that many viewed as a tune-up for a war against Iraq. Franks said the exercise verified technologies that would enable him to coordinate with air, ground and naval commanders in the region. Franks and his battle staff returned to their headquarters in Tampa before Christmas. In the next several days, most of the same battle staff will be back at As Sayliyah, a desert encampment with newly designed command posts hidden inside enormous warehouses near the capital of Doha. In the December exercise, about 1,000 battle planners participated. Wilkinson would not say how many will be returning this month, but other officials said it probably would be about the same as the December group. If there is war, Franks would run it from As Sayliyah, but he is not returning immediately with his battle staff, officials said. The senior officer at As Sayliyah in coming days will be Army Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, a deputy commander of Central Command. The other deputy commander, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Mike DeLong, is at the Tampa headquarters. Although the officers at As Sayliyah would command the overall war, the air portion of the campaign would be run from a facility at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have not publicly confirmed that they would permit use of the facility for war against Iraq, and there have been questions about the degree of Saudi government support for the Bush administration's policy of overthrowing the Iraqi regime. In a sign of closer U.S.-Saudi military cooperation in the war on terrorism, a U.S. official said Tuesday that the Saudis for the first time have assigned a military representative to Central Command headquarters in Tampa. Forty-three other countries have representatives there; most arrived shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Saudi decision is unrelated to the prospect of war against Iraq, officials said. Tick...tick...tick.. |
| Posted by:Steve |