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| U.S. moves CAOC to Qatar |
| 2003-04-28 |
| The U.S. military will move its major air operations center in the Middle East to Qatar. Oversight of air missions to Iraq and the Middle East will move this week from Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have not decided whether to make the move permanent. "Whether we'll stay there or not ... not sure," Gen. Tommy Franks, head of U.S. Central Command, told the New York Times. "But we do know that since we have it, we want to be able to run some operations out of it," Franks said. U.S. officials stressed that the move does not mean an end to military relations with Saudi Arabia. "We are not leaving Saudi Arabia," a Bush administration official told the Times. "We'll be back!" The Pentagon will use its two-year-old air command center at Prince Sultan Air Base to oversee military exercises, and could shift air operations back there in a crisis. Another high-ranking Centcom official said the move reflected scaled-back capacity needs. "There's a convenience in the fact we're adjusting the size," Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart told the Times. "You don't need a CAOC (Combat Air Operations Center) designed to fly 3,000 missions if you're only flying a few hundred." You don't need a CAOC in a hostile state either. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 The Arabs are familiar with the proverb about the Camel's nose in the tent: Once the nose is in the tent, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the camel is in the tent. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-04-28 10:09:04 |