Financial Times October 30, 2002
Pentagon girds for war in the Gulf
By Peter Spiegel
The US military has begun moving significant numbers of troops and equipment to the Gulf over the past two months, military analysts say, a sign that the Pentagon is girding for war on Iraq even as the Bush administration continues to hammer out a resolution on weapons inspections at the United Nations.
This week's announcement by General Tommy Franks, the head of US central command, that he would personally oversee the movement of more than 600 personnel from his headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to a new forward command base at Qatar's al-Udeid air force base in December, is just part of an apparent build-up that has put an estimated 48,000 to 50,000 US soldiers in the Gulf.
That number does not include approximately 10,000 personnel in the USS George Washington carrier group. That formation is in the Mediterranean and not under US central command, which oversees all forces in the Middle East.
"Not only have the actual numbers there changed dramatically but discussion about what will be in transit to the region has also increased," said Patrick Garrett, a military analyst with GlobalSecurity.org. "There's a lot of hardware that's getting moved out that was not scheduled to move any time soon."
The US navy has been the most visible in its new deployments. The USS Constellation carrier group, based in San Diego, California, is due to set sail for the northern Arabian Sea this Saturday. It will probably arrive in the region in December, the same time the George Washington is scheduled to return to the US, but analysts noted that the Pentagon could stretch the George Washington's deployment - normally scheduled for six months - by at least an additional month.
In addition, the USS Harry Truman carrier group, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is completing exercises earlier than scheduled and could be deployed to the region in early December. The USS Kitty Hawk, stationed in Japan and the only carrier group not permanently based in the US, also left port last week.
The deployments would give the Pentagon three to four carrier groups in the region as early as December. Both army and marines have also shown signs of moving forces into the region, analysts said this week, although most are deploying under the guise of exercises. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, comprising approximately 2,200 troops, passed through the Suez Canal on three ships this week on its way to Kuwait.
In addition, two Apache helicopter squadrons with about 1,000 soldiers that are part of the army's Germany-based V Corps were moved to Kuwait this month, where headquarter staff have already been assigned.
Most army personnel in the region are based in Kuwait, at two locations: Camp Doha, military headquarters for the country, where 2,700 troops are stationed; and "the Kabals", a series of desert camps near the Iraqi border, where 6,000 troops are camped.
© Copyright 2002 Financial Times
