Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/20/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/ KUWAIT TROOPS (S)

NUMBER=2-300950

BYLINE=ALISHA RYU

DATELINE=NORTHERN KUWAIT

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: U-S warplanes and cruise missiles have struck targets around Baghdad, opening a U-S-led war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. But U-S and British ground troops in Kuwait are still awaiting orders to move forward. V-O-A's Alisha Ryu reports from Northern Kuwait.

TEXT: U-S Air Force F-1-17 Stealth fighter jets flew over Kuwait early Thursday morning, heading toward southern Iraq. But hundreds of thousands of U-S and British troops and tanks remain in an attack formation at the border, waiting for the final go-ahead to move into southern Iraq.

It is not known when that order might be given.

The United States has more than 200-thousand troops, 800 M-1 Abrams tanks and other heavy armored vehicles and scores of Apache helicopters in Kuwait, poised to open the ground war in Iraq.

Great Britain has about 25-thousand troops and dozens of heavy armored vehicles in place here.

When the ground attack order comes, the U-S Army's third infantry division, the only armored force in the region, is likely to attack Iraqi defenses head-on. Troops from the U-S Army's 101st Airborne Division are expected to be flown in on helicopters to secure key installations, ahead of the third division. (Signed)

NEB/AR/AWP/TW