US Defense Secretary Orders 'Significant' Military Buildup in Gulf Region

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 29, 2002

US Defense Secretary Orders 'Significant' Military Buildup in Gulf Region

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US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has signed a 20-plus-page deployment order to send "significant" ground forces, combat aircraft and logistics support to the Gulf region in a move that marks the beginning of a final buildup for a possible war against Iraq, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Rumsfeld signed the classified document on Tuesday, identifyingan array of forces and capabilities, such as mechanized infantry units, midair refuelers and medical facilities, that will be shipped or airlifted to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and other Gulf nations in the coming weeks, the newspaper report said.

Up to 50,000 ground troops have received orders that they may be sent to the Gulf region in early 2003, defense officials said on Friday. While some of the units being sent to the region are combat-ready, including infantry units, warships and strike aircraft, many more are logistics, engineering and support teams, which will prepare for the arrival of even larger combat units in the months ahead, the officials said.

The document leaves it up to the individual military services to decide what specific units will fulfill the force requirements,the report said, citing senior defense officials. The navy issued "prepare to deploy" orders on Friday to two aircraft carrier battle groups and activated a hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, based in Baltimore, and ordered its crew to prepare a 1,000-bed trauma center.

After months of deployment in anticipation of possible militaryaction against Iraq, the United States currently has about 60,000 troops in the Gulf region and 400 aircraft at bases in Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain.

This preliminary buildup has been kept as low-key as possible to avoid alarming the international community and creating the impression that the Bush administration had prejudged the UN arms inspection process, the report said.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that amassing forces necessary for possible invasion of Iraq would serve to convince Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that his regime will be forcibly disarmed if he refuses torelinquish weapons of mass destruction in accordance with UN Resolution 1441.

The size of the force being amassed in the Gulf will be smallerthan the roughly half-million assembled during the 1991 Gulf War, the report said.

Defense officials and military analysts say they call for an optimum invasion force of three to four heavy army divisions of more than 40,000 troops, equipped with hundreds of M-1 Abrams tanks and M-2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, said the newspaper.

In response to the order, the army alerted the 1st and 3rd brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division, headquartered at Fort Stewart, Georgia, that they might soon be deployed. The division's2nd Brigade is already in Kuwait, the report said.

The 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is also likely to deploy with dozens of Apache helicopter gunshipsand Black Hawk troop transports, defense officials said.

The buildup is also expected to involve elements of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, with 17,500 troops, based at Camp Pendleton, California, the report said. The final troops deployingfrom the United States could be flown directly into Iraq, current and former defense officials said.

The air force's Air Combat Command said on Friday that five airunits had received deployment orders in the last 24 hours, including fighters, bombers, Predator reconnaissance drones and combat search-and-rescue helicopters and aircraft.

Defense officials also expect the air force to move F-117 stealth fighters, which played a critical role in the opening of the 1991 Gulf War, from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico to Al Jaber air base in Kuwait.

The final buildup is also expected to involve between 200,000 to 250,000 reserve and National Guard members, some of whom will be sent to the Gulf while some others will be activated to guard bases in the United States, said the report.

The Pentagon may end up with activating even more reserve and National Guard members than it did in 1991, largely because the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have created security requirements at bases in the United States that did not exist 12 years ago, it said.

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