The Hindu : U.S. orders major military force to Gulf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 29, 2002

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U.S. orders major military force to Gulf

WASHINGTON Dec. 28. The Pentagon has ordered a major military force to the Persian Gulf in preparation for a possible war with Iraq. Thousands of troops, two aircraft carrier battle groups and scores of combat aircraft have received orders since Christmas to ready themselves to head to the region in January and February, defence officials said on Friday. Military personnel will go to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, among other locations.

The Bush administration waited until after the holiday to issue the orders, which alert units across the United States and possibly overseas to prepare for deployment to the Persian Gulf, officials said. Officials said tens of thousands of military personnel will receive orders to go to the region, but a precise figure was unavailable.

Some units being sent to the region are combat-ready, including infantry units, warships and strike aircraft, officials said. Many more are logistics, engineering and support teams, which will prepare for the arrival of even larger units in the months ahead. They will add to the 50,000 U.S. military personnel already in the region.

"We don't comment on specific unit deployments. However, forces will be moving to the region to be in place should the President decide to use them," said Jim Wilkinson, a spokesman at the U.S. Central Command.

The Pentagon ordered the Navy to prepare two aircraft-carrier battle groups and two amphibious assault groups to go to the region. The orders require the Navy to have the vessels ready to sail to the seas around Iraq within 96 hours after a certain date in January, they said on the condition of anonymity. They did not specify that date.

One of those carriers, the USS George Washington, has already been selected to head to the region.

Iraq gives scientists' list

A report from Baghdad said Iraq delivered a list to the U.N. officials today naming over 500 scientists who have worked on nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programmes, "Today we have received from the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate a list of names of personnel associated with Iraq's chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missile programmes," Hiro Ueki, spokesman for the U.N. programme in Baghdad said.

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