Two More US Carriers, 37,000 Troops Going To Gulf

Reuters/Yahoo ^ | 1-21-2003 | Charles Aldinger/Will Dunham

[blam]

Two More U.S. Carriers, 37,000 Troops Going to Gulf

Tue Jan 21,12:12 PM ET

By Charles Aldinger and Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has ordered two more U.S. aircraft carriers and another 37,000 combat troops to deploy to the Gulf region for a possible war with Iraq, defense officials said on Tuesday.

The moves by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will bring to four the number of U.S. carriers within striking distance of Iraq and boost to more than 100,000 the number of U.S. troops ordered to the Gulf this month, the officials told Reuters.

The USS Abraham Lincoln will move to the Gulf from Perth, Australia, and the USS Theodore Roosevelt will soon deploy from training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the United States, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified.

The carriers, each including 75 warplanes and battle groups of warships armed with cruise missiles, would join the USS Constellation and USS Harry S. Truman in the region. The Constellation is in the Gulf and Truman in the Mediterranean Sea.

The new troop movement is centered around the high-tech 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, and other supporting units, including the division's 3rd Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado.

HIGH-TECH DIVISION

The division is considered one of the Army's most elite units. It is equipped with the military's most advanced M1-A2 tanks and Apache "Longbow" attack helicopters, according to Cecil Green, a civilian spokesman for the unit at Fort Hood.

"It (the unit) uses a variety of sensors, communications devices and other technological equipment to help the commander ... understand where his troops are on the battlefield, where the enemy is on the battlefield, and to better control his combat capabilities," Green told Reuters.

"We're anticipating the equipment moving some time in the next few days and the troops soon thereafter," he added.

Green and other defense officials would not identify the country or countries to which the troops were being sent.

The announcement from Fort Hood said only that the "repositioning" of forces from "Task Force Ironhorse" would be in support of the war on terrorism and could be used in a combat role if President Bush made such a decision.

Rumsfeld earlier this month ordered 62,000 Army soldiers and Marines to the Gulf as part of the biggest build-up of American forces in the region since the 1991 Gulf War .

BRITAIN ADDING TROOPS

Britain also said on Monday it was sending 26,000 troops to the Gulf to join 4,000 British marines. The aircraft carrier Ark Royal has already set sail, leading a fleet of 16 British ships.

The troop deployments by the United States and Britain came as France told Washington at the United Nations it would not support an attack on Iraq in the coming weeks, a position diplomats said was shared by most of the 15 U.N. Security Council members.

Bush said on Tuesday it was clear Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was not cooperating with United Nations demands he get rid of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons but that he had not made up his mind to go to war. "I will let you know when the moment has come," he said at the White House.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was convinced he could win public support for military action against Iraq if it were necessary.

Baghdad denies it is developing such weapons.

In addition to the buildup of troops, expected to put more than 150,000 U.S. military personnel in the Gulf by the end of February, the U.S. Navy has also alerted two more aircraft carriers for possible deployment to the region to bring the American total to six.

But officials said Rumsfeld had made no decision on such a step.

[Happy2BMe]

"FWIW, I predict France will participate and Russia, China and Germany will stand aside so as not to be rendered irrelevant."

I don't look for any help from any of the ba$tard$.

Not until the work is done and the Iraqi oil fields lay bare before the world - then you will see them crawling out from under their rocks laying claim to everything in sight and telling us to get the hell out.

[Pinch]

>May the wind be at their backs.

For an aircraft carrier you want the wind in your face...about 25 knots, down the axial deck, with just a bit of dutch roll to make your recovery worth while :)