Free Republic

Rumsfeld Solidifies Aim To Move CentComBy KEITH EPSTEIN kepstein@tampatrib.comPublished: Sep 20, 2002 WASHINGTON - During testimony on possible war with Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers, the president's chief military adviser, on Thursday kept open the possibility of permanently moving Central Command, the Tampa-based headquarters for managing U.S. forces from Africa to Southeast Asia. Rumsfeld's testimony, during a Senate Armed Services Committee review of the Bush administration's request to use all means to overthrow Saddam Hussein, surprised Sen. Bill Nelson, a member of the committee, and quickly sent a fresh round of shock waves south....

LISBON, Sept 14 (AFP) - The United States has reserved a total of 20 air corridors across the Atlantic Ocean in the past 24 hours, some of them with access to Portugal's Lajes airbase on the Azores islands where an US air force unit is stationed, the Portuguese weekly Expresso reported Saturday. Quoting air controllers in the Azores, Expresso said that the United States normally only has four corridors. "There can only be one reason for this step, the transport of large quantities of light materiel that can only be transported by plane, as well as military personnel, to...

<p>The Pentagon’s decision to move the core of Gen. Tommy Franks’ battle staff from his Central Command headquarters in Florida to a remote air base in the central Persian Gulf is the latest sign the military is laying the early groundwork for possible war against Iraq.</p>