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IN THE KUWAITI DESERT (AP) -- Sandstorms that swept through the Persian Gulf this week have grounded helicopters, disrupted traffic and prevented U.S. military mechanics from replacing equipment already fouled by wind-driven grit.On the USS Kitty Hawk, crew members hosed down the aircraft carrier's flight decks on Thursday to keep the insidious sand out of complex jet engines.The storm, heralding the beginning of sandstorm season, is making life miserable for troops poised to attack Iraq as diplomats wrangle over U.N. authorization for a strike against President Saddam Hussein's regime.Far more serious, though, is the potential of this desert phenomenon to...

Fear and chaos on the road to Baghdad By Kim Sengupta in El-Mahawail, Iraq 15 March 2003 The road to Baghdad is good and straight, ideal for US and British heavy armour, the Abrams and the Challengers, coming up from Basra for what is expected to be Saddam Hussein's last stand. El-Mahawail, Ilmullah and Eskandaria, cities and towns on the final 100 miles of this route to the capital, could be the key sites for desperate and fierce clashes in which the Iraqi forces may attempt to halt the advance. With just days to go before an almost certain invasion,...

Tanks and soldiers of the 7th Armored brigade gather for a briefing by US Lieutenant General Jeff Conway Commanding General 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in the Kuwait desert, March 14, 2003. Leaders of the United States, Britain and Spain will hold an emergency summit on Sunday in a last-gasp diplomatic effort to overcome opposition in the U.N. Security Council to a resolution paving the way for war on Iraq (news - web sites). (Dan Chung/Reuters)

CAMP BOUGAINVILLE, Kuwait, March 14 (Reuters) - United States forces fearing attack by Iraqi chemical weapons are deploying the first of a new breed of "magic trucks" to help medics treat casualties from any poisoned war zone. An inflatable tent unfurls from the back of an adapted all-terrain vehicle, swelling into a chamber designed to shield doctors from chemical weapons like nerve agents or mustard gas. "In a chemical environment, it makes medical work possible," said Captain Eric McDonald, patting the desert-coloured vehicle after a demonstration in northern Kuwait. "It gives us a clean place -- clean from dust...

CAMP UDAIRI, Kuwait -- This may surprise the folks back home, but the U.S. Army forces massing across the Iraqi border are largely unarmed. Even though all U.S. soldiers deployed to the six main Army camps in northern Kuwait must carry their rifles at all times -- even to the latrine in the middle of the night -- few are carrying any bullets.This is not an oversight, or a lame-brained cost-saving measure ordered by the Pentagon, or an indication that American military leaders believe they can take Iraq without firing a shot.Rather, it's an effort to stave off the sad...