Gen. Tommy Franks Tuesday said an exercise underway in Qatar was critical to preparing US forces for any war and that his troops were ready, if called upon, to launch operations in Iraq.
Franks, the leader of US Central Command and the likely commander of any conflict with Iraq, said no decision had been made yet on whether he would keep his key battle planners and their staff at Camp As Sayliyah after the exercise.
"Those are questions that our president and the international community will answer ... we will see where it goes," Franks told AP.
The command and control exercise, known as Internal Look, tests the Central Command's ability to deploy a new, portable command center to the field and run a war from it.
"Internal Look is not designed to prove anything to anyone except to ourselves," Franks said. "This is not an exercise about saber rattling, this exercise is about building capacity and capability for the United States of America, to give our president options, credible military options." (Albawaba.com)
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