Washington will soon have enough heavy tanks, warships, aircraft, bombs and troops in the Gulf region to enable it to begin an attack against Iraq in January, according to high-ranking military officials, cited by The New York Times.
In its Sunday edition, the Times reported that an estimated 60,000 soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen, as well as around 200 warplanes, are in or near the region.
The Army alone has 9,000 soldiers, 24 Apache helicopter gunships and heavy equipment for two armored brigades in Kuwait. Equipment for a third brigade is steadily arriving on ships usually based in the Indian Ocean, and some material will be stored at a new $200 million logistics base, Camp Arifjan, south of Kuwait City.
Furthermore, the report added, by late next week, four aircraft carriers would be poised to strike Iraq on short notice, with a fifth in Southeast Asia ready to steam to the gulf in a crisis. Two of the carriers, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, are heading home, however the Navy will keep their crews together about two weeks longer than the usual 30 days after arrival in case they are ordered back to the Gulf.
Meanwhile, Special Operations forces in the region are refining their plans to hunt for Scud missiles and clandestine weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Some 1,000 military planners, led by General Tommy Franks, who heads the US Central Command, have assembled in Qatar and other Gulf states for a computer-assisted high-profile military exercise, which begins Monday and is intended as a model for an offensive against Iraq, according to officials.
It seems that put together, these are indications that before long, US President George W. Bush will be able to order an attack to disarm Iraq and overthrow its leader Saddam Hussein, and have it carried out within days, senior military officials said. (Albawaba.com)
