January 07, 2003
THE Pentagon today said it was mobilising nearly 20,000 reservists and national guards in the first major call-up of citizen soldiers in the United States' mounting confrontation with Iraq.
A massive hospital ship set sail for the region from Baltimore, Maryland, while an amphibious assault force with 2,200 Marines aboard left San Diego, California for the Gulf.
Analysts say the swell of US forces converging on the Gulf could be in place by early February, the optimal month weatherwise for military action if US President George W Bush opts for the use of force to disarm Iraq.
But only one army division - the 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Georgia - has acknowledged receiving deployment orders, still well short of the 200,000 to 250,000 troops that officials say are called for by US war plans.
Other units widely believed to be in line to deploy - the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood Texas, the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky; and the 1st Infantry and 1st Armoured Divisions in Germany - say they are still awaiting orders.
A Pentagon official, however, cautioned against expecting a conventional campaign with the usual division-size, front-line forces.
The official, who asked not to be identified, suggested instead that a variety of smaller units would be employed checkerboard-fashion to deal sudden, shocking blows to key objectives.
"People have to think about going after things that are really significant that connect the regime to power, and to try to isolate them," the official told AFP.
"Stop thinking about wars with frontlines," he added.
A prime aim of US strategy will be to shatter the regime before it has time to retrench in the cities where urban warfare would likely inflict high casualties on both sides, according to the official.
Gains over the past decade in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance give US forces a far more precise picture of the battlefield than the Iraqis have, making such an unconventional campaign possible, the official said.
He acknowledged that special operations forces working with "other government agencies" had been moving in and out of northern Iraq, which is controlled by Kurds, but not in southern or western Iraq.
The Boston Globe, citing intelligence officials and analysts, said about 100 US special forces and 50 CIA officers had been operating inside Iraq for the past four months, searching for Scud missile launchers, monitoring oil fields and marking minefields.
Information operations, including attacks on Iraqi computer networks, also are expected to play a significant role, officials said.
But they declined to comment on an Aviation Week and Space Technology report that information operations against Iraq's computer networks already were underway.
"They're making sure they can shut down all the military and some of the national networks when they need to," an air force official was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the departure of the hospital ship USNS Comfort today for the Indian Ocean reflected preparations for possible casualties, including from chemical or biological attack.
The Comfort, which was last deployed to the region for the 1991 Gulf War, is a giant floating trauma centre with 1,000 beds and a dozen fully equipped operating rooms.
The deployments also will soon be striking close to home.
The Pentagon has put 275 US Army Reserve units - some 10,000 troops - around the country on alert for active duty deployment within 30 days.
"Some of them could be going to the Gulf, some of them could be going to Europe as backfill, some of them could be going to the United States as homeland security," said army reserve spokesman Steven Stromvall.
Another 9,000 army National Guards will be deployed to protect 163 US air force bases, the army and air force announced.
Agence France-Presse
GeneralPete@Hotmail.Com
THE Pentagon today said it was mobilising nearly 20,000 reservists and national guards in the first major call-up of citizen soldiers in the United States' mounting confrontation with Iraq.
A massive hospital ship set sail for the region from Baltimore, Maryland, while an amphibious assault force with 2,200 Marines aboard left San Diego, California for the Gulf.
Analysts say the swell of US forces converging on the Gulf could be in place by early February, the optimal month weatherwise for military action if US President George W Bush opts for the use of force to disarm Iraq.
But only one army division - the 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Georgia - has acknowledged receiving deployment orders, still well short of the 200,000 to 250,000 troops that officials say are called for by US war plans.
Other units widely believed to be in line to deploy - the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood Texas, the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky; and the 1st Infantry and 1st Armoured Divisions in Germany - say they are still awaiting orders.
A Pentagon official, however, cautioned against expecting a conventional campaign with the usual division-size, front-line forces.
The official, who asked not to be identified, suggested instead that a variety of smaller units would be employed checkerboard-fashion to deal sudden, shocking blows to key objectives.
"People have to think about going after things that are really significant that connect the regime to power, and to try to isolate them," the official told AFP.
"Stop thinking about wars with frontlines," he added.
A prime aim of US strategy will be to shatter the regime before it has time to retrench in the cities where urban warfare would likely inflict high casualties on both sides, according to the official.
Gains over the past decade in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance give US forces a far more precise picture of the battlefield than the Iraqis have, making such an unconventional campaign possible, the official said.
He acknowledged that special operations forces working with "other government agencies" had been moving in and out of northern Iraq, which is controlled by Kurds, but not in southern or western Iraq.
The Boston Globe, citing intelligence officials and analysts, said about 100 US special forces and 50 CIA officers had been operating inside Iraq for the past four months, searching for Scud missile launchers, monitoring oil fields and marking minefields.
Information operations, including attacks on Iraqi computer networks, also are expected to play a significant role, officials said.
But they declined to comment on an Aviation Week and Space Technology report that information operations against Iraq's computer networks already were underway.
"They're making sure they can shut down all the military and some of the national networks when they need to," an air force official was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the departure of the hospital ship USNS Comfort today for the Indian Ocean reflected preparations for possible casualties, including from chemical or biological attack.
The Comfort, which was last deployed to the region for the 1991 Gulf War, is a giant floating trauma centre with 1,000 beds and a dozen fully equipped operating rooms.
The deployments also will soon be striking close to home.
The Pentagon has put 275 US Army Reserve units - some 10,000 troops - around the country on alert for active duty deployment within 30 days.
"Some of them could be going to the Gulf, some of them could be going to Europe as backfill, some of them could be going to the United States as homeland security," said army reserve spokesman Steven Stromvall.
Another 9,000 army National Guards will be deployed to protect 163 US air force bases, the army and air force announced.
Agence France-Presse
GeneralPete@Hotmail.Com
