US/BRITAIN/IRAQ: The United States, Britain and Australia have started to speed up the movement of troops and weapons to the Gulf to give them the capability to attack Iraq by mid-February. From Duncan Campbell, in Los Angeles and Richard Norton-Taylor, in London
At the weekend, the American Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, authorised the deployment of another 62,000 US troops. About 150,000 US and British troops will be in the region by next month.
The build-up of warships and combat aircraft is also accelerating. The latest US deployment, started on Saturday, includes a large contingent of marines, a squadron of F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters and an army airborne division. B-1 bombers have also been sent to bases in Oman during the past week. Tomorrow, the US will send helicopter gunships and M1 Abrams tanks to the area.
In the US, the Marine Corps has issued an order barring marines from leaving the service. The freeze on the discharges is the first since the Gulf War. In Britain, the government is poised to announce the deployment to the Gulf of heavy armour, including Challenger-2 battle tanks adapted for desert conditions at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.
Paratroopers from the 16th assault brigade, based in Colchester, are also on standby, but their deployment is likely to be announced only when the timing of any US-led invasion to oust President Saddam Hussein becomes clearer. The larger the force deployed in the Gulf, the greater the range of options open to the US. The Pentagon has still to decide on its war plan, according to British defence sources who are in the unenviable position of having to wait for orders from Washington.
It is clear that the US envisages the participation only of "light" British forces - paratroopers and special forces who would be dropped behind enemy lines to establish forward bases, and 3,000 royal marine commandos who, according to one plan leaked to American newspapers, would take part in a US-led amphibious attack on the southern Iraqi port of Basra.
The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is heading a 16-vessel British naval task force which is due to link up with the helicopter and commando carrier HMS Ocean before heading to the Gulf. The Ark Royal left Portsmouth on Saturday and is on its way to Scotland to pick up ammunition and arms, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday.
British military commanders also want a display of armour which would give Britain more kudos and reflect the political and military risks involved in any invasion of Iraq, they say.
However, with British equipment far inferior to that of the Americans, UK armoured regiments risk being left behind heavy US forces and being unable to communicate properly with them.
Australia is also taking part in the military build-up. Two long-range naval surveillance aircraft will be sent to the region this week, according to press reports in the country. President George Bush instructed the Pentagon to start planning the invasion of Iraq six days after the September 11th 2001 attacks on the US, the Washington Post reported.
The decision to move against Iraq represented a victory for a small group of conservatives in the administration, the report said, and became policy before many more moderate elements in the administration realised it. "It simply snuck up on us," a senior State Department official was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, British International Development Secretary Ms Clare Short has said Britain should not take part in any military action against Iraq which is not authorised by the United Nations.
The UK's "duty" was to act as a restraining influence on Washington and ensure that the crisis over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction was dealt with through the UN, she said.
Her comments appeared to indicate a clear difference of opinion with the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, who has always reserved the option of acting independently if the UN cannot agree on war.
Two thirds of those polled in the United States oppose unilateral US action against Iraq without UN approval, according to a survey released yesterday.
Only one third of respondents favoured a US-led war on Iraq without UN support, according to the poll, taken on behalf of the Knight Ridder media group. However, 83 per cent of Americans favour a possible war against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein if it is led by an international coalition with UN support. - (Guardian Service, PA, AFP)