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thedrifter
02-13-03, 07:17 AM
Associated Press
February 12, 2003


KUWAIT CITY - About 2,000 Marines came ashore in Kuwait on Wednesday in landing crafts that plunged into the ocean from amphibious assault ships - the latest arrival in a massive military buildup ahead of a possible U.S.-led strike on Iraq.
The Marines brought sophisticated weapons and aircraft, including planes that land vertically and helicopters that destroy enemy tanks and lift armored vehicles weighing 14 tons (12 metric tons).

Also arriving Wednesday was a 100-member elite unit called the Maritime Special Purpose Force - the Marines' version of the Army's special forces. This highly trained group is capable of breaching the cabin of an enemy ship, in addition to other missions such as demolitions and urban sniping.
The 2,000 Marines are members of the San Diego, California-based 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and will join thousands of Marines already on the ground in this oil-rich emirate. About half of the estimated 113,000 U.S. troops dispatched to the Gulf ahead of a possible Iraq war are in Kuwait, with tens of thousands more expected.

The Bush administration has indicated it will soon attack Iraq unless Saddam Hussein rids his country of all the weapons of mass destruction Washington insists it still possesses. Iraq denies it has such weapons.

Marine spokesmen would not reveal the exact location of Wednesday's landing. Instead, they called a news conference in Kuwait City where they showed footage of the arrival. Three huge ships anchored off the coast and amphibious vehicles plunged into the sea, rolling onto the shore carrying hundreds of men.

Also Wednesday, U.S. military commanders in Kuwait completed a command-and-control exercise dubbed Lucky Warrior designed to test communications system in the event of war and the ability to simultaneously direct disparate weapons system.

Marines spokesman Capt. David Romley, of Phoenix, Arizona, called the four-day exercise "very successful."

"It allowed us to refine our command and control capabilities," he said.

The Marines arrived in three amphibious assault ships - the USS Tarawa, the USS Duluth and the USS Rushmore. It will take two or three days to unload the equipment, which includes light armored vehicles, amphibious assault vehicles, M1A1 tanks and 29 aircraft including Harrier Jump jets that can land vertically and CH-53 Super Stallion helicopters that can lift enormous weights.

They also brought several modern weapons systems including Javelin missiles - the newest anti-tank missile system employed by the Marine Corps. Marines can fire them from inside buildings "without having to worry about back blast area," explained Romley, referring to the wide zone behind the weapon that must be kept clear in traditional missile systems.

"That becomes very important in an urban environment," Romley said.

Iraq may have already concluded that engaging the technologically superior U.S. military in the desert, as its forces did in the 1990-91 Gulf War, would hasten its defeat. Instead, some believe, Saddam may try to take the war to the cities.

Romley described the arriving Marine force, which left California on Jan. 6, as "extremely flexible" with a wide range of capabilities "ranging from humanitarian assistance to major theater war."

Some of the Marines arrived ashore aboard 16,000 horse power amphibious vessels called Landing Craft Air Cushioned, which can traverse two-meter (six-foot) walls and carry 70 tons of equipment.

Sgt. Ryan Thompson, 22, from Anchorage, Alaska who appeared in the video footage, said the Marines have "pretty much everything you need to do any kind of mission you like."

Copyright 2003 Associated Press

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Roger