wrbones
03-14-03, 12:24 AM
Iraqi Troops Moving Toward Kuwait
Thursday, March 13, 2003
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is seeing movement of Iraqi troops and heavy artillery toward the south, possibly to take up positions in Southern Iraq, where they could be able to shell U.S. troops dug in inside Kuwait, defense officials confirmed to Fox News on Thursday.
U.S. officials also told Fox News they are seeing Iraqi surface-to-surface missiles (SCUDs) moved into Western Iraq within striking distance of Israel.
Fox News has already reported that the Iraqis have wired many key oil fields in the north and the south of the country with explosives for possible detonation should the coalition launch an attack.
Defense officials told Fox News that the above-mentioned developments could signal that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is mulling pre-emptive missile attacks on Israel, as well as attacks on U.S. forces stationed along his southern border, and his own people. Officials said any and all such eventualities are built into their main battle plan, meaning there are prescribed counter-measures in place, should Saddam attack first.
The Defense Department is watching these developments very closely -- the SCUDs in the west in particular -- because the thought is that Saddam desperately wants to draw Israel into this fight. The pre-emptive attack from Saddam that has been thought about for months.
"We have to assume that if he feels he has been backed into a corner, he may believe his only real shot comes from trying something first," one official said Thursday night.
The officials, however, were not willing to discuss how military planners have taken such a scenario into account.
The United States is moving about 10 Navy ships armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea, senior U.S. officials said Thursday. The move indicates weakening U.S. confidence that Turkey will grant overflight rights for U.S. planes and missiles.
From the Red Sea the cruisers, destroyers and submarines would be able to launch their Tomahawks -- typically fired in the opening hours of a war -- for flights over Saudi Arabia to targets in Iraq.
The ships are part of the USS Harry S. Truman and USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle groups, which have been operating in the eastern Mediterranean for weeks in anticipation of war against Iraq.
No decision has been made to move the carriers from the Mediterranean, but that could be a next step, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Each carrier has about 80 aircraft aboard.
It had been hoped that the Tomahawks could fly across Turkey's airspace, but the Turkish government so far has not granted overflight rights.
Tomahawks are satellite-guided missiles normally used in the opening stages of war to strike high-value, fixed targets such as government buildings in areas where the risk of civilian casualties is relatively high.
The Tomahawks are designed to evade radar by skimming the land or sea surface and were designed in the mid-1980s. Following the Gulf War, they became one of the U.S. weapons of choice to respond to Iraqi breaches of U.N. sanctions.
The issue of overflight rights for U.S. missiles and planes has been overshadowed by the Bush administration's struggle to win Turkey's approval to base 60,000 or more U.S. troops there to open a northern front against Iraq.
The Turkish parliament rejected the U.S. request for basing rights earlier this month, and Pentagon officials said Thursday it appeared increasingly unlikely that the Army would position its 4th Infantry Division in Turkey, as originally planned.
About three dozen cargo ships with the 4th Infantry Division's weaponry, equipment and supplies have been waiting off the Turkish coast for weeks, and the troops are still at their base in Fort Hood, Texas.
During the 1991 Gulf War the Navy positioned carriers and Tomahawk-launching ships in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. It now has three carriers in the Gulf -- the USS Kitty Hawk, the USS Constellation and the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Fox News' Bret Baier and Ian McCaleb and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is seeing movement of Iraqi troops and heavy artillery toward the south, possibly to take up positions in Southern Iraq, where they could be able to shell U.S. troops dug in inside Kuwait, defense officials confirmed to Fox News on Thursday.
U.S. officials also told Fox News they are seeing Iraqi surface-to-surface missiles (SCUDs) moved into Western Iraq within striking distance of Israel.
Fox News has already reported that the Iraqis have wired many key oil fields in the north and the south of the country with explosives for possible detonation should the coalition launch an attack.
Defense officials told Fox News that the above-mentioned developments could signal that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is mulling pre-emptive missile attacks on Israel, as well as attacks on U.S. forces stationed along his southern border, and his own people. Officials said any and all such eventualities are built into their main battle plan, meaning there are prescribed counter-measures in place, should Saddam attack first.
The Defense Department is watching these developments very closely -- the SCUDs in the west in particular -- because the thought is that Saddam desperately wants to draw Israel into this fight. The pre-emptive attack from Saddam that has been thought about for months.
"We have to assume that if he feels he has been backed into a corner, he may believe his only real shot comes from trying something first," one official said Thursday night.
The officials, however, were not willing to discuss how military planners have taken such a scenario into account.
The United States is moving about 10 Navy ships armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea, senior U.S. officials said Thursday. The move indicates weakening U.S. confidence that Turkey will grant overflight rights for U.S. planes and missiles.
From the Red Sea the cruisers, destroyers and submarines would be able to launch their Tomahawks -- typically fired in the opening hours of a war -- for flights over Saudi Arabia to targets in Iraq.
The ships are part of the USS Harry S. Truman and USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle groups, which have been operating in the eastern Mediterranean for weeks in anticipation of war against Iraq.
No decision has been made to move the carriers from the Mediterranean, but that could be a next step, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Each carrier has about 80 aircraft aboard.
It had been hoped that the Tomahawks could fly across Turkey's airspace, but the Turkish government so far has not granted overflight rights.
Tomahawks are satellite-guided missiles normally used in the opening stages of war to strike high-value, fixed targets such as government buildings in areas where the risk of civilian casualties is relatively high.
The Tomahawks are designed to evade radar by skimming the land or sea surface and were designed in the mid-1980s. Following the Gulf War, they became one of the U.S. weapons of choice to respond to Iraqi breaches of U.N. sanctions.
The issue of overflight rights for U.S. missiles and planes has been overshadowed by the Bush administration's struggle to win Turkey's approval to base 60,000 or more U.S. troops there to open a northern front against Iraq.
The Turkish parliament rejected the U.S. request for basing rights earlier this month, and Pentagon officials said Thursday it appeared increasingly unlikely that the Army would position its 4th Infantry Division in Turkey, as originally planned.
About three dozen cargo ships with the 4th Infantry Division's weaponry, equipment and supplies have been waiting off the Turkish coast for weeks, and the troops are still at their base in Fort Hood, Texas.
During the 1991 Gulf War the Navy positioned carriers and Tomahawk-launching ships in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. It now has three carriers in the Gulf -- the USS Kitty Hawk, the USS Constellation and the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Fox News' Bret Baier and Ian McCaleb and The Associated Press contributed to this report.