The War Is About To Begin

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday October 12, 2002 10:41 by WW4

countdown....

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 12, 2002; Page A01

The Pentagon has issued orders to the Army's V Corps and 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to deploy headquarters staffs to Kuwait, marking the first non-routine dispatch of conventional ground forces to the Persian Gulf region in anticipation of possible military action against Iraq, defense officials said yesterday.

The move will bring to the Gulf hundreds of Army and Marine planners who would coordinate any thrust by land forces into Iraq. With headquarters elements of the Navy and Air Force already in place and a U.S. Central Command contingent due to arrive in the region next month, the addition of the ground force groups will complete the command structure that would manage any invasion.

The decision to send the Army and Marine teams follows other steps by the Bush administration in recent weeks also pointing toward heightened preparations for war, including a gradual buildup of military equipment in the Gulf region, training exercises by U.S. troops likely to take part in an invasion and accelerated maintenance of aircraft carriers that could be sent from U.S. ports.

more at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14619-2002Oct11.html