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http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=282642003 The Scotsman March 8, 2003 Special forces poised to attack western Iraq TIM RIPLEY AND JACK FAIRWEATHER -Pentagon planners are keen to strike at western Iraq to divert Iraqi attention from the main advance on Baghdad that will come from Kuwait.... -A forward staging post for special force commandos and A-10A Warthog �tank buster� jets is now in place at Ar�ar in Saudi Arabia.... -Further to the west, USAF tanker aircraft have moved into the huge Saudi airbase at Tabuk, ready to re-fuel US navy combat jets heading to western Iraq from the carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Harry S Truman, currently in the Mediterranean. More tankers have moved into Bourgas airbase in Bulgaria to refuel B-52s based in Britain, returning from Iraqi targets. UNITED States strike aircraft and special forces are now poised to open a western front against Saddam Hussein�s Iraq, after setting up a string of covert bases in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the eastern Mediterranean. Several thousand troops have been moving into bases in northern Saudi Arabia over the past week after Turkey�s parliament put a block on the movement of 65,000 US troops through the country to open a northern front against Iraq. Pentagon planners are keen to strike at western Iraq to divert Iraqi attention from the main advance on Baghdad that will come from Kuwait and to prevent the strategic region being used as launch pad for Scud missile attacks on Israel. Meanwhile, forces which would form the southern front were approaching full combat readiness yesterday. In Kuwait, the chief of staff of the British armed forces, General Sir Mike Jackson, said his forces would be ready for war within four or five days. As the deployment to build up a western front unfolded this week, US aircraft launched two air raids on mobile Iraqi surface-to-air missile batteries defending the huge H-3 airbase in western Iraq. Pentagon spokesmen described Wednesday�s and yesterday�s air strikes as "routine" enforcement of the no-fly zone but the attacks were far from the main focus of US and British air operations in southern Iraq. This has heightened suspicion that Western air operations were being expanded to hit Iraqi troops along the strategic border with Jordan. A forward staging post for special force commandos and A-10A Warthog �tank buster� jets is now in place at Ar�ar in Saudi Arabia, 100 miles south of H-3. The base was used by US and British special forces in the last Gulf war but the Saudi government has so far denied it would allow its territory to be used for attacks on Iraq. Further to the west, USAF tanker aircraft have moved into the huge Saudi airbase at Tabuk, ready to re-fuel US navy combat jets heading to western Iraq from the carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Harry S Truman, currently in the Mediterranean. More tankers have moved into Bourgas airbase in Bulgaria to refuel B-52s based in Britain, returning from Iraqi targets. The deployments came after the US set up three batteries of Patriot anti-ballistic missiles in Azraq AB in eastern Jordan last month to improve Israel�s defences against Iraqi Scuds. Special force helicopters are also at the base to fly commandos into western Iraq and rescue any downed US pilots. Western Iraq, particularly H-3 airbase, is a major target for US war planners because it is the likely launch pad for Scud missiles aimed at Israel. The base is a huge complex of hardened aircraft shelters and underground bunkers. Reports last month suggested the Iraqis were concentrating their air force at the base ready for a strike on the Jewish nation. Gen Jackson yesterday dismissed reports that his troops were under-supplied and living in poor conditions in the dozens of camps which have been set up in the Kuwaiti desert. Speaking while on a brief visit to Kuwait, he said British forces would be ready for war against Iraq within "four to five days". A "couple of ships" carrying non-essential equipment are required to bring the 25,000 British soldiers currently deployed in Kuwait up to battle strength, he said. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^================================================================
