300,000 troops
to beat Saddam
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Mighty big ... sailors stand on deck of US aircraft
carrier Kitty Hawk, set to spearhead attack on Iraq
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RELATED STORIES
* Sun Says
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By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON
Deputy Political Editor
A HUGE force of at least 300,000 Allied troops will be sent to Iraq
to topple Saddam Hussein, The Sun can reveal.
And the build-up to war will be launched by the Ministry of Defence TODAY.
Allied military chiefs have advised US President George Bush and PM
Tony Blair that Iraqi forces must be swamped if Saddam is to be
deposed.
They urged the preparations as US Secretary of State Colin Powell
announced "problems" with Iraq's arms declaration.
He added that early scepticism had proved "well founded".
The MoD will hire ships to transport tanks to the Gulf. A Government
figure said: "We'll have a very firm footprint."
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Facing oblivion ... Saddam
Meanwhile, it was revealed the awe-inspiring fleet of US Navy ships
preparing for a second Gulf War is so vast it would fill the space
surrounded by the M25.
So many vessels have been dispatched by President Bush that if they
all took up station together they would only just squeeze inside the
motorway which encircles London.
The 125-mile orbital road covers an area measuring roughly 35 miles
by 30 - equal to the amount of searoom needed by four massive
aircraft carriers and their escorting battle groups of other ships.
The huge armada gathered as America gave the first public signal that
it had found faults and discrepancies in the 12,000-page weapons
declaration issued by Iraq.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, giving the first assessment of the
Bush administration's preliminary analysis, said in Washington: "We
said at the very beginning that we approached it with scepticism.
"The information I have received so far is that that scepticism is
well founded. There are problems with the declaration."
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Heading to the Gulf ... USS
Constellation and its fighters
The carriers dispatched by America include the 1,092ft
nuclear-powered USS Nimitz - described as "95,000 tons of diplomacy",
standing 18 storeys high and with 41/2 acres of flight deck.
With her are the 86,000-ton Kitty Hawk, the new Harry S Truman and
the Abraham Lincoln - all within striking distance of Baghdad.
Another carrier, the USS Constellation, is heading to the Gulf to
replace the Abraham Lincoln but BOTH may remain, boosting the number
of carrier groups to five.
The British carrier HMS Ark Royal will steam to the region next month
to join up with the US battle fleet along with her own flotilla of
Royal Navy ships.
Supporting Ark Royal will be a destroyer, frigate and two T-class
submarines armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Advances in military technology mean the carrier groups will be able
to hit up to 700 targets a day with satellite and laser-guided
missiles.
In the Gulf War they could manage only 162 targets a day.
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Joining up ... the Ark Royal will
steam into the region next month
Each carrier comes with an air wing of up to 85 warplanes including
F-14 Tomcats and F-18 Hornets, attack helicopters, pilots, engineers
and weapons teams.
They are supported by as many as ten destroyers, frigates and
auxiliary ships carrying ammunition, fuel and other supplies.
On land, the US Army has already amassed at least 50,000 troops in
the Gulf ready for action.
Pentagon commanders have decided on a minimum of 300,000 personnel
for a full-scale war.
The British contingent is likely to be a maximum of around 15,000 strong.
But if Saddam does not give in the size of the overall force could
rise to half a million - as many as were deployed in the Gulf War
when the allies faced a standing Iraqi army.
Hundreds of American tanks have been assembling in Qatar while Apache
and Blackhawk helicopters from the Sixth Cavalry have been deployed
to Kuwait.
Three of the most famous divisions in the US Army, the 101st and 82nd
Airborne and 10th Mountain, are gearing up to go to Iraq.
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Power game ... the Nimitz, known
as '95,000 tons of diplomacy'
In Britain, the Ministry of Defence will today confirm that it has
hired a fleet of cargo ships to move equipment out to the Gulf.
They will carry scores of Challenger II tanks from the 7th and 4th
Armoured Brigades in Germany.
An "enhanced brigade" of thousands of men from those units will be called up.
Special forces troops from the SAS and SBS will be sent along with
thousands of Royal Marines Commandos.
At least 600 Green Berets will be on board the assault ship HMS Ocean
when she leaves as part of the Ark Royal battle group in early
January.
Officially, the group is part of a firepower exercise due to begin in February.
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Soar thing ... Tomcat jet takes
off from USS Abraham Lincoln
But MoD chiefs admit the 683ft, 20,000-ton Ark Royal - which has the
ship's motto "Zeal Does Not Rest" - will spearhead any British force.
Prime Minister Tony Blair expects France will also commit a large
number of troops, ships and planes.
Military sources say any war will begin with four or five nights of
continual missile bombardment of key military sites.
The hope is that senior generals will turn on dictator Saddam and
carry out a coup.
--
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Drop Bush, Not Bombs!
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"During times of universal deceit,
telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
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