U.S. Military
Official in Qatar Amidst Reports of Using Al-Udeid to Strike Iraq
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Al-Udeid air base hosts around 3,000 U.S. troops and 50 planes |
DOHA,
August 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Qatar's army chief of
staff, General Hamad bin Ali al-Attiya, held talks Sunday, August 11,
with U.S. Representative David Hobson, chairman of the house's
subcommittee on military construction, the official QNA news agency
said.
Their
talks focused on "bilateral cooperation and ways to develop it in
all spheres," it said, without giving any further details.
Hobson's
visit follows reports in the U.S. press that Washington may use Qatar
as a major base if war is unleashed against Iraq, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
There
has been mounting speculation that the United States is preparing to
transfer equipment and some of the 6,000 U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia
to Qatar to bypass Saudi objections to any strike on Baghdad.
But
the Pentagon has stressed that while some equipment might be
transferred to Qatar, U.S. forces will remain in Saudi Arabia.
The
Al-Udeid
air base, 35 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Qatar's capital
Doha, is the biggest facility used to stock U.S. munitions and
materiel in the Arabian Gulf.
Due
to the Saudi refusal to be a launch pad for strikes on its neighbor,
Baghdad, the U.S. has been investing money and labor into its $1.4
billion airbase, news agencies reported.
Qatar
has publicly opposed any attack on Iraq.
"We
cannot say when or how the facilities would be used...but as far as
the progress of work is concerned, it is almost 80 percent complete
and I guess it should be ready by the year-end," a U.S. official
who declined to be named told news agencies.
According
to Tommy Franks, the commander of U.S. Central Command, the base
was being developed for "times of crisis."
The
Al-Udeid base is a state-of-the-art military facility that is capable
of carrying out and controlling thousands of air strikes on a daily
basis, which gives the U.S. an alternative to the Saudi military
bases.
Speaking
Sunday to Fox News, Senator Fred Thompson, a Republican member of the
U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said the United States did not
need Saudi Arabian bases for an attack on Iraq, reported news
agencies.
"There
are other countries in that area that we can use. We're in the Gulf
there already. I don't think we have to have them [Saudi bases] in
order to do that," he said.
CNN
reported that the U.S. expects to be given permission to fly through
Saudi airspace if it attacks Iraq.
Saudi
Arabia’s public position, reported CNN, is that any regime change in
Iraq should come from the Iraqi people, not outside military action.
CNN
quoted Pentagon sources as saying that if the United States goes to
war against Iraq, it would hope for support from Saudi Arabia in three
areas: over flight rights for attack planes, use of a high-tech
command center at Prince Sultan air base; and some logistics and
refueling support.
All
of these could be provided quietly, while the Saudi government
maintained a public stance of neutrality, officials said, reported
CNN.
Construction
work at Al-Udeid started three years ago but was switched into top
gear in November after Saudi Arabia refused to let U.S. planes and
troops heading to Afghanistan use the Prince Sultan base. The U.S.
resorted to launching attacks from its Fifth Fleet facilities off
Bahrain, and Al-Udeid – then a make-shift complex of tents and
capable of housing 40 aircraft.
The
past nine months have transformed Al-Udeid into a state-of-the-art
facility with one of the longest runways in the Middle East, at 4,500
meters (14,760 ft). It can accommodate up to 120 fighter jets, U.S.
officials say.
The
airbase has three hardened concrete underground shelters which can
each hold 40 aircraft capable of operating even if the base came under
biological or chemical attack.
Al-Udeid
stands next to a sprawling arms warehouse, where Central Command has
stored tanks, armored personnel carriers and enough weapons to equip a
whole brigade.
Al-Udeid
hosts around 3,000 U.S. troops and 50 planes. Officials say once
complete, it will be home to 10,000 troops.
The
United States has several Gulf bases, mainly in Bahrain, Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia, which alone hosts about 5,000 troops.
During
the 1991 Gulf War, Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan airbase was the
operations center for U.S. troops taking part in the U.S.-led
multi-national coalition which launched a massive war on Iraq with the
aim of liberating of Kuwait.
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