DOHA,
December 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. forces kicked off
Monday, December 9, a major military command exercise in the Gulf,
turning up the heat on Iraq as the crisis over its alleged weapons of
mass destruction reached a crucial phase.
About
1,000 U.S. and British battle staff led by U.S.
Army General Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf,
launched the "Internal Look" computerized war games from
Qatar's As-Sayliyah army base south of Doha, officials said, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
They
were testing the capabilities of a 58 million dollar (euro) mobile
command center, with sophisticated computers, maps and communications
facilities that could direct an eventual war in Iraq.
Officials
of the U.S. Central Command, which flew in some 600-700 top war planners
from its base in Tampa, Florida, said the exercise started shortly after
7:30am (0430 GMT) and would last a week or more.
Franks,
flanked by about 50 of his senior intelligence and operations personnel,
began the operation with a pep talk in a state-of-the-art war room in
the most secure part of the As-Sayliyah base, an official said.
"Internal
Look has begun and is proceeding on schedule," said Jim Wilkinson,
director of strategic communications for the Central Command (CENTCOM).
"This
exercise will give General Franks and the battle staff a front-line
opportunity to learn new lessons and improve the command's ability to be
decisive on the modern battlefield."
Thousands
of other servicemen were involved worldwide. About 300-400 British
personnel took part at As-Sayliyah, but there was no word on the
participation of any other nations.
The
war games were the fourth in the Internal Look series since 1990, when
they helped to produce a blueprint for the U.S.-led drive to oust Iraqi
troops from Kuwait. This year's edition was the first held outside the
United States.
Officials
refused to draw any explicit link to U.S. threats to use force if
necessary to strip President Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad of
(alleged) suspected weapons of mass destruction.
But
the round-the-clock exercise intensified the pressure on Saddam as the
task of assessing his compliance with UN disarmament resolutions hit a
key juncture.
It
started just hours after Iraq handed over a long-awaited declaration
claiming there are no weapons of mass destruction, and a new batch of UN
weapons inspectors arrived in Baghdad to bolster disarmament teams.
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U.
S. military personnel are seen at the Al Udeid military base in
Qatar
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While
Washington pledged to hold off any judgment on the 12,000-page Iraqi
statement until it could study the document carefully, it has put the
spotlight in recent days on its military preparations.
Media
access to U.S. army exercises in Kuwait and naval operations in the Gulf
has increased significantly, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was
to visit Qatar after a tour of the Horn of Africa this week.
U.S.
Senators Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel visited the As-Sayliyah base
Sunday and sang the praises of the technological muscle U.S. forces were
mustering for an eventual showdown with Iraq.
"If
people think we were coordinated in 1990, they haven't seen anything
yet," Biden, a Democrat and outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, told AFP. "This is a very different
deal."
No
combat troops were involved in Internal Look as Franks, the commanders
of his Navy, Army and Marine Corps units in the region and staff in
Tampa ran through hypothetical scenarios.
U.S.
officials said the deployable command complex of modular buildings
housing computers and communications equipment would remain after the
exercise ends, giving Franks the option to move forward as he sees fit.
But
they sidestepped any question of whether Franks and the staff deployed
here from Tampa would stay on or be brought back.
A
CENTCOM official said the Qatar outpost was carrying out normal command
activities in addition to Internal Look. Franks received his daily
operations and intelligence reports, including an update on the U.S.
mission in Afghanistan.
