WASHINGTON,
February 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – As U.S. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Friday, February 7, that the U.S.-led
war on Iraq would last "six days, maybe six weeks", two more
aircraft carriers were put on notice to leave for the Gulf.
The
USS Nimitz and USS Kitty Hawk and their battle groups are being readied
to leave for the Gulf, a U.S. Navy official said.
Four
other carriers are either in the Gulf or eastern Mediterranean or are on
the way and two others are ready to leave from the United States,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
Nimitz is based in California and the Kitty Hawk in Japan.
Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rallied U.S. troops during a visit to Italy on
Friday.
During
a visit to the U.S. Air Force's 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano in northern
Italy, Rumfseld told his troops that war on Iraq would last "six
days, maybe six weeks", but certainly less than six months.
The
United States is massing tens of thousands of in the Gulf, with 150,000
expected to be in place by the end of next week.
The
carriers USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Constellation are in the Gulf with
their battle groups and, according to the U.S. Navy, the USS Theodore
Roosevelt left Puerto Rico on Tuesday for the eastern Mediterranean and
the USS Harry Truman is already there.
Two
others, the USS George Washington and the USS Carl Vinson are ready to
leave the United States at any moment.
Parallel
to the military buildup, the U.S. administration is stepping up
diplomatic pressure in the showdown with Iraq.
President
George W. Bush warned Iraq Thursday, February 6, that "the game is
over" as he again urged the United Nations to make a stand against
Iraq.
To
follow up Bush's comments, the White House warned Friday that the United
States "will not put up with any last-minute games of
deception" from Baghdad.
"No
more cheat and retreat, no more deny and deceive," White House
spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
Washington
also announced that it is closing the U.S. interests section at the
Polish embassy in Baghdad, severing its final diplomatic link with Iraq
in a move that normally precedes armed conflict.
State
Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
closure would be formally announced later Friday and that most of the
Polish diplomats at the mission have already left Iraq.
Poland
has represented American interests in Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War that
saw a U.S.-led multinational coalition expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait
after a seven-month occupation.
Bush
said Thursday the United States would welcome a new U.N. resolution on
Iraq "which makes clear that the Security Council stands behind its
previous demands."
But
reaffirming the U.S. stance that it did legally require a new resolution
to launch force, Bush said Friday that U.N. resolution 1441 passed last
November "speaks for itself".
Resolution
1441 sent weapons inspectors back to Iraq and warned of "serious
consequences" if Iraq does not comply.
"Having
made its demands, the Security Council must not back down when those
demands are defied and mocked by a dictator," Bush said.
America’s
Elite “Screaming Eagles” Fly Gulf-bound
 |
The 101st
Airborne Division has about 16,000 soldiers and 270
helicopters, including the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter
|
The
101st Airborne Division, one of the U.S. army's combat units, was
ordered to deploy to the Gulf region on Thursday, as part of preparation
for the looming war.
The
elite air assault division played a key role in the 1991 Gulf war and
was also deployed in Afghanistan last year.
Experts
contended the 101st division is usually deployed after the war decision
has already been taken.
"A
deployment order has been signed," said John Minton, spokesman at
Fort Campbell in Kentucky, headquarters for the division nicknamed the
"Screaming Eagles."
Minton
said the 101st Airborne Division has about 16,000 soldiers and 270
helicopters, including the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and the UH-60
Black Hawk.
He
made no mention of the number of troops called for in the deployment
order, nor the country to which they would deploy.
"Our
primary mission is to conduct operations using air assault technique,
that is rappelling out of helicopters," Minton said.
"We're
a rapid deployment force. We have the largest aviation brigade in the
United States Army."
The
101st Airborne shed its parachutes during its service in the Vietnam war
and became an air assault division, building into a specialty the use
helicopters to move troops in that conflict.
In
January 1991, the division launched a massive helicopter-borne assault
in Iraq, helping to isolate Iraqi forces and drive them from Kuwait in a
ground conflict that lasted just 100 hours, without suffering a single
casualty.
Most
recently, soldiers from the division's Third Brigade took part in
another air assault in March in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province.
The
assault, nicknamed "Operation Anaconda," was the largest
ground combat so far in the US-led war against Islamist militants in
that country.
Four-Fold
Plan
As
the world awaits a potential U.S.-led military aggression on Iraq, a
French press report said the Pentagon tabled a four-fold plan to make
war prove a success.
The
first and highly expected scenario includes a whirlwind and extensive
air raid on Iraqi air defense's communications site, then 150,000 troops
parachute outside Baghdad or Tikrit to take control of the Iraqi
military commands and ammunition caches Washington says also harbor
chemical and biological weapons, the French daily L'Expresse reported on
Friday.
The
plan is aimed at isolating and besieging Baghdad and Tikrit, considered
the second capital in the country, to ensure a quick overthrow of
Saddam's regime.
The
second scenario is about a large-scale attack from northern and southern
Iraq, with an essential backing from the Kurds in the north and Shiite
opposition groups in the south.
The
plan, includes the participation of 250,000 troops to push into Baghdad
under a heavy aerial bombing.
The
scenario is similar to the one adopted in the U.S.-led war in
Afghanistan in October 20001, where the Northern Alliance troops
extended their support to fight against opposing the Taliban regime.
A
Kuwait-based swift ground operation against Baghdad and Tikrit is the
essential part of the third proposed plan aimed at cordoning off Iraqi
forces deployed along the two large cities.
The
fourth plan encompasses several options, including ground offensives
from Kuwait, Kurdish areas in northern Iraq and Jordan as well as
intensive bombardment.
