U.S. to bolster defenses in Kuwait

AL JABER AIR BASE, Kuwait - The United States plans to send up to 3,000 additional Army soldiers to Kuwait to shore up defenses here and discourage Iraq from attempting any retaliatory attack in the event of U.S. and British air strikes, a senior U.S. military official reported yesterday.

The announcement marked the latest in a sudden series of fresh deployments to the Persian Gulf region, signaling intensified preparations for military action even as U.S. officials continue to hold open the prospect of a diplomatic solution to the confrontation with Iraq over access by U.N. inspectors to suspected weapons sites.

Gen. Anthony Zinni, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has requested that the additional soldiers arrive within the next 10 days to join about 1,500 ground troops already in Kuwait participating in a previously scheduled, routine exercise. By then, the United States should have all the forces in place for an air assault, the senior official said.

While the attack plan would rely largely on cruise missiles and strike aircraft to destroy Iraqi targets, Zinni has moved to bolster not only the armored Army force in Kuwait but also the Marine presence offshore out of concern that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may try to lash out at this small nation, which he invaded in 1990.

At the same time, the United States and Britain have sent about 50 additional strike and support aircraft to the Gulf region on top of the 300 already positioned there. This surge in airborne firepower reflects further refinements in the battle plan, said the official, who has played an important role in shaping it.

"I'm convinced that each day, right up to the moment if it comes, we'll keep refining the plan and, if necessary, move the right kind of assets in or out," the official said, suggesting possibly more deployments later.

Defense Secretary William Cohen interrupted his swing through Persian Gulf capitals yesterday to visit this desert air base south of Kuwait City.

Addressing rows of airmen against the backdrop of the kinds of combat aircraft that would fly missions over Iraq - an F-117 stealth jet, an A-10 Warthog attack plane, and F-16 and F/A-18 fighter jets - he expressed hope still for a diplomatic solution. In a message seemingly aimed at hawks urging military action, he remarked, "Those who are the most passionate about resorting to force tend to be those who are noncombatants."

The last time an American secretary of defense embarked on a mission like Cohen's to rally support among Gulf states was late 1994, and Cohen remarked yesterday that William Perry, who had the job then, had an easier time garnering support against Iraq.

Back then, Iraqi ground troops were massing again near the Kuwaiti border. The Gulf nations quickly agreed to provide the kind of basing assistance and political backing that showed them standing firmly with the United States. As additional U.S. ground forces, ships and aircraft rushed to the region, Iraq retreated and the crisis subsided.

But this time, Cohen is finding Arab leaders more reluctant to assist - or at least to publicly acknowledge their assistance.

Saudi Arabia's skittishness has compelled the Clinton administration to forgo earlier hopes of staging strikes against Iraq from Saudi territory. Even the assurances of limited Saudi help that Cohen's aides said yesterday were received in meetings Sunday night - and broader gestures of support from two smaller states, Kuwait and Bahrain - have come quietly.

Shuttling from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait yesterday, Cohen remarked on the challenge of making the current threat of Iraqi development of biological and chemical weapons as real and urgent as "Saddam occupying Kuwait, raping, pillaging and setting oil wells on fire."

Other factors also help explain the greater hesitation this time, according to Gulf specialists. Many Arabs profess to being tired of the cycle of Iraqi defiance and U.S. deployments that has played itself out several times since the 1991 war. Many, too, tend to sympathize with the suffering endured by the Iraqi people through seven years of international sanctions. While none of the Gulf regimes would be sorry if Saddam were ousted, they worry that public backing for more military punishment would be domestically unpopular.

The faltering Middle East peace process also has some bearing, with many in the Arab world disturbed by the dichotomy they see between Washington's pressure on Saddam Hussein and what they regard as insufficient American pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make peace with the Palestinians.

At least in Kuwait yesterday, Cohen came as close as he probably will in the region to enjoying a sense of unreserved Arab backing for the U.S. approach to Iraq. After meetings with the ruling emir, Sheik Jabir Ahmed Sabah, and other senior members of the royal family, Cohen told a news conference that Kuwaitis "understand better than anyone else" the threat posed by Iraq, given their experience under Iraqi occupation eight years ago.

But in their official public pronouncements, even Kuwaiti authorities can appear hesitant about endorsing the use of American force. Asked at the news conference if Kuwait will let the United States use its territory for air strikes, Defense Minister Salem Sabah sidestepped the question.

02-10-98