The leader of an Iraqi opposition group reveals that the United States has offered for the first time to train thousands of anti-Saddam Hussein Iraqis for combat.
Also, the US is deploying more “Patriot” missile batteries in Kuwait to protect its air bases in what appear to be preparations for a possible US war against Iraq, defense sources say.
“This is a fundamental change in US policy. The United States has refused for years to provide us with combat training,” the London-based source tells Reuters news agency.
The Iraqi opposition leader, who spoke to the press on the condition of anonymity, says the offer was made at a meeting that included the Iraqi National Congress, the main exiled group opposed to the Iraqi dictator’s rule, which is based in Britain.
Troops to be trained soon would include Kurdish rebels from northern Iraq and other forces. The source would not say where the training would take place or if the Pentagon had offered to arm the fighters.
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the White House, reversing its long-standing policy, was expected to seek approval from Congress soon for military training of up to 10,000 members of the Iraqi opposition.
The Iraqi opposition source in London will not say where or when the meeting was held at which the offer was made, but says, “Regular meetings between the opposition and the Pentagon are continuing.”
He says the Iraq Liberation Act, passed in 1998, authorized the US government to give military and financial assistance to the opposition organizations.
Until now Washington has only provided financial aid. Iraqi opposition members say the United States only recently approached them with offers of aid. The American proposals of military assistance came when opposition groups insisted a US campaign to destroy Saddam’s government should include a plan for what would replace it. The groups insist they don’t want another strongman seizing power.
Meanwhile, sources at the US Department of Defense acknowledged last week that the United States is preparing for a possible strike against Iraq by deploying more “Patriot” missile batteries in Kuwait to protect its air bases.
“There is a plan for the additional ‘Patriots’ that is logical in the framework of midterm planning” for a possible war, Pentagon briefer tells reporters.
Another Pentagon source tells Reuters that four “Patriot” batteries have arrived in Kuwait for deployment around the Ali Al-Salem and Ahmad Al-Jaber bases, which are currently in use by US and British aircraft enforcing a no-fly zone in southern Iraq. “Patriot” missiles can shoot down incoming missiles, like the Soviet-designed “Scuds” Iraq fired during the 1991 Gulf War.
Asked for comment on the weapons movements, US officials declined direct comment. A Pentagon spokesman in Washington did tell reporters: “We move stuff around all the time.”
Some of the equipment in question has come into Kuwait for forthcoming US exercises. Defense sources say a US Marine detachment is preparing in Kuwait for an annual exercise — “Eager Mace” — next month, for which a batch of equipment arrived recently.
But in addition, an Arab defense source tells wire services that the United States has this week sent in “Patriot” crews and spare parts for the Air Force as well as heavy military equipment.
A further delivery aboard a commercial vessel is expected in Kuwait in the next few days, the Arab source says. Another Western source says mobile “Avenger” air-defense systems, used for low-altitude threats, also arrived in Kuwait last week.
Senior defense sources say main population centers in the small nation of 2.2 million are already well-protected by existing US and Kuwaiti-manned “Patriot” batteries. This admission seems to support the claim of many defense analysts that the new anti-missile defenses are intended to defend the region from a reaction from Baghdad to a Western-led military invasion.
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