WASHINGTON – U.S. military planning intensified for conflict with Iraq yesterday as battleships chugged off to the Mideast, while war games for the region were set to begin and reserves were ready to be called up at home.
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman yesterday departed Norfolk, Va., along with eight ships, submarines and 8,000 sailors – three days before the deadline for Iraq to disclose its weapons of mass destruction to the U.N. Security Council.
In Qatar, top generals from U.S. Central Command, who would be in charge of any war with Iraq, were set to begin a massive computerized war game code-named “Internal Look” to test critical wartime communications in the region.
In Washington, Pentagon officials also announced plans to call 10,000 more members of the National Guard and reserves to active duty in the next several days and prepared to recall as many as 265,000 more in the event of war.
Also, top Pentagon officials including Gen. Tommy Franks, head of U.S. Central Command, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are headed to the Persian Gulf region in the coming days for a series of critical meetings to coordinate war plans with allies and U.S. military leaders.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz this week was at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium trying to recruit allies to contribute to the war effort. Last night he was in Turkey, a country bordering Iraq that would likely be used as a staging area for air assaults on Iraq.
Pentagon generals want to launch any attack in the cooler winter months and it is clear the military buildup in the Gulf is approaching the final phases.
The Truman would be the fourth aircraft carrier battle group in the region by the end of the month, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln, the USS Constellation and the USS Kitty Hawk.
The USS George Washington is also in the region and due to be replaced by the Truman.