From: Steele, Kirk A (SteeleKA@nafm.misawa.af.mil)
Date: Sun Mar 10 2002 - 23:24:41 MST
Nope, it's just being reported differently, sort of an anit spin from the
home press. this is a concerted effort to take the ability of foriegn
governments to use institutions like CNN/BBC as second order intelligence
collection methods.
Kirk Steele
-----Original Message-----
From: Zphobic [mailto:zphobic@softhome.net]
Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2002 7:59 PM
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: virus: US Apparently Going To War
I can't find any mention of this on CNN or npr.org. A friend looked on
MSNBC, Washington Post, and ABC News, and didn't see it. US censorship?
- Zphobic
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,665083,00.html
<http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,665083,00.html>
Bush wants 25,000 UK Iraq force
Britain considers joint invasion plan
Kamal Ahmed, Jason Burke and Peter Beaumont
Sunday March 10, 2002
America has asked Britain to draw up plans for 25,000 of this country's
troops to join a US task force to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
In a move which reveals advanced US plans for the next phase of its war on
terror, Government departments are considering the plans ahead of
Vice-President Dick Cheney's meeting with the Prime Minister tomorrow.
Cheney will come to London armed with fresh evidence against the Iraqi
dictator, and will tell Tony Blair that United Nations inspections of Iraq's
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons may not be enough to head off a new
war in the Gulf.
The request for such a large number of British troops shows the high stakes
America is now playing for. It will alarm Cabinet doves, thought to include
Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, and Robin Cook, the
former Foreign Secretary and now Leader of the Commons.
The Government is already facing a split on the issue of military action
against Iraq. One Minister described those who had questioned Blair's policy
of fully backing a US military campaign as 'appeasers'.
'At some point people have to realise that action has to be taken,' he said.
The request for such a large number of troops is unprecedented in peacetime.
It is one of three major options now being considered by the Government
which has always insisted publicly that no final decisions have been made on
military action against Saddam.
British troops would be part of a 250,000-strong ground force to invade Iraq
in an operation similar to Desert Storm in 1991.
The second option is one where smaller special forces units would support
opposition forces within Iraq, like the tactic used in Afghanistan, where
the Northern Alliance was backed with air strikes and logistical support in
its battle to overthrow the Taliban.
The third option - thought to be preferred by the Foreign Office - is one of
'aggressive containment'. Under this plan, air strikes against Iraq would be
intensified if Saddam did not agree to a comprehensive inspections agree
ment.
Cheney arrives in London ahead of a 10-day 'hearts and minds' tour of the
Middle East which is seen as vital in shoring up the alliance against Iraq.
After London he will visit Egypt, Israel, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman
and Turkey.
America is confident that with enough evidence against Saddam, the White
House can persuade other Arab states to support military action.
'I think they all have legitimate concerns about the regime in Iraq, and
they're aware that Saddam continues to represent a threat to the security
and stability of the region,' said one White House official. 'I expect
they'll all want to talk about it.'
America has already begun a discreet military build-up in preparation for a
ground war in Iraq. US special forces are training Iraqi militia to be ready
for a strike against Saddam in the coming months.
Teams of instructors drawn from American elite regiments have been arriving
in Kurdish-held areas in the north of Iraq in recent weeks, targeting the
semi-autonomous areas run by the Kurdish Democratic Party.
The instructors are improving local fighters' tactical and weapons skills
and teaching them how to exploit chaos caused by American air strikes. They
are also drawing up lists of potential targets, a vital prerequisite to any
ground offensive.
Defence sources say a battalion of 24 Longbow Apache attack helicopters also
recently arrived in Kuwait. The helicopters, capable of operating up to 250
kilometres behind enemy lines, could be used to attack air defence sites and
Iraqi armour in the opening air phase of any war.
In a separate development sources say more than 5,000 US fighting vehicles,
mothballed in Kuwait since the end of the Gulf War, have quietly been
overhauled.
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