US launches huge dry run for war

By RUPERT CORNWELL and ANDREW GUMBEL

WASHINGTON - It bears the innocuous name of "Internal Look".

But the American military's elaborate command-and-control exercise, which began at a base in the Qatari desert yesterday, looks very like a dry run for a war against Iraq which many believe is inevitable.

The exercise, the largest of its kind, is also the first to be held outside the United States.

But though Washington is continuing a build-up - some 60,000 men are now in or near the Gulf - no troops will join the exercise.

Instead, "Internal Look" will test the abilities of the electronic equipment installed over the past few months at As Sayliyah to co-ordinate the operations of the four US armed services scattered from the Middle East to central Asia and east Africa.

But the focus, as the Pentagon does not hide, is Iraq. The equivocation of Saudi Arabia and the unease of Turkey over their infrastructure being used for a war against Saddam Hussein have turned Qatar into the hub of any campaign to oust Saddam.

That campaign would be led by General Tommy Franks, since October 2000 in charge of US Central Command. Franks, with 200 members of his staff as well as observers from Britain and Australia, is at As Sayliyah to superintend the exercise.

"Internal Look" will run for a week. It will test commanders with many war scenarios, covering an American attack on Iraq and the retaliation it might provoke, as well as Iraqi counter-attacks, and even pre-emptive strikes by Baghdad.

The same computer-simulated operations could be carried out as easily from Centcom's headquarters in Florida. This time, though, the equipment will remain in the Gulf.

War may not have been declared, but the mobilisation against Iraq is already well under way.

After conducting a comprehensive assessment of the build-up ordered by the Pentagon, the New York Times concluded that America would soon have enough ships, aircraft, tanks, troops and munitions in the Gulf region to launch an attack on Iraq next month. Many experts had suggested that this would not be the case until February or March.

About 60,000 US soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen, as well as about 200 planes, are in or near the Gulf. The US Army has 9000 soldiers, 24 Apache helicopter gunships and enough heavy equipment in Kuwait for two armoured brigades.

By late next week, four aircraft carriers including the Harry S. Truman, which sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, will be poised to strike Iraq at short notice.

Britain is expected to send several thousand troops to join the offensive.

All in all, the force in place by next month would be big enough to begin an offensive while extra personnel and equipment was rapidly flown in to sustain an operation that could involve 250,000 troops.

Mostly, the hardware has been quietly transported into the Gulf by transport ship.

Some of the lighter items, including satellite technology, pre-fabricated barracks and warehouses, have also been ferried in by cargo plane. Latest reports say Kuwait, in particular, has been converted into a glorified US armed camp.

During the Gulf War, the US Army built 23,000 latrines, 10,000 washstands and 16,000 field showers in the desert. A similar frenzy of temporary building has already begun.

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INDEPENDENT

Graphic: US Navy Aircraft Carriers

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Iraq