Major Iraqi troop movements reported

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Thursday, June 28, 2001

Iraq continues to redeploy thousands of troops as well as tanks and artillery near the borders of Jordan, Syria and Turkey. U.S. officials termed the movements an exercise and said the White House and Pentagon were closely monitoring them.

Iraqi opposition sources said the military has been placed on alert around Baghdad and in northern and southern Iraq. They reported the activation of anti-aircraft batteries and the opening of weapons storehouses, Middle East Newsline reported.

The troop movement, the sources said, appears to reinforce major routes that lead from Iraq to Syria and Jordan.

U.S. officials said the redeployment appears to be an exercise of Iraq's logistical capabilities. They said similar exercises are conducted every few months and do not represent an immediate danger.

So far, thousands Iraqi troops and tanks have arrived over the last 72 hours to the Irbil area just south of the Kurdish autonomous zone near Turkey. Iraqi troops were also seen arriving at the large military base in Rutba near the Jordanian border as well as positions near the Syrian border.

Officials said the Iraqi troop movement is being closely monitored in the White House and Pentagon. They are also the subject of talks during the current visit by a State Department delegation to northern Iraq. The State Department envoys are meeting Kurdish leaders in an effort to obtain Kurdish help to enforce United Nations sanctions on Baghdad.

"We have seen reports that Iraq is moving troops towards the Kurdish areas," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We are trying to establish the facts on the ground. We are watching the situation closely."

U.S. officials said Iraqi troops and tanks have also returned to Al Qaim, site of a suspected Iraqi chemical weapons plant in western Iraq. Iraq has acquired 200 of a planned 1,300 tank transporters from Russia. The transporters are meant to overcome Iraq's shortage of spare parts.

Iraq, the sources said, has obtained at least 200 tank transporters from Russia. They said Baghdad plans to import up to 1,300 such vehicles in an effort to compensate for a lack of spare parts for tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Arab intelligence sources have confirmed the preparations. They said Baghdad is preparing for a military conflict with U.S. and British forces.

Baghdad, they said, expects allied attacks on military bases and anti-aircraft positions that endanger U.S. and British patrols of no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq.

On late Monday, an Iraqi military spokesman said U.S. and British warplanes conducted 32 sorties over northern and southern Iraq. The spokesman said Iraqi anti-aircraft fire forced the allied planes to return to their bases in Kuwait and Turkey.

The Iraqi military preparations has concerned Kurdish separatists in the north, who have established an autonomous zone. Kurdish leaders are concerned that President Saddam Hussein, with the blessing of Iraq's northern neighbor, Turkey, will launch an attack on Kurdistan.

Kurdish leaders have warned the United States that the regime of President Saddam Hussein plans to crush the Kurdish autonomous zone in a so-called Arabization policy. They said this includes the expulsion of Kurds from key oil-rich areas in the north.

Masoud Barazani, head of the Kurdistan Democracy Party, said Turkey will remain a strong ally of the Kurds. Barazani said the four million Kurds in northern Iraq don't want to break away and form a separate state, an entity vociferously opposed by Ankara.

On Monday, Turkey's parliament extended the mandate of the British and U.S. forces that patrol the no-fly zone in northern Iraq. The mandate, called Operation Northern Watch, began in 1997 and was extended until the end of this year.

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/flash_3_1.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 28, 2001

Answers

Deja Vu August 1, 1990! And, the price of crude oil dropped going in. But it soon skyrocketed for the stars. Will History repeat itself?

-- Robert Riggs (rxr.999@worldnet.att.net), June 29, 2001.

IRAQ CONTINUES TO MOVE TROOPS TOWARD JORDAN, SYRIA

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Iraq continues to redeploy thousands of troops as well as tanks and artillery near the borders of Jordan, Syria and Turkey.

U.S. officials said the redeployment appears to be an exercise of Iraq's logistical capabilities. They said such exercises are conducted every few months and do not represent an immediate danger.

So far, thousands Iraqi troops and tanks have arrived over the last 72 hours to the Irbil area just south of the Kurdish autonomous zone near Turkey. Iraqi troops were also seen arriving at the large military base in Rutba near the Jordanian border as well as positions near the Syrian border.

Officials said the Iraqi troop movement is being closely monitored in the White House and Pentagon. They are also the subject of talks during the current visit by a State Department delegation to northern Iraq. The State Department envoys are meeting Kurdish leaders in an effort to obtain Kurdish help to enforce United Nations sanctions on Baghdad.

"We have seen reports that Iraq is moving troops towards the Kurdish areas," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We are trying to establish the facts on the ground. We are watching the situation closely."

Kurdish leaders have warned the United States that the regime of President Saddam Hussein plans to crush the Kurdish autonomous zone in a so-called Arabization policy. They said this includes the expulsion of Kurds for key oil-rich areas in the north.

U.S. officials said Iraqi troops and tanks have also returned to Al Qaim, site of a suspected Iraqi chemical weapons plant in western Iraq. Iraq has acquired 200 of a planned 1,300 tank transporters from Russia. The transporters are meant to overcome Iraq's shortage of spare parts.

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2001/june/06_29_3.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 29, 2001.