U.S. Is Preparing Base in Gulf State to Run Iraq War

Sun Dec 1 06:56:57 PST 2002

NYT  December 1, 2002

By MICHAEL R. GORDON

DOHA, Qatar - The United States military is installing a new command 
center at a heavily guarded base in this small Persian Gulf state 
that would be ready to serve as the main headquarters for a war on 
Iraq.

The official purpose of the work at the base, As Sayliyah, is to 
prepare for a major American military exercise in December called 
Internal Look. But it will be no ordinary exercise. American 
officials say that it will be the first time that a war game of its 
type has been conducted outside the United States and that the 
command and control procedures practiced would be the same used for a 
war with Iraq.

Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the head of the Central Command, is expected to 
arrive in about a week to take part in the exercise. About 750 staff 
members from the headquarters of the United States Central Command 
are also being sent. General Franks will participate along with top 
Army, Marine, Air Force, Navy and Special Operations commanders in 
the region....

Like many Persian Gulf states, Qatar is worried about the reaction in 
the Arab world to an American attack on Iraq and hopes that a 
conflict can be avoided. That attitude seems natural in a country 
that is home to Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite television network 
that was started in 1996 with financing from Qatar's emir, Sheik 
Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

At the same time, Qatar has been more receptive to cooperation with 
the United States military than neighboring Saudi Arabia, and it has 
spent more than $1 billion to build an air base, Al Udeid, to attract 
American forces here....

A tiny nation of about 750,000, Qatar operated in Saudi Arabia's 
shadow for years. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 jolted 
the Qataris, according to former Qatari officials and Western 
officials. Qatar saw that the Saudis were unable to defend themselves 
against a potential Iraqi threat, let alone protect other gulf 
states, those officials said. The Qataris saw that the Saudis had to 
invite the Americans to protect their kingdom. "They woke up to the 
fact that they needed superpower protection," a Western official 
said, referring to the Qataris.

Soon after the Persian Gulf war in 1991, the United States and Qatar 
quietly signed a defense cooperation agreement that provided 
Washington with what one official called a "big green light" to set 
up operations here. In recent years, Qatar has emerged as vital real 
estate for United States military strategy in the Persian Gulf.

One crucial base is As Sayliyah, a 262-acre installation completed in 
August 2000 at a cost of more than $100 million. The base has more 
than 20 climate-controlled warehouses, storing hundreds of M1 tanks, 
Bradley fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles. It is capable 
of housing enough armored equipment for a heavy Army brigade. It 
includes a community center and living quarters for the approximately 
300 American troops who have been permanently based there.

Qatar's willingness to allow the United States to build and operate 
the base is a breakthrough for the Pentagon, and it represents a 
level of cooperation that far outstrips what the Saudis have been 
prepared to offer. After the gulf war, when Vice President Dick 
Cheney was the defense secretary, he went to Saudi Arabia to discuss 
storing a division's worth of Army equipment there, but the Saudis 
turned him down.

Armored vehicles and other weapons from As Sayliyah have been quietly 
shipped to Kuwait, a transfer that the Pentagon initially cast as an 
exercise but that is seen as a preparation for war. Soldiers from the 
Third Infantry Division, which is expected to play a key role if 
there is an invasion of Iraq, rumble around Kuwait on 
well-maintained, modern armored vehicles that still bear the shipping 
labels from the Qatar installation.

After the United States began shipping armored equipment out of As 
Sayliyah, the military started to install communications equipment 
there for the command center that General Franks and his staff will 
use to conduct the exercise. Western officials say the Qataris have 
long suggested that Central Command establish a headquarters here, 
and the exercise may be the first step.

It is what the military calls a command post exercise, meaning that 
the top American commanders will carry out a war game that will 
simulate a campaign against an enemy in the region, but will not 
involve the deployment of troops. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf 
conducted such an exercise in July 1990 in Tampa, Fla., that used the 
scenario of an Iraqi attack on Saudi Arabia....

During the war exercise, General Franks will command his forces from 
his new Qatar headquarters while Vice Admiral [Tommy] Keating and Lt. 
Gen. Earl B. Hailston, the senior Marine commander in the region, 
will be at their command centers in Bahrain. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. 
David D. McKiernan, the top Army commander in the region and the 
officer who would be in charge of American land forces in the event 
of a war, will be at his command center in Kuwait. The Air Force 
commander, Lt. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, will be at his command center 
at Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh.

As in a war, the senior commanders will talk to each other using 
teleconferences and sophisticated communications equipment.

Military officials say that when the exercise is over in 
mid-December, General Franks and his staff are scheduled to leave 
unless there is an escalation of tensions with Iraq. But the exercise 
is likely to be under way as the United States and its allies review 
the declaration that Iraq is scheduled to submit on Dec. 8 about its 
programs to develop weapons of mass destruction. Even if General 
Franks leaves, the forward headquarters will be in place in case of 
war.

"All we have to do is hop on a plane and come forward," a military 
official said.

As Sayliyah is not the only base the United States military is using 
here. In a bid to lure the Americans, the Qataris built Al Udeid Air 
Base. It was constructed in 1996, before Qatar even acquired an Air 
Force, an approach that Western officials quip is a classic example 
of the "if we build it they will come" approach. Qatar later bought 
12 French Mirage fighter jets, but they are not stationed at Al Udeid.

The United States did not begin to use the base until Sept. 29, 2001, 
when Washington rushed to get its forces in position to attack the 
Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The first American casualty of the Afghan campaign occurred when 
Master Sgt. Evander E. Andrews, a civil engineer, died in 
construction accident at the base. Because the existence of the base 
was classified at the time, the military initially announced only 
that the fatality occurred somewhere in Southwest Asia. Today, the 
sprawling 288-tent complex at Al Udeid is known as Camp Andy.

Al Udeid has hardened aircraft shelters, including two special 
shelters from which aircraft could take off while under fire, and one 
of the longest runways in the Middle East. It also has a backup 
combat air operations center, which could be used to run an air 
campaign if the Saudis did not allow the Americans to direct combat 
operations from Prince Sultan Air Base. But the Al Udeid air combat 
center is not in operation.

During the early part of the Afghan campaign, F-16 fighters and E-8C 
Joint Stars reconnaissance planes that monitor ground units were 
based here along with refueling tankers. These days, the only 
aircraft are KC-135 and KC-10 refueling tankers.

The emir decided it was time to let his public know about extent of 
the American presence at the base last spring. It was agreed that 
Vice President Cheney could land there in March along with a group of 
traveling reporters....

Al Udeid could easily shift its focus to Iraq if the United States 
moves on Baghdad. And there are still other bases. The United States 
military has used part of the Doha Airport as a logistics hub, an 
installation that is known informally and inexplicably as Camp Snoopy.

And Qatar still has its secrets. According to knowledgeable 
officials, Qatar has allowed the United States to store ammunition at 
a secret facility in the desert. It is called Falcon 78.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/01/international/middleeast/01MILI.html>
-- 
Yoshie

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