U.S. beefs up military force in Kuwait

WASHINGTON -- The United States is upgrading its ability to spearhead a war in the Persian Gulf from countries other than Saudi Arabia, the general who would command any attack against Iraq said Friday.

U.S. forces have been increased in recent months in Kuwait, the tiny country bordering Iraq, U.S. defense officials said, and more ground troops could be on the way.

The deployment provides both valuable training and "a hedge against miscalculation," said Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command, at a Pentagon briefing.

Adding the forces sends Iraq a warning not to try aggressive actions against its neighbors while the U.S. military is focused on Afghanistan, the Associated Press reported, citing a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Franks denied the United States was positioning troops or equipment for possible military action against Iraq. He has received no order to plan for war, he said.

But the general made clear he's working to ensure the United States could run a war in the Persian Gulf region, even if allies such as Saudi Arabia refused to allow operations on their soil.

"Let me put it this way. We are increasing or improving our command and control capacity in all of my region," Franks said.

Asked if equipment was being moved from Saudi Arabia to a base in Qatar, a nation on the Persian Gulf, Franks said: "I would not be at all surprised if we are changing the location of some of the assets that we have. We want to be sure that we have redundant communications inside the region."

The general said he has no plans to move a key U.S. air operations command center, now in Saudi Arabia. American officials have used it to operate the air war in Afghanistan and would, in ideal circumstances, run any air war over Iraq from there, military analysts say.

But Franks added: "That does not say that I don't have plans to replicate it someplace."

The Bush administration accuses Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction and sponsoring terrorists, and says options are being considered from diplomatic efforts to push Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein to readmit U.N. weapons inspectors to military action.

Saudi Arabia, a longtime American ally, has made clear that the United States should not invade Iraq, and that if President Bush decides to go ahead, U.S. troops could not operate from Saudi soil -- at least publicly.

For its part, Iraq signaled Friday that it wants to resume relations with Kuwait, the country it invaded nearly 12 years ago.

In an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri was quoted as saying: "We are for the prosperity of the state of Kuwait and its independence."

The Kuwaiti government reacted cautiously.

"Normalization between Iraq and Kuwait is premature. Baghdad has to implement international resolutions first," said Kuwait's information minister, Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah.

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