ARMY SECRETARY Thomas White told reporters that U.S. Army troops, along with Air Force and Navy personnel, were ready to conduct "sustained land combat operations" as part of President Bush's promised war against terrorism. He said a deployment order signed by Rumsfeld was the first step in a broader military plan that would unfold in the weeks ahead.
Rumsfeld told reporters Thursday that Pentagon planners "are trying to get ourselves arranged in the world with our forces in places that we believe conceivably could be useful in the event that the president decided to use them."
Air Force deployments, according to the Pentagon, included:
B-1 bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. B-2 Stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. B-52 bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. U-2 spy planes from Beale Air Force Base in California. RC-135 reconnaissance planes from Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
The preparations for military action are also said to include F-15 fighter jets and F-117 Stealth fighters, although there are no details available about deployments of fighter aircraft. Officials pointed out to NBC News that aircraft were already positioned in the Persian Gulf region as part of the operations enforcing "no-fly zones" over Iraq.
LAND AND SEA
Defense officials were even more tight-lipped about the ground forces involved in the deployment, but knowledgeable sources told NBC News that the forces included Navy SEALS and Army special operations forces.
The initial deployments are also likely to involve U.S. Marines and Army airborne and light infantry divisions. Larger ground units — those built around the M1 Abrams tank — require weeks to move and even longer to prepare for combat in remote areas such as Central Asia.
On the sea, Navy carrier battle groups and Tomahawk missile-armed submarines are also on the move.
The USS Kitty Hawk departed Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan on Friday morning for an undisclosed destination while helicopters buzzed overhead and a small crowd watched from just outside the base's perimeter.
The 81,123-ton flattop has a crew of 5,500 sailors, naval aviators and Marines. It typically carries about 70 aircraft.
The Kitty Hawk is one of 11 U.S. vessels stationed at Yokosuka, a U.S. base about 30 miles southwest of Tokyo that is home to the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
Several other ships departed Yokosuka earlier this week. U.S. Navy officials have declined to comment on their destinations or the weapons they are carrying, but they are believed to bound for the Indian Ocean.
Two other carriers — the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Enterprise — were in the Persian Gulf region, and military analysts expect more ships to follow. Coincidentally, about 20 British Royal Navy vessels are nearby in the Indian Ocean, including the aircraft carrier Illustrious. These ships were involved in a fleet exercise when the attacks occurred and have been ordered to stay on for the time being.
U.S. bases in the gulf region — in Turkey and on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia — would be likely staging areas for military action. Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan also could be used as staging areas.
THE PLANNING PROBLEM The focus on Islamic militant leader Osama bin Laden, blamed by the United States for the attacks on New York and Washington nine days ago, has created a planning problem for Washington. Despite the focus on carriers and bombers and other large units, the fact is neither bin Laden — nor the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that shelters him — presents much of a target from a military perspective.
Bin Laden has been known to shift his dwelling from night to night, sometimes taking shelter in mountain caves to frustrate air attacks. In an apparent response to that strategy, the U.S. Air Force was hurriedly trying to develop a special bomb — like a bunker-buster — that would penetrate deep into caves and incinerate everything inside, NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski reported.
Despite the high-profile deployments, U.S. officials have been playing down the idea that a major, Gulf War-style invasion of the country is being contemplated.
"We're not fighting Afghanistan; we're going after bin Laden" said former Gen. Bernard Trainor. Speaking on MSNBC Thursday, Trainor noted that the Soviet invasion in 1979 had demonstrated the folly of attempting to fight a land war in terrain that is regarded by Western military officials as a "death zone" for conventional soldiers.
"When the Soviets were in there, all Afghans ... were against them. In this instance, most Afghans, except those under Taliban control, would just as soon see the Taliban go." Trainor and other analysts suggested that a mix of special operations action and increased aid to the Taliban's tough and experienced domestic opponents, the Northern Alliance, is the most likely scenario.
Some analysts said such moves could be complemented by covert operations and actions by allied nations against alleged terrorist cells outside the immediate area of attack.
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