THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 8, 1994 TAG: 9410080302
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
President Clinton ordered the Norfolk-based carrier George Washington to the Middle East on Friday and put about 15,000 soldiers on alert after 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqi troops were spotted massing on the border with Kuwait.
U.S. officials said the troop deployments, the most threatening moves Iraq has taken since the Persian Gulf war, were probably a bluff intended to encourage the United Nations Security Council to lift economic sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
``It would be a grave mistake of Saddam Hussein to believe that the United States would weaken its resolve on the same issues that involved us in the conflict just a few years ago,'' Clinton said at a news conference in the East Room of the White House.
The president would not disclose the steps he had taken ``as a precaution to deal with this issue'' but described them as ``appropriate and necessary.''
A Pentagon official said a full Iraqi division of about 10,000 troops from Saddam's elite Republican Guard have been moved recently into southern Iraq to join several other divisions, bringing Iraqi forces in the area to the range of 40,000 to 50,000.
But officials said the massing was not as large as the force that invaded Kuwait in 1990.
In Baghdad, an Iraqi government spokesman said his country had every right to move troops within its own borders, and he accused critics of a plot ``to justify their evil intentions.''
Kuwait's Cabinet was called back for an emergency meeting Friday, the Muslim Sabbath.
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud Al Faisal, met with Clinton at the White House and, afterwards, pledged his country's cooperation. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that includes allowing the United States to use its bases in Saudi Arabia as a staging area for air or land strikes in Iraq.
Later Friday, the U.N. Security Council president, British Ambassador David Hannay, summoned Iraqi Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon to warn Baghdad against provocative troop movements that could threaten Kuwait and regional security.
A Pentagon official said the George Washington had been ordered to move from the Adriatic Sea to the Red Sea, where its aircraft could strike Iraq if needed. It is being accompanied by the Norfolk-based guided-missile cruiser San Jacinto, which is equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. The George Washington's task group is made up of 15 ships and submarines, all but three from Norfolk.
Eleven Navy ships already are in the Persian Gulf region, including the amphibious group led by the Tripoli, a San Diego-based helicopter amphibious assault ship.
The official said Clinton put ``less than 15,000 Army and Marine'' troops in the United States on alert to go to the region. The official declined to identify the units.
No decision has been made about dispatching the troops, the official said.
The Pentagon official said Clinton ordered 2,000 Marines aboard four ships of the Tripoli group in the southern Persian Gulf to go north toward Kuwait to prevent Saddam from taking any ``provocative action.'' They will be moved within about a day.
Clinton also is sending four or five ships with Marine equipment and up to eight ships with Army equipment to the gulf from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and, possibly, from the Pacific. The ships have not yet been identified, the Pentagon official said.
The president also increased air reconnaissance in the region.
Defense Secretary William Perry said the Iraqi movements ``are extensive enough to cause me concern.'' Perry said he spent several hours reviewing U.S. troop deployments with Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
``Saddam Hussein should be under no illusions,'' Clinton said. ``The United States is not otherwise occupied'' in other foreign policy dilemmas.
Iraq has been demanding that the United Nations lift the economic sanctions that have devastated its economy since the 1991 cease-fire after the Persian Gulf war.
The president said that Iraq can get the sanctions eased if it complies with U.N. demands to inspect and monitor its weapons program, not by moving troops to the border.
``They should not be misled into thinking that they can repeat the mistakes of the past,'' Clinton said. ``If they comply with the United Nations resolutions, they can get relief from the sanctions. There are clear rules, clear standards. This is not a mystery.''
Responding to the Iraqi troop movement, Britain immediately announced Friday that it was sending a naval frigate to the waters off Kuwait. ILLUSTRATION: Saddam Hussein
President Clinton
Graphic
A MEASURED U.S. RESPONSE
STAFF
SOURCES: AP, KRT
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY IRAQ KUWAIT by CNB