THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120457
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHAEL R. GORDON, THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Pentagon officials said Tuesday that intelligence reports showed the first signs that Iraq was beginning to retreat from the Kuwait border. But U.S. troops continued to pour into the area while Washington worked on a plan to keep Iraqi forces in check.
To pressure Iraq, the Pentagon announced that it had sent 100 more warplanes to the Persian Gulf, which would bring the total number of American planes and helicopters in the region to about 650.
The Defense Department also announced that it was putting 155,000 ground troops on alert, an unusual public statement by the American military, which is not normally inclined to talk about potential deployments. The administration has already said it plans to send 36,000 troops.
Clinton administration officials also began to consult with allies on establishing a large demilitarized zone in southern Iraq to prevent Iraqfrom massing its troops along the Kuwait border.
Administration officials said the idea was to establish the territorial equivalent of the no-flying zone in southern Iraq, which bans all flights below the 32nd parallel. Such an action would bar Iraq from moving its forces within striking range of Kuwait.
Administration officials said they were discussing exactly what form the zone would take and whether it would have to be approved by the U.N. Security Council.
The White House refrained from publicly pushing the plan for fear that it would lead President Saddam Hussein to conclude that he was losing control over southern Iraq and prompt him to attack Kuwait.
President Clinton was cautiously optimistic that Iraq was pulling back from a military showdown. ``I'm hopeful,'' Clinton said as he campaigned for Democrats in Detroit. ``It's a little early yet to reach a final conclusion. We're watching it very closely.''
Iraq first announced Monday that it was withdrawing its troops from the Kuwait border. On Tuesday, the official Iraqi news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf as saying that most of the troops had been removed and that two brigades near the border would be withdrawn soon.
But American intelligence reports painted a more uncertain picture.
Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing that intelligence reports indicated that Iraqi forces had lowered their alert status and that some Iraqi forces were leaving or heading for rail lines to load equipment for the move north. But many Iraqi troops were still near the border and some units were moving south.
More important, Pentagon officials said that they had no idea where the Iraqi forces leaving the Kuwait border would go or how far they would be from it.
``The latest information we have now indicates that there is fairly broad movement in most of those units that had been brought down south,'' Shalikashvili said. ``There is still an indication of considerable units remaining.
``I'm not at all prepared to say the crisis is over in any way,'' Shalikashvili added.
Top Pentagon officials said that by sending more reinforcements, the Clinton administration is doing more than establishing a force to defend Kuwait. It is deploying a force that could push Iraqi troops well away from the border of Kuwait, if necessary, and keep them away, Pentagon officials said.
KEYWORDS: IRAQ PERSIAN GULF by CNB