THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130666
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: KUWAIT LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
U.S. forces held their first exercise today, in a reasurring gesture to Kuwait and a menacing one to Iraq, while Washington pressed for measures to deter Saddam Hussein from instigating future crises.
Seven transport helicopters dropped 180 Marines, their equipment and four jeeps in the desert at al-Mutlaa, about 18 miles from Kuwait City and just two miles away from the site of one of the Gulf War's most devastating attacks. A huge allied bombardment at the so-called Highway of Death incinerated an Iraqi column on Feb. 26, 1991, the day of Kuwait's liberation from seven months of Iraqi occupation.
The U.S. maneuvers and continued deployment of thousands of forces in the Gulf region were testimony to Washington's distrust of the Iraqi president, despite his apparent withdrawal of some 70,000 troops from provocative positions near Kuwait's border. MEMO: More on the Persian Gulf faceoff/A10-11.
ILLUSTRATION: Left: U.S. Marines scramble for cover during an airborne assault
exercise today in the Kuwaiti desert.
KEYWORDS: IRAQ KUWAIT by CNB