By January 7, U.S. troop strength in the region or on the way stood at around 120,000--double the number in the final weeks of 2002. Total forces are projected to rise to 200,000 by the end of February, U.S. officials reported.

Among the ships and planes now en route are a 1,000-bed hospital naval vessel, the USS Comfort--headed for the British colonial enclave of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean--and five U.S.-based combat wings.

The aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln, Constellation, and Harry S. Truman are already in the Gulf or within a few days of arriving there. The battle group for the carrier Theodore Roosevelt is heading for exercises scheduled to begin January 13 on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. After the 29-day exercise, the Roosevelt will become the Atlantic Fleet’s "surge carrier," reported the Associated Press, meaning it would "be ready to deploy early to bolster forces in the Middle East" in the event of an "emergency."

U.S. forces in Kuwait conducted a desert training exercise a few miles from the border with Iraq in the first week of January. It was the "largest ever held in the Gulf region," according to a reporter for the U.S.-financed Voice of America radio station.

Campaigning to rally patriotic sentiment in support of an assault on Iraq, U.S. president Bush appeared before thousands of troops at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas on January 3. He declared, "We are ready. We’re prepared," and added, "If force becomes necessary, America will act deliberately, America will act decisively, and America will prevail."

At the same time, the British government is preparing to send 20,000 regular troops and 7,000 reservists to the Gulf, London’s Daily Telegraph reported in early January.  
 
UN prepares for 900,000 refugees
The London Times reported December 23 that the war planners anticipate the scope of the destruction will be huge. The paper said that United Nations officials are making "secret contingency plans for a war that would halt all Iraqi oil production, ‘seriously degrade’ the country’s electricity system, provoke civil unrest and create 900,000 refugees."

Correspondent James Bone reported that UN secretary general Kofi Annan "is trying to keep the preparation secret for fear of signaling to Iraq that weapons inspections are futile and a U.S.-led attack is inevitable." The contingency plans were drafted after the UN Security Council unanimously approved a U.S.-British resolution to resume aggressive "weapons inspections."

After more than a decade of draconian economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council and administered under the "Oil for Food" program, Bone reported that "the UN estimates that 16 million Iraqis, or 60 percent of the population, are highly dependent on the monthly food basket provided under the program."

Hinting at U.S. aims of stepping up Iraqi oil production under military guard, an anonymous official told the New York Times that Washington "fully expects" to be accused of undermining OPEC, the cartel through which major producers such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Russia agree on the levels of oil production as a way of buttressing the commodity’s world market price.

According to U.S.-drafted plans for an occupation, the invading forces would rule Iraq directly for at least 18 months. "Government elements closely identified with Saddam’s regime...will be eliminated," read the plan. "Much of the rest of the government will be reformed and kept."

Among the precedents being examined are the occupations of Germany and Japan following World War II, as well as the U.S. colonial "administration" of the Philippines after the 1898 Spanish-American war. The plan does not mention that hundreds of thousands of working people in that Southeast Asian country were slaughtered by the U.S. occupiers as they rebelled against the new colonial master.

The documents state that the military force would "preserve Iraq as a unitary state, with its territorial integrity intact"--making it clear that Washington will not be sympathetic to the national aspirations by the Kurdish people in the north, who have a long history of struggle for an independent Kurdistan on territory that covers parts of several countries, including Turkey.  
 
Turkey’s position
When the U.S.-led invasion is launched, the Turkish government is preparing to send up to 75,000 troops into northern Iraq to try to block any upsurge in the Kurdish struggle. Ankara has still not responded publicly to U.S. requests for its territory to be used as the staging point for a military push into Iraq over its southeastern border. On January 3 the Turkish foreign minister said he was "wary" about "hosting a large number of foreign troops," the Associated Press reported. "Such a decision should be taken in the broadest consensus with public, parliament, and non-government organizations," said Yasar Yakis. Noting the widespread opposition in Turkey to a U.S. invasion of Iraq, he added that "it is not clear what can be accepted."

Nevertheless, Yakis made it clear that his government, which is under considerable U.S. pressure, supports U.S. troop deployments in the Middle East. Washington is "doing the right thing by narrowing the circle around [Iraq] and showing that there is no place to escape," he said.

On December 25 the Turkish government approved a six-month extension of the U.S. forces’ authorization to use the country’s Incirlik airbase in its patrols and bombing runs in the "no-fly zone" imposed on the northern region of Iraq. Speaking before the parliament, Yakis said, "In this environment, when tension and instability prevail in northern Iraq, continuing the operation is regarded as appropriate and convenient."

Some 9,000 U.S. military reservists and other troops rotate through Incirlik each year. "The pilots will land on a Tuesday and by Thursday they are flying over Iraq," said a U.S. officer.

"We’ve been doing this for a while," said one pilot. "The more we come over here the easier it gets every time. We get real world experience."

Meanwhile, the government of Saudi Arabia has let U.S. officers know that it will "give us all the cooperation we need" in a war with Iraq, said Gen. John Jumper, the Air Force chief of staff, at the end of December. He and other U.S. commanders have spoken of Saudi officials’ "private assurances" that they can use Saudi airspace and bases.

On December 30 the Saudi deputy defense minister Prince Abdul-Rahman bin Abdul-Aziz denied giving Washington the official go-ahead. "The kingdom’s stance has been clear from the start," he told the Okaz daily. "We have no commitments on any matters toward Iraq."  
 
Rangel calls for conscription
As the preparations for an imperialist invasion unfold, Democratic congressman Charles Rangel announced that he would present legislation in Congress to reintroduce military conscription. The proposal was couched as one based on "equality" between the poor and "the most privileged."

In a December 31 op-ed column, Rangel noted that he had "voted against the Congressional resolution giving the president authority to carry out this war." However, he wrote, "as a combat veteran of the Korean conflict, I believe that if we are going to send our children to war, the governing principle must be that of shared sacrifice. "Going to war against Iraq will severely strain military resources already burdened by a growing number of obligations," stated the liberal congressman. "The Pentagon has said that up to 250,000 troops may be mobilized for the invasion of Iraq," along with a roughly equal number of troops from the National Guard and Reserve. Rangel listed U.S. forces now stationed abroad, including 116,000 in Europe and 90,000 in the Pacific, along with others in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Kosova. The troops also include "trainers" in the Philippines, Colombia, Yemen, and elsewhere.  
 
 
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