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01/18/2003
MANAMA, Bahrain - The U.S. Navy's fleet in the Persian Gulf is ready for war if President Bush orders it, and Saddam Hussein "would be wise" to disarm peacefully, the chief of naval operations said Friday.
"Our folks are ready; that's what I saw everywhere I went," Adm. Vernon Clark said in an interview after visiting three of the Fifth Fleet's ships in the gulf, including the aircraft carrier USS Constellation. "Our folks are determined, and they are ready."
"The president has made it very, very clear: Saddam has to disarm," the admiral said. "This message has been sent loud and clear. The United Nations has passed resolutions to that effect. I don't know how the president could make it any more clear."
The Constellation and its nine-ship battle group have been in the gulf since Dec. 14, with the carrier's 75 warplanes helping to patrol the no-fly zone over southern Iraq. The battle group is attached to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
Adm. Clark said 15 more ships have been ordered to deploy during the coming weeks, "and those ships are loaded out with Marines." He was referring to Marine amphibious assault groups that received orders to deploy last week.
"We're not playing games," the admiral declared. "If we unleash the power of the United States military, we rubble stuff. War is a dangerous business. Saddam would be wise to heed the call of the unity of nations that says he needs to disarm."
The United States has more than 60,000 troops in the gulf region, including Navy, Marines, Air Force and Army personnel at various locations.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently ordered about 11,000 troops of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) to Kuwait, which borders Iraq, and gave similar orders to two Air Force F-15 fighter plane wings.
Additional Navy aircraft carriers also have been ordered to remain at sea within reach of the gulf rather than return home as usual after six-month deployments.
According to reports, the most likely war plan for a conflict with Iraq envisions a force of about 250,000 U.S. troops, not including forces that could be supplied by Britain and other allies.
"I came out here to talk to the leadership of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, to go to headquarters and look at the kind of things they're doing with planning ... for potential operations," Adm. Clark said.
"I talked to them about the importance of meeting the president's challenge and his orders to make sure that we're combat-ready, and I came out here to get a firsthand look."
Adm. Clark said he was satisfied with what he saw.
"We're dramatically more capable than we were ... 12 years ago," he said, noting improvements in information technology that have vastly increased the military's ability to use precision-guided bombs, led to the development of unmanned surveillance aircraft and allowed far better coordination between ground, sea and air forces.
"Nobody has a thirst for war just to have a thirst for war - that's not what America's about," Adm. Clark said.
But if it comes, "I want all of that kind of technology I can get," he said. "I'm not looking for fair fights. I want to overwhelm an enemy that decides that they're going to confront us."
humblegunner, I sit here shuddering what might happen if I were to try to remove your tag!!
- be transformed into an al-Clayda target?
- turned into a mass of lime Jello?!
- into a G.I. Jane doll?!!
I hereby publicly declare I have no intention of tearing off yer bloody tag!
