A-list message, [A-List] US encircles Iraq: Le Monde

This piece appeared in Thursday's Le Monde (Paris). It reports in detail on
the American army's occupation of Kuwaiti territory neighboring Iraq, which
isn't much mentioned in the mainstream U.S. media -- though I did notice one
paragraph about it two weeks ago in a story in the New York Times.

Translated from Le Monde (Paris), Dec. 12. Unabridged: the apparent
ellipses
are a stylistic device of the author:
_______________________
THE "EMPIRE"'S BIVOUACS

**More than 70,000 men and women and tens of thousands of tons of American
weaponry are already arrayed around Iraq. In Kuwait, in Qatar, and in
Bahrain, troop training has become intensive. Reporting from the camps of
the
world's leading army.**

THE ENCIRCLEMENT OF IRAQ BY THE AMERICAN ARMY

Seventy-seven degrees at noon, about 45 at midnight. The young GIs
stationed
at Doha, in Qatar, think the prevailing climate these days in the
Arabian-Persian Gulf is "ideal for action." The preparation of troops and
materiel has intensified in Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain, the three emirates
chosen by Washington to house the US Army's cohorts, the US Air Force's
hawks,
and the Fifth Fleet's navies and its huge whales loaded with planes.
Officially, George W. Bush, the "commander-in-chief" of all the armies, has
not yet sounded the call to arms. Theoretically, this is a continuation of
Operation "Desert Storm," already ten years old.

But nobody in the Arabian Desert, no one in a European chancellery, and no
one
in the marble palaces of local sultans has any illusions about what's going
to
happen next. The American machine is definitely on the warpath... "The
possibility of a conflict is close and very real," confirms Col. David
Perkins, one of the bigwigs of Camp New York, a canvas city plunked down
right
in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert. The conflict has not begun, it has not
even been planned, but the centurions are in place on all borders, on a war
footing. Gen. Wesley Clark, experienced in these matters, has "an
intuition"
that greatest mechanized assault in the history of the United States will be
given the go "around the end of January."

The former commander of American NATO forces is not the only one of that
opinion. "Don't quote me," says one European military expert, "but in fact
I
think that they've decided in Washington that absent any dramatics in
Baghdad
they'll let people celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in peace." In any
case, even if the rhythm of the arriving troops, ships, and all the heavy
armament has picked up the pace remarkably -- in Doha alone, you could count
landings of jumbo jets numbering twenty or so per day on Dec. 5, 6, and
7 --,
the complete set-up that the Pentagon's top generals want in order to
undertake an offensive free from needless risks was not yet completely in
place for the Aid-al-Fitr holiday that concludes Ramadan. This set-up is
said
to require "at least 200,000," according to The New York Times.

As far as one can learn in the dense thickets of rumor and "confidential"
information in which journalists find themselves enmeshed, on Jan. 1 there
will be about 100,000 men and women in place in the three emirates named
above
(Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar), on four aircraft carriers and dozens of
support
ships cruising in the zone, together with the troops stationed in the
Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia (which is
still
hesitating about whether to participate in an attack on Iraq). Still far
too
few, but military analysts aren't worried. "The needed heavy matériel and
logistics are there," one of them says. "With intensive jumbo jet shuttles
all the necessary troops could be here in two or three weeks at the most."

In Camp Doha, in Kuwait, and on Qatar's Al-Udeid, As-Sayliyah and Camp
Snoopy
bases, hundreds of Abrams assault tanks -- 70-ton monsters --, hundreds of
Bradleys, those famous "humvees" (armored troop transports), the huge 155-mm
self-propelled howitzers (cannons), and the minesweepers are already in
place.
There are also several hundred fighter aircraft and bombers -- F-14s,
F-15s,
F-16s, F-18s --, not to mention the enormous B-2s and B-52s stationed on the
British island of Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Whatever
one thinks about its mission, the deployment of the American military eagle
around its prey, six thousand miles away from its nest, is an impressive
sight. And a source of permanent envy for every European military officer.

"Take a look! We've constructed a veritable city, haven't we?" Col. John
Cunnings, head of the detachment of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force,
takes
pride in the firepower amassed by his country. With a bullet-proof vest,
standard-issue revolver strapped low on his right thigh, gas mask packed
high
on his left hip, walkie-talkie on his chest, assault rifle slung across his
shoulder, and dark glasses on his nose, this officer presents a silhouette
worthy of Hollywood. He points to the vast canvas encampment that stretches
before him in the harsh light of the Arabian sun. Ten kilometers of
massively
fortified perimeter, surrounded by a high embankment of grayish, sandy earth
that was thrown up first by an armada of khaki bulldozers. In the steel
cabins of watchtowers planted at every corner of Camp New York, sentinels
equipped with night vision binoculars are constantly scanning the vicinity.
The land is so flat that no one can approach without standing out as visibly
as a black olive on a billiard table. "Today only America can send this
kind
of a force far from its bases with this standard of comfort," boasts Lt.
Col.
David Perkins, commander in chief of the 2nd brigade of the 3rd infantry
division, theoretically based in Fort Stewart, Georgia.

The towers of Manhattan are far from Camp New York. But in this corner of
desolate desert, an obvious and astounding level of comfort is everywhere.
It's in those portable "fountains" of cool water scattered in strategic
spots
throughout the camp to quench the thirst of the troops, wherever they may
be,
whether near the landing strips of combat helicopters that hover overhead or
near the huge "parking lot," where dozens of tanks sit in rows, and it's in
the strings of prefabricated port-o-potties strewn across the landscape and
in
the baseball fields and volleyball courts set up for the relaxation of the
soldiers, both men and women.

There is comfort, too, in the vast sand-colored tent dormitories, where
there's a constant supply of cool air circulated by purring generator
batteries. It's in the canopied dining rooms and the messes that serve
hundreds of hot meals and all sorts of multicolored non-alcoholic drinks
every
day in a calculated "Home, sweet home" atmosphere. And it's in the
big-screen
digital TVs that all day long show the news of the planet on all the
satellite
channels. It's in the base's huge video library, and in the internet tent
with its battery of computers. And there's comfort, finally, in the
telephone
booths that are available all day and all night to those who feel the pangs
of
separation from their families.

When the lines are overloaded or when relatives are on vacation in Italy, in
France, or in Greece, no problem -- just go to the private tent provided by
AT&T, the huge private conglomerate, who, for a few dollars or a credit
card,
will provide communication to any place in the Universe. Not everybody, of
course, is happy to be there. There is, for example, that anonymous
dissident
who with an enraged pencil dared to address his comrades on a toilet
partition: "Hey, are you really glad to be playing mercenary to make profits
for oil companies?" No comment. There is also that GI encountered at the
gates to the camp who groused: "We're bored as hell here, you know. No
leave,
and it's strictly forbidden to hang out in the malls in Kuwait City" --
which
are 40 miles away. "Can't bother the natives, they say. All you get is to
take a swim every two months in the only hard encampment we have here, on
the
coast, at Camp Doha. It's about time they decided over there in Washington:
are we going in, or not? I'm fed up. I've been here for a month, I have
five
more to go before I get out, and believe me, I'm counting the days."

An isolated complainer, or a typical spokesperson for the company? "I often
tell my troops," explains David Perkins. "Be happy you're Americans. For
your country, you're not cannon fodder. You'll soon see, if we have to go
up
north, that the Iraqi soldier is treated less well and fed less well, in his
country, than we are, here, 6000 miles from home..." Sgt. Robert Greenleaf,
25 years old, originally from Indiana and based at Camp Virginia, another
base
in the Kuwaiti desert, 18 miles to the south of Camp New York, complains a
little about the "stress that goes with the job" -- twelve hours of training
a
day right now. But he acknowledges: "When you arrive in a place and a
situation like this, you learn to appreciate America."

The motivation of the troops "is not really a problem," swears Lt. Col. Eric
Wesley. "Everybody watches TV, everybody knows who Saddam Hussein is..." Of
course, adds while laughing "Captain" Michael Cutler, an infantry medic and
veteran of "Desert Storm" -- the 1991 offensive that liberated Kuwait -- "we
sort of have the impression that we're returning to the scene of the crime."
But there's no needless hand-wringing: for officer Wesley, "whatever
happens,
this deployment will have provided great opportunities for training troops
and
equipment, which is precious." In addition, flexing one's muscles allows
one
to "send a message to Saddam: we're very serious..."

An exercise with live ammunition took place on Wednesday, Dec. 5, north of
Camp New York, on the Al-Udairi firing range. Almost 400 square miles of
desert completely turned over to the American army to frolic in -- in all,
American troops at this moment control about one quarter of Kuwait, about a
thousand square miles that have been off limits to Bedouins and their camels
for weeks. The soldiers leave at one in the morning, and get back to camp
at
noon. More than forty tanks and attack vehicles, hundreds of GIs of the 2nd
brigade of the 1st Army batallion -- the spearhead of the American
armada --,
plus the 64th armored division, are participating in this full-scale "war
game." Four hours of constant explosions with F-16s that pass roaring over
the helmets, artillery barrages, with 155 mm shells falling around the men
in
huge orange showers, 50-caliber machine guns firing, bombs exploding in a
deluge of fire. All in all, an impressive demonstration of force in a
hellish
din that's meant to be heard in the distance, on the other side of the
border,
less than ten miles away. This is the first time that the American army is
training so close to "enemy" lines. It's not the last time, "nor by
chance,"
says Sgt. Maj. William Barnello, a veteran of the Gulf War. "We want our
men
to be as bold and audacious as possible." And, secondarily, "if someone
takes
note of our maneuvers, he'll get a bit of an idea of the firepower we've
accumulated here."

No need to be more explicit: the relevant party has gotten the message.
History will record that on December 7, 2002, twelve years later, Saddam
Hussein, at bay, presented his first official excuses to the "Kuwaiti
people"
for having invaded their country in 1990. A coincidence? On the same day,
Gen. Tommy Franks, commander in chief of all the American forces stationed
in
the region, was putting the final touches on an exercise without precedent
in
the neighboring emirate of Qatar. Operation "Internal Look" was moving
outside American borders. Banks of the latest computers and about a
thousand
experts with stripes -- 600 Americans and 400 Brits -- were at their posts
on
the As-Sayliyah base, the most modern and the largest in the Persian Gulf.
The objective: to simulate in real time, 24 hours a day for at least eight
days, a generalized offensive on Iraq in order to test all the command
equipment. It's from Doha, if war breaks out, that the generalissimo will
direct it, coordinating all the combined actions of the US Army, the Air
Force, the battalions of marines and special forces as well as the movements
of the US Navy. "Saddam Hussein is surrounded," exulted Paul Wolfowitz on
Thursday, the very hawkish number two in the Pentagon. The _expression_ used
last week by Condoleezza Rice, the security advisor to President Bush, is
not
longer up-to-date: this is not "a gun pointed at the head of the Iraqi
regime," it's the world's most powerful army...

Patrice Claude