War Preparations Intensify
President Bush rallied U.S. troops at the nation's largest Army base Friday, telling soldiers who might see action against Iraq: "We are ready, we are prepared."
A world away, at the Mother of All Battles Mosque in Baghdad, preacher Thaer Ibrahim Al-Shomari prayed for success in the looming battle.
"God save the Iraqi people and give them victory over the Americans. … God ruin their tanks, their soldiers, their weapons and their cannons," Al-Shomari prayed.
The dueling rhetoric came amid accelerating preparations for conflict.
While the Commander-in-Chief was surrounding himself with soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, the Pentagon was busy working on a massive deployment order that would move 70 to 80,000 more troops into position to invade Iraq, reports National Security Correspondent David Martin.
Counting the forces already in the Persian Gulf and those already on the way, this new order, which is expected to reach Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's desk early next week, would increase to well over 150,000 the number of troops -- everything from foot soldiers to fighter pilots to ammo handlers -- targeted against Saddam Hussein.
That number would include the Third Infantry division from Fort Stewart, Georgia and marines from Camp Pendeleton, California who will form the nucleus of ground troops ready to invade Iraq from the south.
But the Pentagon's war plans go far beyond that. Still to come, officials say, is another order for 25 to 30,000 troops that would bring the total number of forces to roughly 200,000 and allow the U.S. to invade Iraq not just from the south from the west and north as well.
The Pentagon is planning a three front war, sending those 25 to 30,000 troops into Jordan -- the staging area for attacks into western Iraq -- and Turkey -- the launch pad for northern Iraq.
But Jordan has not yet given its approval and Turkey's foreign minister said today his country may not allow its bases to be used to open up a northern front.
Pentagon officials say it won't stop the president from going ahead with an invasion. But it would increase the risks and in military operations risks are measured in lives.
Mr. Bush Friday spoke at length about the potential conflict.
"You'll be fighting not to conquer anybody but to liberate people," should force be required in the Persian Gulf, Mr. Bush said, his voice swelling with emotion.
"Wherever you serve or wherever you may be sent, you can know that America is grateful and your commander-in-chief is confident in your abilities and proud of your service," he told thousands of cheering troops.
Mr. Bush also sought, as he has done in the past, to draw a distinction between dealing with Iraq and dealing with North Korea, which has defiantly vowed to continue a nuclear program.
"In the case of North Korea, the world must continue to speak with one voice to turn that regime away from its nuclear ambitions. In the case of Iraq, the world has already spoken with one voice," he said.
Mr. Bush addressed 4,000 Army personnel, all clad in black berets. They sat, for the most part silently, through the segment of Mr. Bush's speech addressing the dangers posed by Iraq. But later, when the president spoke of the possibility the soldiers may have to serve in a war, the signature "hoo-ah" cry with which they had been peppering the remarks became a deafening roar.
Asserting that "some crucial hours may lie ahead," Mr. Bush sought to steel the troops for future action. "I know that every order I give can bring a cost," he said.
"I also know without a doubt that every order I give will be carried out with skill and unselfish courage," said Bush, who was wearing an Army green fatigue jacket.
Mr. Bush said the nation's armed services are already engaged in "the first war of the 21st Century," the battle against terrorism.
Meanwhile, the daily Al-Thawra, the newspaper of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, said the Bush administration's biggest disappointment was that Iraq was cooperating with new teams of weapons inspectors dispatched to Iraq under a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in November.
The arms inspectors had a routine day Friday. They revisited the Al Rasheed Co., about 36 miles southwest of Baghdad, which makes missile propellants, and the Al Basil chemical company on the city's outskirts. They also went to a former storage facility and test site for chemical weapons in the desert 125 miles west of Baghdad.
As usual, U.N. officials gave no indication of what the weapons experts found in their inspections.
Iraq asserts that five weeks of resumed U.N. inspections have turned up nothing to prove Baghdad has breached Security Council resolutions on weapons of mass destruction.
But in New York, U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said on Friday that he had "a couple of questions" about Iraq's arms declaration that he'll raise with Iraqi officials when he returns to Baghdad this month.
Blix said last month that Iraq's declaration hadn't provided sufficient details about its production of missile engines, recovery of 50 destroyed conventional warheads, the loss of 550 mustard gas shells, production and weaponization of the deadly VX nerve agent and its unilateral destruction of biological warfare agents.
The United States said that proved Iraq was in "material breach" of the U.N. resolution -- a term that could justify war.
While the administration said war would not be triggered immediately, the next report by the weapons experts -- due Jan. 27 -- falls at a time when conditions in Iraq would be most advantageous for war, before the winter ends.