Commander Discounts a U.S. 1st Strike at Iraq : Strategy: He says Iraq would pay ‘a terrible price’ if it attacks. Other officers say that probably would trigger an all-out response.

The commander of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia appeared Friday to rule out the possibility of a preemptive strike against Iraq, saying, “There is not going to be any war unless the Iraqis attack.”

The officer, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the U.S. Central Command, refused to say how the United States and allied forces in the area would respond if the Iraqis attack. But other senior U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia have said the response would likely be an “all-out” offensive aimed at defeating the Iraqis in as short a time as possible.

Schwarzkopf told reporters that most of the war scenarios being discussed are “speculative.”

“What I can tell you,” he said, “is that we know exactly what we are going to do if an attack occurs.”

Emphasizing what is still the defensive nature of the incomplete U.S. deployment in Saudi Arabia, Schwarzkopf said he is confident that an Iraqi attack could be repulsed.

“I am confident of our ability to defend (Saudi Arabia) right now,” he said. “ . . . If the Iraqis are dumb enough to attack, they are going to pay a terrible price for it.”

Earlier in the day, at a meeting with troops in the field, Schwarzkopf was more prosaic on that point. Talking with aircraft maintenance crews at a desert air base, he said that if the enemy invades, “We’re going to kick his butt.”

Officials here have provided no figures, but an estimated 60,000 U.S. troops are now believed in Saudi Arabia, with another 40,000 on the way.

Already on the ground here are M-1 and M-60 tanks, as well as hundreds of tank-killing aircraft. Officials are anxiously awaiting the arrival of hundreds more tanks and other equipment.

Until more men and equipment arrive, other officials have suggested, the U.S. force level in Saudi Arabia is not adequate to consider taking large-scale offensive action.

Schwarzkopf refused to say at what point that level might be reached. However, he said, he is “extremely pleased” with the pace of the buildup, which he described as the largest deployment of U.S. forces ever undertaken in such a short period of time.

“It’s going extremely well,” he said. “We’re absolutely on schedule. In fact, we’re a little ahead of schedule. The flow is continuing, and the flow will continue. Every day I feel less threatened, because every day we’re stronger.”

Schwarzkopf, wearing a desert camouflage uniform and a pistol, spent most of the day visiting Army, Air Force and Marine bases in the desert.

“Ready to do the job?” he asked Staff Sgt. John Frady, a member of a maintenance platoon with the 101st Airborne air assault brigade.

“Ready to go to war, sir,” Frady answered.

“I feel a lot better now that you’re here,” Schwarzkopf told one of the crews that maintain A-10 anti-tank aircraft. “There was never any doubt in my mind that we were going to get air superiority, but what I needed in here was tank killers.”

The Iraqis are estimated to have 1,500 tanks in Kuwait. Although most of them are believed to be older Soviet T-54 and T-62 tanks--military sources say the Iraqis’ newer T-72s are still in Iraq--they greatly outnumber the several hundred M-60 and M-1 tanks the Americans here have at the moment.

But military commanders say they are confident they can stop any tank-led assault with the arsenal of “tank killers” now available to them: A-10 aircraft, TOW and Dragon anti-tank missile batteries and AH-1 Cobra and AH-64 Apache helicopters.

Schwarzkopf was asked if he is concerned about the fact that the A-10 and some of the other advanced weaponry has not been tested in combat, and he said he is “supremely confident” in both the weaponry and the soldiers using them.

“We’ve been training for a very long time to fight against a numerically superior enemy, so this is not a new experience,” he said.

As for the soldiers themselves, and their reaction to the fierce desert heat, he said: “They are not potted plants. They’ve trained for this environment. They know how to operate in it, and they’re very, very tough folks.”

Elsewhere in the desert, U.S. Marines were given permission Friday to fire live ammunition to enable them to adjust the sights on their artillery and tank-mounted guns.

Col. Carl Fulford of the 77th Marine Regimental Combat Team, normally based at Twentynine Palms, Calif., said the Marines had been “pushing for a long time” to fire their weapons for this purpose, because much of their equipment has been in storage for extended periods. He said that King Fahd himself had to give his approval.

Meanwhile, U.S. troops started taking up desert positions for the first time since arriving.

According to Fulford and other officers, Marine units will be expected to defend the sectors closest to the Persian Gulf, while Army units, including the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division, will take up positions inland.

Fulford said plans have been drawn for two or three brigades of the Saudi army, now in positions close to the Kuwaiti border, to withdraw through Marine lines to positions on the Marines’ left flank. But for the moment, he said, “Their orders are to stand and fight.”

He predicted that U.S. forces will have about 24 hours’ warning of any Iraqi attack and that they would immediately begin laying mines and putting up tank barriers.

In the first days of the U.S. deployment, the Iraqis “could have walked in,” according to Fulford, but they now appear to be suffering from supply problems that could greatly reduce the effectiveness of their tanks.

Although the Iraqis have a considerable advantage in numbers of tanks, Marine officers here said they are confident that they can stand up against an offensive.

“We like to get on the offensive, to get out and move to the enemy,” Maj. Larry D. Ammerman, operations officer of the 3rd Marine Tank Battalion, said as he studied his maps. “We almost always train for the offense. . . . We expect to be one of the forces up front.”

But some Marines said they would prefer to delay any move north until the Army’s heavier M-1 tanks get here in greater numbers.

“We don’t want to go anywhere now,” said Cpl. Sean M. Pulliam, 22, a tank gunner. “Right now, I’d prefer him to come to us. I want to wait for the rest of (our troops) to get here and join the fun.”

Traditionally, military planners like to have a 3-to-1 advantage in firepower when they take the offensive, but the Marines say they can do with less.

“Sure, we’d like to have 3-to-1 odds,” Chief Warrant Officer Charles Rowe said, “but then we’d like to have a cold beer too.” There is little likelihood of getting a beer, cold or otherwise, in Saudi Arabia, which has strict Islamic laws against the consumption of alcohol.

TOP TANK: M-1 ABRAMS

The M-1 Abrams is the Army’s top battle tank. Scores of M-1s from the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division from Ft. Stewart, Ga., have arrived in Saudi Arabia by ship along with armored vehicles and attack helicopters. Crew: 4 Armament: Main laser-guided 105-millimeter gun; 7.62-millimeter machine gun; anti-aircraft weapons; six smoke dischargers on either side of turret and engine smoke generators. Firing system includes the laser range finder, digital computer and night sight. Weight: 60 tons Maximum Speed: 45 m.p.h. on road, 30 m.p.h. cross-country Fuel Capacity: About 503 gallons Maximum Road Range: 309 miles