CRISIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF : U.S. Buildup Nears End; Cheney Says Troops Face No Timetable

The planned U.S. buildup on the Arabian peninsula is virtually complete, but American forces still lack the firepower and supplies necessary to launch a successful ground offensive against Iraqi troops in Kuwait, according to military officials in Washington and Saudi Arabia.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, meanwhile, said in a television interview that U.S. forces will stay in the region as long as necessary, adding that there is no deadline or timetable for launching a possible attack. “

The military officials said all of the heavy armor being shipped to Saudi Arabia should arrive by week’s end, closing out the biggest phase of the two-month deployment and bringing to nearly 200,000 the number of American troops in the region.

As evidence of the progress of the buildup, Navy sources said that for the first time since the buildup began, significant numbers of cargo ships are returning to the United States from the Persian Gulf without orders to quickly reload and head back.

One of these sources, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, said at least 11 ships were heading home without new orders to pick up Mideast-bound cargo.

“We’re about to pass the buildup phase and move into the sustainment phase,” the Navy official said. “The heavy lifting is over.”

Pentagon planners will consider the buildup essentially completed when the final armored units, on the way from Ft. Hood and Ft. Bliss in Texas, take up positions in the Saudi desert.

But military officials noted that the U.S. forces, even with the final shipments of heavy armor, still would be well short of the manpower and weapons capabilities needed to mount a successful assault on the more than 400,000 Iraqi troops in Kuwait and southern Iraq.

In other developments:

* The State Department warned Americans on Saturday to use caution in traveling to the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa and to avoid the West Bank and Gaza Strip because of increased tensions from the gulf crisis. It was the second time in a week that the State Department warned Americans against traveling in regions because of gulf tensions.

* Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Amman, Jordan, diplomats said, because Jordan had recalled its ambassador to the kingdom last month after the Saudis expelled 20 Jordanian diplomats for security reasons.

* Italy pulled its two remaining diplomats out of its Kuwait embassy.

* The British Foreign Office said a 46-year-old Scotsman has died in Kuwait after suffering an undisclosed illness. William Norrie Atack, a scientist, had worked in Kuwait for eight years as a scientific officer at the Ministry of Public Health, his family said.