Advertisement

GULF WATCH: Day 143 : A daily briefing paper on developments in the crisis : Military Front:

Share

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin L. Powell visited U.S. troops in Eastern Saudi Arabia, with Cheney declaring, “There will be no holds barred” for American forces if they go on the offensive. The two officials inspected front-line units, observed live-fire exercises and answered troop questions as they assessed the readiness of coalition units.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles toured the encampment of Britain’s famed “Desert Rats” brigade, riding in a tank named “Churchill.” The Prince of Wales, dressed in khaki uniform and black beret, shook hands and talked animatedly with about 40 soldiers lined up at attention next to their Challenger tanks. “I think they’re . . . incredibly well prepared. Highly professional,” he said.

One U.S. soldier participating in Operation Desert Shield was killed and another was injured when a truck in which they were riding overturned in Saudi Arabia. The soldiers’ names were withheld pending notification of relatives. The accident, which happened shortly after 19 servicemen died in the capsizing of a launch off the coast of Israel, brought the total U.S. death toll in Operation Desert Shield to at least 76.

Advertisement

Diplomatic Front:

President Bush met at the Camp David presidential retreat with new British Prime Minister John Major and said U.S. forces would be ready to strike “10 minutes from now” if provoked by Iraq.

In Baghdad, Iraqi parliamentary Speaker Saadi Mahdi Saleh warned that his nation would use its chemical weapons arsenal if war should erupt. “We will use all weapons in order not to give our country to the enemy,” he said, adding: “Kuwait is our territory.” In a further measure to prepare its people for an attack, Iraq ordered all schools, nurseries and colleges to close the moment war starts.

Domestic Front:

Volunteers and retired servicemen are being summoned in some states to fill in for national guardsmen deployed in the Persian Gulf. Twenty-four states have “state guards” or state defense forces that serve as a backup for military reservists. Some members are now helping guard armories or have gone on call for natural-disaster duty in the absence of departed guardsmen. “We’re sort of a has-been force until we’re needed,” said Tom Anderson, president of the National Assn. of State Defense Forces, which numbers about 10,000 volunteers.

Major allied contingents planned in the gulf:

* U.S. forces: 430,000

* British forces: 35,000

* Egyptian forces: 27,000

* Syrian forces: 20,000

* French forces: 6,000

Advertisement