GIs Enter Iraq to Set Up Camps : Refugees: First of 10,000 American troops survey northern area for Kurdish assistance sites. Battle teams in Turkey will respond to any military threat.

U.S. ground forces entered northern Iraq on Wednesday to survey possible sites for relief camps for hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees cowering in the frigid and sodden mountains of the Iraqi-Turkish border.

The forces are to be the vanguard of an estimated 10,000 U.S. military personnel who will carry out one of the largest disaster relief programs ever.

Officials said that military personnel now assigned to North Atlantic Treaty Organization duties in Europe will be involved in constructing the refugee centers, providing services and ensuring security. Pentagon officials estimate that six sizable “hubs” will be built in northern Iraq to serve as depots for supplies. Each will be surrounded by a network of campsites to house a total of about 450,000 Kurdish refugees.

U.S. Army and Marine Corps combat troops, along with British and French forces, will police the camps, while allied helicopters and fighter jets will fly air cover. Quick reaction battle teams will be stationed in Turkey to respond to any military threat to the camps or U.S. forces.

U.S. intelligence agencies estimate that about 30,000 Iraqi troops are stationed in the region where the camps are to be located, but officials said that they have not conducted any military operations against Kurdish populations in the last week.

The Pentagon moved quickly to carry out President Bush’s reversal of policy announced Tuesday night. Until then, the Administration had steadfastly refused to commit U.S. forces to providing relief for the refugees.

Also on Wednesday, Bush rejected Iraq’s request that U.N. economic sanctions be relaxed so that it could sell some of its oil to raise funds to feed its civilian population.

“What comes first is taking care of these people that have been deprived of their homes and that are terrified and also that are suffering very much,” the President said at the start of a Cabinet meeting.

Thomas R. Pickering, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, notified his Iraqi counterpart Wednesday of the U.S. plan to assist refugees and said the Administration expects Baghdad to cooperate.

The United States is prepared to respond militarily to any interference with the relief effort, said Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams. He refused to spell out the exact rules of engagement under which American and allied forces will operate inside Iraq.

“So far they haven’t interfered in any way or attempted to interfere with the humanitarian relief effort that’s been under way since the 7th of April,” Williams said. “We would not expect them to interfere with this operation as we move into this refugee camp phase.”

Iraqi officials at the United Nations responded coolly to the plan to build the camps but did not indicate that they would act to prevent it.

Military officials said they are aware that Kurdish rebels might attempt to use the U.S.-guarded camps as sanctuaries from pursuing Iraqi troops and said they would disarm any refugees seeking to enter the camps.

“We’ve made it clear that the camps are not to be used for that purpose,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said, adding that U.S. troops “would try to prevent that.”

Marine Lt. Gen. Martin Brandtner, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing that if U.S. troops encounter Iraqi forces during the construction or operation of the camps, “obviously that’s going to be a decision point, and I’m not prepared to say what we’re going to decide to do. But we are telling Iraq to stay out of these areas.”

However, he added, “we don’t intend to occupy this area.”

Another senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “The President is being deliberately ambiguous (about military responses). The Turks have plenty of troops, the (U.S.) Air Force has lots of cluster bombs. If they want to play hardball, we’ll play hardball.”

Fitzwater acknowledged that the Administration is concerned about the possibility that the opening of the camps by U.S. forces could become the first step into a military quagmire. But he said the Administration remains confident that will not happen.

He said the cost of the operation will be covered in a supplemental spending request that will be sent to Congress. The White House anticipates no opposition to the request, he said, but he could not provide an estimate of the expense.

The decision to send troops into northern Iraq and establish enclaves for the refugees represents a sharp shift over the last week from what had been a clear rejection of a similar proposal when it was first made by British Prime Minister John Major.

While maintaining that the proposal Bush made Tuesday is an American one, Fitzwater explained the shift in the Administration’s position by saying that “the problem grew beyond our ability to handle it under the other scheme”--that of trying to deliver supplies to the refugees camped out on muddy mountainsides.

At the Pentagon, Williams said that, while several thousand U.S. troops will be deployed to the area, the operation will not delay the planned withdrawal of most of the remaining 270,000 U.S. troops sent to the Persian Gulf region since last August.

However, Williams added, “there are some specializations, such as medical teams, perhaps expert linguists, perhaps some engineers, that could be directed to go to help out in this operation. I think the numbers would be extremely small.”

The relief effort, dubbed Operation Provide Comfort, will be led by Lt. Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, deputy commander of the U.S. Army in Europe.

U.S. survey teams, comprising roughly 100 soldiers, traveled by helicopter into northern Iraq on Wednesday to inspect potential sites identified from aerial photographs. They are looking for locations that offer decent roads, flat terrain, access to fresh water and good drainage for sanitation facilities.

The potential campsites are 20 to 40 miles south of the Iraqi-Turkish border near the towns of Zakhu and Dihok, north of the city of Mosul and northwest of the city of Irbil. The main supply base will be located at the southern Turkish city of Silopi.

Williams said that once the sites are selected--within the next day or two--military construction units will erect shelters, food tents, hospitals and latrines. Once they are ready to accept refugees, which will take 10 days to two weeks, U.S. military psychological operations teams will circulate through the makeshift refugee camps in the mountains to inform the Kurds that the new camps are open.

Administration officials repeatedly insisted that the U.S. role in building and operating the camps is temporary and that the job will be turned over to international relief agencies as quickly as possible.

“What we want to do is get them up, get them running, get supply lines set, work out the security so that then humanitarian organizations and the United Nations and the Kurds themselves can take over the operation of these centers,” Williams said.

The White House maintained that U.N. Security Council Resolution 688, governing the cease-fire, gives the world body the authority to run the camps, although U.N. officials said they had doubts.

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