Iraq Sends Troops to Kuwait Border; U.S. Issues Threat : Mideast: As Washington warns it would intervene, officials say they are unsure whether Hussein is planning invasion or is posturing for relief from U.N. sanctions.

Iraq began massing troops near the Kuwaiti border Friday in an apparent effort to pressure the United Nations into lifting its economic sanctions. The action prompted a blunt warning from President Clinton that Washington will intervene militarily if Baghdad does not stop.

At a press conference at the White House, Clinton warned that it would be “a grave mistake” for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to repeat the miscalculation he made in August, 1990, when he invaded Kuwait under the assumption that Washington would not be willing to fight for the tiny emirate. A U.S.-led international coalition drove Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

A few minutes after Clinton spoke Friday, the Pentagon disclosed that the aircraft carrier George Washington, which had been steaming in the Adriatic Sea, had been ordered to the Red Sea, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser San Jacinto, which is equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Military authorities also began moving toward the area several maritime pre-positioning ships, which are stationed throughout the globe to transport troops, tanks, ammunition and equipment. They placed several Army and Air Force units on alert for possible deployment.

The Navy said the amphibious assault ship Tripoli and an accompanying amphibious-ready group were preparing to steam toward the Kuwaiti coast after loading up troops and equipment in Oman, at the foot of the Persian Gulf.

As Middle Eastern neighbors such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt expressed support for Kuwait, the emirate called up its troop reserves, and its Cabinet went into emergency session. At the United Nations, Security Council President David Hannay summoned Iraqi U.N. Ambassador Nizar Hamdoun to explain the troop movements and to warn against provocations that could threaten Kuwait and regional security.

“Let it be absolutely clear to the Iraqi government that a repetition of its past mistakes will be met by my government with the same resolve as before,” U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright told the U.N. General Assembly.

A government spokesman in Baghdad admonished the world to mind its own business, saying outsiders “have no right whatsoever to discuss Iraqi troop movements within the boundaries of Iraq.”

Iraq’s enemies are looking for “false pretenses to prolong their aggression on Iraq and the starvation of its people,” he added.

U.S. officials cautioned that it is not yet clear whether the Iraqis actually are planning to invade Kuwait, in a reassertion of its longstanding territorial claim, or simply are posturing in an attempt to pressure the United States and its allies into granting them more concessions to provide relief from the U.N. sanctions.

Some analysts raised the possibility that Hussein was ordering the movements mainly to quell dissent within his own army. Reports from Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, have suggested that, in part because of the U.N. sanctions, the Iraqi army suffers a shortage of supplies and low morale.

One senior Administration official said intelligence reports have suggested that Iraqi forces had been rounding up dissidents throughout the country recently, cutting off their left ears and carving Xs into their foreheads. And there were reports of an uprising last week.

The Iraqi buildup involves about 40,000 to 50,000 troops, including two divisions of the elite Republican Guards. The push began Thursday, and the units sped toward the border Friday. Officials said the leading elements were only about 18 or 19 miles from Kuwait.

Senior Administration officials said the United States will step up its reconnaissance of the Persian Gulf region--by repositioning spy satellites and increasing the number of reconnaissance flights--to enable authorities to track the Iraqi movements more closely.

“We are going to continue to watch this for the next 24 or 48 hours to see how things develop” before finally deciding what action to take, one official said.

“We are not overreacting in any way. We are going to do our best to send an important signal” to Iraq.

The mood in Washington was tense. Clinton’s top national security advisers met in the late afternoon, in part to review the situation, and officials said that further decisions might come sometime this weekend after Washington gets a better idea of Iraqi intentions.

But U.S. strategists strongly implied that if the Iraqis continued to pour troops and equipment into the area, the United States would launch heavy attacks--possibly including both air power and precision-guided missiles.

White House officials said Friday that Clinton met late in the day with Prince Saud al Faisal, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister, and won a pledge that the Saudi government would again cooperate with U.S. forces.

And the British Ministry of Defense announced that it was sending an extra frigate, the Cornwall, to patrol off Kuwait.

The United States now has only a few hundred soldiers in Kuwait, and the border is largely undefended. During the Persian Gulf War, U.S. forces used Saudi airfields as staging bases for air strikes and armored operations.

Part of the dilemma facing policy-makers is that U.S. troops, aircraft, ships and equipment are stationed so far from the area that it is likely to take several days to deploy U.S. forces in Kuwait. As a result, officials must move quickly to anticipate Iraqi action.

At the same time, strategists said Hussein is adept at feigning hostilities and pushing to the edge before pulling back. If Washington sends a sizable military contingent, it could be tied up indefinitely.

U.S. officials speculated that Iraq launched its troop movements toward the border to help pressure other countries--particularly Russia and France--to go along with its bid to lift the U.N. sanctions.

Many Security Council members want to grant Baghdad’s request, but the United States, which has veto power in the council, has opposed it. The Security Council is expected to take up the issue formally Monday.

Senior Administration officials said the push by Iraq is more likely to solidify allied opposition to lifting the sanctions than to split the major powers further.

Officials said Iraq also might have assumed that Washington would be too tied up militarily in Haiti to send troops to the Middle East. But Clinton sought to dispel that notion, saying: “Saddam Hussein should be under no illusions. The United States is not otherwise occupied.”

However, the move by Iraq did raise questions among some observers about how effectively the United States would be able to mount military operations against Iraq while it has more than 20,000 troops--and many of its transport aircraft--tied up in Haiti.

Both Pentagon and private analysts asserted Friday that the United States would have no major difficulties in meeting both challenges. Much of any U.S. operation in Iraq would be carried out by bombers or missiles. Officials said only 15,000 troops might be involved.

Defense Secretary William J. Perry told reporters that U.S. forces are “prepared to make any necessary troop deployments” that Clinton orders.

“We have substantial capabilities in the region” already, he noted. Analysts said that Iraq now is much weaker than it was in 1990.

U.S. officials said the force that Iraq has assembled near the Kuwaiti border does not necessarily mean that Iraq is planning to invade. Baghdad often moves its divisions, and carried out similar moves six months ago, the last time the sanctions issue was on the table.

The United States has 80 warplanes and 800 troops in the region, along with substantial supplies of tanks, ammunition, parts and other equipment stockpiled in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia since the 1991 war.

Times staff writer David Lauter contributed to this report.

A White House Warning

As Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz complained to the United Nations about trade curbs imposed during the Persian Gulf crisis, Iraqi troops amassed at the Kuwait border. President Clinton later warned Baghdad not to repeat the mistake of invading Kuwait. He also put troops on alert.

Aziz: “The United States of America is persistently obstructing any steps. . . particularly those provisions relating to lifting sanctions from Iraq, and is conducting itself on the basis of biased political motives.”

Clinton: “Saddam Hussein should be under no illusion. . . It would be a grave mistake for (Him) to believe for any reason that the United States would have weakened its resolve.”

Iraqi Troop Movements

Defense Secretary William J. Perry confirmed reports that Iraq had moved forced toward its border with Kuwait.

1,140-member U.N. observer mission monitors Iraq-Kuwait border.

U.S. Response

Aircraft carrier from Adriatic to Red Sea.

4-ship assault group moving toward Kuwait.

Heavy weapons dispatched from Indian Ocean.