300 Pendleton Marines Bound for Persian Gulf

About 300 Marines from Camp Pendleton were scheduled to leave for the Persian Gulf early this morning to join U.S. troops trying to ward off perceived Iraqi military threats to Jordan and Kuwait, officials said.

After exchanging hugs, handshakes and some tears with family members, the Marines boarded buses Sunday that took them to March Air Force base in Riverside for the flight to the Persian Gulf region.

The Marines were expected to depart from the Riverside base at 1 a.m. today, according to Lt. Dave Griesmer, a Marine spokesman.

“They were very anxious to go,” Griesmer said. “This is what they train for. They want to do their job. They know that, when they come to work, they may go home or they may go to the Persian Gulf later in the day.”

The departure of the Camp Pendleton Marines followed a Pentagon announcement Friday that the United States was rushing 1,400 troops to Kuwait for military exercises as a warning to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Pentagon officials said they decided to send more troops to the region because of “unusual movements” by Iraqi forces that could threaten Kuwait and Jordan.

The Clinton Administration is concerned that Hussein could take action against Jordan because it has given refuge to two of the Iraqi president’s sons-in-law, both high-ranking military officers, who defected to Jordan earlier in the month with their wives.

The official Iraqi press on Saturday scoffed at the U.S. military buildup. “America is acting with obvious hysteria,” the government paper Al Jumhuriyah said in an editorial.

Griesmer said the Marines are expected to land Tuesday at an unidentified Persian Gulf port. From there, they will be flown by helicopters to rendezvous with U.S. Navy ships that have already departed from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The ships--known as the Maritime Prepositioning Force--carry tanks, artillery, ammunition, food and fuel required to sustain a force of 16,500 Marines in combat for 30 days, Griesmer said.

Once aboard those ships, the Marines will make military tanks and other equipment battle-ready “so when they arrive at a specified port, they will be ready for action, if necessary,” Griesmer said.