Kuwaiti Hesitation Delays U.S. Troop Deployment to Gulf

Defense Secretary William J. Perry, on a Middle East tour to repair the fractured Persian Gulf War alliance, said Sunday that a deployment of several thousand U.S. troops to Kuwait has been delayed because the country’s rulers have not given the go-ahead.

The surprise hesitation by Kuwait to accept the new U.S. ground forces, intended for its own protection, underscored the steep uphill battle facing the Clinton administration in enlisting Arab allies in its latest face-off with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Kuwait, whose 1990 invasion by Hussein’s forces ended with the allies’ victory in the 1991 Gulf War, is considered the most militant Gulf Arab state in its attitudes toward the Iraqi leader.

But when Perry asked the Kuwaiti emir to accept enough additional troops to fill out an armored brigade already in the country, Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah demurred and said the National Defense Council first would have to review the question.

Perry nevertheless termed the discussions with the Kuwaiti ruler “positive” and said he still hopes for a green light for the U.S. troops, whose deployment from Ft. Hood, Texas, was announced Friday in Washington. Without Kuwaiti permission, Perry said, the deployment will not take place.

In Washington, administration officials suggested that the delay was not important.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday that they anticipate Kuwaiti approval of the U.S. deployment soon.

“The president has authorized the moving of those troops, and I suspect they will move in due course,” Christopher said on the CBS-TV program “Face the Nation.”

He denied that the delay amounted to a rebuff and said Perry’s talks with the Kuwaitis had gone well. It is “not unusual” for a country to deliberate over the deployment of foreign troops, Christopher said, noting that Kuwait immediately agreed to host eight F-117A stealth fighters, which arrived Friday.

Shalikashvili, speaking on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley,” added that he expects to hear shortly that the tiny sheikdom “will be delighted” to accept the U.S. troops.

The deployment of ground forces to Kuwait would be mainly symbolic, a show of U.S. resolve in dealing with Hussein. The deployment--which would increase the U.S. presence in the Gulf region to more than 30,000 troops--is planned as part of the buildup in recent days that also has included moving a second aircraft carrier battle group, more B-52 bombers and the stealth fighters to the region.

In addition to visiting Kuwait, Perry briefly went to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on Sunday, saying his purpose was to assure the U.S. allies that the United States stands “shoulder to shoulder” with them.

The more relevant question, however, seemed to be whether the Arab allies stand with the United States.

Saudi Arabia, for instance, said last week that it would not allow its territory to be used as a staging area for any new attacks on Iraq. And a meeting of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council produced a frosty statement that implicitly criticized the recent U.S. moves against Hussein, which included missile strikes against air defense targets in southern Iraq.

For the most part, public opinion in the Arab world has lined up firmly on the side of Iraq, seeing it as the underdog and the United States as the bully in the conflict. Even countries that in the past were threatened by Hussein have been arguing that it is against their strategic interests for him to be rendered so weak that Iran would be tempted to fill the regional power vacuum.

But there was at least one note of encouragement for the U.S. diplomatic offensive Sunday: Bahrain, a tiny island nation that already provides a land base for the U.S. 5th Fleet at its capital, Manama, agreed to accept 23 land-based F-16 fighter planes to help patrol the recently expanded “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq.

There were also some signs that the United States may be backing away from new military action against Hussein, especially now that the Iraqi leader says he will not fire at allied aircraft over his territory. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, interviewed on the NBC-TV program “Face the Nation,” said Sunday that the United States will be resolute but will not be pressed by Hussein into overreacting.

“It looks as though Saddam Hussein is not going to do anything else,” she said.

Perry hinted that the United States is now in a wait-and-see mode. He noted Hussein’s promise Friday to refrain from firing at allied pilots enforcing the “no-fly” zones over his country but said the administration remains skeptical.

“We cannot rely on Saddam Hussein’s promises,” he said, adding that another U.S. strike against Iraq is “still a possibility.”

Although the Pentagon had said Friday that 5,000 soldiers of the 3rd Brigade of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division would be sent to Kuwait, U.S. officials said Sunday that only 3,000 troops will be needed for the mission.

They would be the only new U.S. ground troops ordered to the region in the wake of Hussein’s incursion into northern Iraq in late August in support of one Kurdish faction, the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, against a rival Kurdish group, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

In response, the United States fired 44 cruise missiles at Iraqi air defenses earlier this month and extended the “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq northward to the Baghdad suburbs.

Over the weekend, U.S. officials were increasingly on the defensive against domestic criticism rather than on the offensive against Hussein.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) charged Sunday that U.S. policy on Iraq is “in disarray.” The administration is merely “making a lot of noise at great expense” to taxpayers and no expense to Hussein, he said.

“This policy makes no sense. There’s nothing this administration is doing right now that’s going to change the balance of power inside Iraq. There’s nothing they’re doing that’s going to genuinely stop Saddam,” Gingrich said on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.”

Instead, U.S. allies and agents in northern Iraq have been killed or forced into exile while Hussein has gained significant ground in the north, he added.

Gingrich said the first mistake the administration made was to not consult with either Congress or pivotal members of the U.S.-led international coalition that fought the Gulf War.

“I am not sure exactly what we are accomplishing. We still have not heard what’s the mission . . . what is the purpose,” he said.

While conceding that Baghdad now has more leeway in the north, administration officials argued Sunday that their strategy is working. Iraq appears to be backing down, they said--at least for the time being.