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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/106452_iraq30.shtml

A few troops in Iraq already

Presence of U.S. forces confirmed; numbers said to be 'very small'

Thursday, January 30, 2003

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES

WASHINGTON -- U.S. military forces are now operating in northern Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged yesterday.

Over the past several weeks, Special Operations Forces have entered the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq to work with teams of Central Intelligence Agency operatives who are organizing Kurdish opposition groups, military officials said yesterday.

One Pentagon official said that numbers were "very small," probably less than two dozen. But the importance of the troops' deployment lies less in their numbers than in their presence, which represents a further escalation in the buildup of U.S. forces in the region.

It has been known for months that CIA operatives have been in northern Iraq, which is controlled by the two main Kurdish groups under the protection of the United States and Britain, which maintain a no-fly zone over the area. The U.S. intelligence agents have been trying to organize Kurdish guerrillas who could act as guides, interpreters or scouts for U.S.-led forces in any northern offensive. There have also been reports that CIA operatives are working in other parts of Iraq, in preparation for a possible war.

But until yesterday, military officials have refused to comment publicly on periodic reports of U.S. troops slipping in and out of the area. When asked about the matter at a Pentagon news conference, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told reporters, "I don't think we want to get into where our forces are right now, but there are not significant military forces in northern Iraq right now."

Although some military officials said that Myers' remarks were inadvertent, other officials said they were part of the Bush administration's continuing effort to increase pressure on Saddam Hussein to comply with the U.N. demand to disarm.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, elaborating on a possible U.S. role in arranging for exile for Saddam, said yesterday that the United States "would, I'm sure, try to help find a place" for Saddam, his family and other Iraqi leaders if they chose flight instead of war.

An Iraqi opposition official said that, earlier this week, three U.S. aircraft landed in northern Iraq at Hurrayah airfield, near Shaklawa, on a major road from Iran into Iraq. The official said that people were seen unloading containers and cargo, and appeared to be setting up a base.

Myers said he was not aware of the report, adding: "I'm not going to go into any more detail on that."

But a high-level Kurdish official said U.S. specialists were expected to staff airfields in three northern provinces. He spoke on condition of anonymity. One of the airfields, at Harir in Irbil province, has an 8,500-foot runway -- long enough to accommodate military transports and fighter jets.

In another sign of the nation's preparations for war, the Coast Guard said yesterday that it was sending eight high-speed cutters and 600 personnel to the gulf region in the service's first combat deployment since the Vietnam War.

Coast Guard cutters played a support role in Grenada, Haiti and Kosovo, officials said.

The ships' mission will be to protect "high value targets" such as Navy ships, oil tankers and military command vessels, as well as to prevent suicide bomb attacks, said Cmdr. Jim McPherson, a Coast Guard spokesman. The cutters carry .50-caliber machine guns and 20 mm guns.

Four of the 110-foot, high-speed vessels, which carry 15 crewmen, left Norfolk, Va., yesterday, bound for the Persian Gulf.

The other four ships, which will leave Norfolk in a few days, will patrol Turkish waters near ports that U.S. military cargo ships will use, if basing arrangements can be worked out with the Turkish government.

The Pentagon also announced that about 16,000 more reservists were called to active duty in the past week, bringing the total to nearly 95,000.

Local reservists receiving orders to the Persian Gulf include the Coast Guard's Port Security Unit 313, a secretive special operations force based in Tacoma.

The 117-member unit, led by Cmdr. Rick Thomas, Hoquiam's police chief, and consisting almost entirely of reservists, is known for its fast, lethal "piranha" boats and rapid, 96-hour deployment. More than a half-dozen port security units around the United States train with Marines to protect U.S. Navy ships in foreign ports.

PSU 313, formed only four years ago, previously has served in Haiti and the Middle East. But its members also were activated in the tense aftermath of 9/11 to serve on the home front for the first time, guarding waterfront buildings, container and passenger ships, and Navy assets in Puget Sound.

Other developments yesterday:

· Saddam, in televised remarks, said Iraq "has huge capabilities" and is ready to face a U.S. attack, "destroy it and defeat it." Iraqi Maj. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin said President Bush's State of the Union speech Tuesday night was filled with "cheap lies" about alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, insisting that "Iraq has gotten rid of all these weapons." Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz denied Bush's allegations about an Iraqi connection to Osama bin Laden's terror network.

· In a crucial, closed U.N. Security Council session, 11 of the 15 members supported giving more time to weapons inspectors to pursue Iraq's peaceful disarmament. U.S. and British diplomats insisted time for decision on war is approaching.

· Four U.S. allies -- France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg -- voted to block plans for NATO to send planes and missiles to defend alliance member Turkey if there is war with Iraq.

· Italy cleared use of Italian bases for refueling and other "technical" purposes in a possible war, and Slovakia granted a U.S. request to open its airspace for military overflights.

P-I reporter Mike Barber contributed to this report.