WASHINGTON Ñ The United States has decided to send additional troops to the Persian Gulf.

U.S. officials said the focus of the latest deployment would be Kuwait. They said the U.S. Army would send nearly 1,000 troops to the sheikdom over the next few weeks.

Most of the troops would come from the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, based in Fort Stewart, Ga. The troops would arrive in the sheikdom and undergo training to prepare to defend against any offensive by Iraq.

"They're there to serve as a deterrent to Saddam in case he decides to do some offensive maneuvers over there," 3rd Division commander Maj. Gen. Buford Blount said. "We just don't know what he's going to do."

Blount, in an address to an audience in Savannah, said the increase would boost the number of troops from his division in Kuwait to 2,500. The general said the increase had been scheduled for earlier this year.

The U.S. Army has assigned the 3rd Division to a full-time training in Kuwait. Each of the division's three brigades would rotate in six-month tours in the sheikdom.

The 3rd Division division was sent to Kuwait in 1998 during a U.S. attack on Iraqi targets in the aftermath of Baghdad's refusal to allow United Nations weapons inspectors in the country.

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