WASHINGTON Ñ The United States plans to launch its largest military
exercise ever in what appears to be preparations for an offensive against
Iraq.
The exercise, termed Millennium Challenge 2002, will involve 13,500
soldiers in nine locations and will be directed by the U.S. Joint Forces
Command. The exercise Ñ reduced from its planned deployment of 30,000
people Ñ will also include simulation in 17 locations around the United
States.
Several intelligence agencies and government departments will also
participate in the exercise, which begins on Wednesday and lasts until Aug.
15 throughout the country. They include the CIA, the State Department and
Energy Department.
The exercise is based on a classified scenario in which a fictional
adversary tries to escalate a regional conflict into a global war. The
simulation is meant to take place in 2007 and was planned before the Sept.
11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington.
"Our enemies need to know that we are going to meet them with force
capabilities that will defeat them across the spectrum of conflict Ñ from
terrorism through the theater of war," Gen. William Kernan, commander of the
U.S. Joint Forces Command, said. "[This is] a force that is capable of
attacking multiple targets from many different angles, and potentially at
the same time, and that we will have the will and the ability to operate
more rapidly and decisively than we ever had before."
Kernan said the U.S. military is determined to create a joint force that
is "interoperable, responsive, agile, precise and
lethal, fully capitalizing on the information revolution and advanced
technologies available today." He said lessons from the exercise could be
used in Afghanistan and in other areas around the world.
The general stressed that U.S. Central Command Ñ which is responsible
for the Middle East Ñ would be closely monitoring the exercise. He said the
forthcoming exercise will be limited to U.S. forces but that such allies as
Australia, Britain, Canada, France and Germany would be invited to the next
exercise and simulation in February 2003.
