The U.S. Central Command will move some of its leading officers to
Qatar for an exercise in November.
Officials said the senior officers from Central Command will arrive in
Qatar from command headquarters in Tampa, Fla. They said the officers would
begin arriving in Doha over the next few weeks and stay at least until
December.
Central Command is responsible for the conduct of the war in Afghanistan
and is expected to lead any war against Iraq. Central Command oversees the
U.S. military in 25 countries, Middle East Newsline reported. Most of these countries are in the Persian
Gulf, Middle East and North Africa.
Defense Department and military officials said a portion of the command, responsible for military
activities in the Middle East, will move to Qatar for an exercise meant to test the feasibility of a
deployable headquarters in the Persian Gulf. They said about 1,000 U.S.
military personnel will participate in the exercise, termed Internal
Look-'03.
This is the first time that Qatar is involved in the Internal Look
exercise. Officials said they could not rule out that Central Command might
maintain a deployable headquarters in Qatar on a permanent basis. They said
command chief Gen. Tommy Franks has been directing operations both in the
Persian Gulf and in Afghanistan via e-mail phone and daily video
teleconferences.
The exercise was termed a command, control and communications
exercise. Its purpose is to test the mobility of a headquarters that could be
quickly established outside of the United States for military operations.
About 600 of the participants will come from U.S. Central Command for
the one-week exercise. The rest will be sent from subordinate commands.
The standing deployable headquarters was one of the recommendations from
the Quadrennial Defense Review released last year. In 1991, Central Command
established a forward base in Saudi Arabia, but the kingdom has rejected the
prospect of an expanded U.S. military presence.
Officials did not disclose the identity of the exercise commander. They
would not say whether other Gulf Cooperation Council militaries would
participate.
