ABU DHABIÑ The United States plans to extend its command and
control exercise in Qatar in an attempt to complete a range of scenarios
that have been described as plans for a lightning strike against Iraq.
U.S. officials said the Internal Look exercise would be extended from
seven days to two weeks. They said the extension was meant to complete all
the tasks set for the exercise. They would not elaborate.
But Gulf defense sources said Internal Look-2003 is devoted entirely to
what they said was a lighting strike meant to disable Iraq's military
and communications infrastructure within hours, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the exercise would
test the capability of military commanders and planners to launch waves of
simultaneous air and ground strikes on Iraqi positions.
"These complex war games launched by the U.S. command in the region can
only mean one thing: the Americans are preparing to occupy Iraq," Kuwaiti
Brig. Gen. Nasser Al Duwaila told the Prague-based Radio Free Iraq.
Internal Look, headed by Central Command chief Gen. Tommy Franks, began
on Monday and aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a deployable command
operations center. About 50 operators are working around the clock at the
A-Sayliyah base south of Doha to test the capabilities of Central Command to
communicate and relay data to facilities in the United States and around the
Persian Gulf. The facilities contain advanced data links and
video-teleconferencing technology.
The command operations system was developed by Raytheon and was reported
to have cost $58 million. Central Command has been running combat scenarios
with military commanders based in Bahrain, Kuwait and command headquarters
in Tampa, Fla.
"It's been many months in the making and it's an opportunity to test and
exercise a deployable command and control center," Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, who arrives in Qatar on Wednesday, said. "And I look forward to
being back there and having a chance to see precisely how well we are
arranged."
U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia is not involved in the exercise.
Officials said many of the assets from the Prince Sultan Air Base were moved
to the Al Udeid facility in Qatar.
In details that were not confirmed by U.S. officials, Al Duwaila
asserted that U.S. Central Command would launch simultaneous air and ground
attacks in the first stage of the war. This would include targeting
President Saddam Hussein and his top aides. The general said Internal Look
is meant to detect and correct flaws in the combat scenarios.