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U.S. exercise in Qatar extended, called drill for lightning strike

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, December 11, 2002

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.

Exercise
Inside U.S. Central Command's portable command center, U.S. service members work at computer stations on Dec. 10, during an exercise know as Internal Look at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. AP Photo/ HO, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Gary P. Bonaccorso
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.

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