U.S. boosts its firepower in Persian Gulf

Pentagon confirms Iraq launched missiles

September 12, 1996
Web posted at: 7:00 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT)

(CNN) -- The United States stepped up its preparedness in the Persian Gulf Thursday by announcing the Army will send two Patriot missile units with about 150 soldiers from Ft. Bliss, Texas, to operate missiles already in Saudi Arabia.

Also, a group of 10 radar-evading F-117 stealth fighter-bombers left Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico and were expected to arrive Friday at al-Jaber air base in Kuwait, the Pentagon said.

The USS Enterprise, now stationed in the southern Adriatic, was ordered to head toward the Gulf region, officials told CNN. The carrier could arrive at its destination in "a couple of days." The number of B-52s being sent to the Gulf also was being increased from two to four.

In related developments, Pentagon sources told CNN that U.S. spy satellite imagery confirmed that Iraq fired three anti-aircraft missiles into the air Thursday in the southern no-fly zone. The launches were not near where U.S. and allied planes were patrolling, the sources said.

"It took us quite a while to find it" a Pentagon official said. "There was never any threat to U.S. planes."

The missiles apparently were fired without the use of any targeting radar, and fell harmlessly back to the ground.

"We assume he's (Saddam Hussein) doing this so he can claim to be resisting U.S. authority," a Pentagon source said. On Wednesday, Iraq fired a missile at a pair of F-16 fighters patrolling in northern Iraq.

The F-117s from New Mexico will be refueled by KC-135 tankers from McConnell Air Force in Wichita, Kansas, and KC-10 tankers from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey during the anticipated 20-hour nonstop flight to Kuwait, Air Force officials said.

Iraq vows to defend itself

The escalation of U.S. activities continued along with increasingly heated rhetoric on both sides of the conflict.

Defense Secretary William Perry said Iraqi warnings against Kuwait were "totally unacceptable" and that U.S. forces building in the Gulf would use "robust" action to protect American interests and friends.
(13 sec/298K AIFF sound or 298K WAV sound)

Perry's comment Thursday followed Iraq's warning that Kuwait would be committing an "act of war" if it allowed U.S. warplanes to use its territory for possible military strikes.

Earlier, the official Iraqi News Agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz as saying: "We consider this conduct on the part of the Kuwaiti regime a blatant aggression against Iraqi people and an act of war against the state of Iraq."

Iraqi Information Minister Abdel Ghani Abdel Ghaffour said Thursday that Iraq is prepared to resist any new U.S. offensive and will continue firing at intruding planes. "A U.S. aggression will face frustration," he said.
(10 sec/221K AIFF sound or 221K WAV sound of CNN's Peter Arnett reporting on Ghaffour's comments)

"Iraq will continue defending its national airspace. Iraqis and the Iraqi armed forces will counter any aggression. This is a natural right approved by international norms and agreements," Ghaffour said.

"(U.S.) forces are (in Kuwait) in the first place because Iraq invaded Kuwait back in 1990 and they have been there since then to provide deterrence for any future action for that sort," Perry said at the Pentagon. "The U.S. military forces there do not pose a threat to Iraq or any other country. They are there to provide security and stability in the region."

Kuwait warns its citizens

Kuwait's crown prince warned citizens to be ready for whatever might happen. Sheikh Saad Abdullah Sabah urged the country to be "completely alert, wary and ready to deal with all eventualities in order to secure the country's security, stability and safety," the official news agency KUNA said.

The Saudi defense minister, Prince Sultan, reiterated Wednesday that his country would not allow the United States to use Saudi soil to launch attacks against Iraq. But in an interview published Thursday in the newspaper Arab News, he said his country would not interfere with U.S. operations in Iraq as long as they are based on United Nations resolutions.

Correspondents Carl Rochelle, Jamie McIntyre, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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