Rumsfeld launches Gulf tour to look at post-war military posture

by Jim Mannion

ABU DHABI, April 27 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld opened discussions on post war military arrangements in the Gulf region Sunday, meeting with Emirati leaders to thank them for supporting US forces during the Iraq war.

The United Arab Emirates, the first stop of Rumsfeld's week-long tour of  the region, allowed US air forces to use its base at al-Dhafra during the war for refueling aircraft, and U-2 reconnaissance and RC-135 surveillance planes. Rumsfeld met with Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, Defense Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and Armed Forces chief Lieutenant General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan. Army General Tommy Franks, the commander of US forces in the region, also was in Abu Dhabi.

His meetings with leaders and US commanders in the region would deal with "the evolution that is taking place from major combat operations to stability operations," Rumsfeld told reporters on the flight from Washington. Another objective was "to discuss with our allies in the countries around Iraq the arrangements we have with them, and our partnership and cooperation as we look forward to the end at some point to major combat operations in Iraq," he said.

The tour, details of which have been kept confidential, will take Rumsfeld to Afghanistan as well as other still to be identified countries. A six-hour delay in Shannon, Ireland after his aircraft experienced a mechanical problem caused a rescheduling of the Afghan leg of the trip. One of the oil-rich region's wealthiest nations, the Emirates has pledged to rebuild and restock six Iraqi hospitals and a field hospital, and to provide a desalination plant for Basra capable of producing 250,000 gallons of water a day. "They're sitting on 10 percent of the world's oil reserves," a US official said of the Emirates. "To say they're rich is an understatement." The UAE has quietly supported US forces during past crises in the Gulf, allowing temporary deployments of air expeditionary forces, and its port at Jebel Ali has long been used by the US navy as a logistics hub for aircraft carriers and other warships.

But it has shunned the kind of overt military presence that has become a lightning rod for domestic dissent in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region. As Washington rethinks its military posture in the region in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's fall in Baghdad, it is contemplating a lighter, less obtrusive "footprint" throughout the region.

Rebuffed by Ankara during the war with Iraq, the United States already has withdrawn the more than 50 fighter aircraft that enforced no-fly zones over northern Iraq from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. Saudi Arabia, which has hosted US warplanes since the 1991 Gulf war to enforce a no-fly zone over the south, also appears likely to insist on a sharp drawdown, if not outright withdrawal, of US forces there now that Iraq no longer poses a threat.

With its state of the art command center, Prince Sultan Air Base served as the headquarters of coalition air forces during the war, which pushed the numbers of US military personnel in Saudi Arabia to more than 10,000 from pre-war levels of about 5,000.

However, US access to bases in Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman has served as a  balance against Iran's military power. "They see Iran as an existential threat," the US official said of the UAE, which has longstanding dispute over three strategic Gulf islets -- Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs. "Many Emiratis feel that a US military presence serves as some form of  deterrent," he said.

How Iran will figure in US calculations as the United States reconfigures its forces remains unclear. The clout of the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet should be enough to counter Iran militarily in the view of some analysts. Additionally, US forces now have access to bases in countries on virtually all Iran's borders.

Rumsfeld last week vehemently denied that the United States was planning to uses bases in Iraq over the long-term to project power in the region. But senior Pentagon official say they are looking at the creation of a network of "strategic hubs" from which US forces can rapidly move forces to regional trouble spots.

That would likely mean fewer garrison forces of the kind it has long had in Kuwait, Germany and even South Korea, and a greater emphasis on expeditionary forces capable of conducting operations over long distances.

US captures Iraqi disarmament liaison chief

AS-SALIYAH, Qatar, April 27 (AFP) - US-led forces were Sunday holding the former head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, who figures on a list of 55 wanted Iraqis, the US Central Command announced. General Hossam Mohammad Amin, who was in charge of the body that liaised with UN weapons inspectors, is number 49 among the most wanted Iraqis and six of clubs in the House of Cards put together by the United States.

Iraqi team to run Baghdad to be in place within days, US says

BAGHDAD, April 27 (AFP) - A team of Iraqi officials and experts will be in place in a few days to get Baghdad running again, a senior US official in charge of post-war Iraq said Sunday. "There is going to be a basic team of Iraqis running the city," said Barbara Bodine, a former US ambassador who is administering the central sector of Iraq, including Baghdad, after a meeting with city officials.

She declined to fix a firm date for the team to be established but said it would be in place "in a few days." "It is going to made up initially, obviously, of the people who have the expertise," she said. Bodine was speaking after what she called "very productive" talks with eight Baghdad municipal officials who helped run the city while Saddam Hussein was still in power, including those responsible for sewage and water treatment.

She stressed this was an initial meeting as the US administration tries to get basic services in the war-battered city up and running, and was aimed at identifying the most crucial needs for the five million population. Like elsewhere in Iraq, Baghdad is suffering from shortages of running water, electricity, garbage collection and other basic services.

The Iraqi team said electricity and security for returning workers were top priorities. "We talked about a number of basic issues -- garbage, trash removal, water, electricity," Bodine said. "Our goal is to get the city not just back to where it was, but better."

The meeting was held in the water and sewage headquarters, part of the city hall complex in the centre of run-down Baghdad. Also attending the meeting were officials from the US treasury and Major General Carl Strock of the US army corps of engineers, who said he hoped to have a better idea on Monday on progress in restoring Baghdad's electricity.

"All the major plants in Baghdad are working. About 50 percent of Baghdad's needs are being met," he said. "One of the big problems right now is the distribution of power." The New York Times reported Saturday that the Pentagon had prepared a team of 150 Iraqis who would be put in place by the US administration in Iraq to help rebuild the country and restart operations at key ministries.