U.S. Marines to Land in Kuwait
2,000 participating in amphibious exercise amid building showdown

Sept. 18, 2002

US Marines will stage an amphibious landing in Kuwait during a month-long exercise in the Gulf that coincides with US diplomatic efforts to keep the pressure on Iraq.

"Eager Mace 02" will involve up to 2000 Marines from an amphibious assault force led by the helicopter carrier USS Belleau Wood.

"It is an amphibious exercise that is scheduled for later in September," said Lieutenant Commander Nick Balice, a spokesman for the US Central Command, who said it was expected to last three to four weeks.

A Pentagon official said it would involve amphibious, ground, air and surface naval forces.

Although it is an annual event, the exercise will put US force on display amid a building showdown with Iraq over what Washington says is a secret program to develop and acquire chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

The US remains highly sceptical about an Iraqi decision yesterday to allow the resumption of UN weapons inspections.

Other US forces are also on the move in Kuwait.

The army has begun moving troops as part of a six-month rotation of its armoured units in Kuwait, where it has two armoured brigades engaged in training near the Iraqi border.

The New York Times has reported that the United States has also asked Britain for permission to set up portable, climate-controlled shelters for B-2 stealth bombers at its airbase on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

Pentagon officials would not comment on the report.

Two US aircraft carriers, the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS George Washington, have brought the number of US navy ships with Fifth fleet in the region to 20.

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