<

U.S. Commandos Likely Preparing the Ground in Iraq
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
By Jan Cienski
National Post Writer

Any U.S. effort in Iraq likely focuses on the Shiite Arabs of southern Iraq, the so-called marsh Arabs who staged a bloody but unsuccessful rebellion against Saddam after the Gulf Was a decade ago, said George Friedman, founder and chairman of Stratfor, a private intelligence company.

WASHINGTON -- NP
With Saddam Hussein in its gunsights, the U.S. military is preparing its Special Operations troops for covert operations that are expected to hit the ground running before the bombs start to fall on Iraq.

While the U.S. military insists it has no troops in areas of Iraq under Saddam's direct control, military analysts say there is good reason to believe that as many as 100 commandos could be in the country training opposition forces and preparing for the precision bombing strikes that were so effective in destroying Afghanistan's Taliban militia.

"I think there is a pretty good chance that the elite special forces working with the CIA are exploring the battlefield," said retired Rear-Admiral Stephen Baker, senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information think-tank. "It makes sense to have those folks active now, doing our homework."

Retired General David Grange, a former U.S. Army Ranger and Green Beret, said it would be prudent for small numbers of U.S. commandos to be in Iraq to prepare for any attack.

In a bid to make it easier to deny any Pentagon involvement inside Iraq at this delicate time, some elite Special Operations troops are being told to switch allegiance and join the undercover military units of the Central Intelligence Agency, reported The New York Times.
(More: NationalPost.com News Source)
2002 © The National Post.

Dan