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U.S. deploys thousands of additional troops to Persian Gulf
January 13, 2003 Posted: 11:48 PM EST (0448 GMT)
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Army Sgt. Sonya Thompson leans against husband Dimethus before she and her unit leave Virginia Beach for the Middle East on Sunday.
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Although the White House says President Bush has "no timetable" set for a possible strike on Iraq, the U.S. continues to deploy troops by the thousands to the Persian Gulf. Bush has said he will consider using military force if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein fails to prove to the U.N. Security Council that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction. However, Bush has not said how long he will wait for that verification. Pentagon sources say a force of 200,000 to 250,000 troops is being readied for deployment to the Persian Gulf region.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed deployment orders Friday to send more U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf. The deployment of 62,000 more U.S. troops will nearly double the size of the force in the region.
The orders affect about 7,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The Marines had already been ordered aboard three ships -- the USS Saipan, the USS Ponce and the USS Gunston Hall. Together, the group comprises what the military calls an amphibious ready group, or ARG. Such groups deploy overseas with helicopters, Marines and a large weapons supply.
The ARG was originally scheduled to deploy late this summer, but it has been ordered out to support U.S. military forces already in the Persian Gulf region, according to a Navy official. Friday's orders bring the number currently deployed to the Gulf region to around 107,000.
It will be about a month before the group reaches the Persian Gulf. Loved ones were on hand to say goodbye to the Marines in North Carolina, filling the weekend with hugs and kisses. For some families, this departure was particularly difficult, as some of the marines had recently returned from service in Afghanistan.
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