UN arms experts inspected two military complexes in Iraq yesterday as the US ordered the deployment of nearly 35,000 troops for a possible invasion of the country.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed Friday the largest single deployment order since the buildup of US forces in the Gulf began last month, US officials said. The troops will leave for the region in stages this month.
With the 35,000 troops ordered to deploy on Friday, and the roughly 60,000 military personnel already in the Gulf region, the US has almost reached its goal of having 100,000 troops in the potential war zone by Jan. 31.
US officials also disclosed that the Pentagon has been sending e-mail messages to Iraqi generals to warn them against carrying out any order from President Saddam Hussein to use chemical or germ weapons against US or allied forces.
The e-mails are "consistent with all of the messages we have been trying to send to Saddam Hussein," one official said. "It's just another means."
The Pentagon has already been waging information warfare against the Iraqi armed forces via radio broadcasts and leaflets dropped by aircraft. The leaflets warned Iraqi air defense troops not to fire on US and British planes enforcing "no fly" zones over northern and southern Iraq.
The US' allies in Europe urged Washington this week to allow time for the UN inspectors to find evidence that Saddam is hiding weapons of mass destruction before committing itself to war.
Greece, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, is sending its foreign minister to the Middle East in the near future to enlist the support of Arab states in trying to persuade Saddam to comply fully with UN demands for information about its weapons programs.
Chief UN inspector Hans Blix told the UN Security Council this week that Iraq had to provide more evidence to get a clean bill of health. Iraqi officials promptly rejected the charge, saying that the 12,000-page declaration it filed in December was comprehensive.
Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN nuclear agency, are scheduled to visit Baghdad on Jan. 19 to Jan. 20 to tell Iraqi officials they must provide "credible evidence" of the elimination of Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs.
Yesterday, the inspectors revisited the Ibn Sina military complex at Tarmiya, 40km north of Baghdad, the Iraqi Information Ministry said.
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