[Peace] B.S.

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

The necessary and equipment is already there so here we go again. 



Navy Clarifies Military Shipment
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 3:14 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Navy is chartering a commercial ship to send tanks and 
other cargo to the Persian Gulf in what officials said Wednesday is a routine 
rotation of equipment to protect Kuwait.

It is the third time in a month that the U.S. Military Sealift Command is 
known to have chartered for the shipping of arms and other equipment to the 
region.

Command spokeswoman Marge Holtz said private ships are used dozens of times a 
year, but reports of the other two shipments in August raised speculation -- 
denied by the Pentagon -- that the shipments were part of a military buildup 
in the region ahead of an invasion of Iraq. Officials said the equipment in 
those shipments was for long-planned military exercises in the region.

As President Bush pressed his argument Wednesday for overthrowing Iraqi 
President Saddam Hussein, the Pentagon again played down the idea that the 
shipment is related to preparation for an attack.

They said some general cargo, 70 tracked vehicles such as tanks and an 
unannounced amount of rolling stock such as trucks was being sent for arrival 
this month as part of the normal rotation of equipment in and out of Kuwait 
for Operation Desert Spring. That's the name of the program defending Kuwait 
since allied forces in the Gulf war turned back an Iraqi invasion in 1991.

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On the Net: U.S. Military Sealift Command: http://msc.navy.mil