Pentagon abandons Turkish option

After weeks of waiting off Turkey’s coast, dozens of American ships carrying weaponry for the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division have been redirected to the Persian Gulf, two US defence officials said today.

The decision ends American hopes of using Turkish bases to move heavy armoured forces into northern Iraq.

About 40 ships carrying the division’s weaponry and equipment were to begin moving through the Suez Canal tomorrow, one of the officials said.

The 4th Infantry’s soldiers, who remained at Fort Hood, Texas, after their weaponry and equipment went to the Mediterranean last month, are likely to go to Kuwait, the officials said.

The original plan had the entire division of about 17,500 soldiers heading to Turkey, along with some Army troops based in Germany. It was not immediately clear if the full division would go to Kuwait.

The redirected cargo ships are to begin arriving off the coast of Kuwait about March 30, one official said. All the ships would arrive by about April 10.

From Kuwait they could move into Iraq to serve as reinforcements if the ground war lasts more than several weeks, or as occupation forces after the Iraqi government’s collapse.

The US Army already had hundreds of troops into southern Turkey to facilitate the possible use of bases there as a staging area for the 4th Infantry, but Turkey’s parliament refused to grant access.

Turkey also has been off-limits so far for US aircraft flying missions into Iraq from aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean, officials said today.

As an alternative for securing northern Iraq with the tanks and other heavy armour of the 4th Infantry, US special forces are now in the area and other conventional forces may join them, officials have said.

Northern Iraq is a particularly sensitive area because of the autonomous Kurdish region and the potential for Kurdish conflict with Turkish forces.

There were reports yesterday that Turkish soldiers in armoured personnel carriers had rolled into northern Iraq near where the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Iran converge.

But the Turkish military today denied it. The reports had said 1,000 Turkish commandos had crossed the border.