European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 5, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday decembers 1990 the stars and stripes Page 3crisis in the Gulf i on their ways amps vines Crowley soldiers with the 2nd army Cav re Gay Airport to go to saudi Arabia. The rest 2nd so from Bamberg Germany Board of the regiment will deploy to operation a plane tuesday afternoon at Niernberg desert shield in the next few weeks. Coordination of forces not going to be easy by Molly Moore Washington Post in saudi Arabia . Military commanders Are warning that command and communications problems in the multinational Force assembled in saudi Arabia could Lead to chaos , military authorities said that without greater coordination and More joint Maneu vers Many front line saudi and Arab troops some of whom use weapons and tanks identical to those of Iraq a could be killed inadvertently by Ameri a cans. A Quot a Ain addition . Commanders said they need extensive training within american units to avoid a High rate of fratricide accidental killing of ones own troops a in the expected massive confusion of combat in the air and on the ground. A the coordination to make sure All of these things work is ongoing a said Marine maj. Jim Mcclain a spokesman for Marine aviation units in saudi Arabia. A a is it going to be easy hell no its not going to be the Issue of military command and control is one of the most controversial involving the coordination of the International Force of More than 550,000 troops assembling on the arabian experts say to from wire reports a combination of military climatic and cultural factors makes february the optimum month for any attack by . And Allied forces against iraqi troops occupy ing Kuwait a senior . Military planner says. A the United states won approval thursday from the. . Security Council for a Resolution authorizing use of Force against iraqi troops sometime after Jan. 15. But the official who spoke on condition he not be identified said that waiting until february would provide enough time for the additional troops ordered to the Middle East by president Bush last month to get into place and become accustomed to the saudi desert. To wait much longer than that the official added would complicate any military operation by running into foul Spring weather and the Start in March of islamic religious prospects for a military clash have seemed to Wax and Wane Oyer the ast few months the planning official said e a Felt from Day one in August. That if there was going to be a fight it would be after the first of january unless they attacked . A a. A the official said he figured at the out set that the timing of any . Attack would be affected by three things a nuni Ber one there was an election in november number two Christmas was coming and number three the islamic holy month of Ramadan. Begins on St. Patrick a Day the 17th of in the first three months of the crisis he said the United states was Loath to. Start a War because it a did no to have enough Force there to pursue it successfully except from the most of the additional . Forces authorized by Bush last month will not arrive in the Region until mid january after which they a should have weeks a not months a to get used to Gulf briefs e the saudi Elini ate he said. If you take a Little ruler put and draw a line in the Middle of this period Between mid january and mid Marc that a some time in february a the official added. Quot the disadvantage is that Saddam Hussein can read the Calendar As Well As we can . But he said military officials believe that a waiting into the summer can Pul you in the position of trying to conduct military operations during an extremely difficult time of year. It just gets abominably Jeffrey record a specialist in military affairs at bpm International inc., a defense contracting firm in Virginia agreed. A in cooler weather your mechanical equipment a especially aircraft engines a is less prone to overheat a record said. Three aspects of the weather reinforce the likelihood of an attack in Winter cd ports say a temperature while temperatures in the arabian Peninsula May soar to As High As 130.in the. Summer the average daily High in Kuwait City is 66 in january and in february the average High is 70. The average overnight lows dip to 46 in january and february a Quot a in summer its not Only stinking in terms of temperature but its also humid near the shores of the Gulf record said. In contrast the Winter air is dry a rain average rainfall in Kuwait during the Winter months is negligible a 0.8 Inch in january 0.3 Inch in february and 0.7 Inch in March. A wind the average Speed is about 11 Mph. But there remains the possibility of sandstorms which could cause problems. Record said Winter provides window before the Onset of Spring sandstorms. And you have favourable conditions for amphibious assaults such As tides and full Moon while Western and Arab political leaders have agreed to joint diplomatic control of the forces Many of the critical details of sharing a Battlefield remain unresolved. Many top ranking military officials refuse to discuss the Issue. Brig. Gen. Granville Amos assistant commander of the marines air Wing in saudi Arabia said a i would rather not discuss it the answer would Benefit somebody but Sonie senior . Military officials and scores of Field commanders speaking without attribution said political considerations and sensitivities frequently have outweighed military needs. A it would be very difficult for the saudis to say the , will command All forces even though that would be the Best thing a an american commander said. _ a so we re having to make do. Is it going to Cost us american lives no. We stand for in an Effort to avoid some potential problems saudi and , military leaders ave carved saudi arabians Eastern province into slices assigning sectors of responsibility to each multinational Force. A you try to keep everybody apart so everybody can contribute to the Battle without shooting each other senior ground commander said Cheney raises limit on Call up of reserves from staff and wire reports Washington a defense Secretary Dick Cheney has raised by 63,000 the maximum number of military reservists who can be ordered to Active duty for operation desert shield. A total of 188,000 National guard and Reserve members now can be put on Active duty the Pentagon announced monday. The previous limit was 125,000. Bejre now Are 96,834 members of the army Navy air Force and Marine corps reserves on Active duty under a Call up authority granted by president Bush on aug. 23. The Pentagon gave no reason for increasing the limit. The president Short of declaring War or a National emergency can authorize the Call up of 200,000 members of the reserves the biggest increase in the Call involves the army Cheney raised its limit to i m 115,000 from 80,000. But the largest proportional increase is for the Navy whose limit triples from 10,000 to 30,000. Up to new the Navy has put 6,182 reservists on Active duty. The limit for the marines was raised from 15,000 to 23,000, and the air Force limit remains at 20,000. The coast guard under of transportation has called up 588 reservists and its limit of 1,250 remains unchanged. Quot "21 activists stopped from blocking tracks Venlo Netherlands a police arrested 21 peace activists tuesday who attempted to form a human Chain across a rail line used by trains carrying . Army equipment bound for saudi Arabia. Trains carrying the Materiel from Germany to the port of Rotterdam Are using the railway through this Southeastern dutch City but there were none in the area at the time of the protest police spokesman Quirinius Vink said. \ in related protests monday a Small bomb set fire to a switch Box when it exploded at 3 . And two More were found around 3 . On the Venlo Rotterdam line near b Axtel police spokesman tin using said. A dutch group claimed responsibility for the bombs. The explosion caused delays of several hours on one of the Netherlands busiest railway lines gilding said. No one was injured and there were no . Military trains in the area at the time according to dutch railways. Gilding said the Railroad company has requested extra police surveillance along the 95-mile rail Road
