US forces in striking distance of Iraq

The US military has ordered more than 11,000 desert-trained troops to begin heading to the Gulf as pressure mounts on Iraq to get rid of alleged weapons of mass destruction.

The following US forces are in or near the Middle East and could be used in any US-led attack on Iraq:

US AIRCRAFT CARRIER GROUPS The carrier Abraham Lincoln, has been ordered to remain at sea instead of returning to the United States from a recently completed six-month tour near Iraq.

The carrier Constellation is now on patrol in the Gulf and the Harry S. Truman is on station in the Mediterranean.

The George Washington, which returned to Norfolk, Virginia, from the Gulf on December 20, is likely to return to the region with either the Abraham Lincoln or Kitty Hawk, which is based in Japan.

Carriers typically deploy about 75 warplanes. Each warship is shepherded by a half dozen or so cruisers, destroyers and submarines with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.

US TROOPS According to unofficial estimates, a US attack on Iraq could involve up to 250,000 troops.

The US military ordered more than 11,000 desert-trained Army troops from the 3rd Infantry Division to begin moving to the Gulf in coming days. Army officials said the 1st and 3rd brigades of the division would soon begin moving to join the 2nd brigade of more than 4,000 troops, now training in Kuwait.

The movement, including tanks and attack helicopters, will be the first deployment of a full combat division of US forces to the area since the 1991 Gulf War.

US officials said the Pentagon had last week alerted the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force of some 17,500 troops at Camp Pendleton that they could soon go to the Gulf.

The new deployments could double the nearly 60,000 US personnel - including Navy and Air Force troops - already in the Gulf region, with Kuwait the main base for land forces.

At least 17 US Navy and chartered ships loaded with armour and other supplies for the US Army and Marine Corps are anchored at Diego Garcia.

Six vessels contain equipment and supplies to support 17,300 Marines for 30 days, according to the Navy's Military Sealift Command.

CENTRAL COMMAND Army General Tommy Franks, head of the Florida-based US Central Command, presided over a computer war game in Qatar in December.

A mobile "CentCom" command post shipped to Al Udeid Air Base near Doha in Qatar, which was staffed by over 1,000 US communications troops and several hundred British counterparts, is to remain in Qatar and is likely to be the command and control centre in the event of any attack on Iraq.

AIR BASES Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent orders include preparations to send units from five wings of Air Force strike jets, heavy bombers and unmanned spy drones.

Turkey is expected to give reluctant support to a US-led strike on Iraq, allowing its air bases to be used by US and British jets. These would join more than 200 other US F-15, F-16 and A-10 strike jets and F-117 "stealth" fighters that would be based in Gulf states.

The United States has bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia, though it remains unclear whether the Saudis would allow the full use of those on its soil for an attack on Iraq.

Qatar's al Udeid air base, home to the longest runway in the Gulf, has recently been upgraded. Air-to-air refuelling KC-10 and KC-135 tanker aircraft operate there in support of US forces in Afghanistan.

The US Air Force has built facilities for radar-evading B-2 stealth bombers on Diego Garcia.