Warplanes Begin Deploying to Gulf, Central Asia
Air Power To Team With Special Forces

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 20, 2001; Page A01

American warplanes began flying overseas from U.S. bases yesterday as the Pentagon ordered dozens of fighters, bombers and other aircraft to the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and -- in an unprecedented move -- the two former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Defense Department officials said.

In the military's first concrete steps toward war, the aircraft being deployed under what the Pentagon dubbed "Operation Infinite Justice" include F-15E fighter-bombers, F-16 fighters, B-1 long-range bombers, E-3 AWACS airborne command-and-control aircraft, refuelers and other support aircraft, officials said.

Several additional waves of deployments are expected as the buildup continues, according to Pentagon planners. "There are movements, and you will see more movements," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told reporters. "It's going to be big," added an Air Force officer. "The president has to decide how big."

The movement of the U.S. warplanes is the first step in fleshing out the rhetoric that President Bush and his senior officials have used in recent days to describe the scope and duration of their planned counterattack on terrorism.

Between the Air Force and the Navy, the United States already has enough air power in the Persian Gulf region to carry out what the Pentagon calls a major theater war. The additional forces now being deployed will mean that it can attack any country in the Eastern Hemisphere, while still continuing its patrols of the "no-fly" zones over Iraq's north and south imposed at the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

Pentagon planners said the aircraft will provide cover for U.S. Special Forces missions out of Pakistan against alleged terrorists and countries that support them, beginning with Osama bin Laden, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington who is believed to be living in Afghanistan. The aircraft will also be in position to conduct airstrikes against the militaries and government infrastructures of countries believed to harbor or support terrorists, they said.

Bush has not issued orders on how to use the aircraft, but the planes have already begun to move overseas to provide him flexibility, officials said. "The whole thing is complex," said one officer. "It's still evolving." But, he added, the basic plan is "a mix of Special Forces and air power . . . with a lot of forces in position to do a lot of different operations over an extended period."

The president appeared to allude to the two-step nature of the offensive being contemplated when he told reporters at the White House yesterday, "One of our focuses is to get people out of their caves -- smoke 'em out, and get 'em moving, and get 'em."

According to Pentagon officials, Special Forces would stage attacks against suspected terrorist hideouts -- in Afghanistan and possibly elsewhere -- and then airstrikes would be used against the terrorists as they moved to more vulnerable locations.

Pentagon officials have hinted repeatedly that they are contemplating military action against locations other than Afghanistan. "This is about more than just one country," Wolfowitz said. In the same vein, Bush said, "Anybody who houses a terrorist, encourages terrorism, will be held accountable."

The first aircraft left yesterday for bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, in addition to the two Central Asian nations. They will join several hundred U.S. aircraft already based in the Gulf region. Since the war against Iraq, the United States has kept about 20,000 troops in the region, with 5,000 in Saudia Arabia, about that number in Kuwait, and about 10,000 aboard Navy ships. It has dozens of fighters and other aircraft in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and keeps enough tanks, artillery pieces and trucks in Kuwait to outfit an Army brigade.

The deployment of U.S. warplanes to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, where Russia still has thousands of troops, is unprecedented and is likely to be logistically difficult, given their remote location just to the north of Afghanistan. It underscores how last week's attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are reshaping America's relations with nations across the globe.

It also could have important effects in the Central Asia region. The willingness of the former Soviet republics to accept U.S. forces will increase the pressure on Pakistan, Afghanistan's southern neighbor, to follow suit and also permit the U.S. military to operate from its soil.

In a speech yesterday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf indicated that the cooperation of other nations has made it more difficult for him to refuse to have a U.S. military presence in Pakistan. "Some countries have very happily offered their military facilities to America," Musharraf said. Singling out India, Pakistan's historic enemy, he added, "They have happily offered all their resources, and they are happy for Pakistan to be declared a terrorist state."

The presence of F-15 fighter-bombers in predominantly Muslim Central Asia will likely reduce political pressure on Saudi Arabia. The U.S. Air Force is planning to run its end of the war from Prince Sultan Air Base, near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Air Force opened the world's most advanced air operations center at the base this summer. It can control the movements of hundreds of aircraft over an area of thousands of miles. One of bin Laden's major objections to U.S. foreign policy is the presence of the American military in Saudi Arabia, which is home to two of Islam's holiest sites.

Russia is not opposed to the cooperation of the former Soviet states, a State Department official said yesterday after talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials in the Washington and Moscow.

Air Force officials said operating out of Uzbekistan would have other advantages, such as allowing the military to tighten what it calls "operational security" by flying from remote bases where the media won't be allowed. "We can put aircraft there where CNN can't film them taking off," said one officer.

Air Force officials were irate during the 1999 Kosovo war when television networks broadcast live images of aircraft taking off from the U.S. base in Aviano, Italy. One officer denounced the television networks as "forward observers for the Serbs."

Meanwhile, additional U.S. forces began to move toward the Mideast yesterday as the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt sailed from Norfolk, carrying about 75 aircraft. It is expected to join the two other U.S. carriers already in the region.

In addition, about 1,500 Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are scheduled to depart Camp Lejeune, N.C., today for a regularly scheduled mission in the Arabian Sea.