October 30, 2011U.S. plans buildup in Gulf after Iraq exit
The Obama administration plans to bolster the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran.
The plans, under discussion for months, gained new urgency after President Barack Obama's announcement this month that the last U.S. soldiers will be brought home from Iraq by the end of December. Ending the eight-year war was a central pledge of his presidential campaign, but U.S. military officers and diplomats, as well as officials of several countries in the region, worry that the withdrawal could leave instability or worse in its wake.
After unsuccessfully pressing both the Obama administration and the Iraqi government to permit as many as 20,000 U.S. troops to remain in Iraq beyond 2011, the Pentagon now is drawing up an alternative.
In addition to negotiations about maintaining a ground combat presence in Kuwait, the United States is considering sending more naval warships through international waters in the region.
With an eye on the threat of a belligerent Iran, the administration also is seeking to expand military ties with the six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. While the United States has close bilateral military relationships with each, the administration and the military are trying to foster a new "security architecture" for the Persian Gulf that would integrate air and naval patrols and missile defense.
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The size of the standby U.S. combat force to be based in Kuwait remains the subject of negotiations, with an answer expected in coming days. Officers at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa declined to discuss specifics of the proposals, but it was clear that successful deployment plans from past decades could be incorporated into plans for a post-Iraq footprint in the region.
For example, in the time between the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. Army kept at least a combat battalion — and sometimes a full combat brigade — in Kuwait year-round, along with an enormous arsenal ready to be unpacked should even more troops have been called to the region.
"Back to the future" is how Maj. Gen. Karl R. Horst, Centcom's chief of staff, described planning for a new posture in the Gulf. He said the command was focusing on smaller but highly capable deployments and training partnerships with regional militaries.
"We are kind of thinking of going back to the way it was before we had a big 'boots on the ground' presence," Horst said. "I think it is healthy. I think it is efficient. I think it is practical."
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