U.S. plans to consolidate military forces in Qatar

DOHA, Qatar -- In a new postwar consolidation of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. military is pulling out of one Qatari air base and upgrading another, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.

The moves reflect the suddenly changed circumstances for American forces since the demise of Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq, particularly for air forces based in Qatar and elsewhere in the Gulf. Iraq's neighbors no longer feel threatened, and there is no need to enforce no fly zones over Iraq.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a visit to U.S. and allied troops that the American presence at an air base called Camp Snoopy would "go away" soon.

The camp served as a logistics hub for U.S. military operations in the Gulf region. Also, specialized Air Force planes such as the EC-130 Commando Solo airborne broadcast station flew missions over Iraq daily from the camp.

U.S. officials based at the camp said its population already has dropped from 1,800 during the war to 800. Flight operations are to cease this month and the camp will close by mid-June, they said.

Major changes are under way at another Qatari air base used by American forces in the war. Under Pentagon ground rules for reporting on Myers' visit to Qatar, that air base could not be identified in this report. Myers spent part of the afternoon at that base Sunday to meet with U.S. commanders and to thank the pilots, crews, maintenance and other troops who work there.

"What a huge difference you made," Myers told several dozen airmen on the flight line, with two F-15E Strike Eagle fighters serving as a backdrop. "You really changed the course of history."

Myers said earlier that improvements are in the works for that air base, including the construction of new housing.

Brig. Gen. Rick Rosborg, commander of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing at the base, said in an interview that dozens of the approximately 140 fighter aircraft that operated from the base during the war were heading home. At the same time, additional support aircraft such as C-130 and other cargo planes are arriving in increasing numbers.

Maj. Don Langley, a spokesman at the base, said there were about 6,500 Americans there during the war. The number dipped to about 5,000 after Baghdad fell, but it has risen again to over 6,000, he said.

A new housing complex called Expeditionary Village is to open at the 3,000-acre base in late summer or early fall, Langley said. Longer-range plans call for additional, more permanent housing, Rosborg said. Up to now the base housing has consisted of a variety of climate-controlled tents.

Myers also visited Camp As Sayliyah, which serves as the Gulf headquarters for U.S. Central Command. There, he and the Bush administration's new civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, met with Army Gen. John Abizaid, the deputy Central Command commander. Myers told U.S. troops that Bremer would be heading to Baghdad soon.

At a news conference at As Sayliyah, Myers said it was possible that weapons of mass destruction could still be in the hands of Iraqi special units and could be used against coalition forces.

He said Iraqi prisoners of war are being interrogated to find out whether banned weapons may still be held by members of Iraqi Special Republican Guard units that eluded capture when the government fell.

"Were they full-deployed and could they have been brought to bear on us, or are they still perhaps out there somewhere in some sort of bunker and could have been used?" Myers said. "We are trying to run that one to the ground."

The United States claims that Saddam possessed such banned weapons, yet none has been found since American-led forces seized Baghdad and ousted Saddam a month ago. Myers said he doubted any would be found until Iraqis with knowledge of the weapons step forward.

Myers wound up his day in Kuwait City, where he met with troops at Camp Wolf, a logistics base. On his flight from Qatar to Kuwait, Myers met privately with Bremer and retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who had been the most senior American civilian in Iraq until Bremer was designated as Garner's boss.