us marines and british 1st armored division , page-12

forces ojn the move?!?! Sources: U.S. Forces Move Into Kuwait-Iraq DMZ
Wed March 19, 2003 07:14 AM ET
By Fiona O'Brien
KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti security sources said on Wednesday that U.S.-led forces had moved into the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that straddles the Iraq-Kuwait border, apparently in preparation for an imminent attack on Iraq.

"Troops walked into the DMZ this morning at around 11 a.m. (8 a.m. GMT)," a Kuwaiti security force source working in the Umm Qasr area in the east of the zone said.

"American convoys are still driving toward Umm Qasr."

Tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops are in the desert in northern Kuwait preparing to attack. President Bush has said his forces will invade if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not flee by early Thursday.

Saddam has already rejected that demand.

In recent days, many units have moved to new positions closer to the Iraqi border, packing tents and checking equipment as officers briefed them on the final preparations for war.

A U.S. military spokesman said he could not confirm or deny that troops were inside the DMZ.

A British army spokesman said only that soldiers had taken up "forward battle positions."

"That reflects the posture of the last few days," Colonel Chris Vernon told Reuters.

The DMZ extends 3 miles into Kuwait and 10 km into Iraq. It was not clear how far in the troops had gone.

United Nations observers had pulled out on Monday from the DMZ, which was set up after the 1991 Gulf War that expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

Small groups of engineers slipped in last week to cut gates in the fence that can be opened to let tanks and other vehicles drive through. But now combat units were in place there, the sources said. It was not clear how many troops were in the zone.

A number of Reuters correspondents with the U.S. invasion forces said they were still at desert holding areas, some of them about 20 miles from the Iraqi frontier.