April 20, 200719 yr From DefenseNews Posted 04/20/07 11:14 Kuwait Readies for Possible U.S.-Iran War By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, KUWAIT CITY U.S. ally Kuwait is to form an emergency team to draw up contingency plans for any conflict between the United States and Iran, a senior minister said in comments published April 20. ”The team ... will devise a comprehensive contingency plan to deal with risks that may result in case a war breaks out in the Gulf on the back of the rising U.S. military escalation towards Iran,” State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Faisal al-Hajji told the Al-Watan daily. The cabinet will form the team at its weekly meeting on April 22, drawing on officials from the defense, interior, oil and health ministries as well as the fire and civil defense departments, Hajji said. The team is then due to hold its first meeting on April 23. The Kuwaiti parliament is scheduled to hold a special debate on May 1 on the government’s readiness for any military confrontation between the United States and Iran. Washington has said that it would prefer to address its concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program diplomatically but has refused to rule out the option of military action. It has beefed up its military presence in the Gulf and currently has a second aircraft carrier there for the first time since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Kuwait served as the launchpad for that invasion and remains the main staging point for US-led troops in Iraq. Around 15,000 U.S. troops are stationed at a series of bases in the emirate, the largest of them at Arifjan, south of Kuwait City near the border with Saudi Arabia.
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