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About 7,000 US marines and 3,000 sailors based in San Diego, southern California, left for the Persian Gulf on Friday aboard seven warships, as part of the preparation by the United States for a possible war with Iraq.
The soldiers bode emotional farewell to their families and friends at the Naval Station San Diego before boarding the ships --the amphibious assault ships USS Boxer and USS Bonhomme Richard, the amphibious transport docks USS Cleveland and USS Dubuque, and the dock landing ships USS Anchorage, USS Comstock and USS Pearl Harbor.
Navy officials said that many of the troops are seasoned veterans who have participated in US military operations in Afghanistan. The ships are expected to arrive in the Persian Gulf by the middle of next month.
In the past days, Marines from Camp Pendleton in San Diego and other bases have been moving military gear and equipment onto the Navy ships.
The troop movement is part of the intensified US preparation for a war with Iraq, whom Washington accuses of hiding weapons of mass destruction.
Last Friday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered 35,000 troops to the Persian Gulf, and on Saturday ordered the deployment of 27,000 more.
The series of deployments are aimed at boosting the US troop presence in the Persian Gulf to 100,000 by the end of this month and 150,000 by mid-February.
About 50,000 US military personnel are already in the Middle East, including several hundred Camp Pendleton Marines now billeted in Kuwait and Qatar. They left in November for desert warfare exercises, then stayed in case of any action against Iraq.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2003)
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