Hawaii-based troops are
in the theater of operations

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

Three Hawaii-based Navy ships are in the Persian Gulf and two attack submarines are headed there, but on normal deployments, according to a spokesman for the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Command.

None of the deployments were connected to the U.S. air strikes on Iraq today, said CINCPAC spokesman Lt. Col. Kevin Krejcarek.

Krejcarek said the Pearl Harbor-based destroyers USS Fletcher, USS Paul Hamilton and USS Hopper are currently cruising the Persian Gulf. They departed for the gulf Aug. 31 and have been there since.

Two attack submarines, the USS Pasadena and USS Columbus, are headed to the gulf on regular deployments, Krejcarek said. They joined the USS Carl Vinson battle group, which departed the West Coast and passed through Hawaii about a month ago on its way to replace the battle group now in the gulf.

Each submarine carries a crew of 150, and the destroyers each hold a crew of about 340.

The Paul Hamilton and Hopper are guided-missile destroyers.

Krejcarek said the National Command Authority -- which includes President Clinton and Secretary of Defense William Cohen -- will determine U.S. military goals in Iraq and what personnel, equipment and support will be needed. CINCPAC then will be notified if it needs to send support.

"Right now it appears to be only cruise missiles," he said. "We don't need a large land force."

Iraq falls outside CINCPAC's area of command extends west through India. The U.S. Central Command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, takes over at Pakistan.

Military bases in Hawaii were already on heightened security due to the attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa. Although the military cannot discuss what security measures are taken, the most obvious action is ID checks at the base gates.

Krejcarek served during the entire 1991 Persian Gulf War, which also targeted Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait.

As an Air Force public affairs officer based at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, he was sent to work with the news media out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in October 1990. He didn't leave the area until May 1991.

President Clinton called for today's attacks after United Nations weapons inspectors were ordered to pull out of Iraq, which inspectors said had once again reneged on its promise to cooperate with the inspections.

"I'm sorry it had to lead to this," Krejcarek said. "Everybody, as a result of the end of the war, thought Iraq would abide by the surrender agreements.

"The Iraqi people unfortunately are the ones to suffer. That never was our intent."

During the last U.S. military buildup connected to Iraq's refusal to help weapons inspectors, the Hawaii Air National Guard sent three KC-135 air refueling tankers to Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. They helped refuel U.S. bombers from the mainland heading to the Persian Gulf.

Spokesman Capt. Charles Anthony said members of the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron deployed to Alaska Nov. 12-23.

No National Guard troops from Hawaii are currently deployed on Iraq-connected missions, he said.

Akaka issues statement

Iraq's "continued obstinacy and game playing" over United Nations weapon inspections and its failure to comply with U.N. resolutions left the United States with no viable option but to conduct air strikes against known weapons facilities and military sites, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka said today.

"The prospect of Saddam Hussein producing and using weapons of mass destruction to threaten his neighbors is unacceptable," Akaka said in a statement. "Iraq is solely and squarely responsible for its flagrant noncompliance with weapons inspections."

Hussein's failure to cooperate a month after again pledging to do so "underlines Iraq's intention to obstruct inspections and defy disarmament agreements," the Democratic senator said.

"Iraq must now bear the consequences for a 7-year pattern of deception and defiance," he said.

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Star-Bulletin

Related links: United Nations United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) DefenseLINK (U.S. Department of Defense) The White House Iraq's mission to the United Nations