Dry run for war on Saddam launched in desert

It bears the innocuous name of "Internal Look". But the American military's elaborate command-and-control exercise, which begins at a base in the Qatari desert today, looks very like a dry run for a war against Iraq which many believe is inevitable.

The exercise, the largest of its kind, is also the first to be held outside the United States. However, though Washington is continuing a build-up – some 60,000 men are now in or near the Gulf – no troops will be involved in the exercise. Instead, "Internal Look" will test the abilities of the electronic equipment installed over the past few months at As Sayliyah to co-ordinate the operations of the four US armed services scattered from the Middle East to central Asia and east Africa.

But the focus, as the Pentagon does not hide, is Iraq. The equivocation of Saudi Arabia and the unease of Turkey over their infrastructure being used for a war against Saddam Hussein have turned Qatar into the hub of any campaign to oust President Saddam.

That campaign would be led by General Tommy Franks, since October 2000 in charge of US Central Command which covers the Middle East and much of Asia – the job General Norman Schwarzkopf held in 1990/91 when he led the operation to drive Iraq from Kuwait. But, though the post is the same, the two occupants are very different.

General Franks, along with 200 members of his staff as well as observers from the British and Australian militaries, is now at As Sayliyah to superintend the exercise. But, true to his reputation, he has made no public appearance, nor issued any statement since arriving in Qatar on Friday from Central Command headquarters at Tampa, Florida.

Whereas "Stormin' Norman", as General Schwarzkopf was known, was an extrovert whose flamboyant war briefings produced a flood of soundbites, General Franks is a quieter soldier who dislikes the limelight, and has not the slightest desire to become a media personality. Indeed, he had to be heavily leaned upon by the Pentagon to deliver briefings in person even when the 2001 campaign in Afghanistan, another of the 25 countries which fall within the purlieu of Central Command, had been underway for five weeks.

Critics of General Franks complain that he is too unimaginative in his thinking. Indeed, he, along with the military's uniformed leadership, is said to have irritated Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, with his alleged inability to think unconventionally, or "out of the box", in planning a war against Iraq. Although he holds business and public administration degrees, General Franks is a "muddy boots soldier", who is happiest when he is with his fellow officers and men. A 57-year-old Oklahoman, he joined the army in 1967 and served briefly in Vietnam, before stints at the Pentagon and service again in the Gulf War. He has won three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.

"Internal Look" will run for a week. It will test commanders with many war scenarios, covering an American attack on Iraq and the retaliation it might provoke, as well as Iraqi counterattacks, and even pre-emptive strikes by Baghdad. General Franks will hope that it yields a happier outcome than an earlier Pentagon war-game, which – under one scenario – yielded an Iraqi victory.

The same computer-simulated operations could be carried out as easily from Centcom's headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa as from Qatar. This time though, the equipment will remain in the Gulf, ahead of a war which could start within the next two months.