In the Kuwaiti desert, American forces drill for the battle to come

摘要

UDAIRI RANGE, NORTHERN KUWAIT-The line of tanks stretches for miles, a seemingly endless streak of armor disappearing into the desert horizon. They rumble across the stark, lifeless terrain just 5 miles from the Iraqi border, pausing only to allow Army engineers to blow a path through a simulated enemy minefield with 16,000 pounds of C4 plastic explosive. Joining in the deafening cacophony of destruction, Apache attack helicopters and Air Force F-16 fighter jets pour bombs and bullets on dummy targets half buried in the sand. There is no diplomacy in the desert of Kuwait, only the steady buildup of the weapons of war. Hundreds of miles to the north, U.N. inspectors are methodically searching for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and much of the world still hopes that war can be averted. Yet here at Udairi Range, part of a 750 square-mile swath of desert the U.S. military has taken over to conduct live-fire training, soldiers of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division are practicing the same offensive maneuvers they may soon use against Saddam's troops on the plains of southern Iraq.