US to Send Troops to Saudi Arabia      09/21 09:02

   The Pentagon on Friday announced it will deploy additional U.S. troops and 
missile defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as 
President Donald Trump has at least for now put off any immediate military 
strike on Iran in response to the attack on the Saudi oil industry.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon on Friday announced it will deploy 
additional U.S. troops and missile defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the 
United Arab Emirates, as President Donald Trump has at least for now put off 
any immediate military strike on Iran in response to the attack on the Saudi 
oil industry.

   Defense Secretary Mark Esper told Pentagon reporters this is a first step to 
beef up security and he would not rule out additional moves down the road. Gen. 
Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more details about 
the deployment will be determined in the coming days, but it would not involve 
thousands of U.S. troops.

   Other officials said the U.S. deployment would likely be in the hundreds and 
the defensive equipment heading to the Middle East would probably include 
Patriot missile batteries and possibly enhanced radars.

   The announcement reflected Trump's comments earlier in the day when he told 
reporters that showing restraint "shows far more strength" than launching 
military strikes and he wanted to avoid an all-out war with Iran.

   Instead, he laid out new sanctions on the Iranian central bank and said the 
easiest thing to do would be to launch military strikes.

   "I think the strong person's approach and the thing that does show strength 
would be showing a little bit of restraint," Trump told reporters during a 
meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. "Much easier to do it 
the other way, and Iran knows that if they misbehave, they are on borrowed 
time."

   Dunford told reporters the extra equipment and troops would give the Saudis 
a better chance of defending against unconventional aerial attacks.

   "No single system is going to be able to defend against a threat like that," 
he said, "but a layered system of defensive capabilities would mitigate the 
risk of swarms of drones or other attacks that may come from Iran."

   The U.S. has not provided any hard evidence that Iran was responsible for 
the attacks, while insisting the investigation continues, but Esper on Friday 
said the drones and cruise missiles used in the attack were produced by Iran.

   "The attack on Sept. 14 against Saudi Arabian oil facilities represents a 
dramatic escalation of Iranian aggression," Esper said, adding that the U.S. 
has thus far shown "great restraint."

   In deciding against an immediate U.S. strike, Trump for the second time in 
recent months pulled back from a major military action against Iran that many 
Pentagon and other advisers fear could trigger a new Middle East war. In June, 
after Iran shot down an American surveillance drone, Trump initially endorsed a 
retaliatory military strike then abruptly called it off because he said it 
would have killed dozens of Iranians.

   On Friday, he left the door open a bit for a later military response, saying 
people thought he'd attack Iran "within two seconds," but he has "plenty of 
time."

   Trump spoke just before he gathered his national security team at the White 
House to consider a broad range of military, economic and diplomatic options in 
response to what administration officials say was an unprecedented Iranian 
attack on Saudi oil facilities.

   Iran has denied involvement and warned the U.S. that any attack will spark 
an "all-out war" with immediate retaliation from Tehran.

   Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence have condemned 
the attack on Saudi oil facilities as "an act of war."

   Esper and Dunford declined to discuss any potential ship movements to the 
region, although a number of U.S. Navy vessels are nearby.

   The additional air and missile defense equipment for Saudi Arabia would be 
designed to bolster its defenses in the north, since most of its defenses have 
focused on threats from Houthis in Yemen to the south.

   A forensic team from U.S. Central Command is pouring over evidence from 
cruise missile and drone debris, but the Pentagon said the assessment is not 
finished. Officials are trying to determine if they can get navigational 
information from the debris that could provide hard evidence that the strikes 
came from Iran.


(KR)