Decision on More Troops Could Mean Long Standoff : Military: The training and transport of 100,000 fresh U.S. soldiers to Saudi Arabia will take at least a month.

By JOHN M. BRODER and MELISSA HEALY

Oct. 27, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

WASHINGTON — The Administration’s conclusion that it needs more troops in the Persian Gulf--perhaps two full tank divisions--appears to delay the timetable for a U.S. decision on the next step in the gulf and to raise the prospect of a long-term standoff with Iraq.

The training and transport of as many as 100,000 more troops will take at least a month, leaving the 210,000-strong U.S. force now in the gulf with limited options until reinforcements arrive.

But Pentagon officials insisted Friday that the current U.S. force, which includes an armada of nearly 1,000 warplanes, already has formidable offensive capabilities and is prepared to react to any Iraqi provocation.

In the meantime, the White House announced that Secretary of State James A. Baker III will travel to Saudi Arabia within the next 10 days to confer with Saudi officials and U.S. military commanders.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that Baker will discuss “military options” with the Saudis. He dismissed speculation that Baker will seek Saudi permission for offensive action against Iraq or disclose a planned date for such an operation.

The growing American troop presence will widen U.S. offensive options and increase the pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave Kuwait, a senior Administration official said Friday.

“If he’s going to feel pressured, you need a credible force,” this official said. “If offense is to be one of your options, you need a larger force.”

As recently as a month ago, White House and Pentagon officials were saying that the United States would have a force in place in Saudi Arabia by mid-November capable of executing a range of military options--from defense of Saudi Arabia to a punishing multi-front strike against Iraqi troops in Kuwait and southern Iraq.

Now, however, it appears that the U.S. force is insufficient to carry out an offensive against the Iraqi force across the border, which now numbers 430,000 troops and thousands of heavy guns in fortified defensive positions.

The decision to bolster the U.S. gulf force “indicates a slowing of the timetable but also indicates that they’re preparing for decisive action,” a congressional official who follows military affairs said. “If they’re talking about another 100,000, you have to believe they’re planning to use it.”

But a ranking Pentagon official cautioned against drawing firm conclusions either from the size or timing of the increase.

“You can’t necessarily assume we’re not going to act,” before the reinforcements arrive, he said. And the increase in the force should not be taken to mean that any particular option has been decided upon, he added.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, in announcing U.S. intentions to bolster its gulf force Thursday, emphasized that the United States has neither set limits on the size of the force nor ruled out the option of attacking Iraqi troops. But he said the military’s orders remain limited to deterring an Iraqi attack, repelling such an attack if it comes and enforcing the U.N. economic blockade of Iraq.

Depending on the size of the expansion and the origin of the fresh forces, it could take as long as two months for the new troops to arrive with their equipment, Pentagon officials said.

Cheney suggested that withdrawing tank units from Western Europe, as directed by Congress earlier this month, might free those forces for service in the gulf--an option that Pentagon analysts said would be faster and cheaper than sending troops from the United States.

Also on Friday, it was reported that two Americans who had evaded the Iraqi dragnet in Kuwait for weeks have been captured.

The Americans who were seized were identified by Western diplomats in Baghdad as Uwe Jahnke, 47, of Washington Depot, Conn., and John Stevenson, 44, of Panama City, Fla., wire services reported.

The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pair were taken to Baghdad on Oct. 22, a day after being picked up in Kuwait, and put in a hotel where scores of other foreigners are being held.

After Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, Hussein prevented thousands of foreigners from leaving Iraq and the conquered emirate.

Meanwhile, at the United Nations, efforts continued in the Security Council to craft a new resolution designed to increase pressure on Hussein. Diplomats worked into the early morning today trying to fashion a compromise between nonaligned nations and the Security Council’s permanent members: the United States, Britain, France, China and the Soviet Union.

In Los Angeles, President Bush sought to counter critics--some within his own party--who say he is threatening war simply over the price of oil.

“That’s not what the question is,” Bush said at a GOP fund-raiser. The issue “isn’t oil, it’s aggression,” he said.

“When this is over, the world will say thank God the United States made it clear that no country can bully or take over its neighbor,” Bush added.

White House officials said Bush discussed the gulf situation by telephone Friday with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers.

Times staff writers John J. Goldman in New York and David Lauter in Los Angeles contributed to this story.