Djibouti Forces

So, 5th Special Force Group (which fought in Desert Storm and is clearly better suited to Iraq than the Horn) and 87th Corps Support battalion (located with 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) back in Georgia, are in Djibouti. Looks to me like Djibouti is a staging area for the Jordan-based invasion force which will include 3rd ID and 5th Special Forces. (with 101st AB flown directly into Iraq? And another heavy division attacking out of northern Saudi Arabia-or maybe Kuwait—to link up in the west?) The amount of force down there has always seemed excessive for what we might find there (seemed more a CIA mission) and just as well suited to providing a cover for Red Sea traffic supporting a Jordan front.

I know I’m reading a lot into little things, and these forces could just as easily swing into the Gulf instead of into Jordan, but I’m sticking with this scenario. (You would have to go into the Foreign Affairs archives, perhaps even the monthly archives, to read more detailed discussions of the Jordan scenario)

On to Baghdad.