U.S. begins high-seas anti-terror games with Southeast Asia
U.S. begins high-seas anti-terror games with Southeast Asia
En-Lai Yeoh Associated Press/Singapore As the Star Wars theme song played, the U.S. Navy launched two weeks of anti-terrorism exercises with Singapore on Tuesday, days before U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrives here to discuss security with his Asia-Pacific counterparts.
Rear Adm. Kevin Quinn, U.S. Navy commander of the Logistics Group Western Pacific, kicked off the exercise at a Singapore naval base auditorium to the film's orchestral theme. A written history of Singapore-U.S. naval war games rolled across a big screen like the film's famous opening.
More than 1,500 U.S. and Singapore troops, aircraft, a submarine and 12 ships are taking part in the two-week Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, or CARAT, in the South China Sea.
Washington fears that al-Qaeda linked militants could launch a terror strike in the nearby Malacca Strait, which borders Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, and is plied by 50,000 commercial ships a year.
More than half the world's oil and a third of its commerce pass through the 900-kilometer strait. A bombing could paralyze its sea traffic for months.
Much of the CARAT exercise will involve training to prevent maritime terror strikes -- such as the seizure of vessels and attacks by small boats, a tactic used by al-Qaeda in the past.
In 2000, a suicide bomber in a small boat rammed the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 U.S. servicemen. The Navy then set up measures to increasing ships' security in port.
"It's an emphasis that's well deserved," said CARAT's task group commander, Capt. Lothrop "Buzz" Little.
Crew aboard the USS Paul Hamilton guided missile destroyer are also expected to simulate a chemical gas attack.
On Saturday, Rumsfeld is scheduled to be in Singapore to address a meeting of defense ministers and military chiefs from 20 countries.
Singapore, a firm backer of the Iraq war, has regularly hosted U.S. troops and warships. It has a naval facility specially built to accommodate U.S. aircraft carriers.
From Singapore, the U.S. Navy will travel to Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines to continue separate CARAT exercises scheduled to end in August.