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Source: http://nytimes.com/2002/12/01/international/middleeast/01MILI.html
U.S. Preparing Base in Qatar to Run Iraq War
(New York Times) Mark Lavie - The U.S. military is installing a new command center at the heavily guarded As Sayliyah base in Qatar to serve as the main headquarters for a war on Iraq. Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the head of Central Command, is expected to arrive in about a week with 750 staff members to take part in a major American military exercise. Qatar, a tiny Persian Gulf nation of about 750,000, has been more receptive to cooperation with the U.S. military than neighboring Saudi Arabia, and it has spent more than $1 billion to build an air base, Al Udeid, to attract American forces here. Qatar's level of cooperation far outstrips what the Saudis have been prepared to offer.