U.S. Consolidating Forces in Persian Gulf

DOHA, Qatar — The United States is pulling out of one Qatari air base and upgrading another in a consolidation of forces in the Persian Gulf, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a visit here that the American presence at a base called Camp Snoopy would “go away” soon. The camp served as a logistics hub for U.S. military operations in the gulf region.

U.S. officials at the camp said its population already has dropped to 800 from 1,800. Flight operations are to cease this month, and the camp will close by mid-June, they said.

Improvements and new housing are coming to another Qatari base U.S. forces used in the Iraq war. Pentagon rules for reporting on Myers’ visit did not allow identification of that base in this report.

Myers also visited Camp As Sayliyah, the gulf headquarters for the U.S. Central Command. There, he and the new civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, met with the deputy Central Command commander. Myers said Bremer would be heading to Baghdad soon.