Sunday September 16 2:10 AM ET

U.S. Marines Practice Landings Off Timor

DILI, East Timor (news - web sites) (Reuters) - More than 3,000 U.S. marines and sailors rehearsed helicopter and ship-to-shore landings off East Timor on Sunday amid expectations of a revenge strike over the terror attacks on New York and Washington.

The taskforce from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Amphibious Squadron One had been due to disembark troops for humanitarian work in Dili, the southwest town of Suai and the Oecussi enclave in Indonesian West Timor.

Instead, three amphibious ships led by the 40,000-ton USS Peleliu stayed off the north coast of the capital practicing naval and air maneuvers with Harrier jets, helicopters and landing craft.

Before two passenger jets slammed into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center and a third into the Pentagon (news - web sites) in Washington, the warships were on a routine six month deployment to the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf.

U.S. army spokesman Major Paul van Breemen told Reuters in Dili the taskforce was due to sail for the Oecussi enclave on Monday to deliver humanitarian supplies before heading to Singapore.

``After that, I am not really sure where they will go. They are part of a much bigger force,'' he said.

The Peleliu is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship carrying six AV-8 Harrier jets designed to provide close air support for marine amphibious landings.

Other aircraft onboard include Cobra helicopter gunships, CH-53 heavy lift helicopters and twin rotor Sea Knight helicopters.

On Saturday morning, Dili residents woke to the roar of jet engines as the Harriers practiced take offs and landings. By Saturday evening the open Well Deck of the Peleliu could be clearly seen from Dili, its interior lit by an eerie orange glow.

Curious East Timorese, some with binoculars, gathered on the beach to watch the maneuvers. In the distance, huge plumes of spray could be seen from 41-meter surface assault craft carried by the Peleliu.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

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Saturday September 15 9:15 AM ET

U.S Missile Cruiser Left Japan Home Port-Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) - A U.S. guided missile cruiser left Japan on Saturday, the first to leave its base in Yokosuka southwest of Tokyo since the terror attacks on New York and Washington this week, Kyodo news agency reported.

Japan is home to about 48,000 U.S. military personnel -- nearly half the U.S. presence in Asia -- and the U.S. facilities including those on its southern island of Okinawa are the forward bases for the U.S. military in the region.

Kyodo said that Navy officials had confirmed the departure of Cowpens, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, which it said was equipped with an Aegis air defense system allowing simultaneous attacks on multiple targets. But it added that the officials had declined to disclose its objective or destination.

A duty officer at Yokosuka naval base said he could not comment on ship movements.

The administration of President Bush planned meetings on Saturday to plot a war against terror after the nation paused to grieve the victims of attacks against symbols of its financial and military power.

U.S. officials have said the key suspect remains Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, who is holed up in Afghanistan under the protection of the radical Islamic Taliban government.

Military experts, however, have said it would be difficult to make firm deductions about the imminence of an attack merely from movements of U.S. vessels based in Japan.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001