Gulf War Tensions Peak Overnight
by DEBKAfile
27 February 2003
Headlines
Gulf War tensions peak again Wednesday night. Iran closes borders with Iraq, deploys army on borders in state of preparedness.
Moscow sends charter planes to fly dependents of Russian diplomats and experts out of Baghdad. Turkey evacuates diplomatic staff from Iraqi capital, stops passage of commercial traffic in and out of Iraq, takes delivery of NATO defense equipment.
British parliament overwhelmingly backs Blairs policy of military action against Iraq Wednesday, but 120 of his own 410 Labor MPs voted for amendment criticizing war action in major revoltAnkara parliament votes Thursday on Turkish cabinet proposal of bases for 62,000 US northern front troops for Iraq, together with Turkish troop deployment abroad.