The U.S. Navy Hospital ship "Comfort" is preparing to depart for the Indian ocean. This ship has 12 operating rooms, fifty emergency room beds, a thousand patient beds and a crew of 61 civilians and 225 sailors. The ship is equipped to handle biological and chemical warfare casualties. If an invasion of Iraq results in low American casualties, the Comfort can be used to treat Iraqi civilians. Many Iraqis have fallen ill over the last ten years because the Iraqi government has refused to import needed medical supplies, even when urged to do so by the UN.