American and British troops continue to move to Kuwait and other Persian Gulf bases. There are some 100,000 troops in Kuwait and another 100,000 elsewhere in the Persian Gulf. The Turks have still not approved the movement of American troops to the Iraq border in eastern Turkey. In the next few days, the Turks will decide and if the Turks do not allow the use of their ports and airbases, the only American military presence in northern Iraq will be Special Forces and airborne troops brought in by air. These will try and control the Kurds (and prevent them from seizing oil fields in northern Iraq) and keep the Turks out of northern Iraq.

British and US warplanes bombed Iraqi missiles that had moved into the northern no-fly zone. Iraq is keeping most of it's anti-aircraft weapons and support equipment in residential areas, making it more difficult to bomb them without risking civilian casualties. However, there have been numerous bombings of the fiber optic communications system, usually the repeater stations required to keep the signals going over long distances. Leaflets have also been dropped warning repair crews that they risk attack if they try to repair the damage. 

The troops will all be in position and ready to fight by the middle of March. At that point, the units could sit there and train for six months or more without losing their edge. 

If the Turks do allow two divisions of American troops to enter Iraq from Turkey, this would allow a six division "Shock and Awe" (the latest synonym for "blitzkrieg") offensive against Iraq. This attack is expected to cause the collapse of Saddam's government within a week.