WASHINGTON — The first of about 4,000 U.S. troops arrived in Jordan by sea Tuesday for a two-week training exercise with Jordanian special forces that Pentagon officials say has been in the works for months.


Operation Infinite Moonlight includes the movement of two shiploads of Bradley armored vehicles, tanks, Humvees, attack helicopters and ammunition. Officials say the shipment to the Gulf region is for a future training exercise and part of regular redistribution.

Pentagon officials denied that the moves are part of preparations for a possible U.S. military action to take out Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but concede more resources are now in the region.

Reacting to the latest statements by Saddam's regime, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Iraq really has no intention of letting weapons inspectors back in the country though he made no mention of any potential action.

"It seems to me it's like a broken record," he said.

Iraq's information minister said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television Monday that U.N. weapons inspectors finished their job four years ago and should not come back.

Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahhaf accused the Bush administration of trying to use the inspections issue to justify a battle with Saddam and said Iraq does not have any weapons of mass destruction.

The Pentagon doesn't buy that assertion, and the defense secretary said this is more back and forth from Iraqi leaders.

"They agreed to have inspectors, they threw the inspectors out, the inspectors are still out for a period of years and they're still not allowed back in. What else can one say? They're in violation of the U.N. resolutions," Rumsfeld said.

While intelligence is not clear when it comes to the amount and variety of the weapons of mass destruction Saddam has, officials are positive he is working to get more.

Rumsfeld said he still believes it would be almost impossible to find all those weapons.

"It is a big country, they've had years to do what they want to do. They have done a great deal of underground tunneling. They have things that are mobile. That makes it very difficult for inspectors, under the best of circumstances, to find things," he said.

Rumsfeld said it's unrealistic to believe that even if weapons inspectors are let back in that they will be allowed enough leeway to find any caches.

The defense secretary also praised the efforts of the opposition groups, saying their meeting here this weekend demonstrated that they are united and ready to change the regime.

His optimism comes as the leader of the Kurds said publicly that the United States will be allowed to use Kurdish-controlled bases in Northern Iraq to launch an attack against Saddam. Pentagon officials and other Iraqi opposition leaders confirm the plan is being discussed.

"The INC welcomes U.S. support by any means possible, including military means for the Iraqi people to achieve the liberation of Iraq," said Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress.

Covering the second of the three countries making up President Bush's so-called "axis of evil," Rumsfeld said Iran is allowing Al Qaeda terrorists to cross its borders from neighboring Afghanistan, a specific effort to undermine the war against terrorism.

Rumsfeld brushed off reports that the Iranians had captured and deported some Al Qaeda members to their native countries, and handed over 16 suspected terrorists that the Saudis had been seeking.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami told reporters in Kabul Tuesday -- during the first visit by an Iranian head of state to Afghanistan in 40 years -- that his government has given suspects to other countries as well.

"There is no question that they have permitted Al Qaeda to enter their country. They are permitting Al Qaeda to be present in their country today. And it may very well be that they, for whatever reason, have turned over some people to other countries, but they've not turned any over to us," he said.

Rumsfeld has on several occasions charged that Iran has let Al Qaeda members escape to safety through its territory. And two suspected terrorists captured by naval forces in a U.S.-led ship interdiction last month were coming from Iran, officials said at the time.

Rumsfeld said Khatami's visit to Afghanistan is "probably a useful thing," particularly since Khatami offered a $500 million aid package and is looking for ways to slash opium production and trafficking.

"Obviously they're a big, important neighboring country to Afghanistan, and it's important that Afghanistan have a relationship with all its neighbors so that the government is able to go forward and strengthen itself and function as a government in the country," Rumsfeld said. "That's much easier to do if you have neighbors that are not unfriendly."

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration Wednesday is considering a prominent Iraqi Kurdish opposition leader's statement that U.S. military forces would be "welcomed" in parts of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq to stage attacks against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime.

Jalal Talabani, founder and secretary-general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Tuesday that after weekend meetings with top Bush administration officials, he and other Iraqi opposition leaders are convinced the United States is now serious about ousting Saddam.

"I explained to the United States officials here that the Iraqi opposition, Kurds included ... have tens of thousands of armed people," Talabani said.

"We have more than 100,000 (Kurdish resistance fighters), and Syria also has tens of thousands. These forces can liberate Iraq with the support of the United States, with cooperation and coordination with American forces. This is all second, of course, with allowing the United States and facilitating any work that the United States wants to use our area until we stay there."

The Bush administration also is actively discussing changing the status of Navy Capt. Scott Speicher, the F/A-18 pilot shot down over Iraq more than a decade ago at the start of Operation Desert Storm.

No final decision has been made. But officials Wednesday told CNN there could be a decision in the next several days whether to change Speicher's status from "missing in action," to "missing-captured."

Navy sources told CNN there is no new evidence regarding Speicher's fate, but the implication, according to one military officer, is that the change "will become another reason to bomb Iraq."

Talabani said, "The American army will be very warmly welcomed in Iraqi Kurdistan."

"Believe me, the United States is very popular now in Iraqi Kurdistan," he said.

First time offer made public
A U.S. official said the Iraqi opposition has previously made similar offers in private, but this is the first time they have gone public with an offer to use areas in northern Iraq.

Turkey -- a staunch U.S. ally during the 1991 Persian Gulf War -- has expressed concern that military action could lead to the creation of an independent Kurdish state on its border and encourage Kurdish separatists in Turkey.

Turkey has been fighting a 15-year civil war with Kurdish militants in the southeast of the country.

At Tuesday's Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld was asked if he was aware of the offer and whether it was helpful that it was made publicly. The secretary said he doesn't recall hearing the offer in the meetings, which he described as "constructive."

"If I said, 'my goodness, that's a big help,' it suggests that we plan to go use them. And that is a decision the president has not made," Rumsfeld.

Talabani said he expected Saddam to respond to the Kurdish offer by attacking with chemical or biological weapons. He said Iraqi opposition groups have asked the United States for equipment to protect against those possible attacks.

"They promised to help and to protect us. Even Dick Cheney was clear when we asked him about the protection of the Kurdish people. He said he would do it," Talabani said.

Convoy spotted near suspected weapons facility
Meanwhile, U.S. spy satellites orbiting high over Iraq have observed a convoy of trucks moving into what was said to be a suspected Iraqi biological weapons facility -- raising concerns about what new activity might be taking place there, sources Wednesday told CNN.

Officials emphasize there is no way to know exactly what was in the trucks which were observed entering a plant compound near Baghdad, in the town of Taji.

The site was initially bombed by the U.S. during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but it was later rebuilt and subsequently visited by United Nations weapons inspectors.

The Iraqis have claimed that it is a meat-processing plant.