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troops and equipment at 16 airfields in the Gulf region.  About 2,000

troops arrive each day, a number that will build to over 4,000 in the

weeks ahead.   At any one time 150 ships are underway, with those making

port delivering ten to twenty thousand tons every day.


       In the Gulf region, we serve over 700,000 meals each day and

provide over 3.5 million gallons of water -- enough to fill water trucks

stretching from Washington, D.C. to Richmond, Virginia.   Some 4.5 million

gallons of fuel are delivered each day -- enough to keep all the vehicles in

Washington operating for 8-10 days.     In short, Operation Desert Shield is

an enormous    enterpflse


The Coalition Effort


       As the President has often stated, this is not the United States versus

Iraq, it is the world against Iraq.  To date, some 31 nations have joined the

coalition and either contributed military forces, economic assistance, or

both.   Promises of support made by additional countries will swell that

number to 47.    Contributions range from ground forces, to naval assets, to

certain specialized equipment, to economic aid for countries in the region

~hardest hit by the crisis.


       Of particular note are the contributions of many small, poorer

nations.  For example, Bangladesh, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Senegal, Sierra

Leone, Somalia, and Zaire have all sent or are in the process of sending

ground forces or medical teams to Saudi Arabia.    All of Eastern Europe's

emerging democracies -- Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and

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