More than 3,000 U.S. Marines and sailors rehearsed helicopter and ship-to-shore landings off East Timor Sunday amid expectations of a revenge strike over the terror attacks on New York and Washington. The task force from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Amphibious Squadron One had been due to disembark troops for humanitarian work in Dili, the capital of, and Suai and Oecussi enclave in Indonesian West Timor. Instead, three amphibious ships, led by the 40,000-ton U.S.S. Peleliu, stayed off the north coast of the capital, practicing naval and air maneuvers with Harrier jets, helicopters and landing craft. Before two passenger jets slammed into the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center, and a third into the Pentagon in Washington, the war ships were on a routine, six-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf. U.S. Army spokesperson, Major Paul van Breemen, told Reuters in Dili, the task force is due to sail for the Oecussi enclave today to deliver humanitarian supplies before heading to Singapore. He said, “After that, I am not really sure they will go, but they are part of a much bigger force.”