Commander Reports Gains in War, But Fighting Far From Over
U.S. Commander Says No Iraqi Chemical or Biological Weapons Have Been Discovered
By Thomas W. Lippman and Alan Sipress
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 22, 2003; 7:00 PM
URL:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10012-2003Mar22.html
Thousands of Iraqi troops "have laid down their weapons and gone home" rather than fight and hundreds are waiting to surrender, the overall commander of the war in Iraq said this morning.
But the fighting is still far from over in Iraq. There were reports of battles around Basra, continued aerial bombardments around the country and this evening assailants slipped into an encampment of the 101st Airborne Division in Kuwait and threw handgrenades into a tent, injuring about 10 soldiers, according to initial reports from the scene. Military officials told the Associated Press that six of the soldiers were injured seriously.
At his news conference in Doha, Qatar, today, Gen. Tommy Franks said U.S. and British forces have taken between 1,000 and 2,000 prisoners of war since the campaign began Wednesday. "We have certain knowledge" that thousands more have abandoned their units, he said.
At the first briefing by the U.S. Central Command since the war started, Brig. Gen. Vince Brooks displayed a photograph that he and Franks said showed about 700 Iraqi troops who have put down their weapons and are "awaiting our arrival." They are in a formation described in the barrage of "how to surrender" leaflets dropped over Iraq, Franks said.
Officials at the Pentagon today confirmed that some officers of Iraq's 51st Infantry Division had surrendered but said earlier news reports that the entire unit had surrendered were wrong. Persuading Iraqi soldiers not to fight is a key component of U.S. psychological warfare strategy. Reports from the still-volatile southeastern part of the country, however, indicated that the strategy may be contributing to the insecurity because former soldiers, now out of uniform, are mingling with the civilian population, presenting a potential security risk to U.S. and British troops.
Franks said U.S. forces have yet to discover any chemical or biological weapons in Iraq but assured reporters that these secret caches would be uncovered as the war progresses.
"That is work that lies in front of us rather than work that we have already accomplished," he said. He added that the United States continues to receive information, some solid and other speculative, about Iraqi stores of these banned weapons.
"There is no doubt that the regime of [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction and as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found along with the people who produce them, guard them and of course there is no doubt about that. It will come," he said.
U.S. allegations about Iraq's possession of chemical and biological weapons have served as the justification for the invasion of Iraq, and the discovery of banned arms could significantly bolster international support for the war.
Franks said he did not know Hussein's current whereabouts or whether he was injured or killed during air strikes on Baghdad.
Iraqi state television reported that Hussein presided at a meeting of his senior aides today and "expressed his satisfaction" at the performance so far of Iraq's armed forces. No pictures of the reported meeting were shown.
Franks described what has now become a multi-front war, which he said "will be unlike any other in history." In his depiction, the U.S.-British campaign is proceeding smoothly according to a well-developed plan that integrates air strikes, naval operations and special forces operations in many parts of Iraq.
U.S. and allied operations are under way or in preparation through "the length and breadth of Iraq," Franks said. "The outcome is not in doubt."
President Bush, in his weekly radio address to the nation, warned that "a campaign on harsh terrain in a vast country could be longer and more difficult than some have predicted. And helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country will require our sustained commitment. Yet, whatever is required of us, we will carry out all the duties we have accepted"
As the war unfolded today, it appeared somewhat more like a kaleidoscope with its pieces in motion than the neat mosaic of Frank's confident presentation. Several different types of combat were unfolding in different parts of the country, some visible to everyone on television, others entirely inaccessible to news media.
These include U.S. air strikes against Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town and family stronghold, about 80 miles north of Baghdad. No details have been released about that operation and no journalists are reporting from there.
For the first time, U.S. forces bombarded Baghdad in daylight, continuing the aerial onslaught that devastated government buildings last night. Explosions shook the city, but the scope of the attacks was difficult to gauge because the Iraqis apparently set fire to trenches filled with oil, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky. The scene "looks apocalyptic," Washington Post correspondent Anthony Shadid reported by telephone from the Iraqi capital, but the smoke did not represent damage from bombs or missiles.
Iraq apparently ignited the oil fires in an attempt to reduce visibility and frustrate U.S. airstrikes, but such tactics are ineffective against the Tomahawk cruise missiles that U.S. forces have been launching.
Another round of explosions erupted a few hours later as night fell over Baghdad. The targets appeared to be some distance from the downtown buildings hit last night and could not be identified.
In Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, a barrage of 40 to 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles slammed into remote mountainside positions held by a band of Islamic extremists, killing and injuring about 100 of them, according to Kurdish commanders working with U.S. Special Forces who guided the attack.
The target was a militant group known as Ansar al Islam, which U.S. officials say is allied with al Qaeda, the terror network of Osama bin Laden. "Ansar took a very big hit," said a Kurdish military intelligence official. Franks confirmed the strike, but he did not say what he believed it accomplished.
In apparent retaliation for the missile attack, a car bomb exploded in Halabja today, killing an Australian journalist and another person. Kurdish officials said the militant group was responsible.
In south central Iraq, elements of the U.S. 3d infantry division driving across the desert toward Baghdad captured the crossroads town of Nasiriyah, where their lightning advance had halted the day before. A bridge across the Euphrates River there is a vital crossing point for the division's tanks and armored vehicles heading for Baghdad, 200 miles to the northwest.
On waterways near the Persian Gulf, allied naval forces interdicted Iraqi attempts to plant mines, Brooks said, keeping the waters and port of Umm Qasr clear for relief supplies soon to arrive for Iraqi civilians. He said millions of meals and stocks of medical supplies have been stockpiled for the humanitarian effort.
Brooks said that "ground maneuver forces" who seized the giant Rumaila oil fields west of Basra yesterday encountered nine oil wells, among more than 500 in the area, that had been set ablaze. "The oil fields were spared destruction by the regime," he said.
Over the Persian Gulf, two Sea King helicopters of Britain's Royal Navy collided in flight, with the loss of seven crew members, including one American. In these early days of the war, helicopter accidents have been by far the largest cause of U.S. and British casualties.
Around the city of Basra on the Shatt al Arab waterway, U.S.-led forces halted and attempted to negotiate the surrender of Iraqi troops, according to Group Capt. Al Lockwood, a spokesman for British forces. Franks in his briefing indicated that there may not be any attempt by allied troops to overrun Basra. "Our intent is not to move through and create a military confrontation in that city," he said. "Our desire will be to work with the civilian population," in keeping with the U.S. position that this is a campaign of liberation, not occupation.
Washington Post correspondent Keith Richburg, however, reported intense fighting in Basra in the late afternoon Iraq time, with U.S. helicopter gunships pounding targets inside the city. It appeared from other reports that U.S. and British forces were securing positions around the city's perimeter but hoping to avoid a direct assault that could involve them in house-to-house combat.
In much of southeastern Iraq, between Basra and the Gulf, sporadic clashes and outbursts of gunfire indicated that U.S. and British control over the area was not quite so secure as it appeared yesterday. In one incident, three British television journalists were missing after coming under fire on the road to Basra.
In the tight geography of southeastern Iraq, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran are within a few miles of each other. Today Iran complained that U.S. and British aircraft have repeatedly violated its airspace. Iran's official news agency also said three missiles fired by U.S. jets landed on Iranian territory.
At the other end of the country, there was some confusion about whether Turkey had sent troops into northern Iraq, which Washington has asked the Turks not to do in deference to the wishes of the region's Kurdish population. The Turkish General Staff denied reports -- which originated in Turkey -- that 1,000 commandos had been sent over the border.
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