Posted on 04/08/2003 4:41:14 PM PDT by SolidSupplySide
WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- The strike on "senior Iraqi leaders" in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad that targeted Saddam Hussein and one or both of his sons was "extremely effective" but it could be days before the U.S. government knows whether he was killed or injured -- if it ever does.
"It is possible that we may never be able to determine exactly who was present without some detailed forensic work, and that's just -- that's one of the circumstances we have to deal with as we go through this campaign," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, Central Command spokesman, at a news briefing in Qatar Tuesday.
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said it may not even matter if the United States ever knows. The goal in Iraq is regime change, not killing Saddam, she said Tuesday.
"I, for one, don't think it matters that much. I'm not losing sleep trying to figure out whether or not he was in there and what happened. What matters is that the regime, whatever elements of it remain, is losing more and more control over the country," she said.
That does not stop the Pentagon from trying. Monday's attack was at least the second time the Iraqi dictator has been targeted with extremely time-sensitive intelligence. Only 45 minutes elapsed between the first word of his possible whereabouts to the strike by a B-1 bomber. The aircraft crew, circling in the area, had four bombs on target within 12 minutes of getting the orders, the crew said by telephone Tuesday.
U.S. forces targeted a residence in Baghdad on March 19 with cruise missiles on information he was there, which marked a surprise opening volley in the war.
The B-1 bomber dropped four satellite-guided joint direct attack munitions, two of them with delayed fuses that allow the bomb to penetrate the ground before detonating. Two other 2,000-pound JDAMs followed them to their target.
"What we have for battle damage assessment right now is essentially a hole in the ground, a site of destruction where we wanted it to be, where we believed high-value targets were, where intelligence led us to believe that. We do not have hard battle damage assessment on exactly what individual or individuals were on-site," said Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the vice director of operations on the Joint Staff.
Clarke also said the Pentagon remains "optimistic" that "Chemical Ali" -- one of Saddam's cousins and a top lieutenant in the military -- was killed in a strike on Saturday. There is some question as to the identity of bodies recovered from the site.
The B-1 was able to fly unchallenged over Baghdad -- formerly a forbidding air defense zone -- because the United States has achieved "air supremacy" over the entire country, McChrystal said. The B-1 went on to hit 17 more targets on the same flight -- a surface-to-air missile system and an airfield in other parts of Iraq.
Just a few days ago, Pentagon officials acknowledged they could not fly freely over Baghdad or Tikrit.
Supremacy does not mean impunity: a low and slow-flying Air Force A-10 Warthog providing close air support to U.S. ground troops was shot down near Baghdad International Airport. The pilot ejected and was recovered by coalition troops and is in good condition. An F-15E "Strike Eagle" was downed near Tikrit on Sunday and there is no word about the status of the two-man crew, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
Coalition forces have flown more than 30,000 sorties in just three weeks, not counting helicopter missions, and have used more than 20,000 bombs, 70 percent to 80 percent of them precision-guided munitions, McChrystal said.
The U.S. military is training some 700 "free Iraqi" fighters around An Nasiriyah to fight alongside U.S. troops, Pentagon officials confirmed Tuesday.
"We are equipping and training them, so... as they are employed in the liberation of their own country, (it is) done in a way that is safe and effective within the coalition," said McChrystal. The soldiers were inserted into southern Iraq along with Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the exiled opposition Iraqi National Congress, on Sunday.
They are different from the 70-odd "Free Iraqi Forces" trained by the U.S. Army in Hungary, which are now embedded with units in Iraq providing translation and public liaison services.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday fighters and assistants from "six to 10" different opposition groups in Iraq are assisting U.S. and British troops.
Baghdad continues to be the primary focus of operations for U.S. forces. U.S. troops made more raids into the city Monday and Tuesday, proving their ability to operate at will.
"We, in fact, essentially isolated the capital. We have moved in and out of the capital on several occasions, have a significant element in there right now," he said.
"Whenever we can operate through his capital, which is the core of the regime, we subdivide his capability to operate. We minimize or continue to degrade what command and control they have. And as we convince the people that the regime is through, then we think that it becomes that much easier," McChrystal said.
The operations are not without risk. Pentagon officials reported sporadic but fierce fights being mounted against U.S. forces, probably from Baath party members, irregular Fedayeen forces and the Special Republican Guard, which U.S. intelligence estimated to be 15,000 to 20,000 strong in the city prior to the war. Brooks said there is also some regular army equipment in the mix.
"The closer we get, the fewer conventional forces remain to be seen. There are still some. There are still artillery systems, for example, that are positioned in different places inside the town that can be brought to bear," he said.
On Monday, Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force seized the Rasheed Airport, attacking Iraqi forces that attempted to block their way across the Diyala River into the southeast corner of Baghdad. They destroyed T-72 tanks, armored personnel carriers, other armored vehicles, surface-to-surface missiles, artillery pieces, and numerous technical vehicles, according to Brooks.
Seizing the airport cut off a major escape route for members of the Iraqi ruling regime, he said.
Some soldiers with the Army's 5th Corps stayed in Baghdad overnight Monday into Tuesday, Brooks said. Their units encountered a major Iraqi armored force coming south from the north.
"Those forces were attacked. That opened up an opportunity there for us to continue operations on a different line toward the center of Baghdad from a different direction," he said.
U.S. Special Forces called in airstrikes on a small Iraqi forces in Irbil consisting of armored personnel carriers, tanks and infantry in northern Iraq. A similar operation was carried out in Kirkuk. They continue to hold the Hadithah Dam, which blocks Iraqi forces from moving in western Iraq and also prevents the use of ballistic missiles against Israel to the west.
The southern city of Basra was "cleared" of regime forces overnight, Brooks said, but looting has broken out around the city. It was not unexpected and the military forces there do not want to crack down heavily on the citizens, he said.
"I think as time goes on more law and order will be established. Ideally that goes by way of Iraqi populations taking care of themselves. That's how we see this -- not something that's a military control over top of all people," he said. "We might see it anywhere where there is a temporary vacuum that forms and law and order is pulled away."
The plane went down Monday in the vicinity of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's ancestral homeland and an area where the U.S.-led coalition does not have many forces.
The plane went down at approximately 3:30 a.m. local time Monday (7:30 p.m. EDT Sunday), the U.S. Central Command said.
Missing were the plane's pilot and its weapons officer, officials said.
"The cause of the incident is unknown at this time and is being investigated," Central Command said.
The crew members and their plane were from the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, the statement said.
The statement added that coalition forces do not discuss search and rescue operations, and reminded "Iraqi forces and Iraqi citizens they must abide by all Geneva Conventions relating to the treatment of prisoners. Violations of these laws will bring swift and severe consequences."
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