Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 4, 1991 TAG: 9102040374
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Long
The diplomatic move came as U.S. and Iraqi forces traded fire across the desert frontier. Allied warplanes pounded Baghdad before dawn and witnesses said communication centers, government offices and industrial installations were hit - some of them for the second and third times since the war began nearly three weeks ago.
U.S. officials disclosed today that the battleship USS Missouri had used its 16-inch guns in action for the first time since the Korean War, targeting prefabricated concrete bunkers that the Iraqis were moving into place in Kuwait.
Meanwhile, the newspaper of Iraq's ruling party boasted that the Baghdad government would drag the allies into a drawn-out ground war by staging more attacks like last week's Iraqi push into the Saudi town of Khafji.
"Combat on the Saudi periphery should be based on the hit-and-run tactic formulated by our ancestors," the newspaper Al-Thawra said today.
For the moment, Iraqi forces appeared to be in a defensive posture. The U.S. military said Iraqi troops were deeply dug in, seeking shelter from punishing allied air attacks. Those attacks continued today, with F-15s and Tornadoes roaring north into hazy skies from a Saudi air base.
The allied air strikes have been so effective that senior Iraqi officers are moving their headquarters into schools because "they know we're not going to attack civilian targets," the commander of Operation Desert Storm said. Asked whether that inhibited the air campaign, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf said today, "in all probability, yes." But he said he was not concerned.
The general also said he hopes Iraq's claim of 321 civilian casualties from allied bombing was correct.
"I'd hope that reflects exactly what I've been saying all along," Schwarzkopf said. "I would also say that if the number's only 321 I'm quite encouraged by that, because if they follow the same policies with regard to that as they've followed on everything else, you can divide by 10."
French warplanes hit positions of the crack Republican Guard in southern Iraq and Kuwait today, and the official Saudi Press Agency reported that the new French defense minister, Pierre Joxe, arrived to inspect French troops in the region.
British Royal Air Force bombers carried out daylight raids today against bridges in Iraq and a large barracks and a Silkworm missile site in Kuwait, Group Capt. David Henderson said. He said at least two bridges were knocked out.
In the Saudi port city of Jiddah, 9mm pistol or rifle shots were fired at a shuttle bus Sunday night, slightly injuring two U.S. military personnel with flying glass, military officials said today. No one was apprehended.
The military described it as the first such attack on American military personnel in Saudi Arabia.
The new diplomatic effort by Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani was reported by Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency. It said he told a news conference in Tehran he is willing to talk with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein - and with Washington, provided Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, approves.
The Iranians have been hostile to the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution. They also fought a 1980-1988 war with Iraq and have condemned its seizure of Kuwait six months ago.
Rafsanjani said the Swiss have been acting as intermediaries with Washington on other issues and said "the same channel can be used" to start peace talks.
White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater reacted cautiously to the reported initiative, saying Iran had not indicated it was ready to resume direct contacts with the United States.
Iran "is not directly involved in this conflict and our interest is in getting Iraq out of Kuwait," Fitzwater said in Washington.
The Iranian peace bid came one day after Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said only an Iraqi pullout from Kuwait could end the fighting now. "We are not interested in a promise or a pledge or a commitment to withdraw from Kuwait," he said Sunday on ABC.
Iran says it is neutral in the war. But the allies were puzzled when Iraqi aircraft began seeking refuge in Iran - 89 by allied count.
Iran has said the planes will be impounded until the war's end; the United States has said it will take the Tehran government at its word. U.S. commanders have said the Iraqi planes will be shot down if they try to leave Iran.
In today's clashes along the battle front in northern Saudi Arabia, U.S. Marines lobbed artillery shells at Iraqi targets in Kuwait and used air power to blast an Iraqi rocket battery after it opened fire on allied positions, Marine officials said. No U.S. casualties were reported.
The Marines said neither side's ground forces breached the border in today's skirmishes. Six days ago, Iraq set off the first major ground fighting of the war with a push into Saudi Arabia.
In the larger of today's engagements, a battalion-sized Marine task force hurled 155mm artillery fire at Iraqi ground radar and infantry positions near the Umm Gudair oil field in southwestern Kuwait. There was no immediate word on damage to the Iraqi installations.
Earlier today, Marine light armored vehicles exchanged cannon and small arms fire with Iraqi troops in Kuwait, Marine officials said. No casualties were reported.
The Iraqi rocket site, whose location was not disclosed, was destroyed with bombs dropped by two F/A-18 fighter-bombers, the officers said.
The allied air strikes on Baghdad began after midnight and continued for five hours, sending residents fleeing to shelters, AP correspondent Salah Nasrawi reported from the Iraqi capital. Anti-aircraft guns opened fire, and explosions could be heard. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.
There is still no electricity in Baghdad and only intermittent water supplies. The city has been divided into five sectors, which receive water on a rotating basis. There is also a severe shortage of food, kerosene and gas, Nasrawi reported.
An Iraqi military spokesman said five allied warplanes were shot down overnight. There was no immediate word from U.S. officials, but Iraq has claimed about 10 times as many downings of coalition aircraft as the allies have disclosed.
"The Iraqi people and their armed forces under the flag of God is great are insisting on victory by force in this noble battle," Baghdad radio said.
The allies have reported the loss of 27 planes, including an Air Force B-52 that crashed Saturday in the Indian Ocean after a bombing mission. Three of the plane's six crewmen were rescued, and Pentagon sources said today the body of a fourth had been found. Two other crewmen were listed as missing. Two Marine helicopters also crashed during the weekend, killing a total of six U.S. servicemen. All three crashes were listed as non-combat losses.
The U.S. military said investigators have determined seven Marines were killed by a Maverick missile fired by an American warplane during tank fighting along the Kuwaiti border last week. In that same fighting, four other Marines were killed by Iraqi fire, military officials said.
The Pentagon reported today that Marine Lance Cpl. Eliseo Felix, 19, of Avondale, Ariz., was killed in action - another victim of so-called "friendly fire." He died when a U.S. cluster bomb exploded.
Meanwhile, weather was proving an ally in the fight to keep a huge oil slick away from a desalination plant at Jubail. The spill estimated at 460 million gallons was about 17 miles from the plant, which supplies much of region's drinking water. Winds and tides were keeping it at bay.
"Mother Nature has been kind to us - it's bought us some time," said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Paul Milligan, one of the American experts advising Saudi officials on the cleanup.
The U.S. command said Sunday the air campaign had passed the 40,000-sortie mark - about 10,000 more missions than were flown against Japan in the final 14 months of World War II. The air strikes are meant to soften up Iraqi defenses in advance of a ground offensive, not expected until well into February.
by CNB