
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991                   TAG: 9102210363
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ALLIES: CHEMICAL WAR PUTS SADDAM AT RISK

U.S. and allied officials warned Wednesday that any significant Iraqi use of chemical weapons against coalition troops would lead to a major escalation of the war, and could trigger a contingency plan for a march on Baghdad to hunt down Saddam Hussein.

Allied forces are attempting to discourage front-line Iraqi artillery crews from obeying future orders to fire chemical shells, notifying them in leaflets that they will be tracked down individually after the war - much as some guards in Nazi death camps have been brought to justice decades after World War II ended.

Use of chemical weapons, a violation of international law, would cross a "red line that would compel the coalition to change its own objectives," said one Bush administration official.

A senior Arab official confirmed Wednesday that allies have prepared specific plans for retaliation if Iraq wages chemical war.

"We'll use the unimaginable short of nuclear weapons," he said. That includes the option to "march on Baghdad to find Saddam and kill him," he added.

The official warnings came as the likelihood of a ground war mounted in Washington - and with it, optimism that allied ground forces could prevail easily against battered Iraqi troops. But the officials' renewed focus on chemical weapons reflected continuing concern about one of the most potent weapons left in the hands of Iraqi troops.

"We're making it clear to them that that's the red line beyond which all previous bets are off," said a senior Bush administration official involved in the final preparations for war. "It's a red line that would compel the coalition to change its own objectives - adopting, for instance, a march on Bagdadh to find Saddam and eliminate his regime."

Although senior administration officials have said publicly that an Iraqi use of chemical weapons would have "massive and grave consequences," none has suggested before that the use could trigger such a significant expansion of the allies' war goals.

In a ground war, American troops are expected to march deep into Iraq in an effort to envelop Iraqi troop positions. But officials agree such a strategy alone would not require U.S. ground forces to approach Baghdad.

Since the U.S. invasion of Panama, which included a weeks-long search for deposed leader Manuel Noriega, military officials have been wary of conducting such manhunts. But several political officials said Friday that the Bush administration might order such a hunt under special circumstances.

"If he does not use chemical weapons, I think people will squeeze him out of Kuwait and lock him into Iraq," said a senior official of a key Arab country. But if Iraq uses chemical attacks against an allied ground war, the official said the allied forces could hunt down and kill Hussein.

U.S. commanders have said in recent days they expect Iraq to use deadly nerve agents - including rockets filled with cyanide gas - against American soldiers. As a result, the first U.S. troops entering Iraq and Kuwait will be fighting in gas masks and bulky chemical protective suits, cutting down their effectiveness and slowing the pace of battle.

by CNB