Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991 TAG: 9103040253
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Long
Iran's official news agency reported fierce fighting today in the southeastern Iraqi city of Basra. It said units of Saddam's Republican Guard were fighting people including defeated soldiers returning from Kuwait.
The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted refugees fleeing Iraq as saying the governor of Basra province, Basra's mayor and Saddam's eldest son, Udai, had been slain in the unrest.
There are no Western reporters in Basra and the reports on the turmoil could not be verified independently.
Iran's official radio on Sunday had reported violent anti-government demonstrations in at least four cities, suggesting Iraqi anger with Saddam for leading the country to defeat was beginning to boil over.
Tehran radio said Sunday that refugees fleeing Iraq for Iran reported "severe clashes" in the eastern Iraqi cities of Basra, Al-Amarah, Nassiriyah and Kut.
The Bush administration repeatedly has urged Iraqis to overthrow Saddam, but U.S. officials say they don't know whether civil unrest in Iraq has become widespread.
Baghdad Radio made no mention of any unrest in Basra. Iraq's official media instead depicted Saddam as a strong leader who is working to rebuild his war-wrecked country.
The Iraqi president - who had not been heard from in five days - resurfaced Sunday, when Baghdad Radio reported he had held two meetings with officials on restoring basic services.
Despite the prisoner release, Iraq took a belligerent line today on another topic - allied surveillance flights. A military spokesman said on Baghdad Radio that the overflights were meant to "terrorize" Iraqis and violated the truce.
There was no immediate response from the allies to that charge, but there was a positive response to the POW release. The U.S. Central Command issued a statement saying coalition forces would reciprocate by releasing about 300 Iraqi prisoners on Tuesday.
The allies claim to be holding more than 60,000 Iraqi POWs.
Iraq was known to have held 13 allied prisoners of war, including nine Americans, two Britons, an Italian and a Kuwaiti. In addition, 66 allied soldiers were listed as missing in action: 45 Americans, 10 Britons, 10 Saudis and one Italian.
In addition to the six Americans released today, there were three Britons and an Italian.
The freed POWs left for Jordan, where they were to be handed over to their respective embassies, AP correspondent Salah Nasrawi reported from the Iraqi capital.
The Americans included Army Spc. Melissa Rathbun-Nealy, of Grand Rapids, Mich., the only woman soldier reported missing in the Persian Gulf War.
She and Spc. David Lockett of Fort Bliss, Texas, had been listed as missing in action after vanishing on a transport mission near the Saudi-Iraqi border on Jan. 30. Lockett was also among those released today.
Rathbun-Nealy, 20, laughed as photographers snapped pictures of her.
Among the other freed POWs was Lt. Jeffrey Zaun of Cherry Hill, N.J., a Navy navigator-bombardier whose A-6 Intruder went down on Jan. 17, the first day of the war.
The other Americans were Navy Lt. Robert Wetzel of Virginia Beach, Va., Air Force Maj. Thomas Griffith of Goldsboro, N.C., and Navy Lt. Lawrence Randolph Slade, also of Virginia Beach. Wetzel had been listed as missing, while Griffith and Slade were listed as POWs.
The Red Cross in Geneva confirmed the release of the 10 allied POWs today.
The Britons were identified as Malcolm Graham MacGown, Lt. John Peters and Ian Robert Pring, and the Italian as Capt. Maurizio Cocciolone. Peters and Cocciolone were shown on Iraqi television.
The freed captives, clad in yellow jumpsuits bearing the letters "PW," appeared to be in good condition, although one male prisoner's arm was in a sling and some appeared thin and tired.
Angelo Gnaedinger, Red Cross delegate-general for the Middle East and North Africa, said all were given a checkup and found to be in good health.
Zaun had been shown on Iraqi television shortly after his capture, looking badly battered. In that appearance, Zaun and other captive airmen recited wooden-sounding statements that were critical of the war and U.S. policy.
Zaun appeared healthy today, with no outward signs of injury. "He looked good," said his mother, Marjorie Zaun, who saw him on television.
U.S. officials said the statements were almost certainly coerced, and accused Iraq of violating the Geneva Convention's provisions for humane treatment of POWs. The Baghdad government had also threatened to scatter POWs in buildings that were military targets.
The freeing of prisoners was among terms agreed to by Iraqi commanders in truce talks at an air base in southeastern Iraq on Sunday, three days after an informal cease-fire took hold.
Under the terms, U.S. forces would leave Iraqi territory once a permanent cease-fire is signed and Iraq has complied with all U.N. resolutions, including accepting liability for war damages and renouncing all claims to Kuwait.
Later Sunday, Baghdad Radio announced that Iraq had accepted United Nations peace conditions. In return, the Security Council authorized mercy flights into Baghdad of food, medicine and water purification equipment.
Despite the halt in hostilities, the conflict continued to claim American lives. A woman pilot and three other U.S. soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in northern Saudi Arabia on Saturday, U.S. military officials said. Army Maj. Marie Rossi, 32, of Oradell, N.J., was the first woman pilot reported killed in the gulf.
As the terms for the truce were relayed to the Iraqis, leaders looked to prospects for long-term peace in the region. President Francois Mitterrand of France on Sunday proposed an unprecedented meeting of the leaders of U.N. Security Council member nations to discuss Middle East issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
At the truce talks in Safwan, Iraq, victorious and vanquished generals faced one another across a simple wooden table in a dark-green tent pitched beside a crushed-stone runway.
Afterward, Desert Storm commander Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf told reporters: "I am very happy to tell you we agreed on all matters."
The Iraqis had little choice but to accept the terms put to them. But the allies, who annihilated the Iraqi army with their six-week air war and the 100-hour ground offensive, took pains to avoid sharpening the sting of defeat.
Before the talks, Schwarzkopf barred photos of the Iraqi delegation being subjected to a metal-detector search, saying: "I don't want them humiliated." Still, the airfield was bristling with allied weaponry.
Tanks and armored vehicles ringed the site, with Hellfire-missile-loaded Apache attack helicopters overhead.
Schwarzkopf said the Iraqis agreed to allied demands including help in locating land mines in Kuwait and sea mines in the Persian Gulf. Operations to remove the mines will begin immediately, he said.
The Iraqis also agreed to supply details on any individuals who died in their custody and to return any remains. Schwarzkopf did not indicate whether the Iraqis acknowledged any deaths or remains in their custody.
In addition, the Iraqi officers agreed to an arrangement that will separate the forces in southern Iraq to avoid further skirmishes, which have continued since the cease-fire was announced.
by CNB