Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991 TAG: 9103100096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
The military planning followed the receipt of U.S. and allied intelligence reports saying Iraq's high command had issued orders to its military commanders in two Shiite holy cities, Najaf and Karbala, to use chemical weapons to put down uprisings, administration and allied officials said.
One official familiar with administration planning said Saturday, "If he uses gas, we are right there in the country and I don't think morally we could let him do it and not do anything about it."
Senior Iraqi diplomats in Washington and New York were summoned Thursday by State Department officials and warned that the United States would not tolerate chemical attacks on rebellious Iraqi citizens.
One warning was delivered by Thomas Pickering, the American representative at the United Nations, to Abdul Amir Anbari, the Iraqi delegate.
The Iraqis deny any intention of using chemical weapons, but U.S. officials noted Saddam has named a new interior minister, Ali Hassan Majid, who is accused by human rights groups of overseeing chemical gas attacks on Kurds in March 1988.
The intelligence reports were based on intercepted communications between the Iraqi high command and field commanders, officials said. But no subsequent intelligence monitoring has indicated such weapons have been used so far, despite claims from Iraqi opposition groups that their forces have suffered mustard gas attacks.
One senior administration official said the intercepted Iraqi communication was very precise in its reference to chemical agents and, therefore, immediately set off alarms in Washington.
"We got an intercept on Thursday indicating that they were going to drop a gas bomb on a specific place at a specific time," the official said. Referring to the diplomatic warning that followed, he added, "We told them in very explicit terms that this was something that would not be countenanced."
An official from an allied government said the intercepted communication was an instruction from Baghdad to field commanders who were being urged to "use the liquids" because "time is not on our side."
U.S. officials expressed hope their warning, backed by American and allied forces occupying 20 percent of Iraqi territory and ruling the Iraqi skies, will deter Baghdad from using chemical arms.
Administration officials did not state publicly what actions American forces might take if a chemical attack were detected, and no final decision had been made on the military options.
But they said the main recommendation from Friday meetings of the National Security Council was for resuming air strikes rather than renewed ground attacks from U.S. forces.
"The ground option is definitely precluded," one official said. "That leads into the destruction of Iraq, and we've said that won't happen. It would mean a longer ground war with the risk of backlash and casualties. An air strike was the most likely option."
Another administration official said there had been no meeting so far between President Bush and his senior aides to review the options.
The insurrection was reported continuing Saturday in a number of cities. The Baghdad government pressed a campaign to put down the revolts using Republican Guard units flying helicopter assaults and directing tank and artillery fire against the rebels.
U.S. officials said the uprising was most intense in southeastern Iraq, where fighting was reported in as many as 20 cities and towns, and was particularly violent in Najaf and Karbala.
One Shiite Muslim opposition leader, Ayatollah Taqi Mudaressi, sent an urgent appeal from his exile headquarters in Damascus, Syria, to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar seeking a meeting of the Security Council to discuss means to stop "the wholesale killing of the people."
Secretary of State James Baker, traveling in Saudi Arabia, was the first high-level administration official to speak publicly about the warning to Baghdad against using chemical weapons to put down the insurrection.
"We had reason to believe they might be planning such activity," Baker told reporters. "We think it is important to warn them."
One U.S. official said there were also indications the Iranian government, which supports Shiite-based opposition in Iraq, had also learned of Iraqi plans to use chemical weapons. He said that might explain the call for Saddam's resignation issued Friday by Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Tehran Radio reported Saturday that refugees fleeing the southern Iraqi city of Basra said the rebellion had intensified. Southern Iraq is the stronghold of Shiite Muslims, who are about a 55 percent majority of Iraq's population.
Kurdish opposition forces claimed the provincial capital of Sulaimaniya had fallen into their hands Friday with the defection and surrender of 5,000 Iraqi army troops.
"The town was taken after government, Baath Party and security offices were overrun in fierce street fighting with Iraqi security forces," a statement from the Iraqi Kurdistan Front issued in Washington said.
by CNB