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Well-Known Member
By Atul Aneja
MANAMA (Bahrain) MARCH 16. Iraq has put its forces on war alert hours before the United States President, George W. Bush, met the Prime Ministers of Britain and Spain for an emergency summit that could clear the decks for an invasion.
The Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, has divided his country into four military districts to face a possible U.S. and British assault, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported. Mr. Hussein's younger son, Qusay, has been entrusted with the defence of the capital, Baghdad.
Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council ordered the four newly established military districts to "take the necessary steps to repulse and destroy any foreign aggression". President Hussein has assumed sole authority to use aircraft and surface-to-surface missiles against the invaders, the INA added.
The decision is significant as it means that Mr. Hussein has assumed direct control over all possible means of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
While Iraq has denied possession of unconventional weapons, its adversaries point out that Baghdad could use unmanned drones, the French F-1 and the Russian MiG-21 planes as well as the Al Samoud-2 and Al Hussein rockets to deliver chemical weapons.
According to defence analysts, Mr. Hussein, unlike during the Gulf War with the U.S. in 1991, was consolidating his forces around his strongholds of Baghdad and Tikrit rather than stretching them out towards the border areas. Indications are that Iraq's elite Republican Guards are in the process of setting up a three-tier fortification around Baghdad. Some of the key elements of the Republican Guards have reportedly been pulled out of northern and southern Iraq and brought closer to the capital.
British and U.S. commanders have already said that their troops have been preparing for hand-to-hand combat in Iraq's thickly populated urban areas.
They also claimed that Iraq has been deliberately positioning command centres, military personnel and equipment within civilian areas and close to sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and mosques.
If these charges are true, it will put the invading forces on the horns of a dilemma, analysts say. If the Anglo-American forces — fearing civilian casualties — withhold an all-out air assault, they would be unable to create the intense "shock and awe" effect, which they have been banking upon to ensure the Iraqi army's quick surrender. On the other hand, if they go ahead with the bombing regardless of the enormous civilian casualties that it would cause, it is likely to undermine their stated objective of being seen by the Iraqi people as "liberators" and not "oppressors" at the end of the war.
Destruction of missiles continues
Meanwhile, Iraq is continuing with the destruction of its Al Samoud 2 missiles under the supervision of the U.N. weapons inspectors.
"Two missile teams went today and destruction of Al-Samoud missiles continues," a spokesman for the U.N. Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission in Baghdad said. Iraq, on Saturday, also invited the Chief U.N. weapons inspector and his deputy, Mohammad ElBaradei, to visit Baghdad for further discussions on Iraqi disarmament. At the U.N. headquarters in New York, Mr. Blix said he would study the invitation and discuss it with the Security Council.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/stories/2003031704560100.htm
MANAMA (Bahrain) MARCH 16. Iraq has put its forces on war alert hours before the United States President, George W. Bush, met the Prime Ministers of Britain and Spain for an emergency summit that could clear the decks for an invasion.
The Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, has divided his country into four military districts to face a possible U.S. and British assault, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported. Mr. Hussein's younger son, Qusay, has been entrusted with the defence of the capital, Baghdad.
Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council ordered the four newly established military districts to "take the necessary steps to repulse and destroy any foreign aggression". President Hussein has assumed sole authority to use aircraft and surface-to-surface missiles against the invaders, the INA added.
The decision is significant as it means that Mr. Hussein has assumed direct control over all possible means of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
While Iraq has denied possession of unconventional weapons, its adversaries point out that Baghdad could use unmanned drones, the French F-1 and the Russian MiG-21 planes as well as the Al Samoud-2 and Al Hussein rockets to deliver chemical weapons.
According to defence analysts, Mr. Hussein, unlike during the Gulf War with the U.S. in 1991, was consolidating his forces around his strongholds of Baghdad and Tikrit rather than stretching them out towards the border areas. Indications are that Iraq's elite Republican Guards are in the process of setting up a three-tier fortification around Baghdad. Some of the key elements of the Republican Guards have reportedly been pulled out of northern and southern Iraq and brought closer to the capital.
British and U.S. commanders have already said that their troops have been preparing for hand-to-hand combat in Iraq's thickly populated urban areas.
They also claimed that Iraq has been deliberately positioning command centres, military personnel and equipment within civilian areas and close to sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and mosques.
If these charges are true, it will put the invading forces on the horns of a dilemma, analysts say. If the Anglo-American forces — fearing civilian casualties — withhold an all-out air assault, they would be unable to create the intense "shock and awe" effect, which they have been banking upon to ensure the Iraqi army's quick surrender. On the other hand, if they go ahead with the bombing regardless of the enormous civilian casualties that it would cause, it is likely to undermine their stated objective of being seen by the Iraqi people as "liberators" and not "oppressors" at the end of the war.
Destruction of missiles continues
Meanwhile, Iraq is continuing with the destruction of its Al Samoud 2 missiles under the supervision of the U.N. weapons inspectors.
"Two missile teams went today and destruction of Al-Samoud missiles continues," a spokesman for the U.N. Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission in Baghdad said. Iraq, on Saturday, also invited the Chief U.N. weapons inspector and his deputy, Mohammad ElBaradei, to visit Baghdad for further discussions on Iraqi disarmament. At the U.N. headquarters in New York, Mr. Blix said he would study the invitation and discuss it with the Security Council.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/stories/2003031704560100.htm