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U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks, in his first comments on the U.S.-led war with Iraq, said Saturday that allied forces were encountering resistance from Saddam Hussein's troops but had not seen evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

Franks, who runs the war from a command post in Qatar, also told a news briefing he had "no idea" where Saddam was or whether he was alive.

The general declared the assault on Iraq would be one of "shock, surprise, flexibility," using munitions on a "scale never before seen."

He acknowledged resistance, saying U.S. troops and British troops had encountered Iraqi formations "on a number of occasions and a number of places" and that the Iraqis had mounted "a lot of air defenses" around Baghdad.

But he bristled when asked whether the resistance was stiffer than he acknowledged, pointing to what he said were "thousands" of instances of Iraqi surrender since the war started Wednesday.

Franks indicated that coalition forces had not located any weapons of mass destruction.

"One would expect that weapons of mass destruction would perhaps be found in certain parts of the country," he said. "And that is work that lies in front of us rather than work that we have already accomplished."

The general also had no clarification of reports that Saddam was injured or killed in bombardments on the night the war started.

"But interestingly," he said, "the way we're undertaking this military operation" would not change regardless of what happens to Saddam, because its intent was to bring down the Iraqi regime not just topple its president.

He also said, referring to fighting Saturday for Iraq's second-largest city of Basra, that the goal was not to storm and destroy the city but to force Iraqis to surrender and avert a bloody, urban conflict.

"This is about liberation not occupation," the U.S. general said.

By Saturday, U.S. and British troops had taken Basra's airport and a bridge, but Saddam's forces resisted with artillery and heavy machine guns.

The general confirmed U.S. missile attacks on a camp of the al-Qaida-linked militant group Ansar al-Islam, in northern Iraq on Friday night. Kurdish officials in the region said at least 100 people died in the bombardment.

Franks said thousands of Iraqi troops had laid down their weapons and gone home. He also said 700 Iraqis were "lined up in the way they were instructed" in propaganda leaflets dropped by coalition aircraft.

Hundreds of international journalists attended the briefing, the first use of the U.S. military's high-tech $1.5 million briefing center. Ranking officers from Britain, Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands stood behind Franks as he spoke.

Franks opened the briefing by expressing sympathy for the families of allied soldiers killed during the campaign. Asked later about casualties, he said: "These are wonderful young people ... my personal thoughts and prayers go out to their families."

photo credit and caption:

General Tommy Franks, Commander of U.S. Central Command, left, arrives at news conference at the Coalition Media Center, at Camp As Sayliyah, in Doha, Qatar, Saturday, March 22, 2003. Franks spoke about progress in the war on Iraq. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

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