March 20 —
American missiles fell on Baghdad for the second straight night
Thursday and ground troops attacked Iraqi forces in the desert with
artillery in a slow escalation of the war to drive Saddam Hussein
from power. Iraqi missiles fell harmlessly in Kuwait.
Half a world away from the war theater, U.S. intelligence
officials sought to determine whether the Iraqi leader had been
killed hours earlier in a pre-dawn attack by cruise missiles and
precision-guided bombs.
State-run television denied it, and said the Iraqi dictator had
met with aides during the day.
Either way, said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, "The days
of the Saddam Hussein regime are numbered."
He called on Iraqi leaders to surrender and said the alternative
was an attack "of a force and scope and scale that has been beyond
what has been seen before."
With more than 250,000 troops, 1,000 combat aircraft and a naval
armada in the Persian Gulf region, administration officials said the
full-scale invasion was just over the horizon.
In the capital, red and white anti-aircraft tracers lit the night
sky and a huge plume of smoke rose into the night from the west bank
of the Tigris River in central Baghdad.
A senior defense official with direct knowledge of the operation
said the attack included sea-launched cruise missiles fired at
Republican Guard strongholds in Baghdad.
But two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
night strikes were not the beginning of the massive air assault that
Pentagon plans to unleash.
In southern Iraq, white light glowed in the desert sky, and the
sound of explosions could be heard from across the Kuwait-Iraq
frontier as the 3rd Infantry division unleashed its artillery
barrage. Troops eager to cross the border into Iraq cheered.
Iraq sent its missiles toward Kuwait in retaliation for the
pre-dawn attack against Saddam.
Inside Iraq, flames shot skyward from the area of the southern
oil center of Basra, and American military officials told reporters
that three or four oil wells had been set ablaze.
Iraq lit fires at Kuwait's oil fields as it withdrew its forces
in the 1991 Persian Gulf war, and Pentagon officials have expressed
fears that the this time, the regime could order the destruction of
its own wells.
In the Kuwaiti desert, officials said none of the Iraqi missiles
caused injuries, and one was intercepted by a Patriot missile.
Thousands of American and British troops donned protective gear, but
there was no evidence the missiles carried chemical or biological
weapons.
The onset of war sparked large anti-war demonstrations at U.S.
embassies around the world, and the State Department warned U.S.
citizens abroad of an increased danger of terrorism.
In Washington, protesters briefly blocked one of the Potomac
River bridges carrying traffic into the capital. Outside the White
House, demonstrators shouted "no blood for oil."
But inside the executive mansion, President Bush met with his
advisers, and from the commander in chief down through the chain of
command, officials made clear they were operating on their own
timetable.
Bush was in the Oval Office before 7 a.m. EST, and summoned his
Cabinet to a mid-afternoon meeting to discuss the war.
The president approved the cruise missile attack on Wednesday
night after receiving intelligence information that Saddam and his
two sons were sleeping at a specified location, according to
officials.
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said one
person was killed and doctors said 14 were injured in the
attack.
Hours later, Shabab television, owned by Saddam's son Odai,
reported that the Iraqi leader met with his top aides to "review
military and other measures to resist the aggression."
But American intelligence officials scrutinized videotape of a
televised speech broadcast after the attack to see whether the man
shown was Saddam, or perhaps a double.
Asked whether officials believe the puffy-faced man on the tape
was the Iraqi leader, Rumsfeld said, "There's debate about
that."
Other officials, who spoke to The Associated Press only on
condition of anonymity, said there was growing optimism the strike
had left the Iraqi leadership in disarray.
Early intelligence reports suggested Iraq's leadership was not
organizing any coordinated response to the U.S attack, suggesting
the Iraqi regime might be in chaos or cut off from the military,
these officials said.
In addition to the strikes that were visible in Baghdad on
Wednesday night, the commander of one of five U.S. aircraft carriers
in the region said warplanes under his command flew 54 overnight
sorties.
Rear Adm. Barry Costello, commander of the USS Constellation,
also said some were aimed at "military installations and
communications facilities" in Iraq.
The strikes were part of a "transition period" in which U.S.
planes "continue to prep the battlefield, to clear a path for
further air strikes and ground operations," Costello said.
photo credit
and caption:
The first Tomahawk missile to be
fired into Iraq is launched from USS Bunker Hill (CG 52)
Thursday, March 20, 2003. The Bunker Hill is currently forward
deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of ongoing operations
against Iraq. (AP Photo/Photographer's Mate 2nd Class (AW)
Richard Moore, HO)
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