Thursday, March 20,
2003
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon
assessed the damage Thursday from its initial strikes against
targets in Iraq, as President Bush conferred with his national
security adviser on a conflict that he said "could be longer
and more difficult than some expect."
Bush
said the hostilities that began Wednesday night with a narrow
focus on "selected targets of military importance" will become
a "broad and concerted campaign."
A helicopter carrying U.S. special forces
crashed inside southern Iraq hours before the missile strikes
Wednesday night, a senior defense official said. There were no
casualties and the troops on board were all taken out safely,
said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The
official said the military was taking steps to destroy the
helicopter rather than let it fall into Iraqi hands.
The incident makes clear the Pentagon was
using a well-worn war tactic of dropping special commando
forces behind enemy lines in advance of the opening of the
rest of the campaign.
Officials declined to say exactly where the
crash occured. But a widely-discussed part of the war plan has
been to send special forces into the country to secure oil
wells, suspected chemical weapons sites and other strategic
locations — as well as search out Iraqi leadership.
The defense official also said a small
plane headed from Iraq toward a Marine expeditionary force
position in Kuwait crashed short of its mark. The Marines
donned gas masks because of fears that the plane could have
been carrying chemical weapons, the official said. No agents
were detected.
After a brief night of sleep, the president
talked to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice at 6 a.m.
EST Thursday to learn of overnight events, said a senior
administration official. Bush began work in the Oval Office at
6:50 a.m.
The White House made no immediate response
to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who appeared on state-run
television Thursday after the U.S. air strike to accuse the
United States of a "shameful crime."
U.S. officials did not know whether the
speaker was indeed Saddam nor whether the broadcast was taped
after the U.S. strikes or in advance of them, the
administration source said.
Two other U.S. officials, also speaking on
condition of anonymity, said Thursday that the strikes were a
small prelude to a massive assault that was to begin as early
as Thursday. With 300,000 U.S. troops still encircling Iraq,
the president said the mission to disarm Saddam had just
begun.
"I assure you, this will not be a campaign
of half measures and we will accept no outcome but victory,"
the president said in brief, nationally televised remarks from
the Oval Office.
His address Wednesday evening made official
in Washington what was already apparent. As Bush's press
secretary gave a half-hour's notice for the president's
appearance, anti-aircraft fire, explosions and air raid sirens
were reported in Baghdad as Thursday's dawn broke over the
city.
"The dangers to our country and the world
will be overcome," Bush said.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was due
in the Oval Office early Thursday to give Bush a briefing on
the campaign aimed at toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
and securing any weapons of mass destruction he has.
The White House was expected to send a
special spending bill to Congress soon, asking lawmakers to
provide money to pay for the military action and the
post-Saddam reconstruction of Iraq. The White House has said
the request would be made to lawmakers shortly after the start
of hostilities.
Bush was likely to remain at the White
House under extraordinary security in the opening phases of
the war. Pedestrians without official business are being kept
further away from the executive mansion than usual.
The president's only publicly announced
plans for Thursday called for an early evening photo session
with the president of Cameroon.
The war's opening salvos were aimed
directly at Iraq's leaders, including Saddam, U.S. officials
said, providing no details of how the intelligence was
developed that made them believe they knew where he was.
Commanders relied on more than 40 cruise
missiles launched from Navy ships in the Persian Gulf and the
Red Sea and 2,000-pound precision-guided bombs dropped by Air
Force stealth fighter jets, military officials said.
Still to come was the main air offensive
against Iraq, said the officials, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
There was no indication whether the initial
attack was successful, but about two hours after the strikes,
Saddam appeared on television to offer fresh condemnation of
the American president.
"We promise you that Iraq, its leadership
and its people will stand up to the evil invaders, and we will
take them to such limits that they will lose their patience in
achieving their plans," Saddam said.
In his four-minute speech to the nation,
Bush said his goal is "to disarm Iraq, to free its people and
to defend the world from grave danger."
He pledged that U.S.-led troops would spare
innocents from harm wherever possible and "will be coming home
as soon as their work is done."
But he also warned of trickery and
atrocities to come from Saddam. "Saddam Hussein has placed
Iraqi troops and equipment in civilian areas, attempting to
use innocent men, women and children as shields for his own
military," he said.
And Bush asked for American patience if the
days turn into weeks or longer.
"A campaign on the harsh terrain of a
nation as large as California could be longer and more
difficult than some predict," Bush said.
He had given the go-ahead to attack just
after 6:30 p.m. A senior White House official, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said that before the fresh
intelligence emerged, military advisers originally did not
intend to begin the assault Wednesday. |