The Hindu : U.S. launches attacks on Iraq

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 21, 2003

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U.S. launches attacks on Iraq

BAGHDAD, MARCH 20. The United States today attacked key targets in Baghdad with Cruise missiles, launched intense artillery barrages near the Iraq-Kuwait border and promised an assault of unprecedented dimensions to destroy the rule of the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein.

Eyewitnesses here reported several explosions near Government buildings as Cruise missiles swooped down, shaking the city with massive explosions. There was relatively little Iraqi anti-aircraft fire. Plumes of smoke rose from the vicinity of the Foreign Ministry and the Planning Ministry.

CNN reported that the U.S. First Marine Expeditionary Force had crossed into Iraq. Kuwait's state-run KUNA news agency said that the U.S. and British troops captured the Iraqi border town of Umm Qasar today.

It was the second round of U.S. attacks after Mr. Hussein rejected a U.S. ultimatum to leave the country. The previous raid at dawn targeted the Iraqi President himself and his senior leadership but the results were not clear.

"These are the opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign in a televised address two hours after the U.S. ultimatum to Iraq ended. He said the U.S. military would seek a swift victory while trying to avoid civilian casualties.

The U.S. Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said the initial missile and bombing attacks in and around Baghdad were just a first taste of what would soon be unleashed.

As night fell, eyewitnesses said the U.S. forces had launched a new artillery attack near the Iraq-Kuwait border, and large explosions were reported in the direction of the Iraqi city of Basra.

"There has been another intense barrage," said a Reuters correspondent from near the border. "The first lot of big explosions came from the direction of Basra and then there were more to west of that." Other reporters saw U.S. missiles strike areas in southern Iraq as well as helicopter gunships firing at ground targets. About 280,000 U.S. and British troops are in the Gulf region, many of them in Kuwait, poised to invade Iraq.

Iraq responded to the first U.S. attack with several missile strikes on northern Kuwait. All missed their targets or were intercepted by U.S. missiles.

The Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, said the U.S. raids hit empty buildings and civilian districts. One civilian was killed and several wounded, he said.

Kuwait television reported that several oil wells near Basra had been set alight by Iraqi troops. However, the Iraqi Oil Minister, Amir Muhammed Rasheed, denied the reports.

U.S. troops in northern Kuwait, meanwhile, were told to don protective chemical suits and be ready for combat.

Three hours after the raids began, a grim-faced Mr. Hussein appeared on state television in military uniform, black beret and thick-rimmed glasses.

"The criminal little Bush has committed a crime against humanity," he said.

Several hours after the first U.S. raids on Baghdad, a Kuwaiti Defence Ministry spokesman said an Iraqi Scud and two smaller missiles hit northern Kuwait. And a U.S. Patriot anti-missile defense battery brought down two Iraqi Scuds. U.S. Marines said one missile landed near their desert camp.

Meanwhile, in a significant decision, the Turkish Parliament voted to allow the U.S. military to use its airspace for the war.

OIC call

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), comprising 57 nations, today called for an immediate end to the U.S.-led war on Iraq and a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Baghdad.

"The OIC deeply regrets the latest developments in Iraq and calls for an immediate end to military operations and a return (to diplomacy) to try to find a peaceful solution through the U.N. Security Council," the secretary-general, Abdulwahed Belkeziz, said.

He also urged the return to Iraq of U.N. weapons inspectors, who were pulled out in the final hours before the U.S. launched the war.

"War is never the best way to resolve conflicts," he said adding that it would "add to the suffering of the Iraqi people and upset the stability of the Middle East".

Mr. Belkeziz also said that the war would "increase terrorism and extremism in the world".

U.S. closes 13 missions

The U.S. has closed at least 13 of its embassies and consulates around the world to the public for security reasons following the start of the war on Iraq, State Department officials said in Washington today.

The officials said the closures were not related to specific threats of terrorism or other attacks but were rather a precautionary move based in part on fears that anti-war protests could turn violent.

The U.S. embassies in Almaty, Amman, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Damascus, Kabul, Oslo, Pretoria, Nairobi, Riyadh, and Skopje were closed.

In addition, the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa, was closed and the Consulate in Durban was briefly evacuated after a bomb scare, the officials added.

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