The Hindu : `War will be on a scale never before seen'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 23, 2003

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`War will be on a scale never before seen'

CAMP AS SAYLIYAH (Qatar) March 22. U.S. General Tommy Franks, in his first briefing since the start of the U.S.-led war against Iraq, said on Saturday that the campaign would be ``unlike any other in history''.

Mr. Franks spoke in Qatar, which is his command post. He said the assault on Iraq would be one of ``shock, surprise, flexibility'', using munitions on a ``scale never before seen''.

The campaign, the general said, was taking the fight ``across the breadth and depth of Iraq'' — aiming to secure bridges, airports and oil platforms. The allied war plan allows commanders to ``attack the enemy on our terms'', Mr. Franks said.

He said the U.S. military had opened a dialogue with a number of senior Iraqi military leaders both ``in and out of uniform''.

Mr. Franks said he ``had no idea'' where the Iraq President, Saddam Hussein was or whether he was alive, responding to unconfirmed reports that the Iraqi leader was injured or killed on the opening night of the war.

``The way we're undertaking this military operation would not change, regardless of what happens to the Iraqi President."

Mr. Franks said thousands of Iraqi troops had laid down their weapons and gone home. He also said 700 Iraqis ``lined up in the way they were instructed'' in propaganda leaflets dropped by coalition aircraft. Asked about Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, which was under siege by U.S. and British forces on Saturday, Mr. Franks said: ``What we have seen is that Iraqis are welcoming'' allied forces as they move through the country. He said they expected the same reaction when Basra fell. — AP

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