Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003
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By Sridhar Krishnaswami
"I expect them to be treated... humanely. If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals," Mr. Bush remarked upon his return to the White House from Camp David. White House officials are said to be outraged over the "brutal and cruel" treatment being meted out to captured American soldiers. "This only stiffens the President's resolve against Saddam Hussein's inhumane regime," an official was quoted as saying. Aside from the Marine Maintenance Unit that lost its way and ended up facing Iraqi soldiers, resulting in loss of lives and capture, the Pentagon is holding out the possibility of more troops missing and, therefore, more prisoners of war. For the first time since the start of the military offensive, the President interacted with the media on Sunday afternoon and even answered a few questions on the captured American soldiers and the general direction of the war. "If there's somebody captured — and it looks like there may be — I expect those people to be treated humanely," he said. Mr. Bush said coalition forces were making "good progress"; that the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, was "losing control" of his country; and that the military operation was just in the beginning phases. "I know that Saddam Hussein is losing control of his country, that we're slowly but surely achieving our objective. It's important for the American people to realise that this war has just begun. And it might seem like a long time because of all the action on TV, but in terms of the overall strategy, we're just in the beginning phases ... '' What has to be pointed out is that no one in the Pentagon or elsewhere in the corridors of Government were under any illusion of what was in store in an invasion of Iraq, particularly involving ground forces. Top uniformed officials have been consistently making the point that while Mr. Hussein's armed forces may not be the most modern, it was certainly not a rag tag group either. Military planners may be disappointed at the pace of the movement of troops, but no one was naive enough to think that it would be a smooth roll out of Kuwaiti borders and into Iraq. From the outset, the assessment had been that it would be tougher as the going gets closer to Baghdad with coalition forces meeting resistance from the Republican Guard and the personal security forces of the Iraqi President. This is precisely what is happening now. The photographs of American soldiers — some killed and others in captivity — shown to viewers here after they had seen it on the Al Jazeera network, is unlikely to significantly alter the war plan. As coalition forces move closer to Baghdad, the city will be subjected to heavier strikes from an assortment of bombs, cruise missiles and guided weapons. The idea behind this is to soften the ground considerably to facilitate the entry of ground forces. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush is meeting top Congressional leaders and will be discussing with them not only the progress of the war but also a supplementary spending bill that he may be sending to Capitol Hill to cover the costs of the military operations. Even on Sunday, Mr. Bush would not put a figure, but the White House is expected to ask between $75 billions and $90 billions.
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