The Hindu : 'Iraq likely to use chemical weapons'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 28, 2003

International

International

'Iraq likely to use chemical weapons'

By Atul Aneja

AS-SAYLIYAH (QATAR) MARCH 27. The U.S. Central Command today said that Iraq would now be more inclined to use weapons of mass destruction and the regime of the President, Saddam Hussein, was already using extreme coercion to keep its hold on power.In separate briefings held during the day, senior British and U.S. officials touched upon three basic themes. First, coalition officials said that faced with the mounting military pressure, the Iraqi forces might be preparing to use chemical weapons. The Iraqi regime was also expanding infiltration of its `fidayeen' units in urban areas in order to quash possible rebellions against Mr. Hussein's Government.

Vincent Brooks, spokesperson of the U.S. Central Command, said that the discovery of large number of chemical protection suits belonging to Iraqi troops by coalition forces in An Nasiriyah suggested that Iraqis were preparing to use chemical weapons. The Commander of the British forces in the Gulf, Brian Burridge, gave a similar indication this morning when he said that a large number of Iraqi chemical protection suits were recovered during operations in the Rumaila oil fields area last week.

Iraq might also have increased the range of its Al Husayn surface-to-surface missiles that could be used for delivering weapons of mass destruction. Alive to such a threat, especially to Israel, U.S. warplanes attacked an Iraqi missile production facility overnight, Central Command officials said.

Iraq, in 1991, had launched 39 Scud missiles on Israel from its H-2 and H-3 bases in western Iraq, but these areas were now under the control of the coalition forces. Iraq was making feverish preparations to defuse possible rebellions among its Shia population by positioning `fidayeen' paramilitary forces that are fiercely loyal to Mr. Hussein, in new areas, including Najaf, Gen. Brooks said. Air Marshal Burridge, on his part, emphasised that it was likely that the `fidayeen' paramilitary had coerced the Iraqi military to launch a failed overnight counterattack from Basra to retake the Faw Peninsula from the Anglo-American forces, by holding hostage the families of the soldiers involved in the operation. British forces destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks in the engagement.

Gen. Brooks said that the attack on civilians in Baghdad on Wednesday might have been self-engineered by the Iraqi regime or could be on account of an accidental detonation of an Iraqi missile. The U.S. official declined comment on the incident of "friendly fire" in which the U.S. Marines had reportedly suffered casualties.

Second, coalition officials pointed out that their forces were making steady progress on all fronts, but the ongoing war was likely to be a long haul. The British were well acquainted with lengthy counter-insurgency operations and had good sense about the complex internal situation in Basra, Air Marshal Burridge said.

Third, coalition officials emphasised that reconstruction activity, including the rehabilitation of the Rumaila oil fields, was now under active consideration. Air Marshall Burridge said Iraqi oil exports could resume in three months after nearly $1 billion had been invested to repair the damage to the Rumaila fields. Three of the nine fires in Rumaila oil wells had already been capped.

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