Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102100257
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Medium
Cheney and Powell spent much of the day closeted with Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the U.S. commander, and his aides in private sessions that continued longer than scheduled, forcing the cancellation of a planned visit to U.S. troops.
The Department of Defense's civilian chief and its top officer are scheduled to see President Bush in Washington Monday, when they presumably will discuss the details presented by Schwarzkopf about the results of 25 days of intensive bombing targeted against Iraq and its 500,000-man army in Kuwait.
"There was a wealth of information we wanted to provide," said Marine Brig. Gen. Richard Neal. "They've been in the receiving mode." Briefings were held in Schwarzkopf's war room, where aides and division commanders discussed "what has gone on before, where we are, where we're going."
Cheney has indicated the ground war might begin with a series of quick, tactical movements - by land or sea or both - against Iraqi positions rather than a massive invasion, with the goal of drawing Iraqi forces into the open, where they could be struck by allied aircraft.
After their session with the military leaders, Cheney and Powell left for talks with Prince Khalid bin Sultan, commander of the Saudi and joint Arab forces.
If not euphoric, senior officers sounded unusually confident in briefings with reporters Saturday. Officers offered their most detailed comments to date about the destruction of Iraqi equipment and insisted that bombing raids also were having their intended effect on morale among Iraqi troops.
According to Neal, teams studying bomb damage confirmed the destruction of 750 of Iraq's estimated 4,000 tanks, the destruction of at least 650 artillery pieces out of 3,200, and of more than 600 armored personnel carriers out of an estimated 4,000.
"That's destroyed confirmed," Neal said. "Unless we see it belly-up or something like that, we're not going to count it." While no figures were provided, other vehicles and artillery pieces presumably have been damaged.
Military officials have resisted discussing whether entire tank or artillery units have been broken up, or if the affected equipment is more widely scattered. But they said that many of the losses were in units of the Republican Guards, Iraq's best-trained force and the heart of its defensive positions inside Kuwait.
"We have focused a lot of our energies on the Republican Guards, so you can probably surmise a lot of tanks are Republican Guard tanks," a senior officer said. "We have really hammered the hell out of them."
The greatest optimism appeared to be reserved for the issue of Iraqi deserters. U.S., British and Saudi officers report small but steadily increasing numbers of Iraqi soldiers crossing into Saudi Arabia to surrender, and that the deserters say other soldiers are deserting by heading north into Iraq.
Spokesmen said seven Iraqis surrendered Saturday to Saudi forces, including a lieutenant colonel, the highest-ranking officer to desert so far; 11 to Egyptian forces; and 11 others to U.S. troops.
Exactly how many soldiers are leaving their units and heading north is impossible to establish. Allied officers say that, based on comments by POWs, Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait are uncertain how far they are from the Saudi border and are afraid of the Western armies, and so choose to head north in hopes of returning to their families.
"They're taking huge risks, they are very frightened," an allied officer said.
Some commanders caution that the Iraqi army remains strong. On Thursday, the commander of British forces in the gulf, Lt. Gen. Peter de la Billiere, said that he saw no evidence that the Iraqi army was about to collapse, while other officers note that few if any of the deserters belong to the Republican Guards. sub graf added for metro
Cheney met with reporters early this morning and was to return to Washington later in the day before briefing President Bush on Monday. "I am struck by the enormous size of the Iraqi military establishment," Cheney said, noting the communciations systems, number of tanks, the size of the army.
"This clearly was a major force designed for military combat," he said. "I'm convinced we in fact have made major inroads in destroying that capability. A16 A1 IRAQIS Iraqis
by CNB