US military planners have presented US President George W Bush with a strategy to defeat the army and air force of Iraq and remove President Saddam Hussein from power within eight weeks, according to a press report in London's Sunday Times.
The Pentagon plan, prepared in conjunction with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency, calls for an "all out bombardment of Saddam's forces and installations followed by an attempt to turn his army against him,” the British newspaper said.
A military source told the paper that "the argument on whether to act goes on, but the president (Bush) needs to know what he was up against and how it might be done.”
Meanwhile, the paper said that Israel’s military strategists are concerned about a possible Iraqi counterattack, and say their intelligence suggests Saddam could retaliate with warplanes carrying chemical or biological weapons on suicide missions.
The Sunday Times said that any US assault on Iraq would contain a critical race against time to destroy Saddam's air force and missiles or "risk a regional conflagration.”
The American plan assumes that Iraq’s military forces are much weaker than they were before the 1991 Gulf War.
In the meantime, intimidation of Saddam would be vital in the initial stages of the operation, with America and its allies building up forces of overwhelming strength in the region, the paper said.
It pointed out that the bombardment would be carried out by land and carrier-based aircraft, while special forces on the ground would attempt to destroy SCUD and other missile-launch pads inside Iraq, together with sites thought to house weapons of mass destruction.
In addition, the campaign would then be widened to take out communications centers, broadcast stations, pipelines and supply depots. With communications broken and all Saddam's propaganda channels silenced, Western intelligence agents would encourage Iraqi insurgents to gather behind an opposition leader and mount a "coup," the weekly newspaper said.
Only Saddam's inner circle would be expected to "fight to the death,” the report said.
Equally, the plan describes a popular new Iraqi leader who must not be seen as an "American puppet.” The entire campaign would take eight weeks "in ideal conditions,” it said. But American ground troops would be required to stay longer to ensure stability.
The paper suggested that the plan is reported to have split the Bush administration, with the hardliners including defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and US secretary of state Colin Powell being rather "cooler.”
Opposition Warns
Iraqi security forces have ordered the removal of political prisoners from jails in the suburbs of Baghdad to safe havens in subterranean armories outside the city limits, an Iraqi opposition group said Sunday.
These underground depots, built to store large quantities of weapons, have been evacuated to accommodate the political prisoners and detainees in a move to prevent them from escaping should a US military strike or a popular uprising take place, noted a statement issued by the Higher Committee for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, an opposition group based in Geneva.
The depots lack basic facilities such as ventilation and utilities and will be particularly gruesome to those detainees suffering from serious ailments, the statement was quoted in reports as saying. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
