As the air war against Saddam Hussein thundered into its third night, the Pentagon reported Friday that more than 75 targets throughout Iraq were hit by U.S. bombs and missiles during the first two days of the campaign.
More than 200 individual aircraft sorties were flown Thursday night, and the number of cruise missiles launched in the operation has exceeded the 323 used in the 1991 Persian Gulf war, Pentagon briefers said.
In addition to air-defense installations, suspected weapons sites, and Iraqi Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard strongholds, American air power hit an oil refinery at the southern port city of Basra, a guided-missile research and production site, and one of Hussein’s major television and radio transmitting facilities.
Preliminary damage-assessment reports showed that the attacks have been achieving mixed results, with some targets suffering only light or no damage while others were severely damaged or destroyed.
Video footage, released at the briefing, from a camera mounted on a Navy F-14 showed what officials said were two laser-guided 2,000-pound bombs wiping out an air-defense communications center at Al Rumaylah in southern Iraq and another Navy plane blowing up an Iraqi missile-storage facility at Al Shuaybah.
Aerial still photos displayed at the briefing revealed other major damage, though one showed an Iraqi air base hangar still standing after being hit with a cruise missile. Another revealed an undamaged military barracks next to a large ground crater, apparently indicating that one of the pilotless Tomahawks missed.
Other aerial photos showed what officials said was an Iraqi guided-missile research and development facility leveled by a sea-launched Tomahawk. A nearby structure was significantly damaged.
More intelligence and analysis are need to determine whether many of the structures hit still contained militarily important material, the briefers said.
Of 18 command and control facilities attacked, five were destroyed, five severely damaged, two moderately damaged and two undamaged. Damage to four others was being assessed, the briefers said.
Of 19 installations linked to weapons of mass destruction, two were destroyed, one was seriously damaged, nine were moderately damaged, four sustained light damage, one was unscathed and two were under study.
Eleven production facilities for the mass-destruction weapons were struck, with one sustaining moderate damage and two light damage. The others were being assessed.
“We continue to be satisfied by the results, although the strikes are not complete,” said Defense Secretary William Cohen at the briefing.
He would not reveal when the U.S. command intended to halt the bombing, saying it would be when the objectives of the mission were complete. The expectation was that the U.S. will end its strikes with the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which occurs this weekend.
Cohen indicated that the 69 combat aircraft of the carrier USS Carl Vinson will likely be added to the attack force when the Vinson’s battle group arrives in the gulf Saturday morning.
No American losses were reported from the first two nights of attacks, and the U.S. had no information on what casualties Iraq might have suffered. Combat operations reports from the third night of aerial assaults were not yet complete, but it appeared Hussein was putting up little or no fight.
“If there’s any surprise (in the air war), it’s the complete lack of response,” said Vice Adm. Scott Fry, Joint Chiefs of Staff operations director.
According to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Henry Shelton, who conducted the briefing, Hussein’s forces have not used any of their fighters or anti-aircraft ground missiles.
“As you’ve seen on television, there’s been a tremendous amount of (anti-aircraft cannon fire),” Shelton said. “I am not aware of any SAM (surface-to-air) missile firings as of this time. The radars have been relatively quiet up till this point. And our aircraft have enjoyed great success.”
As they have throughout the operation, the commanders at the briefing declined to provide details of targeting plans or the types and numbers of weapons used. But a picture was emerging of the U.S. battle tactics and execution.
The opening wave of attacks employed sea-launched, 1,000-mile-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, which carry 1,000-pound warheads, and carrier-based Navy and Marine Corps F-14 fighters and F/A-18 attack planes.
Their mission was to suppress the Iraqi anti-aircraft threat, creating a relatively safe air corridor for planes and missiles to fly over southern Iraq toward Baghdad and targets in the north, and to hit suspected weapons sites and other key targets where surprise was vital and attacks could not wait.
The second night’s effort employed a much wider array of weaponry. The 1,000-pound-warhead sea-launched Tomahawks were augmented by salvos of mightier 2,000- and 3,000-pound conventional air-launched cruise missile fired by as many as 14 B-52 long-range bombers flying from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
“Most of you saw some large explosions around Baghdad yesterday, and many of you correctly surmised that those were caused by air-launched cruise missiles launched from B-52 aircraft,” Shelton said.
In addition, Air Force F-16 fighters and F-15 attack jets–plus a dozen British Tornado fighter-bombers–flew sorties from allied land bases in the gulf region, most likely Kuwait and Bahrain.
The controversial B-1 bomber, introduced in 1972 but never before flown in combat, received its baptism of fire Thursday night, though Shelton would not reveal its assignment.
Unlike the single-warhead cruise missiles and smaller carrier aircraft, the B-1 is noted for its huge carrying capacity of more than 100,000 pounds of bombs. Its chief usefulness now that it no longer has a Cold War strategic nuclear role is to spread a large number of anti-personnel or anti-tank conventional bombs over a wide area.
The B-52s apparently are being used only as launching platforms for cruise missiles and not for the kind of carpet bombing and precision-bombing overland missions they were assigned in the gulf war and Vietnam.
All this weaponry was directed at a large menu of targets that varied as much in kind as they did in location.
According to Fry, they included 18 command and control facilities, 19 weapons-of-mass-destruction sites, eight Republican Guard compounds, and five airfields that have attack helicopters used against opponents from the minority Kurds in the north and Shias in the south.
Though the Pentagon has insisted it is after only military targets, an oil refinery at Basra was hit.
“That is a very limited attack on a facility that provides for the illegal shipment of oil out of that facility,” Cohen said. “So that is one of the illegal shipments that he uses at that facility to produce oil in violation of the Security Council resolutions (barring Iraqi oil exports).”
Cohen contended that Hussein used the Iraqi broadcasting complex that was hit for military command and control purposes and for propaganda.
“The radio and television facilities are, indeed, part of the command and control operations of Saddam Hussein and how he communicates to the Iraqi people as far as his propaganda is concerned. So those were, indeed, part of our target base.”
Shelton emphasized that the attacks have gone after Iraqi troops most involved with Hussein’s security and with weapons-of-mass-destruction security or transport–the so-called Special Republican Guard and those in Hussein’s regular Republican Guard, who could represent a threat to Iraq’s neighbors.
While U.S. officials deny specifically seeking to kill or topple Hussein with the attacks, the American assault has clearly gone after some of Hussein’s most loyal units, who are key to his security and survival. For instance, Special Republican Guard barracks in Baghdad were hit at night when it was most likely to be occupied by sleeping soldiers.
The U.S. has sought to isolate from the conflict regular military units, which officials hope could turn against Hussein or defect to the opposition.
Leaflets were dropped on the large number of regular Iraqi army forces deployed in southern Iraq, saying that they aren’t being targeted but warning against any movement that would threaten neighboring Kuwait.
“It (the leaflet) basically said, `Stay where you are. Stay put. Do not threaten anyone and you will not be hit,’ ” Shelton said.
