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   White House: 'Regime is gone'

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Topic: White House: 'Regime is gone' (Read 188 times)

Rhune
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White House: 'Regime is gone'
« on: Apr 11^th, 2003, 10:21am »

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White House: 'Regime is gone'
Former Iraqi leaders to be 'pursued, killed or captured'
Friday, April 11, 2003 Posted: 11:08 AM EDT (1508 GMT)

MOSUL, Iraq (CNN) -- The White House on Friday declared that Saddam Hussein's "regime is gone," as coalition war planners issued a most-wanted list of former Iraqi leaders they say must "be brought to justice."

"There is no question the regime has lost control, and that represents a great turning point for the people of Iraq, as the regime is gone," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters.

Coalition command is rushing into place military units trained to provide security and crack down on the looting and chaos that grip parts of Iraq, White House officials said. Those military units are to arrive as early as Friday or within the next few days, the officials said.

Coalition soldiers in the field have been given the list of 55 former regime leaders in several forms -- one of them a deck of playing cards with images of the people's faces and job descriptions "to ease identification when contact does occur," Brig. Gen Vincent Brooks told reporters at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar.

He said the leaders would be "pursued, killed or captured."

Coalition forces also are hanging posters and handbills in many parts of Iraq to "to help the coalition gain information from the Iraqi people so that they also know exactly who it is we seek," Brooks said. The list includes former leaders who may have already been killed or captured, he said.

Brooks also said at Friday's news conference that coalition forces had seen evidence that members of the Iraqi government were trying to escape the country, and that coalition special forces destroyed five small planes that were hidden north of Tikrit. Tikrit is Saddam's ancestral homeland, and has been a center of power for the former ruling Baath Party. (Full story)

The Republican Guard's Adnan Division had been charged with providing security for Tikrit, but that division has been heavily worn down by coalition air power. Military officials say it is not clear what remains of the division or whether it can offer a viable defense. Coalition warplanes have been pounding the city.

Coalition forces battled serious Iraqi resistance Friday at the town of Qaim, near the Syrian border, which at one time may have been a key site for Saddam's nuclear program. Brooks said Qaim could be used by escaping regime leaders, or as an entry point for weapons and fighters from other countries.

The Iraqis' spirited defense of the area -- as Iraqi forces elsewhere laid down their weapons and left the battlefield -- "causes it to be of interest to us," Brooks said.

"It obviously is of interest to the regime," he said.

In Baghdad, the situation is tense as U.S. Marines work to eliminate remnants of Iraqi resistance.

Correspondent Walter Rodgers reported that Marines captured a suspected would-be suicide bomber at a checkpoint in the city Friday.

Marines were also fired upon by forces loyal to the crumbling Iraqi regime Friday, adding to a "sense of lawlessness" in the city, CNN correspondent Martin Savidge reported. (Full story)

Meanwhile, the commander of the Iraqi army's 5th Corps -- in charge of the defense of the northern Iraq city of Mosul -- delivered a signed cease-fire agreement to U.S. forces there, according to the Central Command.

An Iraqi military corps typically consists of 20,000 to 30,000 troops, although the U.S. and British airstrikes on Iraqi forces surrounding Mosul have reduced their strength over the past weeks, the official said, so it is not clear how many troops are left to surrender.

Kurdish forces and U.S. troops entered Mosul on Thursday. A day later, there was no sign of anyone in charge of the city, leaving residents free to loot nearly every building, CNN Correspondent Jane Arraf reported.

Meanwhile, thousands of unarmed Iraqi men, partially dressed in civilian clothing, formed a line along the main highway about 100 miles [160 kilometers] northeast of Baghdad, walking barefoot on the hot pavement toward Kurdish-controlled areas, CNN's Brent Sadler reported Thursday morning. The men identified themselves as soldiers and were described by Sadler as "beaten and defeated."

The men said they had walked for hours or days, and had handed over their weapons to Kurdish forces. Many were Shiites heading to their homes in southern Iraq.

U.S. forces Friday moved into the city of Kirkuk -- which is in the north of Iraq, south of Mosul -- in greater numbers and moved to secure nearby oil fields.

Other developments

A man shows a white flag to a U.S. soldier manning a checkpoint in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Friday.
• U.S. military officials told CNN they're concerned about tactics from Iraqi "irregular" fighters and people from other countries who might have responded to Saddam's call for a "jihad." Shortly before 8 p.m. (12 p.m. EDT), a suicide bomber walked up to a military checkpoint in central Baghdad and detonated explosives, wounding three U.S. Marines and a sailor and killing himself, a Marine spokesman told CNN.

• Military officials are investigating possible radiation at Iraq's Tuwaitha nuclear complex, sources Friday told CNN. Military personnel searching the site recorded a "high" Geiger counter reading.

• One U.S. solder was killed and two are wounded from a land mine explosion in Baghdad, Pentagon officials Friday told CNN. The troops were traveling a Bradley fighting vehicle when the mine was detonated by remote control, sources said, leading to the explosion and destruction of the vehicle.

• President Bush and Laura Bush plan to visit wounded U.S. military service members Friday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and the National Naval Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. The president is to present Purple Heart medals to some of the wounded troops and lead ceremonies awarding citizenship to two of the troops.

• Former prisoner of war U.S. Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch is expected to leave a U.S. military medical center in Germany on Saturday to return to the United States, hospital and military officials said Friday. Lynch was dramatically rescued by U.S. forces from a hospital in Nasiriya, Iraq, 10 days after she was captured along with members of her maintenance convoy.

• Coalition warplanes dropped six precision-guided bombs early Friday on a building in Ramadi, about 55 miles [88 kilometers] west of Baghdad, where Saddam's half-brother and adviser, Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, was believed to be living, Central Command said.

CNN correspondents Rula Amin, David Ensor, Chris Plante, Tom Mintier, Diana Muriel, Walter Rodgers, Jane Arraf, Brent Sadler, Barbara Starr and Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.

EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.

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Rhune
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Re: White House: 'Regime is gone'
« Reply #1 on: Apr 11^th, 2003, 10:22am »

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U.S. issues 'most-wanted' list
Friday, April 11, 2003 Posted: 11:00 AM EDT (1500 GMT)

DOHA, Qatar (CNN) – The U.S. military says it has issued a list of 55 Iraqi officials "who may be pursued, killed or captured" in the form of a deck of cards to Marines and soldiers in Iraq.

Each card carries a picture and text explaining the individual's role in Saddam Hussein regime, U.S. Central Command deputy director of operations, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, said Friday. Saddam is the ace of spades in the pack.

Brooks said some of those 55 may already be captured or dead, but he said the coalition was seeking more information from the Iraqi population to help in its assessment of the status of the regime.

The list will be made public within 24 hours, he said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said "the regime is gone," when asked who is in control of Iraq during an informal press briefing Friday. Fleischer reiterated the Bush administration point that the war in Iraq is not yet over.

Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, said Friday that Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq were "either dead or running like hell."

Coalition warplanes pounded Saddam's tribal homeland of Tikrit Friday. (Full story)

Before the war began, officials speculated Saddam or his most loyal forces could make a "last stand" in Tikrit, his birthplace and a staunch Baath Party stronghold 90 miles from Baghdad.

U.S. Central Command officials said Friday the city was "taking a pounding," according to CNN's Tom Mintier in Doha, Qatar.

Brooks, said coalition forces had destroyed five camoflaged aircraft north of Tikrit, speculating they may have been waiting to help regime officials escape Iraq or deliver weapons of mass destruction.

Coalition forces also fought serious Iraqi resistance at a town near the Syrian border reported to be home to a key Iraqi nuclear site.

In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, coalition warplanes bombed a building where Saddam's half-brother, presidential adviser Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, was believed to be living. U.S. Central Command said damage assessment was ongoing.

The head of the Iraqi army's 5th Corps signed a formal letter of surrender Friday in Mosul with representatives of U.S. Special Forces, U.S. Central Command in Qatar confirmed. (Full story)

In Kirkuk, more U.S. forces moved into the oil-rich city in a move to ease Turkish nervousness over the large Kurdish presence there, following the city's fall a day earlier, CNN's Ben Wedeman reported.

The remnants of Iraq's northern front who flooded the highway south of Kifri toward Baghdad had recently surrendered their weapons and military uniforms, some to Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.

U.S. Marines Friday said a would-be suicide bomber was stopped at a checkpoint in Baghdad and taken into custody.

Marines took "pot shots" from forces still loyal to the crumbling Iraqi regime and worked to disarm a city bristling with weapons, CNN's Martin Savidge reported.

Looting continued, Savidge said, although it was not clear whether there was much left to take after two days of citizens ransacking the government offices, presidential palaces, the homes of former ruling Baath Party officials and other sites, including hospitals. (Full story)

In other developments:

• One U.S. solder was killed and two are wounded from a land mine explosion in Baghdad, Pentagon officials Friday told CNN. The troops were in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle when the mine was detonated by remote control, sources said, leading to the explosion and destruction of the vehicle.

• U.S. military personnel have detected radiation at Iraq's Tuwaitha nuclear complex, sources Friday told CNN, with a "high" geiger counter reading recorded at the site. Sources say it would be significant if the measurement leads to the finding of nuclear related material.

• The first Gulf Cooperation Council jet carrying 700 metric tons of supplies is expected to arrive Friday in the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr, said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, U.S. Central Command's deputy director of operations. The delivery was coordinated by the United Arab Emirates and the Red Crescent.

• Former Russian Foreign Mister Yevgeny Primakov confirms long-standing rumors that he, on the eve of the war in Iraq, did convey a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin urging Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to step down, Interfax says.

• Iraqi intelligence agents planned an attack on CNN journalists working in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq last March, three months after Iraq's information minister warned of the "severest possible consequences" if CNN sent reporters into the region, according to CNN's Chief News Executive Eason Jordan. (Full story)

• Islamic cleric Sayed Majid al-Khoei, who had supported the coalition, was stabbed to death Thursday in an attack that began at the Imam Ali Mosque -- one of the holiest Shiite sites in Najaf, a family friend told CNN. (Full story)

• British troops in Basra are encouraging local citizens to "return to their places of work" in an effort to get the city up and running again, British Central Command spokesman Al Lockwood told CNN's Tom Mintier Friday.

• According to the latest figures provided by U.S. and British authorities, a total of 136 coalition service members have died in the conflict. (Coalition casualties)

• The Iraqi government has released no information on military losses, though U.S. military officials have reported thousands of Iraqi military deaths. Official Iraqi sources quoted by Abu Dhabi TV said 1,252 civilians had died and 5,103 had been wounded. U.S. Central Command said more than 7,500 Iraqis had been taken prisoner of war.

EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.

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