U.S. Considers
Baghdad Strike to Depose Saddam
 |
|
One
aim of the impending U.S. strikes on Iraq is to assassinate
Saddam Hussein
|
WASHINGTON,
July 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Senior U.S.
administration and Pentagon officials say they are exploring a strike
on Baghdad itself as an option for deposing Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein, U.S. daily newspaper, the Washington Post reported Sunday,
July 28.
The
suggested option is for the U.S. to take Baghdad and one or two key
command centers and weapons depots first, in hopes of cutting off the
country’s leadership and causing a quick collapse of the government.
The
“inside-out” approach, as some call this Baghdad-first option,
reflects a strong desire to find a strategy that would not require a
full quarter-million American troops, yet hits hard enough to succeed,
the Post said.
This
idea is essentially the reverse of the American strategy in the Gulf
War of 1991, which dislodged Hussein’s occupying army
from Kuwait.
The
aim would be to assassinate or isolate Hussein and to pre-empt
Iraq’s use of weapons of mass destruction, whether against an
incoming force, front-line allies or Israel.
U.S.
officials claim it may be possible to paralyze an Iraqi
command-and-control system that is highly centralized and
authoritarian.
If
this can be accomplished with a smaller invasion force than the
250,000 troops suggested in early drafts, the approach could appeal to
queasy gulf allies whose bases would be required for a war, the Post
reported.
The
daily pointed out that fearing public outrage, gulf states are quietly
advocating the quickest and smallest military operation
possible.
The
Post said that 250,000 U.S. soldiers might have to be deployed to the
region anyway, to make sure that any forces that drop into Baghdad do
not become isolated or surrounded, bereft of a land line providing
military support, food and ammunition.
However,
it is clear that this plan is just one in a series of possible options
concerning the strike on Iraq under consideration. “There is a
divergence of views on how can one best diminish the prospect that he
uses weapons of mass destruction, with any efficacy,” said Senator
Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
Senator
Biden, who is preparing to hold hearings on Iraq this week, said in an
interview: “That is where the argument for an inside-out operation
gains credibility. There is a diminished possibility that he will use
chemical or biological weapons.”
On
the other hand, a key national security aide, retired Gen. Wayne A.
Downing, had reportedly argued that Hussein could be toppled with
minimal numbers of Americans on the ground, provided they were backed
up by huge air strikes.
However,
senior officials concluded that a proxy battle would be insufficient
to bring a change in power in Iraq, and General Downing left the White
House last month, the Post said.
The
paper said that if Bush decides to go ahead with the strike, his aides
say, he will have to make a public, convincing case about why Saddam
Hussein poses an intolerable threat to the United States and its
allies.
Some
members of Congress, including conservative Republicans, are beginning
to ask Bush to explain his reasoning and aims before committing U.S.
forces to topple a foreign government that has not attacked the United
States.
Although
senior administration and Pentagon officials said they expected that
military action against Iraq would be mostly American-run, with
Britain the only partner contributing significant forces, cooperation
from allies in the region — particularly in the form of bases —
would be essential.
Key
Arab allies, including Egypt and Jordan, have opposed U.S. strikes on
Iraq, and have issued warnings against American military action,
calling for dialogue with Baghdad a more successful option.
In
another development, exiled Iraqi dissidents, including Nizar
Al-Khazraji, plan to set up a “higher council of national
salvation,” an aide of the Denmark-based former general said Monday,
July 29.
“The
higher council of national salvation, which will be formed within days
in Denmark, will include 24 members, most of whom held key posts in
the Iraqi military or the ruling Baath Party” before their
defection, the source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone.
Members
of the proposed council are expected to include ex-military
intelligence chief Wafik Al-Samarrai, who has been in exile in London
since 1997, according to the same source.
Khazraji
himself told AFP it was “premature” to go into details about the
planned body.
Any
such move “will be announced in due course,” he said.
Khazraji
and Samarrai stayed away from a conference of former Iraqi army
officers held in London in mid-July which set up a 15-member
“military council” to spearhead efforts to topple President Saddam
Hussein.
|
