Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/19/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PENTAGON / IRAQ (L)

NUMBER=2-300906

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

INTRO: Nearly 300-thousand soldiers in the Persian Gulf region are prepared to launch a massive attack against Iraq. V-O-A correspondent Meredith Buel has details from the Pentagon.

TEXT: U-S forces have made final preparations to launch an unprecedented air, land and sea assault against the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Hundreds of thousands of troops are now in striking distance of Iraq, backed by hundreds of aircraft.

U-S and British troops are in Kuwait and have massed near Iraq's southern border, ready to invade on short notice.

Once President Bush orders the war to begin, thousands of guided missiles and bombs are expected to rain down on Iraqi military targets in what Pentagon officials say will be the largest precision air campaign in the history of warfare.

Hours before the expected start of hostilities, coalition aircraft dropped nearly two-million leaflets over military and civilian sites in southern Iraq.

The leaflets stressed that coalition forces do not wish to harm innocent Iraqis. Another message encouraged the Iraqi military to refrain from using weapons of mass destruction or burning oil fields.

Pentagon officials have expressed concern that Iraqi forces will use chemical and biological weapons, especially when allied forces are massed together at the beginning of the conflict.

Officials say intelligence reports suggest Saddam Hussein has given field commanders authority to use weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq denies having such weapons, saying it destroyed all its stocks under the terms of U-N resolutions passed after it was driven out of Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War.

Pentagon officials are continuing to wait for the Turkish parliament to make a decision on whether U-S warplanes will be able to use Turkish airspace for flights to Iraq.

The use of Turkish airspace would allow planes based in Europe a more direct path to Iraq and would allow warships based in the Mediterranean Sea to launch cruise missiles at targets in northern Iraq.

The Turkish parliament has already rejected a request to allow U-S soldiers to transit the country in order to open a northern front in Iraq.

The United States says about 45 countries privately or publicly, are supporting the decision to disarm Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein by force. (Signed)

NEB/MB/RH/FC