24 March 2003
Powell Says No Doubt Iraqi Regime "Will Be Taken Down"
(Voices concern over alleged Russian equipment sales to Iraq) (590) By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr. Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- Secretary of State Colin Powell says it is "amazing" that coalition forces have penetrated to within 50 to 60 miles of Baghdad since military action began in Iraq March 19. "This has been a remarkable military operation so far," Powell said March 24 in an interview with Fox Television News. "There will be ups and downs. There will be days like yesterday [March 23] where you have a friendly-fire incident and something goes wrong and you see some casualties, which cause people to get anxious, but I'm confident that General [Tommy] Franks [commander of the U.S. Central Command] and his commanders ... know what they're doing and they are prosecuting this war in a very, very fine manner with a solid strategy that will work, no question about it." Powell, a retired Army general who was chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, said he has no doubts that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein "will be taken down." Powell said the major significance of combat operations in this war is that coalition forces have not encountered substantive organized resistance. "There are pockets of resistance, but you are not running into a front line of Iraqi troops," he said. "You're not running into divisions standing next to divisions putting up an organized opposition to your efforts." He said the type of Iraqi resistance being encountered is what U.S. war planners expected when they began developing operation plans. "What I'm seeing is what I expected to see, frankly," he said. Powell also confirmed that U.S. officials have been communicating with the Russian government over alleged Russian sales of night-vision goggles, antitank missiles and global positioning system (GPS) jamming systems to Iraq, which effectively would violate U.N. sanctions against Iraq. "In the last 48 hours I've seen even more information that causes me concern," Powell said during the television interview from his office at the Department of State. He said he spoke March 24 with Russian officials, and the United States is giving the officials more information so they can find out what is happening, and to give them a clear understanding of why this is so important the United States. "I'm quite confident of our facts in this matter. Quite confident," Powell said. Powell said that so far he is disappointed in the Russian response. This type of equipment puts U.S. and coalition forces in harm's way and does give Iraq a limited advantage, he said. Powell also said there are no Turkish forces flowing across the border between Iraq and Turkey. "Turkey has assured the international community over the weekend -- they did it in NATO this morning [March 24] and there have been other statements -- that they have no plans at the moment to send any troops across the border," he said. "There is no need for Turkish troops to cross the border." Powell said there are reports Saddam Hussein plans to use chemical weapons against his own people in southern Iraq and then blame it on coalition forces. "I have no doubt that he would do such a thing if he thought it served his interests," he said. "And so we are concerned about it. We will follow this matter carefully. He has to be careful here because the world knows he's done it before." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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