Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/27/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PENTAGON / RUMSFELD (L)

NUMBER=2-301412

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

INTRO: U-S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says coalition forces in Iraq will need to destroy or capture Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard units in order to defeat the regime. V-O-A Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from the Pentagon.

TEXT: Secretary Rumsfeld says Republican Guard units, thought to be Saddam Hussein's best trained and most loyal forces, are ringing Baghdad about 80-kilometers from the Iraqi capitol.

Mr. Rumsfeld says when coalition forces attack the city, the encounter with the Republican Guard will be "some of the toughest fighting that will occur."

/// RUMSFELD ACT #1 ///

One has to recognize that the regular forces have been more inclined not to defend the regime to the end and the Republican Guard have been more inclined to defend the regime, although that is not 100 percent. Therefore, I think it is only reasonable to expect that it will require the coalition forces moving through some Republican Guard units and destroying them or capturing them before you will see the crumbling of the regime.

/// END ACT ///

The secretary of defense did not say when he expects the major battle to occur although coalition troops and tanks are massing just south of Baghdad.

The Republican Guard's Medina unit is closest to U-S soldiers and has been blasted over the past few days by coalition warplanes.

There are an estimated 80-thousand Republican Guard forces in six divisions near Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's stronghold of Tikrit.

Mr. Rumsfeld says Iraqis are still too intimidated by Saddam Hussein's government to publicly support coalition efforts to defeat the regime.

He says Iraqi paramilitary forces, known as the Fedayeen, are threatening to kill people who do not obey.

/// RUMSFELD ACT #2 ///

In fact what they are is death squads, enforcers and what they do, there is probably somewhere between five and 20-thousand of them in the country. They go into the cities and shoot people and threaten people and insist that they not surrender and not rise up.

/// END ACT ///

Earlier, Secretary Rumsfeld insisted there will be no cease-fire in the war to oust Saddam Hussein and disarm his government. (Signed)

NEB/MB/MEM/RH