Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/7/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-301876

TITLE=IRAQ / BRIEFING / CAUTION (S-O)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=DOHA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: U-S Central Command says the latest armored incursion into downtown Baghdad by U-S forces shows that the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not control all of the city. But, as V-O-A's Roger Wilkison reports from the command's forward headquarters in Qatar, senior officers warn that the regime's military capability has not yet been destroyed.

TEXT: Describing himself as cautiously optimistic about U-S operations in Baghdad, Brigadier General Vince Brooks, the main spokesman for Central Command, says there are still places within the city where the Iraqi government exercises control over its military forces and the population.

/// BROOKS ACT ///

It also has some limited command and control capability over small units in certain areas. What we are not seeing is an overarching structure of control. We believe that has been significantly degraded. But that does not mean that there is an elimination, completely, of all threats.

/// END ACT ///

General Brooks says the task for U-S forces is to find those threats, remove them, and work for the fall of the Iraqi government.

Earlier, U-S forces stormed into the heart of Baghdad, entering two of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces.

U-S commanders insist the assault was only what one called "a raid through the city" and not the beginning of an all-out battle for control of Baghdad. (SIGNED)

NEB/RW/KL/RAE/TW