Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/11/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / U-S BRIEFING (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-302083

BYLINE=LARRY JAMES

DATELINE=AS-SALIYAH, QATAR

CONTENT=

INTRO: The commander of Iraq's Fifth Corps has surrendered to U-S special operations forces in northern Iraq, and the area's largest city, Mosul, has fallen without a fight. U-S-led forces now are turning their attention to Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the only remaining Iraqi city that is not controlled by U-S and British forces. V-O-A's Larry James reports from Central Command headquarters in Qatar on the latest developments.

TEXT: U-S Central Command spokesman Vince Brooks says the commanding officer of Iraq's Fifth Corps has surrendered to U-S forces, and his troops have withdrawn from the city of Mosul.

/// BROOKS ACT ///

We anticipate that the Fifth Corps forces will leave the battlefield; some of them already have, leaving their equipment and either returning to garrison, or simply proceeding with life as civilians out of uniform. And we are seeing this in other places as well, particularly in the north. Many Iraqi forces have literally removed their uniforms and left the battlefield to walk home, without their equipment, and this is just as the coalition requested.

/// END ACT ///

The withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kirkuk, and now Mosul, sparked celebrations by the predominantly Kurdish populations of the cities.

But the appearance of thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters has alarmed Turkey, which fears Iraqi Kurds may try to declare an independent Kurdistan in oil-rich northern Iraq. Ankara fears such a move could incite a separatist rebellion among Kurds in Turkey, and has threatened to intervene militarily to keep that from happening.

Meanwhile, the search for the former Iraqi leadership continues. General Brooks announced that the Central Command has published a list of 55 figures from Saddam Hussein's regime who are to be, as he put it, pursued, killed or captured. He said it may include those already believed dead, but will be distributed to coalition forces and the Iraqi public, with the aim of tracking down those individuals.

/// BROOKS 2nd ACT ///

This list has been provided to coalition forces on the ground in several forms to ease identification when contact does occur. And this deck of cards is one example of what we provide to soldiers and marines out in the field, with the faces of the individuals and what their role is.

/// END ACT ///

The list is also being distributed in other forms to help the coalition gain information from the Iraqi people.

The spokesman says special forces have taken control of checkpoints at two Iraqi border crossings - one into Syria, and the other into Jordan. The American special-operations teams also have found and destroyed five small airplanes hidden north of Tikrit that could have been used by officials trying to flee Iraq.

Two days after U-S forces swept into central Baghdad, the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein, his two sons and other Iraqi officials are unknown.

Meanwhile, U-S Central Command officials say coalition aircraft bombed a compound near the town of Al-Ramadi, 100 kilometers west of Baghdad, belonging to the half-brother of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti was chief of Iraq's secret police in the 1980's. (Signed)

NEB/LDJ/ALW/KBK/TW