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Tactics a worry - UK press
25/03/2003 08:17 - (SA)
London - London and Washington's bid to avoid civilian casualties in Iraq and Saddam Hussein's dirty tactics are a worrying reality of the war as the battle moves towards Baghdad, the British press said on Tuesday.
"On the day after the first British soldier has died in action in Iraq, a disturbing question emerges about the rules of engagement under which our troops are operating," said The Daily Mail.
The pro-war tabloid said that instructions to British troops not to fire until fired upon were paricularly worrying.
"It takes little imagination to see what a terrible disadvantage this could impose on them if, as many experts now say, Baghdad has to be taken street by street, building by building from a foe that deliberately puts some of its soldiers in civilian clothes and places its military hardware near - or even in - houses," it said.
Everything seen so far in the war, including the precision bombardment of Baghdad is aimed at minimising slaughter of the innocents, said the pro-war Sun tabloid.
The United States is determined to do nothing to alienate ordinary Iraqi people, an unnamed war-planner told the newspaper, saying they wanted to build a prosperous, stable and free Iraq after the war.
"We are fighting with one hand behind our backs and so far its been spectacularly successful," the source said.
A correspondent from the right-wing Daily Telegraph, embedded with US troops in central Iraq, reported that half of the coalition's desired targets are being vetoed by high command for fear of hitting a sensitive "no-combat zone".
"Saddam knows that Washington, worried about alienating public opinion in particular in the Middle East, is keen to avoid what the military terms "collateral damage", innocent civilians accidentally killed in warfare," he said.
Another Telegraph journalist said that "the strategy of tiptoeing into Iraq to encourage soldiers to surrender and to win civilian hearts and minds is now looking fanciful".
"After the experience of the last few days allied planners must now be reconsidering the softly softly approach and looking at tougher options," he said.
In The Times, General Wesley Clark - Nato commander during the Kosovo campaign - described Saddam's "close and dirty" tactics as a "foretaste of the battles around Baghdad".
"Some of the soldiers are hiding among the civilian population. Others are actually covering their uniforms with civilian clothing and women and children have reportedly been pressed into service as human shields," he said.
By the time the US and British forces arrive in the areas around Baghdad the Iraqis will recognise their vulnerabilities to US airpower, the reluctance of the US forces to engage and risk hitting women and children, according to Clark.
"The Iraqis' advantage are knowledge of the terrain, wilingness to take losses, and their ability to blend with the population. They have all the weapons they need to fight on an almost even basis if they can close in on US forces," he said.
The former army chief said that the fighting will be full of tricks that have already been seen from the Iraqis, including: more ambushes, fake surrenders, soldiers dressed as women, and attacks on rear areas and commmand posts.
The Daily Mirror, the strongest voice of opposition to war in the Gulf amongst the British press, continued to attack Washington and London for what it branded an "illegal" campaign.
"So far, the US has bombed Turkey, Iran, a bus full of Syrian civilians and downed an RAF plane - not very awesome," blasted one story in the tabloid.
"The argument for the invasion is so morally weak and the objectives so vague, that the only justification left is that it has to be right because 'our boys' are there," it said. - Sapa-AFP
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