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Bush not in hurry for ground assault

US marines move into attack positions
DHAHRAN. (Saudi Arabia) Feb 12 : U.S. marines are moving Into attack position* ahead of an expected assault on Iraqi troops who the Allies say have suffered a severe mauling from bombing, reports Reuter.
A Pooled press report said on Monday thousands of men. carrying the minimum equip ment needed for combat, were taking up forward positions In foxholes a two-hour drive from Kuwait city.
There’s a strong desire to get It over with and go home ... the only thing that stands between them and home Is (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein.' said Chief Warrant Officer Charles Rowe, spokesman for the first marine division.
Allied spokesman repeated that commanders would not rush into a ground or sea offensive to oust Iraq from Kuwait but would wait until bombing had done maximum harm to Iraqi resistance The relentless pounding over the past 26 days meant the Iraqis had stopped operating as a national army pursuing theatre objectives. a US intel Mgcncc officer said
"Now, they operate In small pockets, seemingly working Independently.* said Jessie Mortnoto. Chief of Forward Operation Location Intelligence
'What they're doing is trying to defend themselves as people. The army fs fairly sta tlonary. she told Pool reporters at an airbase In north ern Saudi Arabia.
The Iraqis' ability and will to fight had been badly hit. she said
"When you have somebody .bomb your position day and night, you're not very well fed ... there comes a point when you say that's enough '
Morimoto said Iraqi sol dters were faced with the choice of defect, surrender, or stay in place and dv- Near the Kuwaiti - Saudi border. members of the Saudt 20th brigade referred to allied bombings raids as the evening light show.
'Later at night you get the H-52 strikes. It roll you out of bed." said Captain Da Vid I (alia, an air liaison officer
He woke up at I a m. recently to watch bombers drip 17. 1.000 pound (450 kg) bombs. "I saw the fireball and was Impressed that 40 mik:s (60 km) away you could actually see it.'
Allied pilots said 'there were still hundreds of military targets to hit. although one said Kuwait looked like a junkyard with large areas of black ened craters.'
A Washington report says : US l*residenl George Bush said on Monday allied bombing had been effective against Iraqi forces and he was in no hurry to send hts troops into poten Hally bloody land warfare to end the occupation of Kuwait
Bush was given the pros and cons of a ground offensive by Defence Secretary Dick Cheney and General Colin Powell. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They returned on Sunday night from meeting Allied commanders tn Saudt Arabia.
The air campaign has been very, very effective and It will continue for a while. Bush said after the 90 - minute briefing In the White House residence
'Were going to take what ever time Is necessary to sort out when a next stage might beging.' he told reporters gathered in the White House rose garden.
Bush said he would refiiM-to give any indication when Ik might unleash ground troops against I he Iraqi military cn trenched In heavily guarded positions In Kuwait and southern Iraq. Doing so could en dangcr Allied troops, he said.
Clicney. in comments to reporters who travelled with him to Saudi Arabia and sug-gcsted'that while a ground assault against over a half- mil lion entrenched Iraqi troops tn and near Kuwait was Inevitable. It was not necessarily imminent.
•| am struck by the enormous size of the Iraqi military.' he said Sunday, a re mark widely taken to mean he might favour several more weeks of bombing to soften up Iraqi forces.
Bush stressed he had total confidence tn his top military advisers and that while he would make the decision on when a ground campaign might start, he would do it based on the advice of Cheney and Powell.
There was no talk on Mon day of moving to another phase of a war that was been fought almost entirely by Allied warplanes striking targets in Iraq and Kuwait with near impunity.
Wc'vc got plenty of targets, we've got plenty of airplanes. Lieutenant General Tom Kelly told reporters at the Pentagon. The wise thing to do Is to keep on doing what we re doing and continue to attrit (weaken) the enemy.
"Let's make ft as easy on that foot soldier as wc possibly can before we go."
The United States has drawn criticism from the Soviet Union which says the extent of the bombing campaign may exceed the terms of the United Nations ultimatum. Iraqi reports of large numbers of Iraqi civilians killed tn the raids have also struck a nerve at the White House.
Bush hinted strongly that he would not let these pressures push him into an early ground war.
'I've always felt confident we were on the right path. I feel even more so now ... and so we will just continue down this road we're the ones that are going to set the time for any action that Is taken. Wc are not going to suit somebody eise's timetable, whether he lives in Baghdad or any place else, and that's exactly the way It should be.' Bush said.
A Scud attack on Israeli military said. Another attack a few house before caused no in juries or damage.
Velayati was asked to explain the discrepancy between Iran's assertion that 22 Iraqi planes had landed in Iran since the beginning of the Gulf war and Allied assertions that 147 planes had landed.
"What we have said, that Is the correct number. Some of them have tried to cross our borders but they were crushed
the number of the planes that landed in our country ts 22 as I have said."