----
By The
Associated Press
Edited by Jennifer O'Cilka
U.S. subs launching missiles
WAbHlNOlUN - U.S. submarines,
operating from the depths of the
Mediterranean and Red seas, are fir
ing Tomahawk cruise missiles at tar
gets inside Iraq, Pentagon sources
said Thursday.
The development in the war against
Saddam Hussein amounts to “the first
use of American submarine-launched
missiles in a combat environment,”
one source said.
“There have been multiple
launches” of Tomahawk missiles from
the submerged subs over the last several
days, said a second source. Both spoke
on the cond'tion of anonymity.
The entry of submarine-launched
missiles into Operation Desert Storm
“just gives Saddam a new threat to
worry about,” the first source said.
Missiles “are now comingat him from
the north as well as the south.”
Releasing cruise missiles from
either the Red or Mediterranean seas
means the weapons could be flying
through Turkish, Egyptian, Israeli or
Syrian airspace. The sources would
not describe the Tomahawks’ routes.
Normally, a high state of secrecy
surrounds submarine activines, as
shown by the comment of one top
Pentagon general.
“We don’t discuss submarines —
ever!” Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly, the
director of operations for the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.
Word of one sub participating in
Operation Desert Storm came earlier
this week when the admiral in charge
of the U.S. naval force in the Red Sea,
Rear Adm. Riley Mixson, told report
ers that one submarine had fired a
cruise missile as part of the campaign
against Iraq.
The revelation that subs have fired
missiles from both the Mediterranean
and the Red seas indicates that more
than one has participated. The sources
refused to say how many had taken
part.
“Let’s just say a few,” one source
said.
There are 123 submarines in the
Navy’s fleet— 89 attack subs and 34
ballistic missile submarines.
The Navy has refused to comment
on the subs role in the war.
.Submariners are dubbed the “Si
lent Service” because of their ability
to roam undetected and hunt their
prey at will. They prefer to have their
activities kept out of the limelight.
“It’s ingrained in submariners. Their
effectiveness depends on them being
‘the big question mark,’” said one
Pentagon official.
“A lack of fanfare is a measure of
submariners’ success,” the official said.
“The only time anyone would know it
is there is when the Tomahawk breaks
the water.”
After launch, a solid-propellant
booster shoots the missile into the
sky. Then, a small turbofan engine
takes over and the missile cruises
toward its target.
Making use of the pinpoint accu
racy of the relatively slow-flying,
computerized Tomahawks, the subs
have been directing the missiles against
strategic targets, such as suspected
chemical weapons facilities, the
sources said. With a conventional
warhead, the missiles have a range of ,
about 700 miles.
Targeting Scud Missiles ,
Finding mobile launchers is a high priority:*^?'
i___ _ i V
Tracks Uses radar and visual j \ Monitors
launcher identification to search \ and detects
movements _ arid destroy. Danger j ^ movement
and locations. exists enterin9 into \ from orbit.
Operates radar unfriendly territory. j \
using new
technology to
see over the \
horizon. \
Scud transporter-erector-launcher: _/[.___
Specially adapted version of a cargo SCUD MISSILE
truck, offers good cross-country capability. MOBILE LAUNCHER
AP/Cynthia Greer, T. Dean Capio
White House security
stepped up during war
WASHINGTON - President
Bush’s Secret Sen/ice agents now
routinely tote gas masks. Dozens
of riot-helmeted guards stand sen
try duty along the White House
fence. Sharpshooters prowl the roof.
A line of police vehicles is sta
tioned in the median strip of Penn
sylvania Avenue. Sometimes, when
protests get unruly, traffic in front
of the nation’s most famous ad
dress is stopped entirely.
And that’s just what you can
sec. Officials understandably won’t
talk about what you can’t see. But
you can bet there’s plenty of hid
den firepower there.
“The president lives next to
public streets, in a metropolitan
area,’’ said Chuck Vance, a former
Secret Service agent and now a
consultant on securitv. “The nresi
deni does noi choose lo hide out in
a bunker 60 feci in ihc ground. You
do ihe besi you can and you use
whatever resources are available
to you.”
To stale the obvious: security
surrounding the president and the
executive mansion has been stepped
up dramatically since the Persian
Gulf war began a week ago.
One of the first tolls of the height
ened security was the cancellation
of public tours of the White House
for the first lime since World War
II.
Officials decided that the tours
provided would-be terrorists easy
access to the mansion, even though
visitors had been required to pass
through metal detectors and have
bags searched.
When there is an alert — a pro
tester threatening to jump the rela
tively low fence around the While
“ti ——
The president does
not choose to hide
out in a bunker 60
feet in the ground.
You do the best you
can and you use
whatever resources
are available to you.
Vance
security consultant
-—
House perimeter or, perhaps, a
squirrel setting off electronic mo
tion alarms — even tighter secu
rity is imposed.
For instance, doors arc locked
to the press room — preventing
anyone from cither leaving or en
tering — until the alarm is called
off.
Uniformed Secret Service offi
vvio nuvt ^u^^u;iiu;iiicu 111
protection of the White House by
officers from the National Park
Service and from the Washington,
D.C. Metropolitan Police.
And, while sharpshooters always
have been stationed as a precau
tion on the roof of the White House,
now thcrcclcarlyarcmorcoflhcm.
Docs the United States have anti
missile missiles, like the Patriot,
stationed near the White House?
No one will say.
But former agent Vance said:
“If you’re going to protect the
president of the United States, you
would assume you would have the
latest technology to do it with. And
they do.”
Soviet foreign minister meets
President Bush this weekend
WASHINGTON - Soviet Foreign
Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh will
meet with President Bush this week
end as the administration nears a
decision on whether to postpone next
month’s summit meeting in Moscow,
U.S. officials said today.
Bush has “made it clear he has
really, really told Gorbachev in no
uncertain terms,” of his displeasure
about the military crackdown against
the breakaway republics, House
Republican leader Bob Michel said
today as GOP leaders left the While
House.
Michel said Bush indicated “he
has to look at it in a little bit the bigger
picture.”
‘‘He said we’re involved in a very
delicate relationship here,” Michel
said.
Meanwhile, sources said Bess
mertnykh will meet with Bush in
Washington this weekend. The new
Soviet foreign minister also will dis
cuss with Secretary of State James A.
Baker III a broad agenda that in
cludes the Soviet crackdown in the
Baltics and whether a treaty to curb
long-range nuclear missiles can be
concluded in time for the summit,
tentatively S( heduled for Feb. 11-13.
Washington: Prepare for losses
WASHINGTON - The war against
Iraq probably will last months, not
weeks, and will entail “enemy victo
ries" and allied losses before Saddam
Hussein is defeated, the White House
said Thursday in its first, tentative
predictions about the duration of the
conflict.
The somber appraisal was com
bined with a confident prediction that
“in the final analysis, we will pre
vail.”
Eight days into the war, Republi
can leaders of Congress were briefed
on the fighting by President Bush and
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.
“It’s not going to be a short war,”
said House Republican Leader Bob
Michel of Illinois. “We’re not going
to be rushing into a land war while the
air strikes still have much to accom
plish.”
Rep. Newt Gingrich, the GOP
House whip from Georgia, said Sad
dam was “a very, very dangerous
opponent” and that “all of us ought to
understand that this is still a long,
difficult undertaking.”
Even so, Gingrich said Saddam is
“going to get his bull kicked.”
“There are going to be enemy vic
tories, there are going to be enemy
surprises, days when we sec allied
losses,” presidential press secretary
Marlin Fitzwater said.
“We need to get into a frame of
mind that allows us to accept those
reverses and surges and still keep
track of the main thrust and our con
viction that we will win, that we arc
being successful at this point,” Fitzwa
ter said.
With Iraqi forces hunkered down
and refusing to come out fighting,
allied casualties have been kept low.
Thatcduld change dramatically if the
war moves from the air to a fierce
battle on the ground between infan
try, armored and artillery forces.
“W'e would prefer not to talk in
terms of days or weeks but months
because we think the people need to
be prepared for the idea that this is not
a short war,” Fitzwater said. “But we
don’t know how long it’s going to
last.”
In other developments:
•The Army said it was calling 8,478
more reservists and National Guard
members to active duty from units in
22 states, Puerto Rico and the District
of Columbia. More than 190,000 have
been called up since U.S. troops were
sent to the gulf last August.
•The Senate voted 99-0 in favor of
lax relief for troops in the gulf. The
measure, already approved by the
House, allows the troops to delay
filing their 1990 tax returns until they
have been out of the combat zone for
six months.
•Agriculture Secretary Clayton
Yeutter, Bush’s choice to become
chairman of the Republican National
Committee, created a uproar when he
suggested Democrats who opposed
authorizing use of force in the gulf
would suffer politically.
Bush ignored reporters’ questions
about Yeutter’s remarks, and Yeutter
himself said, “You need a little more
precision on what Mr. Yeutter said.”
House Speaker Thomas Foley of
Washington, who had opposed the
war resolution, said Ycutter’s “judg
ment has deserted him.” He said, “To
try to raise a political scare tactic out
of that is, I think, unwise.”
Fitzwater said, “We don’t believe
the gulf conflict is a partisan issue.
On the other hand, it will be noted.
I’m sure, that there was a certain
partisanship” to the way votes were
cast.
Bush, in his meeting with Republi
cans, called the gulf war “the No. 1
issue of the day.”
Saddam focus of allied hatred
IN SAUDI ARABIA - Unlike ear
lier wars, this one has no Jerries or
Charlies, no commies or cocaine kings.
For Operation Desert Storm, the en
emy is personified in a single hated
visage: Saddam Hussein.
For most U.S. troops, their war is
not about oil or ideals but rather a
lone megalomaniac. The heavily armed
Iraqis across a desert no man’s land
are viewed by many as reluctant vic
tims of their common nemesis.
The commander in chief, Presi
dent George Bush, calls it “the war
against Saddam.” In almost every
interview, servicemen echo his senti
ment, describing their foe in the sin
gular.
' “This is about Saddam,” said Chief
Warrant Officer Roy Lester of the
82nd Airborne Division. “It’s like
when you see a snake in the grass.
You kill it. The Iraqis are just follow
ing orders.”
Another paratrooper put it suc
cinctly: “We’re gonna kick his butt,
sir”
Focusing on Saddam fits into the
American penchant for identifying
foreign entanglements with a single
leader, as with Ayatollah Khomeini
in Iran, Moammar Gadhafi in Libya
and Manuel Noriega in Panama.
But the Iraqi despot is considered
in a class by himself, a symbol of evil
incarnate unmatched since Adolf Hitler
poisoned himself in a Berlin bunker
nearly 50 years ago.
Even seasoned analysts of world
affairs lay the blame for Iraq’s deadly
power play squarely at its leader’s
feet.
Saddam, in turn, has blamed the
war on the aggression of “the Satan
Bush.” Perhaps the residents of
Baghdad and the Iraqi troops, pounded
from above day after day by the U.S.
led forces, have the same single-minded
hatred for the U.S. president that
Americans are concentrating on Sad
dam.
Saddam is known as a man who
began as a teen-age assassin, a ruth
less and cunning opportunist who rose
to the top by murder and deceit.
As president of Iraq, he quietly
amassed chemical weapons and used
them not only on Iranians but also on
Iraqis, recalcitrant Kurds in the north
of his country.
He purified his officer corps with
summary executions. Last year, he
hanged as a spy a British journalist of
Iranian extraction.
In the Desert Storm rear echelons,
hostility toward Saddam has an edge
of black humor.
At Christmas time, the hot item
among U.S. information officers in
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, was a cheap
day-glo plastic bust of Saddam suit
able for smashing with a stick like a
Mexican pinata.
T-shirts and baseball caps proclaim
“Saddam Busters.” Caricatures of the
familiar mustachioed face decorate
headquarters walls.
NetSra&kan
Editor Eric Planner Assistant Photo Chief AlSchaben
.. 472-1766 Night News Editors Pat Dlnslage
A..J^.a0,n<!Fdl,or v,c,or1a Ayotte Clndv Woetrel
Assoc News Editors Jana Pedersen Professional Adviser Don Walton
Emily Rosembaum 473-7301
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