U.S. Jets Drop Surrender Leaflets, Bomb Southern Iraq

[southerngale]

US Jets Drop Surrender Leaflets, Bomb Southern Iraq
Wednesday, March 19, 2003; 2:23 PM



By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes dropped two million leaflets on southern Iraq on Wednesday telling Iraqi troops exactly how to surrender "to avoid destruction" in the path of a looming invasion, the U.S. military said.

With tens of thousands of American and British troops massed in Kuwait for an expected thrust into Iraq, U.S. Navy jets also bombed military command sites in a southern Iraq "no-fly" zone in response to anti-aircraft fire, a U.S. Navy admiral said.

Rear Adm. John Kelly said the latest of dozens of such recent strikes in no-fly zones of northern and southern Iraq were in response to attempts on Tuesday to shoot down U.S. and British aircraft.

Nearly two million leaflets were also dropped on 29 military and civilian sites in the south, many warning Iraqi civilians to stay away from military targets and providing exact steps for Iraq's forces to surrender without a fight in any invasion, a U.S. announcement from the region said.

The Pentagon wants Iraqi troops in the south to stand aside when U.S.-led forces are expected to advance northward from Kuwait toward the oil fields around Basra en route to Baghdad.

"To avoid destruction," the leaflets advised, Iraqi soldiers should abandon their tanks and vehicles and gather in unarmed groups at least a half-mile away.

White flags must be displayed on vehicles and only officers may retain pistols or other sidearms, the notes advised. Artillery and air defense systems must be parked in travel formation and no shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles can be displayed.

"Do not approach coalition forces. Wait for further instructions," the leaflets said.

SOME IRAQI TROOPS SURRENDER

The Kuwait News Agency said on Wednesday that 16 Iraqi soldiers had given themselves up to U.S.-led forces in northern Kuwait. It provided no further details.

The leaflet drops brought to more than 17 million the number of leaflets scattered in recent months.

President Bush said in a televised address on Monday night that Saddam and his sons had to get out of Iraq by 8 p.m. EST (0100 GMT on Thursday) or the United States would strike at a time of its own choosing. Saddam spurned the warning on Tuesday.

As the bombs and leaflets again fell on Iraq, more than 280,000 U.S. and British troops along with dozens of missile-carrying warships and up to 1,000 aircraft were arrayed in the Gulf region facing Iraq.

Of those, nearly 175,000 American and British troops were in northern Kuwait awaiting any order to sweep northward into Iraq to depose Saddam and rid the country of what Washington charges are huge stockpiles of deadly chemical and biological weapons. Iraq denies that charge.

Large numbers of those forces in Kuwait on Wednesday morning moved into the demilitarized zone that straddles the Iraq-Kuwait border. The zone extends 3 miles into Kuwait and 6 miles into Iraq.

U.S. defense officials and private analysts say one of the first objectives of an invasion would be to overwhelm regular army units and take Basra, about 40 miles from the Kuwait border.

Basra is 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Wednesday's military announcement said that some of the newly dropped messages stressed that U.S.-led forces did not wish to harm innocent Iraqis. One message informed Iraqi citizens they could be the victims if Saddam used chemical weapons. Another told the Iraqi military to refrain from using weapons of mass destruction or burning oil fields.

"We are also continuing to broadcast radio messages to the region," said a Pentagon official, referring to broadcasts from C-130 military Special Operations aircraft.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54002-2003Mar19.html

[chadtm80]

I hope they listen..... Unfortunatly it may be there only chance to live : (

[bfez1]

I hope they surrender cause if they don't, bye bye!!!

[wannabehippie]

it is also possible that some may want to surrender but are unable to.

from what i understand Iraq has secret police throughout its armed forces much like the soviets had KGB agents placed.

these agents are there because of their known loyalty to sadaam and threaten the families of any soliders that surrender.

peace
david