European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 20, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Key air bases conventional weapons plants chemical nuclear Bill biological warfare sunday january 20, 1991 in the Gulf the stars and stripes Page 3 Turkey a in Ciurlik a Mosul Syria Kirkuk @ Milf scale of Miles 200 Erbil. Samarra Baghdad Iran Egypt Karba Quot Hilla Quot. A a a an Najaf . Takes iraqi prisoners during operation against iraqi anti aircraft positions on Oil platforms. Rata i Kuwait Baghdad turns into a ghost town As residents hide or flee after More than 48 hours of missile and bombing attacks. Second scud missile attack hits Tel Aviv residential and Industrial areas Early saturday. . Jets attack Mobile scud missile launchers with six reported hits. Second front opens from nato air bases in Turkey. French fighter bombers again strike munitions dump near Kuwait City. It Qatar Wes floor Ter. . Consulate offers to arrange air travel for american citizens wanting to evacuate from Eastern saudi racing to find wily scud launchers by David Lauter and Karen Tumulty los Angeles times Washington in the skies Over Iraq a deadly Chase is being played out a race pitting americans highest technology a from spy satellites to laser guided bombs a against iraqi missile Crews desperate to stay alive and protect Saddam Hussein a most fearsome weapon. At stake Are the lives of Allied troops the safety of thousands of israeli civilians and the survival of the fragile but persistent Western Arab coalition that upholds the current War Effort. The Hunt for iraqis Mobile scud missile launchers a what president Bush Calls a the darn est search and de stroy Effort that a Ever been undertaken a is a was difficult As any military Mission there is a said David och Manek a leading . Military analyst. A suppose you were told to. Find three dozen trucks somewhere in the state of Wyoming and the owner of those trucks was determined to hide them. I think that gives you an idea of the difficulty a said Ochmanek a senior staff member Tif the Rand corp. The commander of Allied forces in the persian Gulf was typically Blunt in assessing the difficulty of the Mission. A finding the Mobile launchers is like finding a Needle in a Haystack a said Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf. But As difficult As the Mission is it is also essential. Unless an actual ground assault against iraqi troops begins the scuds a armed with conventional explosives or possibly deadly nerve Gas a Are the Only iraqi weapon that can pose a credible direct threat to american troops. A perhaps even More important for the future of the .-led Effort against Iraq the scuds a As Saddam demonstrated thursday and Friday nights a can be used against civilian targets in Israel. . Experts and analysts disagree Over whether the iraqis Are Able to Load a chemical warhead onto a scud and fire it the roughly 300 Miles Between Western Iraq and Israel. A Over the next few Days i have Confidence that the United states can find these missiles and destroy them a said Jeffrey Shaffer a military analyst at the Washington based Center for International and strategic studies. A it s a matter of racing the the . Entries in that race Are some of the country a most sophisticated weapons a f-15, t-16 and f-111 fighter bombers loaded with Cluster bombs a As Well As sensitive radars observation satellites communications spy satellites and infrared sensors according to military officials and defense Industry experts. Their Quarry soviet made launch vehicles designed specifically for the 5u0 to 800 scud missiles believed to be in Iraq s inventory Are essentially specialized trucks about the size of a semitrailer Reg t he vehicles can be driven along highways at 20 to 30 Mph and hidden in aircraft hangers Small factories warehouses even under Highway Bridges or among Trees on Date Palm plantations. . Officials said at least 11 Mobile launchers have been destroyed so far. In briefings analysts said Iraq was believed to have 30 to 40 launchers when the War began. In the past however some analysts had estimated that Iraq possessed As Many As 70 launchers. All of those under attack were in what the Pentagon Calls the a Kuwait theater of operations a Kuwait acid. Southern Iraq Schwarzkopf said at a briefing in riyadh., Mobile missiles in Western Iraq a the ones used to attack Israel a apparently were not tracked Down by Friday evening. The race to track and destroy Mobile missile launchers often comes Down to a minutes said John Pike a weapons expert at the federation of american scientists. Once the fiery plume of a missile lifting off its platform announces the position of a launcher even a Well trained iraqi Crew would need about 15 minutes to dismantle its Rig and drive to a new that time . Planes based in saudi Arabia flying at speeds of 1,000 Mph could easily be on top of a target in or around Kuwait Pike said. A fall its going to take a he said Quot is a truck with a Low Battery having trouble starting and a
