European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a the stars and stripes saturday february 16,1991 War in the Gulf aiming to take a bite out of the enemy a . A-10 tank killer flies through the saudi arabian sky on a sortie against iraqi vehicles in close support of ground troops. This one is especially painted with j tanks on thursday. The plane is equipped to Knock out tanks and other armoured jaw around its 30mm seven barrel Gatling  Calls Tow a reliable system shark s by Rob Jagodzinski Middle East Bureau Northern saudi Arabia army anti tank missile gunners fresh from a live fire exercise in the saudi de sort Are voicing Faith that their weapons can kill iraqi Armor if the need arises. A a it a a reliable system a said staff sgt. George Kaiser a 2nd army Cav regt Soldier who had just fired his Tow anti tank missile and scored a direct hit on a junked truck nearly two Miles away. Tow is an acronym for tube launched optically sighted wire guided missile. A gunner fires the weapon from a Short Large diameter tube and can Correct its path in flight. The High explosive warhead is designed to destroy the heaviest Armor on the Modem Battlefield. The regiment fired the missiles off its m2a2 Bradley personnel carriers last allies Are Nicosia Cyprus apr Allied warplanes have systematically bombe4 several of Saddam Hussein a palaces in what some analysts say May be an Aerial Hunt for the iraqi president. Kurdish guerrilla officials who have Good intelligent be reports from Northern Iraq have said that . Aircraft destroyed the enies Hucy and scr eng palaces in the Amaliya Region Jan. 25 and the sure rash Palace in Erbil four Days later. The officials of the Kurdistan democratic party who spoke on condition of anonymity also reported an unsuccessful raid on a Palace in the residential Al Aruba District of Mosul on Jan. 26. Saddam a heavily guarded Baghdad Palace along the week for the first time since receiving the vehicles in december. Anti tank gunners fire very few of the missiles per year As one warhead costs several thousand dollars. A a a a a a a a in seven years in be fired about two dozen High explosive rounds and about three quarters of them have hit the target a said staff sgt. George Kaiser 35, of Hayward wis., a gunner with he troop of the regiments 2nd so. A if you keep the crosshair on the Center of the target the missile will hit. Its simple to  however three gunners out of six missed their targets during the Quot firing practice. A the missile i fired grounded itself less than Halfway to the target said sgt. Rick Bull 28, a he troop Soldier from Corpus Christi Texas. A the system failed. The engine did no to fire properly and it went Down into the  spec. Dan Talbot a gunner from 3rd Sqq she troop said his missile also struck the ground before reaching the target. A i was tracking the target too Low and i think the wind caught it and grounded it. In a going to keep the crosshair higher on the target next time a said Talbot 20, from Boston. A a it a harder to estimate ranges Here than in Germany where you can judge distance by using terrain features or Trees. Plus in Germany you can look at a map and figure out your position and your target s  the desert offers few landmarks to help gauge a targets distance. Therefore gunners must judge ranges by the size a target appears in their sight a skill acquired Only through experience. A one of the biggest mistakes a new gunner makes is trying to Fly the missile by tracking the warhead instead of steadying the sights on the target noted maj. De Rouse a 2nd so staff officer. Rouse 35, from North Chatham n.y., said that while soldiers Seldom fire live High explosive Tow rounds in Germany they often use a computer simulator there to maintain their skills. The simulator works much like a video game and duplicates the live firing process. Rouse said that in addition to my Abrams tanks the cavalry relies heavily on Tow missile launchers atop Bradley to kill enemy tanks or personnel carriers. He said the launchers a give the scouts a weapon that they can use to fire at enemy Armor from a Good distance off. With out exposing themselves to close in hostile fire. Rob Jagodzinski Oltha stars and strips is a Pentagon Madia Pool reporter for Saddam analysts say Saddam a Security is so tight that even close aides such As foreign minister Tariq Aziz have trouble locating him. A a a. To find Saddam a Gaziz must find Udai Saddam a son who in turn relays the messages to his father in whichever Bunker he May be then Aziz is contacted a Jabra said. . Officials deny the allies Are trying to kill Saddam but say they Are hitting his command bunkers in Baghdad. But a London newspaper reported Friday that . Commanders bombed a civilian occupied Baghdad Bunker wednesday because they believed it was sheltering key iraqi military officers a not a command and control Center As they have claimed. Offensive began Jan. 17. Kurdish and other iraqi exile sources As Well As diplomats in Baghdad said Saddam is constantly on the move in and around the capital flitting from one Bunker to another during the relentless bombardments. Saad Jabra of the anti Saddam new umma party said the Story by the Independent is based on the comments of a senior . Military official in Riyadh saudi Arabia who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon however denied the report. Some analysts believe the americans Are going for targets where they believe they can kill the elusive iraqi Leader but done to spell that out for fear of undermining the morality of their Campaign to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. A. A. A. A a a a clearly cutting off the head Saddam and his clique is a military objective a Middle East military analyst Hans Heino Kopietz said in a Telephone interview. A t Don kenyan analyst with London a International Institute for strategic studies said a i doubt that killing Saddam is part of the operational plan As such. But they obviously Hope they might got Lucky. There would certainly be no concern Felt if Saddam was to become a  the War. Air Force it. Gen. Michael j. Dugan was sacked for publicly talking of a a decapitating the iraqi leadership and spelling out what targets would be hit when the air offensive was launched�?-1�? the pattern of the. Bombardment seems to have closely followed Dugans scenario. A Ltd nailing Saddam is not easy. Sources it Baghdad say that since his troops invaded Kuwait Saddam has intensified his Security. He reportedly moves around with hundreds of handpicked bodyguards drawn from his intelligence and internal Security agencies