Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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U.S. troops set for major assault on Guard General might wait for Iraqi forces to weaken before striking BY MATT KELLEY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. troops are ready to launch a ma jor assault against Iraqi Republican Guard forces protect ing Baghdad, but the commanding general may wait for pressure to build on Saddam Hussein before striking, war planners said Sunday. “We have the power to be pa tient in this, and we’re not going to do anything before we’re ready,” said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We’ll just continue to draw the noose tighter and tighter.” Myers and Defense Secretary Donajd H. Rumsfeld said coalition ground forces were closing in on Baghdad from the south, west and north. The U.S. troops south of Baghdad were within 49 miles of the capital, Rumsfeld said, and re porters traveling with those units said several were on the move again Sunday. More significantly, Myers said days of relentless airstrikes had reduced some Republican Guard units to less than 50 percent of their prewar capacity. Armed re connaissance elements of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division also have fought with Republican Guard units, Myers said. U.S. war planners want to be sure the Republican Guard - the best trained and equipped of Iraq’s military - are significantly soft ened up before coalition troops meet them in ground fighting. During the 1991 Gulf War, for ex ample, U.S. ground forces didn’t attack until Republican Guard units had lost 50 percent to 60 per cent of their capacity. American commanders have a target percentage in mind for the degradation of the Republican Guard before launching the ground assault, a senior defense official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials will not discuss the goal to avoid revealing their strategy. Parts of the Army’s 82nd Airborne and other units moved into south-central Iraq over the weekend to help protect supply lines that have come under attack by Iraqi forces. Other U.S. fight ing units, including members of the 3rd Infantry Division, moved closer to the Republican Guard forces between them and Baghdad. The U.S. military has detected signs that reinforcements are be ing sent to some front-line Republican Guard units, while other Iraqi units are pulling back, closer to Baghdad, the senior offi cial said. A military official said coalition aircraft focused 60 percent of near ly 800 strike sorites Sunday on three Republican Guard divisions around Baghdad: The Hammurabi, to the north, west and south; the Medina, to the south; and the Baghdad, centered southwest of the capital around Kut. “I imagine their morale is a lit tle low right now because they’ve lost a lot of their force,” Myers said. “Their fighting capability is going down minute by minute, hour by hour. There’s not going to _ be much left to fight with.” Myers and Rumsfeld, making the rounds of the Sunday televi sion talk shows in Washington, would not say when the ground as sault on Baghdad would begin. Both predicted such fighting could be brutal. “It’s going to get more difficult as we move closer to Baghdad,” Rumsfeld said. “I would suspect that the most dangerous and diffi cult days are still ahead of us.” The attack on Baghdad, popu lation 5 million, might not be a siege of the city, Myers said, say ing the term “conjures up, some times, some really bad images.” “It will not be a sort of siege that people have thought about be fore,” Myers said. “We have plans for several different contingen cies.” Pentagon officials continued Sunday to raise the possibility that Iraq could use chemical weapons. “There is no doubt that they have chemical weapons, that they have weaponized them, they have them in artillery shells,” Myers said. “They probably have other means of delivery.” He cited the discovery by coali tion forces of protective gear and nerve agent antidotes left behind PHOTO BY S. THORNE HARPER/KRT CAMPUS Sgt. David Turner, wearing a bandana, talks with Pfc. Michael White at Tillil Airfield In Iraq on Monday. The toughest days might still be ahead for U.S. troops, the U.S. defense secretary said. by Iraqi military and paramili tary forces. Myers said the dis coveries indicate that Iraqi troops planned to wear the protective gear while using chemical weapons. Marines searching a compound used by Iraq’s 11th Infantry Division in the Euphrates River city of Nasiriyah on Saturday found more than 300 chemical pro tection suits and gas masks, U.S. Central Command reported. The Marines also found atropine in jectors - antidotes for nerve agents - and chemical decontamination vehicles and devices, Central Command said. Earlier last week in the same city, Marines found more than 3,000 chemical protection suits in a hospital used by Iraqi paramili tary forces as a base. , Also Saturday, British troops south of Basra found Iraqi train ing equipment for nuclear, bio logical and chemical warfare - in cluding a Geiger counter, nerve gas simulators, gas masks and pro tective suits, according to British press reports. Mysterious illness from Asia afflicts Canada’s largest city Disease possibly more contagious than thought, officials say BY TOM COHEN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TORONTO (AP) - A mystery illness with no known treat ment continued to spread through Asia and Canada on Sunday, killing three more peo ple and infecting many others as officials warned it may be more contagious than originally thought. Hong Kong health officials said 60 more people had fallen ill with a deadly flu-like disease, more than half of them in one apartment complex, pushing the number of infections worldwide past 1,600. Singapore’s health minister, Lim Hng Kiang, said the disease may spread more easily than first believed, with some people found to be more infectious than oth ers. Labeled as “super infectors,” they can infect as many as 40 oth ers, he said. “We run the risk of a huge new cluster of infected people, which could start a chain reac tion,” Lim told a news confer ence. The World Health Organization said severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, has killed at least 54 people world wide, with the majority of cases in Hong Kong and China. That fig ure does not include three more deaths reported Sunday, one each in Hong Kong, Toronto and Singapore. The International Ice Hockey Federation canceled the wom en’s world championships sched uled to begin Thursday in Beijing. , Authorities have declared a health emergency in Toronto, lo cated 50 miles from the U.S. bor der. U.S. health officials have re ported 62 cases in the United States. So far, four people have died from the illness in Toronto, the latest was reported Sunday. In ad dition, about 100 probable or sus pect cases have been reported. Officials have closed two hospi tals to new patients, and hun dreds of people have been quar antined in their homes. Another possible case turned up in New Brunswick on Canada’s east coast, officials said Sunday, meaning the illness that originated in Asia may now reach across Canada. The New Brunswick case involves a school principal who recently traveled to China. Other suspected cases are in Ottawa; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and on the west coast in Vancouver, British Columbia. The United States and Canada have advised people to avoid travel to afflicted areas in Asia, and the World Health Organization recommended that international travelers from Toronto and several Asian cities get screened for symptoms. Singapore said it would sta tion nurses at its airport to ex amine all travelers arriving from infected areas, while Canada planned to screen those travel ing abroad from Toronto, al though no system was in place Sunday. Most of the Toronto-area cases are health care workers at Scarborough Grace Hospital and ..l I » York Central Hospital who be came infected while treating ini tial victims, all of whom had traveled in Asia or had close con tact with other victims. The disease has caused a run on surgical masks in the city and slowed business by as much as 70 percent at Pacific Mall, a Chinese shopping mall in Toronto’s northern suburbs. Kevin Wong, a worker at a video store in the mall, said the public reaction seemed exces sive, but was understandable. Some merchants also were tak ing precautions, wearing pro tective masks even though no cases have been linked to the mall. “People are still coming to work but they’re coming in later and leaving early,” he said. “They don’t want to waste their time when there’s no one here.” U.S. health officials said Saturday that none of the antivi ral drugs and other treatment they have tested are effective against SARS. In Hong Kong where 13 people have died, Christians and Taoists held special services • Sunday to pray for an end to the epidemic. Most of the new cases re . ported Sunday came from Hong Kong’s Amoy Gardens apart ment complex, where a victim recently spread the disease, ac cording to a Health Department statement. Some frightened residents have moved out and medical teams have gone through the apartments to check for S ARS — while some minibus drivers won’t even stop there any more. In canceling the women’s hockey world championships, the international federation said the spread of the illness to Beijing from southern China put the players at risk. Players for Canada, the de fending champion, were disap pointed but understood. “You could lose your life go ing there and just being in con tact with somebody,” forward Danielle Goyette said. “Life is more important than hockey right now.” . .Mother NatUK Needs YourHelp... Become An Egg Donor! Southeastern Fertility Center has helped many couples achieve pregnancy since 1983. We are in need of Egg Donors to continue to help infertile women. 5 * We need young, healthy women between 21 - 31 • Procedures are done in Mt. Pleasant, SC • Requires only six weeks of your time ♦ Donors will be compensated $2000 for their time Egg Donation Program 843-856-1035 www.sefertility.com POLICE REPORT O'V ‘ ’5 i 'CALHOUN ST. I UT ~ \ | ~T ^ \ RICHLAND \ II |mlunkiT._|_JL I V . INI I S 2 BLANQING ST. i TATLOR ST. > g nTAYlORST. »\ HAMT° ST‘ | 3 ^ WASHINGTON ST. jjj § . ; 5 8 S § I : 2 II u_ . a These reports are taken directly from the USC Police Department Compiled by Wendy Jeffcoat Each number on the map stands for a crime corresponding with numbered descriptions in the list below. DAY CRIMES (6a.m.-6 p.m.) □ Violent O Nonviolent NIGHT CRIMES (6 p.m.-6a.m.) ■ Violent • Nonviolent CRIMES AT UNKNOWN HOURS E3 Violent © Nonviolent Thursday, March 27 ® SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY, ENGINEERING TECHNICAL FABRICATION FACILITY, 300 SUMTER ST. The complainant said someone has been driving a vehicle, possibly a four-wheel-drive vehicle, in the grassy area behind the building, causing dirt and mud to be kicked up onto the building and potentially damaging the air conditioning units in the back of the building. Tracks were found leading from the grassy area to the top of the hill. Reporting officer: D. W. Friels. ® LARCENY OF CALCULATOR, SWEARINGEN ENGINEERING CENTER, 315 MAIN ST. The victim said that when he fell asleep in the study hall, someone took a TI-82 calculator, a Sony CD player, a CD and a pair of headphones from his book bag. The victim said his name was engraved on the items. Estimated value: $118. Reporting officer: S. Alexander. ® MALICIOUS INJURY TO PERSONAL PROPERTY, BLOSSOM STREET GARAGE, 1300 BLOSSOM ST. The victim said someone scratched the driver’s side of his vehicle and broke off the driver’s-side mirror. No other damage was seen. Estimated damage: $400. Reporting officer: S. Alexander. DAY, male © AUTO BREAK-IN, LARCENY OF CDS, GRAVEL PARKING LOT, PICKENS AND WHEAT STREETS. The victim said someone broke out the right rear window of his vehicle and took 25 CDs and a CD case. Estimated value: $340. Reporting officer: D.W. Friels. © ILLEGAL USE OF TELEPHONE, PRESTON RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE, 1323 GREENEST. The victim said someone named “Matt” has called her several times after she asked him not to and calls her profane names. Reporting officer: T. Means. Friday, March 28 O VERBAL THREAT, EVENING SERVICES OFFICE, 601 SUMTER ST. The victim said Timothy Robinson threatened her by saying derogatory remarks; he also said that she needed to be careful because someone could hurt her because too many people were getting fired. Reporting officer: L. Davis. What are you doing this summer? Writers, copy editors, designers and photographers needed for the summer edition of The Gamecock.