KUWAIT: BRITISH GENERAL OF THE COALITION FORCE SAYS KEY TO WAR AIMED AT TOPPLING SADDAM HUSSEIN LIES AT THE EUPHRATES RIVER

Record ID: 647775

  • Title: KUWAIT: BRITISH GENERAL OF THE COALITION FORCE SAYS KEY TO WAR AIMED AT TOPPLING SADDAM HUSSEIN LIES AT THE EUPHRATES RIVER
  • Date: 13th April 2003
  • Summary: (EU) NORTHERN KUWAIT (MARCH 21, 2003) (REUTERS) MV INTERVIEW WITH BRITISH MAJOR GENERAL ALBERT WHITLEY, DEPUTY COMMANDER OF THE U.S.-BRITISH LAND FORCES; SCU IRAQ MAP (2 SHOTS) SOUNDBITE (English) BRITISH MAJOR GENERAL ALBERT WHITLEY, DEPUTY COMMANDER OF THE U.S.-BRITISH LAND FORCES, SAYING: "The start has gone very well indeed, we are well into Iraq, I understand since I have left the headquarters, Umm Qasr, at least the town if not the port, but I hope the port very soon, has been taken. Five Corps are advancing north towards the Euphrates. The Marine division, First Marine division of the U.S. Marines are well up within the Ramayah oil fields, and there is in practical terms only a small number of the oil wells having been damaged, very small number, thirty, out of a total of seventeen hundred." SCU MAP OF BASRA SOUNDBITE (English) WHITLEY SAYING: "If you mean an orchestrated railway timetable of a plan, then yes, it has changed but it has always been built in a way that we would take the challenge of grasping opportunities when they arouse. He reacted, he reacted in a way that we had forcing and laid plans against and we have taken advantage of those plans." SCU MAP WITH IRAQ WRITTEN IN BIG, BLACK, CAPITAL LETTERS; SCU MAP OF BASRA SOUNDBITE (English) WHITLEY SAYING: "I think at the moment the importance is to get to Baghdad to prevent Saddam's ability to affect any form of command and control particularly over weapons of mass destruction and so I think that Baghdad is the focal point." SCU MAP SOUNDBITE (English) WHITLEY SAYING: "No we don't think he has used them so far (weapons of of mass destruction), but I spent most of last night in my full kit, in a gas mask, in a bunker. Do I believe he has got them? Yes I do. Do I believe he is going to use them? Yes I do." SCU UMM QASR ON MAP TILT UP SOUNDBITE (English) WHITLEY SAYING: "There have been reports of unrest , uprising against the regimes to a limited extent at the moment , that's perhaps not very surprising in terms of the way things panned out in the last Gulf war, and we've got lots of reports of people anchoring down, quite tense, staying out of the way, waiting to see the way things progress." SCU MAP OF EUPHRATES RIVER SCU WHITLEY AUDIO JOURNALIST ASKING: "What's the next potentially trickiest stage as you move forward?" SOUNDBITE (English) WHITLEY SAYING: "I would have thought it was crossing the Euphrates river, after that it's Baghdad." MV WHITLEY AND COLLEAGUES LEAVING ROOM DOOR SHIUTTING
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, NORTHERN KUWAIT
  • Country: Kuwait
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAEGM6YVZRGRSDOX36C3ZUOJT0Y
  • Story Text: A key British General of the Allied Forces has said the key to the war aimed at toppling Saddam Hussein lies at the Euphrates river.
    British Major General Albert Whitley, deputy commander of the U.S.-British land forces, has said on Friday (March 21, 2003) that crossing the Euphrates was the next big challenge for allied troops in their drive towards the Iraqi capital.
    "The start has gone very well indeed, we are well into Iraq, I understand since I have left the headquarters, Umm Qasr, at least the town if not the port, but I hope the port very soon, has been taken. Five Corps are advancing north towards the Euphrates. The Marine division, First Marine division of the U.S. Marines are well up within the Ramayah oil fields, and there is in practical terms only a small number of the oil wells having been damaged, very small number, thirty, out of a total of seventeen hundred," Whitley said.
    "If you mean an orchestrated railway timetable of a plan, then yes, it has changed but it has always been built in a way that we would take the challenge of grasping opportunities when they arouse. He reacted, he reacted in a way that we had forcing and laid plans against and we have taken advantage of those plans," he added.
    "I think at the moment the importance is to get to Baghdad to prevent Saddam's ability to affect any form of command and control particularly over weapons of mass destruction and so I think that Baghdad is the focal point,"
    he added.
    When asked about the next moves the allied troops were planning to stage, Major General Albert Whitley said: "I would have thought it was crossing the Euphrates river, after that it's Baghdad."
    Resistance from Iraqi troops halted U.S. forces advancing through southern Iraq on Friday near Nassiriya, a main crossing point over the Euphrates river.
    Other elements of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division had earlier advanced at least 150 km (90 miles) into Iraq from Kuwait, speeding north towards Baghdad, spearheading a land war aimed at ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and disarming Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction.
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