[ INVASION: IRAQ ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Soldiers from the U.S. Army 3rd Battalion 15th Infantry aimed toward Iraq today while atop the last Kuwaiti berm before the border.
A Marine commander U.S. warplanes unleashed a second wave of Baghdad bombing today, moving from precision strikes to a wider attack. The ground war began with U.S. infantrymen cheering as howitzers boomed scores of artillery shells at Iraqi troops.
says oil wells torched
Star-Bulletin news services
A series of heavy detonations and a contant crackle of anti-aircraft fire echoed across Baghdad, a contrast with the targeted strike that began the war a day earlier.
The ground war began about an hour after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld promised: "The days of the Saddam Hussein regime are numbered."
Two dozen overnight bombing missions targeted military installations and communications facilities in Iraq -- attacks meant to "clear a path" for ground troops and further air strikes, said Rear Adm. Barry Costello, commander of the USS Constellation.
Near the Kuwait border, white light glowed in the sky as more than 100 artillery shells were fired in the direction of southern Iraq. Explosions inside Iraq were audible, and no fire was returned.
The official Kuwaiti News Agency said U.S. and British troops seized the Iraqi border town of Umm Qasr, the only major sea port for goods to enter Iraq. It is 30 miles south of the key city of Basra, which U.S. military sources say will be a first target for invading forces.
The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division's artillery opened fire hours after an American airstrike started the hostilities. Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, the division commander, had said the artillery barrage would signal the first phase of the ground war against Iraq.
Infantrymen who were between the howitzers and the Iraqi border cheered as the shells screamed overhead.
An American-led invasion force includes 300,000 troops.
Rumsfeld said the United States had hit a senior Iraqi leadership position in Baghdad during its initial strikes. He offered no details, saying a damage assessment was pending.
Iraq responded within hours to the initial U.S. air attack, firing as many as a dozen missiles today toward American troops positioned just across its border with Kuwait. American and British soldiers in the region briefly donned gas masks or protective suits, but officers later said the missiles apparently were not armed with chemical or biological weapons.
None of the Iraqi missiles caused injuries or damage, and one was intercepted by a Patriot missile, according to U.S. officers.
Orange flames were visible in the direction of the southern Iraqi oil center of Basra. A Marine battalion commander in Kuwait said "three oil wells have been torched" in Iraq.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
British Royal Air Force personnel waited in a bunker with their full nuclear, chemical and biological kits at a base in Kuwait after Iraqis fired missiles near them.
Rumsfeld said he had heard similar reports of the Saddam regime setting fire to oil wells. "Needless to say, it is a crime for that regime to be destroying the riches of the Iraqi people," he said.
The U.S. launched its long-awaited war against Saddam last night, targeting him personally with a barrage of cruise missiles and bombs.
That opening salvo was not the expected all-out aerial bombardment, but a surgical strike seeking to eliminate the Iraqi leader and his inner circle even before an invasion.
The initial salvos consisted of 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from Navy ships in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, as well as precision-guided 2,000-pound bombs dropped from two F-117A Nighthawk stealth jets.
About two hours after the cruise missiles hit, a subdued Saddam addressed his country on television.
"We promise you that Iraq, its leadership and its people will stand up to the evil invaders," he said. "They will face a bitter defeat, God willing."
But was it Saddam speaking, or one of his doubles? "There's debate about that," Rumsfeld said.
Hundreds of armed members of Saddam's Baath party and security forces took up positions in Baghdad after the attack.
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said the U.S. strikes killed one person and hit a customs office and some empty Iraqi TV buildings, among other targets.
Fourteen people were treated at local hospitals, but none appeared linked to Saddam, Iraqi doctors said. The wounded reportedly included six members of a suburban Baghdad family who were eating breakfast and were hit by shrapnel, and an Iraqi television journalist.
The International Red Cross today confirmed one death and 14 wounded in the initial attacks.
The State Department warned U.S. citizens abroad that they face increased danger of retaliatory terrorist actions and anti-American violence. The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan was shut down because of security concerns.
President Bush briefly addressed the nation after the initial air strikes to announce that the war had begun. "I assure you, this will not be a campaign of half measures, and we will accept no outcome but victory," the president said.
Across the United States, authorities intensified security measures, hoping to shield power plants, bridges and other facilities against possible retaliatory strikes. In New York City, police prowled streets with bomb-sniffing dogs, submachine guns and radiation detectors.
A second round of U.S.-led air attacks was launched tonight night against Baghdad, but U.S. military officials said the assault was not the beginning of the massive air campaign the Pentagon has planned.
The air attacks were sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles fired at Special Republican Guard strongholds in Baghdad, according to two senior defense officials in Washington who had direct knowledge of the operation and who asked not to be identified.
Two of the officials said Thursday's strikes involved a smaller number of Tomahawks than the opening volley a day earlier.
The latest attack included Tomahawk cruise missiles fired by British ships as well as American ships, one official said.
Meanwhile, F-14 and F-18 jets took off from the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the eastern Mediterranean, armed with missiles and bombs.
U.S. and British troops massed in northern Kuwait welcomed news of the first strikes in the war that the United States calls Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"It's about time," said Lance Cpl. Chad Borgmann, 23, of Sidney, Neb., a member of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. "We've been here a month and a week. We're ready to go."
Hours before opening the ground war, U.S. troops got their first real scare today when Iraqi missiles streaked across the border into Kuwait, forcing Americans in the desert to climb into protective suits and put on gas masks.
"Gas, gas, gas!" came a muffled cry, barely audible inside an armored vehicle of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit at one camp.
The Marines inside slapped on masks and waited, some sipping water through tubes connecting their masks to their canteens. An "all clear" came, but a half-hour later another "gas, gas, gas" warning rang across the camp.
Later in the day, as the sun set, the Marines could hear the sustained sounds of bombs or artillery shells exploding across the border in southern Iraq.
Elsewhere in the Kuwaiti desert, soldiers heard powerful explosions near Highway 8, the road that runs from Kuwait City to the Iraqi port of Basra.
Soon after, the howitzers and rocket launchers of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division began bombarding targets in southern Iraq. More than 100 shells were fired in one five-minute barrage. There was no return fire from Iraqi troops.
U.S. Army troops at Camp New Jersey put on their chemical and biological protective gear in response to an alert caused by one of the missiles, but were given the all-clear a few minutes later.
Marines of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force near the Iraqi border were on the highest alert level and were ordered into bunkers three times during the morning.
The Marines dropped food trays and ran out of showers to hastily don gas masks and protective gear. Inside one bunker, Marines traded jokes. "Did anybody take out insurance?" cracked one, hidden by his mask.
At another position in the desert along the Iraqi border, the soldiers of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment were eating lunch when an Iraqi missile hit the desert.
Within a minute, a message came across the radio, reporting that a tactical ballistic missile had landed in the desert near U.S. troops. A few minutes later, all troops were ordered into protective clothing for chemical and biological warfare.
The men moved swiftly but calmly, systematically putting on their masks, then clothing.
The still desert heat raised anxieties, since gas or vapor from biological and chemical weapons lingers in little or no wind, causing more damage. In brisk wind, the gas or vapor disperses quickly.
The men were quiet, since shouting to be heard from inside a gas mask takes extra breath. They also were listening for more incoming missiles.
About 20 minutes later, the radio crackled, "All clear."
After removing his mask, the company commander, Capt. Chris Carter of Watkinsville, Ga., said: "Saddam is a fool."
