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Pentagon says Baghdad attack timed to minimize casualties

By CHARLES DOE

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. cruise missile attack on the Baghdad headquarters of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's intelligence service was precisely timed to minimize casualties, even of those within the target complex, the Pentagon said Sunday.

The Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Lt. Gen. Jack Sheehan, said the 1,000-pound missile warheads slammed into their targets and detonated within a single five-minute period in the dead of night.

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'All the missiles, in sequence, were scheduled to arrive in Baghdad between (2:00 a.m.) local Baghdad time, and (2:05 a.m.),' he said, 'This time was specifically picked...to minimize casualties in terms of the people who were operating in the area.'

The joint staff's Director of Intelligence, Rear Adm. Michael Cramer said the main target was a specific building wing used by the leadership of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, which President Clinton said attempted to assassinate former President George Bush during his visit to Kuwait last April. The attack was in retaliation for that attempt.

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'There was near complete destruction of the wing where the director and the leadership of the Iraqi Intelligence Service offices are located,' Cramer said,'There was very severe damage to the administrative...auxiliary and support offices adjacent.'

'Overall,' he said, 'we assess that the Iraqi Intelligence Service, certainly at least in terms of its headquarters building, has been dealt a debilitating blow.'

At least seven of the 23 missiles fired in the attack, and possibly more, hit the 'leadership wing' of Iraqi intelligence, Cramer said. An exact count is impossible because some of the missiles exploded in the same place.

At least four additional missiles hit other targets including computer and communications centers.

Four more missiles missed their intended targets but still landed within the walled and guarded Iraqi intelligence compound.

Three missiles, however, landed in residential areas outside the target compound, the JCS intelligence director acknowledged. 'There was regrettably some collateral damage,' he said. Iraq has reported that eight people were killed in the attack.

'I think it's fair to say,' Cramer said, 'that like every major intelligence facility, watch centers...are manned; security people are there; cleaning people are there. The numbers, however, are minimum during that period, and that's one of the reasons that it was selected.'

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The retaliatory cruise missile attack was launched Saturday from the guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville in the Persian Gulf and the destroyer USS Peterson in the Red Sea.

Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have stubby wings and fly like an airplane after launch, find their way to their target by comparing the ground below to information stored on an onboard computer. It includes the features of the target to be attacked.

Operations Director Sheehan said the missiles' speed was set to ensure that they all arrived in the target area at almost exactly the same time.

'The weapon system...has a lot of variables you can adjust, to include time on target,' he said, 'Its guidance package and motor systems correct themselves so you can program a time of arrival. That's how the systems were adjusted.'

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