WASHINGTON -- The United States, seeking to reduce casualties in air
attacks on Iraq, has ordered Air Force fighter-jets to drop bombs filled
with concrete rather than explosives. The move came as reports continued to surface of Saddam's interest in rapprochement with the U.S.
The Pentagon said the concrete bombs have been used against military
targets near residential neighborhoods in northern Iraq. The concrete bombs,
officials said, destroy their targets but lack the blast of regular
munitions. The bombs have been used in northern Iraq but not in the south.
In Iraq, the Babel daily, operated by Saddam's eldest son, Uday, said in an
editorial that the regime has seen a "clear change and
leniency, with a potential for development, in the American position towards
Iraq ... because of American belief that not all
of Iraq, leadership and people, should be punished."
The newspaper said on Saturday that reconciliation would take time.
The use of the concrete bombs stems from what Pentagon officials said is
President Saddam Hussein's policy to deploy air defense systems near
civilian populations.
"It is another capability, and one that has been used and will stay in
our inventory for the future," said Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff at a Thursday briefing.
On Sunday, the British Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that Iraq
paid Russian companies $300,000 for 70 satellite photographs of the Gulf and
and its neighbors as part of Baghdad's drive to improve the accuracy of its
missiles.
Western diplomatic sources said Iraq might be seeking to strike Israeli
and U.S. targets in its program to increase the accuracy of its ballistic
missiles. U.S. officials, however, said they did not know of Baghdad
possessing any more than two dozens missiles at most that can strike Israel.
The newspaper said Russian companies are negotiating with Baghdad to
improve Iraqi missiles.
On Friday, Arab newspapers reported that Iraq has denied that it sent a
message to President Bill Clinton that offered a ceasefire and a dialogue
for reconciliation. The Iraqi denial came after the United States said it
was not interested in Baghdad's initiative, being relayed by Jordan's King
Abdullah.
In an unrelated development, the U.S. Air Force on Thursday launched a
Global Positioning System satellite, the 30th such facility placed in orbit
over the past decade.
GPS is managed through a constellation of 24 satellites, a ground
control system, and thousands of terminals, to help locate and guide
military and civilian users in the air, at sea, and on the ground.
Officials said another 17 GPS satellites will be launched aboard the
Delta booster. Starting in 2002, the satellites will be launched on the
Boeing Delta IV under the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle
program. Last year, Boeing was awarded 19 of 28 EELV launches in a contract
valued at $1.38 billion.
