Major Questions Emerging About the War

Here are some of the major questions that have developed during the first week of the Gulf War:

Question. What has happened to the Iraqi air force?

Answer. It is largely intact, its aircraft protected in reinforced shelters. Military experts believe that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may be conserving his air power for an attack on U.S. troops once a ground war begins. U.S. Maj. Gen. Burton Moore said Monday that in more than 8,000 sorties flown by the allies since the outbreak of the war, allied forces have shot down only 17 Iraqi planes. Officials have provided no firm estimates of Iraqi aircraft believed destroyed on the ground. Iraq has an estimated 700 combat aircraft, although many are older planes that are not considered matches technologically for the allied fighters. The allies have lost 16 aircraft in combat--all to ground fire and surface-to-air missiles--since the war began.

Q. How close are the allies to launching a ground attack on Iraqi positions in Kuwait?

A. That isn’t precisely known. According to military experts, before the United States and its Arab allies begin a ground assault on entrenched Iraqi troops in Kuwait, allied aircraft still must take out Iraqi roads, supply depots, communications links, missiles and anti-aircraft batteries. “At the present time, I would say there are probably (in Kuwait and Iraq) some of the most formidable defenses that you could ever run into anywhere,” said Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf II, U.S. field commander in the Persian Gulf. Top military officials believe that President Bush will be content to wear down the Iraqis with continuing air attacks before mounting a costly and bloody ground invasion of Kuwait. But they won’t give any specifics on U.S. plans, mainly because of military security reasons.

Q. What has become of the Republican Guard, Hussein’s elite fighting force?

A. The U.S. military hasn’t said. Although initial television reports indicated that allied bombing raids had decimated the ranks of the Republican Guard, Iraq’s crack fighting force, allied military officials have cautioned that the Guard remains potent and dangerous. The Guard, eight divisions, each with about 14,000 troops, is dug into entrenched positions well behind the front lines. Destruction of the Guard is believed to be a key to avoiding or winning a ground war because the troops are the most highly motivated, best educated and best equipped in the Iraqi army. The Guard’s three armored divisions field many of Iraq’s best battle tanks, the Soviet-built T-72s, considered a match for American M-1A1 tanks. But the Pentagon won’t release details for fear of tipping the Iraqis on U.S. intelligence capability.

Q. Are there any continuing diplomatic efforts to end the war?

A. No one has said for sure. Bush has asserted that there will be no lull in allied bombing until Hussein orders his troops to lay down their arms. Iran said Monday that nonaligned nations, including India, Yugoslavia and Algeria, would launch a peace initiative although it provided no details. In recent days Egypt has dispatched top government officials both to Syria, one of Arab states that is battling Iraq in the U.S.-led coalition, and to Libya, which in the past has supported Hussein. A leading government-owned newspaper in Egypt reported that Egyptian President Hosni Murbarak may seek a cease-fire in the six-day-old war to permit Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. However, a spokesman for the Egyptian mission at the United Nations denied the report. Iraq, meanwhile, rejected a Soviet peace proposal, saying it should have been directed to the United States.

Q. How well prepared is the United States to provide medical treatment for U.S. soldiers who are wounded in the gulf region?

A. That’s a subject of debate. The 13,200 doctors at the nation’s 172 veterans’ medical centers say they are bracing for the onslaught of casualties that would be sure to accompany a ground war in the gulf. Contingency plans call for clearing 9,000 beds in 24 hours, 17,000 in 72 hours and 25,000 in a month. Education programs are under way to emphasize treatment of chemical casualties, combat stress and infectious diseases peculiar to the Middle East. However, Rich Heilman of the 1.1-million-member Disabled American Veterans, says VA hospitals will have trouble caring for large numbers of wounded. “They’ve been hard-pressed for a number of years,” Heilman said.

Q. What is the condition of the prisoners of war that Iraq has in its custody?

A. Iraq claims to have seized more than 20 allied airmen and has said it will scatter them among “civilian, economic, education and other targets” to act as “human shields” against further allied bombing. Seven men described by Iraq as POWS appeared on Iraqi television, some showing apparent signs of fatigue or injury. The group included three Americans and two Britons. Several made statements condemning the allied bombing of Iraq. The United States, Britain and Italy denounced Iraq’s treatment of the captured. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said Iraq’s treatment of the prisoners is a “clear violation” of the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war, and he accused Iraq of committing a war crime. The International Committee of the Red Cross, responsible for monitoring the Geneva accords, also said it believes Iraq has violated the conventions.