General Gives Detailed, Upbeat Review of War : Assessment: He also says 75% of Iraq’s command, control, and communications facilities have been hit.

Operation Desert Storm’s commanding general Wednesday provided an upbeat and thoroughly detailed accounting of the first two weeks of war, saying allied forces have gained absolute command of the air and are engaged in a methodical destruction of Saddam Hussein’s military machine.

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf told reporters that the Iraqi air force has been effectively eliminated as a factor in the fighting to liberate Kuwait, with 29 Iraqi jets shot down in air-to-air combat. Also, allied jets have hit 38 key airfields, some as many as four times.

Iraq’s Republican Guards, the best of Hussein’s army, have been the targets of massive raids by B-52 bombers, Schwarzkopf said, adding that on Wednesday alone 28 B-52s dropped 470 tons of explosives on the elite troops’ positions inside Kuwait.

The general, illustrating his briefing with charts and dramatic combat videos, said all fixed Scud missile launchers have been knocked out.

He added that allied warplanes have hit 75% of Iraq’s command, control and communications facilities, forcing Hussein to resort to less effective and more easily targeted backup measures. Finally, he said, one-fourth of the nation’s electric generating facilities have been “rendered inoperative.”

In other developments Wednesday:

* Tehran Radio said an Iraqi warship, ablaze after being attacked by allied aircraft in the Persian Gulf, sought refuge in Iranian territorial waters. Three more Iraqi planes flew into Iran, with a pilot suffering injuries after he crash-landed on a road, the broadcast said.

* The U.S. Navy announced it had ordered 400 more Tomahawk sea-launched cruise missiles, weapons that commanders in the Gulf say “have struck hard” at Iraq’s potential nuclear, biological and chemical facilities.

* U.S. Marines disclosed they had retaken a second Kuwaiti island where they destroyed Iraqi anti-aircraft weapons and artillery.

* Jordan’s foreign minister accused the United States of violating the Geneva Convention by bombing civilian traffic near the Jordan-Iraq border, killing four Jordanians and one Egyptian.

The Briefing

In delivering his summary, Schwarzkopf said an Iraqi push into Saudi Arabia on Wednesday showed that the war is nowhere near finished, but he said that “the direction we’re heading in is going to lead to exactly the outcome that we all want to see.”

At the briefing, reporters were shown dramatic video footage of air attacks over Iraq, including the bombing of hardened aircraft shelters, bridges and mobile Scud launchers. Schwarzkopf said that after the destruction of the shelters, and the flight of about 90 Iraqi military and civilian aircraft to Iran, the allied forces held virtual air supremacy over all of Kuwait and most of Iraq.

“The simple fact of the matter is that now every time an Iraqi airplane takes off the ground, it’s running away,” Schwarzkopf said.

In one of the videos, allied jets were shown attacking Scud missile launchers, using what are known as “cluster bombs” to destroy some of the targets.

Asked about reports from refugees that such bombs--which spray smaller bombs in many directions--were being used on the road from Baghdad to the Jordanian border, Schwarzkopf said that he regretted civilian casualties, but that they are a byproduct of war.

“We have never said that there won’t be any civilian casualties,” he said. “What we said is, the difference between us and the Iraqis is we are not deliberately targeting civilians. And that’s the difference. There are going to be casualties. Unfortunately, that’s what happens when you have a war.”

Air Force Brig. Gen. Buster Glosson, who participated in the briefing, said the road was being bombed because the Iraqis were placing missiles in culverts alongside it.

During his briefing, Schwarzkopf described two incidents which he said served to show that the supplies of the Iraqis are fast-dwindling and that their ability to replenish had been all but eliminated. He said 33 of 36 targeted bridges had been hit with more than 790 sorties, virtually cutting off supply lines to the south.

“Two days ago, we observed a supply convoy backed up for 15 miles on the road from Baghdad to Basra,” he said. “It was backed up on the north side of the road right near the bridge that we had knocked out. Obviously, we attacked that convoy and we observed countless secondary explosions when we attacked it.”

Schwarzkopf also said his staff had a great deal of anecdotal information that led him to believe the raids were working. He said he had been told Iraqi soldiers were both begging and stealing food in Kuwait.

“The enemy prisoners of war that we have taken have told us that they’re receiving only one meal a day,” Schwarzkopf said. “That meal generally consists of a bowl of rice or a bowl of beans. And they have no water in which to bathe and, as a result, many of the enemy prisoners of war that we’ve taken are infested with body lice and many of them have open sores on their bodies.”

He said a second indication of allied bombing effectiveness was the destruction of the largest ammunition depot in Kuwait, an attack which produced an explosion he described as rivaling the energy of an erupting volcano.

“With that level of damage done to it, coupled with the fact that most of the bridges are out now--and coupled with the fact that we’re attacking the convoys that are coming down--that means that what they’ve got is what they’ve got,” the commander said. “And they’re going to be hurting if they use that up.”

Schwarzkopf, responding to an often-asked question, said he believes that the Iranians would keep their word and not allow Iraqi aircraft flown there to be used again in the conflict.

“I think it’s a very good sign that they don’t feel confident where they are and they’ve decided to run someplace else to hide,” he said. “I’m delighted with that outcome.”

Despite the seeming effectiveness of the air war, Schwarzkopf said the incursion into Saudi Arabia Wednesday indicated the Iraqis were not finished.

“The mere fact they launched this spoiling attack, or whatever it might be, indicates that they certainly have a lot of fight left in them,” he said.

Refuge in Iran

The Iraqi warship entered Iranian waters Wednesday after being set on fire in an allied air raid, Tehran Radio said in a broadcast monitored in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Quoting a military source, the broadcast said: “This morning the aircraft of the multinational forces severely clashed with Iraqi frigates. During the course of these clashes, one damaged Iraqi naval vessel entered Iranian waters. Steps were immediately taken by Iranian forces to save the crew of this Iraqi naval vessel, which was on fire.”

The ship’s taking refuge in Iranian waters was the first such report of the war, but about 90 Iraqi planes--including some of the country’s most sophisticated bombers and fighters--have landed in Iran.

Tehran Radio said three more Iraqi planes had entered the country Tuesday, adding that one pilot was injured after he crash-landed on a road.

The broadcast said one of the planes “disappeared as soon as it entered Iranian airspace, and its fate is unknown. The third plane landed safely at one of the country’s airports,” the report said without disclosing the location.

Reiterating Iran’s declared policy, the broadcast said the Iraqi planes will be impounded until the end of the war.

Liberated Island

A spectacular mushroom cloud drifted above Umm al Maradim island when about 50 Marines blew up antiaircraft weapons and artillery after capturing the site.

The weapons had apparently been stored on the small spit of sand 12 miles off the coast of Kuwait, which had two communication towers, 13 tents and several buildings.

Marine officials said the guns and towers indicated that the Iraqis used the island to warn of approaching air attacks.

“It’s another step in the continuing effort to free Kuwait,” said Capt. Michael J. Coumatos, commander of the assault ship Okinawa, from which the Marines were deployed. “I think every square inch of liberated Kuwait is important to the Kuwaitis.”

Qurah Island, which all but disappears at high tide, was captured by the U.S. Army and Navy on Jan. 24, becoming the first speck of Kuwaiti soil to be liberated.

More Tomahawks

The new order for Tomahawks, totaling $444.2 million, is the first since the Gulf War began, but officials said the purchase is unrelated to the combat.

“This announcement today is not to replace those that have been fired,” Navy spokesman Ray Colemon said in Washington. “This is part of the normal procurement schedule.”

The missiles, which cost about $1.1 million each, are manufactured by McDonnell Douglas Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. Work is to be completed by March, 1993.

At his press briefing Wednesday, Gen. Schwarzkopf said Tomahawks and other precision guided missiles “have struck hard” at Iraq’s potential nuclear, biological and chemical facilities.

Jordanian Casualties

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Taher Masri said he had summoned the U.S. ambassador and “relayed our strong condemnation over the U.S. strikes against civilians and civilian targets near Jordanian territory”--raids he said killed four Jordanians and an Egyptian.

Speaking to the Jordanian Parliament, Masri said the attack was a violation of the Geneva Convention of 1949 “which calls for the protection of civilians during wartime.” He said U.S. warplanes also destroyed five Jordan-bound oil tankers Tuesday and four Wednesday.

Masri said the attacks occurred in Iraq near the highway linking Baghdad with the Jordanian capital.

“It was clear to the United States warplanes that these were civilian cars and it was also clear they were not military because they were driving on an international highway,” Masri said. “But the U.S. warplanes targeted them.”

American officials said the highway was attacked because it serves as a supply line and has been used to move Scud missiles. Nonetheless, everything is being done to avoid hitting civilians, the officials said.

Masri said Jordan, which is neutral in the war, has U.N. permission to bring oil from Iraq along the highway, and that its only other use is by civilians evacuating Iraq and Kuwait.