Iraqis Must Leave Arms, Military Says

Senior defense officials, responding to Saddam Hussein’s new cease-fire proposal, warned Friday that any Iraqi troops participating in a withdrawal from Kuwait would have to leave their tanks, vehicles and weapons behind or be subject to continued allied attack.

The stern terms outlined by U.S. officials are intended to address serious concerns that even in capitulation, the Iraqi president could emerge with a formidable military machine that would pose a threat to other nations in the volatile Persian Gulf region.

“If individuals or whole units want to get home, the way to do that is on foot,” said one senior defense official, noting that allied forces are dropping leaflets and broadcasting radio alerts advising Iraqi soldiers not to try to withdraw with their equipment. “Even without any other communications, Iraqi soldiers can figure out that tanks are targets.”

Requiring Iraqi troops to retreat from Kuwait on foot--and utterly unarmed--would greatly reduce the quantity of artillery and armor that Hussein could recover for potential future use, U.S. defense officials said.

Even if Iraq complied with the U.S. conditions, however, Hussein’s regime still could retain the armaments of some Republican Guard units entrenched in southern Iraq and therefore not included in any withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

One military source said the Republican Guard units would be the “main targets” of allied air raids in coming days as coalition commanders seek to debilitate Hussein’s most loyal forces and eliminate any chance that it could survive as a significant post-war power.

Just hours after President Bush called Baghdad’s highly conditional withdrawal offer “a cruel hoax,” the senior defense official predicted that the overture would undermine Iraqi military morale and possibly jeopardize Hussein himself.

Reflecting an apparent Bush Administration decision to accept nothing less than unconditional surrender, the official said it would be “absolutely unacceptable” for Hussein to “take his army out in organized formations.”

Hussein, he said, “is like a guy who’s holed up with kidnap victims in a bank.”

“We’ll allow him to keep his life if he leaves his victims behind and quits, but you don’t suddenly exalt him into somebody who’s to be negotiated with,” the official said. “We’re not interested in saving his face, we’re interested in getting him out of Kuwait.”

Defense officials with access to sensitive intelligence said that in the wake of the surprise peace bid, Hussein’s situation has become more tenuous than ever.

“Today’s announcement does indicate a very significant break . . . a significant break in their will to fight,” said the senior official. “It’s going to collapse their morale--they’re in effect being told they’re not fighting for anything anymore.”

Iraqi troops stationed near the Saudi border have provided evidence of their unwillingness to fight in recent days by refusing to return artillery fire for fear that doing so would guide warplanes to them, a Pentagon official said.

If sinking morale among Iraqi troops drives large numbers of soldiers out of their trenches and bunkers and on the road to Baghdad--without their armor--officials said they will have to devise specific policies to make sure they are not destroyed by allied forces.

“We certainly don’t want to kill people gratuitously,” the official said. “It’s the tanks, the artillery, the armored personnel carriers that are in trouble.”

At the same time, officials reflected the widespread concern that if Iraq pulls out of Kuwait before a major ground war begins, a significant portion of the Iraqi military could be left intact, most notably the Republican Guard units entrenched in southern Iraq.

“If the war is stopped, the war is stopped,” and allied forces will cease their attacks on the Republican Guard, said a top defense official.

“We have a problem either way, if they sit on the border with large armored force even though they’re out of Kuwait,” he said. “That’s a problem about which something will have to be done. If they get out of Kuwait but maintain a threatening posture against Kuwait, the war isn’t going to continue, but there will likely be continued sanctions.”

Defense officials expressed concern that Hussein could, in the words of one, “lose the war but win politically” by mounting initiatives that cast him as the besieged victim of a superpower bully. Even so, he said, “I don’t think anyone serious is going to think we slapped an olive branch out of his hand.”

Iraq’s peace bid came as allied forces moved into positions from which they could launch a massive offensive against Hussein’s troops in Kuwait and southern Iraq. As allied warplanes stepped up their aerial bombardment, the most heavily armed U.S. ground troops began to maneuver into their battle stations.

Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier America joined three other carriers in the Persian Gulf, where it could support an amphibious landing.

One knowledgeable official said that Iraq’s peace initiative was inspired “not by what we’ve done so far, but what we’re about to do.”

Hussein, the official said, still “could extricate himself, but he’s going to have to move very fast.”

In the Gulf, a four-day stretch of moonless nights with high tides began Friday night, creating conditions that Pentagon officials said would be optimal for a massive amphibious assault. The moonless nights also would give U.S. ground troops, which are equipped with an array of advanced night-vision equipment, a significant advantage over Iraqi forces.

A top Pentagon official said that President Bush “has full control over the timetable” and could stop a ground attack if he chooses to do so. But he said there is no inclination to halt the preparations because “the best way to produce a collapse of will is to say we have the option of coming at you six other ways at the time and place of our choosing.”

“This war will go on,” the official said. “This is not the time to let up on this thing.”