A PRISONER PROBLEM?
* Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. commander of Operation Desert Storm, said 5,500 Iraqis were taken prisoner in the first hours of fighting Sunday. Later, a U.S. official raised the estimate to 10,000 in the first 24 hours.
* Unofficial reports from the Kuwaiti news agency said Iraqis surrendered by the “tens of thousands.”
* Allied commanders have said that a torrent of prisoners could force the allies to walk captured Iraqis south to Saudi Arabia under armed guard.
* Before the onset of the ground war, Maj. Rex Forney, MP deputy provost marshal for the 101st Airborne Division, said units planning to strike deep into enemy territory will be accompanied by one company (98 men) of military police to handle POWs.
* Prisoners will be put in cages at the forward base and held for “a minimum of 24 hours,” he said. Then they will be moved into Saudi territory in double-decker passenger buses; wounded prisoners will be evacuated by helicopter.
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