[NUJ Bristol] CBS says Iraqi TV blasted by 'E-Bomb'

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U.S. Drops 'E-Bomb' On Iraqi TV
March 25, 2003

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/printable541815.shtml

The U.S. Air Force has hit Iraqi TV with an experimental electronmagetic
pulse device called the "E-Bomb" in an attempt to knock it off the air and
shut down Saddam Hussein's propaganda machine, CBS News Correspondent David
Martin reports.=20

The highly classified bomb creates a brief pulse of microwaves powerful
enough to fry computers, blind radar, silence radios, trigger crippling
power outages and disable the electronic ignitions in vehicles and aircraft.=
=20

Iraqi TV did go off the air for several hours. It returned to broadcasting
later with a weaker signal.=20

In modern warfare, electronics underpin virtually every weapon more
sophisticated than a rifle or hand grenade. For that reason, Air Force
scientists have worked for decades on a practical way of producing powerful
but brief pulses of microwaves that can incapacitate electronic equipment
without damaging buildings or harming people.=20

Officially, the Pentagon does not acknowledge the weapon's existence. Asked
about it at a March 5 news conference at the Pentagon, Gen. Tommy Franks
said: =93I can't talk to you about that because I don't know anything about
it.=94=20

The use of the secret weapon came on a day that saw intense action on the
battlefield. Pentagon officials report 300 to 500 Iraqis have been killed
in a major battle near the city of An Najaf in central Iraq. There are no
reports yet of any American casualties, but some U.S. fighting vehicles
have been damaged.=20

In other major developments:=20


A huge sandstorm held back U.S. Army and Marine forces, now within 50 miles
of Baghdad.=20


Iraqi civilians apparently began an uprising in the country's
second-largest city, Basra, after British troops began an effort to drive
Iraqi resistance out of the key southern town. British officials also
reported that Iraqi militia were using their own people as "human shields,"
making it impossible for coalition forces to fire on them.=20


A British military commander says two British soldiers were killed by
friendly fire near Basra in southern Iraq. A British defense official said
the two men died when their tank was mistakenly targeted by another British
tank crew.=20


President Bush requested $74.7 billion in supplemental funding for the war
through June. "We cannot know the duration of this war, yet we know its
outcome: we will prevail," he said.=20


An American F-16 mistakenly fired on a U.S. Patriot missile battery in Iraq
after the battery's radar locked on the plane. Earlier, the U.S. military
said an Iraqi missile aiming for Camp Doha in Kuwait was successfully
intercepted by a Patriot. No casualties were reported in either incident.=20


Central Command says coalition forces have destroyed six jammers =97 which
Russian firms are suspected of selling to Saddam =97 that Iraq used to try t=
o
knock U.S. missiles off course.=20


Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal says his country had contacted the
U.S. and Iraq with a peace proposal. He did not describe the proposal.=20


The World Food Program will request more than $1 billion to help feed Iraq
for about six months.=20

Elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment were east of An Najaf when they
suddenly came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades. The Iraqis were on
foot and it was not clear whether they were from regular army units,
paramilitary forces or the Republican Guard.=20

Some of the 7th Cavalry's equipment was damaged in the attack.=20

The 7th Cavalry is part of the Army force driving toward Baghdad. Some
elements of the force are farther north, near Karbala, with only the Medina
armored division of the Republican Guard between them and Baghdad.=20

CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts, traveling with the Marine 7th Regiment
on the road to Baghdad, said Tuesday's sandstorm reduced visibility down to
about five feet. By that time the commanders sent out the order for all the
vehicles to stop =96 tanks, armored personnel carriers, Humvees, trucks =96 =
all
at a standstill because of the storm.=20

Despite the adverse weather, the U.S. still fired about 90 cruise missiles,
and Navy and Air Force jets were scheduled to fly 1,400 missions.=20

American officials issued fresh cautions, as well, about the possible use
of chemical weapons by Iraqi troops, although no weapons of mass
destruction have yet been found by advancing American and British forces.=20

As the pace of combat quickened, American and British officials sought to
prepare the public for something less than a quick campaign, and predicted
difficult days to come.=20

Still, President Bush forecast victory during a visit to the Pentagon. The
Iraqi regime will be ended ... and our world will be more secure and
peaceful,=94 he said.=20

Details were sketchy about situation inside the southern city of Basra,
Iraq's second-largest with 1.3 million residents. British journalists
reported that residents were staging an uprising against pro-Saddam forces
and that Iraqi troops were firing mortars at them.=20

A senior British commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Wall, said =93We don't know the
scale=94 of any revolt, but added, =93Of course we would be very keen to
capitalize on it.=94=20

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and others have warned of a
possible humanitarian crisis in the city. The International Red Cross said
during the day that it had begun repairs at a war-damaged water-pumping
station serving the city.=20

Thus far in the campaign known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, Americans said
they had taken more than 3,500 Iraqi prisoners. There was no accurate death
toll among Iraqi troops or civilians.=20

American losses ran to 20 dead and 14 captured or missing. The remains of
the first two to die were flown overnight to Dover Air Force Base in
Delaware.=20

A total of 20 British troops had also died, including two killed Monday by
friendly fire.=20

The U.S. Central Command announced the capture of an Iraqi military
hospital used as a military staging area. Officials said Marines
confiscated more than 200 weapons and stockpiles of ammunition and more
than 3,000 chemical suits with masks, as well as Iraqi military uniforms.
The Marines also found a T-55 tank on the compound.=20

Elements of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division were about 50 miles from Baghdad
and hit Republican Guard units defending the Iraqi capital with an
all-night artillery barrage.=20

But some helicopters were grounded by the weather, and combat aircraft
taking off from the USS Harry Truman returned a few hours later without
dropping bombs on their targets.=20

Distant explosions could be heard in Baghdad, and efforts were underway to
dig deeper defensive trenches around the city. Witnesses said Saddam's
intelligence headquarters as well as a sprawling defense complex were hit
in overnight bombing.=20

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who will confer with Mr. Bush this week
at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., was at pains to prepare the
British public for difficult days.=20

=93There will be resistance all the way to the end of this campaign,=94 he=
 said.=20

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also made clear he didn't know how
long the war would take. =93We're still, needless to say, much closer to the
beginning than to the end,=94 he said.=20



=A9MMIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not b=
e
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press
contributed to this report.=20

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/printable541815.shtml


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