Missiles strike Iraq as war begins

5pm

WASHINGTON - President Bush today ordered a US-led war on Iraq to begin, based on intelligence that offered a chance to hit members of Iraq's senior leadership, US officials said.

"On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign," Bush said in an unusual late-night Oval Office address announcing war had started.

Bush spoke little more than two hours after his 48-hour deadline for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq expired and was ignored by Saddam.

This is the first war the United States is fighting since a national security strategy was announced last year asserting Washington may launch pre-emptive strikes on countries deemed a threat without the United States itself being attacked first.

US officials said the initial attack was aimed at the most senior elements of the Iraqi leadership and were pinpointed by US intelligence agencies. The results were not clear.

"US intelligence had information pointing to targets of opportunity ... that might involve elements of the Iraqi leadership," one source said.

The source declined to identify the targets by name, describing them only as "very senior leadership."

The result of the strike "is not clear," the source said.

Bush gave the order after an unusual third meeting of his military and national security aides in the Oval Office that lasted almost four hours. The session ended 40 minutes before the deadline for Saddam's departure expired.

"That meeting presented information to the president that he acted on," a senior Bush administration official said.

Bush gave the go-ahead, then went to the White House residence and had dinner with his wife Laura, the officials said.

The United States used F-117A stealth fighters and long-range cruise missiles in what US officials described as a limited attack. They said it was not the opening of a massive rain of cruise missiles and bombs expected in coming days.

The US officials said radar-avoiding F-117a stealth fighters based in the Gulf region were used to bomb targets and that a limited number of long-range cruise missiles were used.

Bush, under fire in various capitals for abandoning UN diplomacy and a peaceful end to the Iraqi crisis, said the United States had the support of 35 nations in the Iraq war, ranging from the use of naval and air bases to help with intelligence and logistics.

To the US military, Bush said: "To all of the men and women of the United States armed forces now in the Middle East, the peace of a troubled world and the hopes of an oppressed people now depend on you."

He said the war on Iraq may not be as short as he and military planners hope.

"A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large as California could be longer and more difficult than some predict," he said.

He said the aim will be a united, stable and free Iraq and vowed a sustained commitment to that goal.

"We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people," he said.

Bush had given Saddam and his two sons until 1.15pm (NZT)- to leave his country or face attack. Bush was sitting in his living room upstairs at the White House when White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card called him to tell him the offer had been ignored.

Card had checked with the CIA and Bush's national security team to see if they had any indication that Saddam left Iraq.

The White House cautioned Americans to be prepared for the possibility of casualties in a war of uncertain length.

"On the brink of war with Iraq, Americans should be prepared for what we hope will be as precise and short a conflict as possible, but there are many unknowns. It could be a matter of some duration, we do not know," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Saddam ignored the deadline as expected and Bush finally decided1 to send US forces into battle against what the US military hopes will be a weak enemy but one that could respond with weapons of mass destruction.

The mood inside the White House was serious, and there was tension outside its heavily protected gates. Barricades and police vehicles lined Pennsylvania Avenue. About 250 protesters spent much of the day yelling slogans from across Lafayette Park.

"If the war breaks out, walk out!" they chanted.

Air raid sirens began wailing out within a minute of the first strike. Electricity was still working in the city centre but state radio ceased broadcasting after the blasts.

The United States also succeeded in taking over Iraqi state radio and broadcasting a message to the Iraqi people that Saddam's days were numbered.

"This is the day we have been waiting for," an announcer said in Arabic shortly after the normal Iraqi broadcast went off the air suddenly, minutes after the air strikes began.

Another Baghdad radio station run by Saddam's elder son Uday played a military song and called on local people to resist: "This is our day. Let us start the fight. We will be victorious. We will all die as faithful martyrs."

Prime Minister John Howard today announced that Australian defence force personnel had begun combat duties in the Iraq war.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq