Allied Forces

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- U.S. and allied ground forces crossed yesterday into Iraqi-held territory to carry out raids and prepare for possible large-scale land battles.As the preparations went on, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made a radio speech that seemingly rejected a Soviet proposal to withdraw from Kuwait -- but in an announcement made in Moscow hours later, Iraq agreed to withdraw from Kuwait under an eight-point plan.Brig. Gen. Richard I. Neal, the See WAR, 4A, Col. 1WAR, from 1AU.S.

This June marks the 67th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, and the beginning of the end of World War II. The last great D-Day commemorations were held two years ago, as there likely won't be many veterans alive for the 70th. But Normandy's inhabitants haven't forgotten what the British, Canadian and American troops and their families sacrificed all those years ago. When I was on the small main square of a town in Normandy, an elderly Frenchman approached me and sang a few bars of "The Star-Spangled Banner.

The Preakness field swelled to 12 horses yesterday with the additions of Allied Forces and In Contention.Allied Forces, who won Pimlico's Woodlawn Stakes on the grass May 4, will bring trainer Kiaran McLaughlin back to Maryland for the third straight Saturday.McLaughlin said he will take the same Saturday flight from New York that he took for Allied Forces' win two weeks ago and Key of Luck's second in the Pimlico Special last Saturday."We're entered to run and we're going to be there," said McLaughlin, who persuaded owner Ahmed al Tayer to take the horse off the turf once Unbridled's Song decided to bypass the Preakness.

WASHINGTON - One day after his Democratic rival proposed an escalation of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for a surge of as many as 15,000 troops to address the deteriorating security situation there. It was the first time that McCain had urged a specific increase in allied troops in Afghanistan and came as the presidential contenders dueled via long distance yesterday over foreign policy. The exchange also reflected a shift in emphasis away from Iraq and toward Afghanistan as a top campaign issue.

Most callers to SUNDIAL say they believe that after the Persian Gulf war allied forces should not pay reparations to Iraq and that the Iraqi government should be changed.Of 642 callers yesterday, 104 (16 percent) said they think the allies should pay reparations for damages inflicted by their forces, while 538 (84 percent) said they believe the allies should not pay for damages. Of 646 respondents, 140 (22 percent) said they believe the Iraqi government should be left intact, while 506 (78 percent)

U.S. military officials say American warplanes have come under anti-aircraft artillery fire several times while flying over northern Iraq, but have not been hit.No U.S. official has said whether the military would retaliate for the attacks. What do you think?Should the allies issue a warning to the Iraqis?Should the allied forces try to knock out any anti-aircraft systems?The Evening Sun wants to know what you think. To register your opinion, call SUNDIAL at 783-1800 (or 268-7736 in Anne Arundel County)

WASHINGTON -- Poised on a ridge near Dohuk, U.S. and allied forces weighed yesterday whether to extend their northern Iraq security zone into the provincial capital itself to accelerate the return of thousands of Kurdish refugees to their homes.But the United Nations still had not settled on a way to ensure the safety of the returning refugees once allied forces leave, raising the prospect of an indefinite stay by U.S. troops in a widening area of Iraq.Iraqi forces withdrew from Dohuk yesterday as U.S. troops probed their positions in preparation for a possible move into the city.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. warplanes bombed oil-pumping facilities in Iraq-occupied Kuwait in what the U.S. command said yesterday appeared to be a successful attempt to stanch the flow of millions of gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf.Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the allied forces in Operation Desert Storm, announced that F-111 fighter bombers, using highly sophisticated technology, had attacked a coastal complex of pipes considered vital to supplying oil to offshore tanker-loading operations.

President Bush's appeal to the Iraqi people and the Iraqi military to overthrow Saddam Hussein was a fitting response to the Baghdad regime's first overt acknowledgment of Iraq's crumbling military position. Iraq's offer to give up Kuwait was loaded with unacceptable conditions. If the conditions were mainly to save face and Mr. Hussein is genuinely determined to call off the war, diplomats will ascertain his intentions soon enough.Saddam Hussein has the choice of getting out or being thrown NTC out of the little neighboring country he has claimed as Iraq's 19th province.

LONDON - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is planning to damage the country's Islamic shrines and blame coalition forces, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said. U.S. forces have been engaged in fighting on the outskirts of Najaf and Karbala, both holy cities in Shiite Islam. Karbala is the resting site of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Hussein. "The Iraqi regime intends to damage the Iraqi holy sites with a view to blaming the coalition," Blair told Parliament. "We are doing everything we can to protect the holy sites," he said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Before he arrived at the fourth checkpoint, Najah Ghazy had the routine down: Act relaxed, apologize to the black-masked men for having his beard shaved and say he was traveling from the Iraqi city of Babylon to visit family here in the capital. When he returns to Babylon in eight weeks, he told himself, he will be charged with arresting such Islamic insurgents. Or, possibly, killing them. Similar treks are made by thousands of Iraqi police recruits to the training academy in Baghdad, invariably these days with their uniforms hidden in plastic bags or gym totes.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - When British Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb arrived in June to lead the mainly European force controlling southeastern Iraq, he was skeptical, he said. He felt, he said yesterday, that "this is going to be a lot more difficult than we realized." But as Lamb, 50, prepared to hand his command to another British general, he said Saddam Hussein's capture and other changes - including progress in restoring oil installations, power stations and running water, as well as Iraqis' fast-rising prosperity - have fostered a new confidence that the American-led occupation force can eventually hand a politically stable Iraq back to its people.

KABUL, Afghanistan - In the first mission beyond Europe's frontiers in its 54-year history, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization took formal control of Afghanistan's multinational peacekeeping force yesterday. "This new mission is a reflection of NATO's ongoing transformation, and resolve, to meet the security challenges of the 21st century," NATO's deputy secretary-general, Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, told a gathering of dignitaries at Amani High School here. NATO has already provided more than 90 percent of the troops for a 5,000-member International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Faced with armed resistance that has killed four U.S. soldiers this week, allied military commanders now plan to keep a larger force in Iraq than they had anticipated and to send war-hardened units to trouble spots outside Baghdad, senior American officials said yesterday. Instead of sending home the 3rd Infantry Division, which led the charge on Baghdad, plans now call for most of its troops to extend their stay to quell unrest and extend American control. Allied officials said that about 160,000 American and British troops are in Iraq and that the vast majority are likely to stay until security improves and other nations ease the burden by contributing troops.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Marines advancing on the final Iraqi stronghold of Tikrit yesterday rescued seven bedraggled but healthy American prisoners of war, flying them to safety more than three weeks after they were captured by enemy forces. The Marines found the POWs about five miles south of Tikrit, after Iraqi soldiers who had been guarding the prisoners surrendered and led them to the prisoners. The POWs included two helicopter crewmen and five members of an Army maintenance company that had been ambushed near the city of Nasiriyah.

LONDON - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is planning to damage the country's Islamic shrines and blame coalition forces, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said. U.S. forces have been engaged in fighting on the outskirts of Najaf and Karbala, both holy cities in Shiite Islam. Karbala is the resting site of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Hussein. "The Iraqi regime intends to damage the Iraqi holy sites with a view to blaming the coalition," Blair told Parliament. "We are doing everything we can to protect the holy sites," he said.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon substantially overestimated Iraqi troop strength during the Gulf War, insisting that the Iraqis had more than 500,000 troops in the theater while the true count may have been as low as 183,000 when the ground war began, according to a new congressional report on the war.The House Armed Services Committee "lessons learned" study asserts that allied intelligence failed to discern that the 42 Iraqi divisions deployed in Kuwait and...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - When British Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb arrived in June to lead the mainly European force controlling southeastern Iraq, he was skeptical, he said. He felt, he said yesterday, that "this is going to be a lot more difficult than we realized." But as Lamb, 50, prepared to hand his command to another British general, he said Saddam Hussein's capture and other changes - including progress in restoring oil installations, power stations and running water, as well as Iraqis' fast-rising prosperity - have fostered a new confidence that the American-led occupation force can eventually hand a politically stable Iraq back to its people.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi officials said last night that at least 50 people, many of them women and small children, were killed when a missile or bomb struck a crowded marketplace in an impoverished district of Shiite Muslims in the northwest suburbs of Baghdad. Dozens of others were injured, many of them critically. Survivors said that they had seen the vapor trail of a high-flying aircraft heading toward the south immediately before the blast about 5:30 p.m. Reporters taken to the scene, in the Shula district, 15 miles from central Baghdad, were told by others that seconds before the impact they heard the roar of an engine like that of cruise missiles that have struck Baghdad.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and British aircraft blasted Iraqi forces dug in around Baghdad yesterday, while allied leaders held a war summit in the Maryland mountains on the progress of the week-old invasion. "However long it takes ... Saddam Hussein will be removed," President Bush said after talks at Camp David with his main ally, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. Bush was responding to a question about growing speculation that the war could drag on for months. Stiffer-than-expected Iraqi resistance to the initial phase of the U.S.-led invasion has led some military officials to forecast a prolonged conflict that will require the deployment of additional troops.