Franks: Saddam ?either dead or running like hell?

[thedrifter]

April 11, 2003

Franks: Saddam ?either dead or running like hell?

By Ravi Nessman
Associated Press



BAGHDAD, Iraq ? In a statement read to troops here Friday, Gen. Tommy Franks said that American forces would remain in Iraq until a free government is in place.
?The Saddam regime has ended, is over and we will stay until there is a free government,? said Franks, head of U.S. Central Command, in an order read to unit commanders. ?We are going to respect their culture and their religion.?

Franks? order also listed new rules of behavior for American forces in Baghdad now that the Iraqi capital is under U.S. control.

Under the rules, troops are forbidden to use deadly force to prevent looting. They should allow government workers to go to their jobs. Hospitals, businesses and mosques should remain open. Schools should reopen and record attendance.

Police, fire and emergency workers should continue to report to their jobs unless told otherwise.

The Iraqi public must also not engage in any terrorist acts or display weapons publicly and should halt looting.

On a quick visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Franks said Friday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons were either dead or on the run.

Franks made the comments at a news conference after meeting with U.S.-led forces at Bagram Air Base, just north of the capital, Kabul.

?They?re either dead or they?re running like hell,? Franks told reporters. ?That is the case with the leadership of the regime inside Iraq.?

Franks also dismissed allegations that U.S. forces in Baghdad targeted a mosque. Marines captured the mosque after a seven hour gunfight, one Marine was killed and 22 were wounded.

?The engagement. . .was in response to intelligence,? he said. ?We didn?t have a fight in a mosque. Our forces went to this area and were engaged by those forces from inside that mosque.?






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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press


Sempers,

Roger