BAGHDAD, April 16: The commander of US-led forces in Iraq, Gen Tommy Franks, entered Baghdad for the first time on Wednesday after four weeks of war.
Like the proverbial fat lady whose singing indicates that the show is over, Gen Tommy Franks is the focus of attention as the world awaits formal word that the war he led in Iraq has ended.
With combat operations all but finished by Wednesday, day 28 of the conflict, that announcement could come any day now.
But military officials are cautious not to second-guess the powerful four-star general.
“I have no estimate, I have no guess as to when the announcement will come. I can’t see inside the general’s head,” Major Rumi Nielson-Green said at the As-Saliyah, Qatar, war command headquarters.
She did indicate, however, that it seemed certain the announcement would come from Gen Franks, even though the tall Texan commander is known to shun the limelight.
“I think at some point he will make this determination,” Major Nielson-Green said, pointing out that President Bush had made it clear the war was over when Gen Franks said so.
“I would think it will be much sooner rather than later,” said British Lt-Col Ronnie McCourt.
Asked whether that meant days rather than weeks, he said: “I would hope so.”
“The danger is leaving it too late, which could allow civil disruptions to come up, or to do it too early, and when we get the humanitarian aid in and people start taking potshots or try to ambush,” he said.
“That’s a fine balance, not an exact science.” Keen to be seen as a liberating rather than occupying force, the US military has said the Gen Franks visit would be low-key, as would any announcement formally ending the war.
“I’m not looking to have a victory parade in downtown Baghdad,” Gen Franks told Fox News television on Sunday.
While the war could be declared over any time now, Centcom stressed that Iraq remains an unsafe place.
THREAT TO SYRIA: Stoking up its threats to Syria, Washington said a man suspected of plotting to kill former president George Bush in 1993 had been spotted in Damascus.
A US official in Washington said Faruq Hijazi, a suspected high-ranking Iraqi intelligence officer, had reached Syria from Tunisia, apparently to seek refuge after President Saddam’s regime was toppled. Washington believes he played a key role in an alleged plot to assassinate Bush senior during a visit to Kuwait, which was freed from Iraqi occupation in the 1991 Gulf war.—Agencies
