CENTCOM Press Briefing 21 FEB 91

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~esterday ~orniflg around 0700, U.S. Army forces enga~ed IraSi patrols in two separate
on~a9eMent1, resultin~ in the capture of seven enen~y p~isoners of war. ~arly this
afternoon, a United States flarine Corps unit was engaged by ~raqi auiall a~ and
stagger ~asi1e fire. One ?r~ was hit and slightly damaged. The U.S. ~arjne Corps
xeturnea tire -~ both direct and indirect fire. There were no reports of~any u.s
casualties.

During the past 24 bouts, several engage~ents involving U.S. forces flying
OR-SB Scout helicopters, AH-64 Apaches, and AN-I Cobras engoged fo~r separate Iraqi
positions. The followin~ results were recorded: five anti-aircraft lystens wore
~~~troyed; five radar ricrowave dishes were destroyed; two APC'i wore destroyed; four
trucks; one co~ van; and a bunker. There were no friendly casualties during any on~e
of these incidents.

To `spdate you on the 20 ~ebruary bunker engagement by the AH-64, a total ~PW
count as a result of that activity tUrn~ out to be 42~ EPW's. A further breakout of
that is 20 or those were officers, and 401 were enlisted troops. It included the
~~ttalion con~mander and his staff.

~nitially, EPW's were concerned about being captured by American forces, but as
soon as they were told they were going to be fed and taken care of, their apirits
:narkedly iniproved. The EPW's have been transported across the Saudi border and are
flow being processed by U.S. forces. ~unng that entire engagement, there. wore no
~riendly casualties.

Additionally, U.S. forces returned to that same area this afternoon. They
located an additional 14 enesy soldiers who surrendered. While policing up the
~Pw's, the U.S. forces discovered a locked bunker containing intel~igence documents.
The EPW'a and the documents are now behind the Saudi border.

Weapons captured as a result of that engagement were three ~SU-23 AM pieces of
equIpment~ one ~ortar, and a significant aniount of AK-41's and grenades, the personal
weapons carried by those force~. This was an infantry battalion. Morale seemed to
be very low, they all seemed to be very tired as a result of the continuous bombing
caw~aign. Their overall state, ~ guess, would be classified as poor. They did have
sufflcient uniform~, they weren't a rag tag outfit by any stretch or the irnagination.
~hey did co~lain about their officers were being fed better than the troops were.

The type of bunker, ~ told you I'd try to find out. *~asically, a ~xlO foot
bunker seemed to be the common di?(~ensions of the ~unkers. They were dug in with
support beams and tin corr~gated roofs that were covered by sand. A iot.of thein were
use~ as a co~ination bunker and living quarters.

We continue our aggressive patrolling, reconnaissance and counter-reconnais-
sance efforts throughout the border area, and will continue that. As I've stated on
previous occasions, our trainin~ programs for our forces continue.

Other EPW news, reports from sone of the ZPW'a indicate that their conunanding
* off~cers of the Iraqi forces are being held directly accountable for desertion. A
* way to reinforce this accountability is, they're being forced to signisoinething
called a document of oath. The officers are inade to sign this saying that they are
acce~ting responsibility for any of their fol~s that desert. At the same tim*, the
troopers are also being forced to sign a document of oath, in which they. are
* pro~f sing not to desert. So I think we see there is some desertion problem through-
out the Iraqi ar'ned forces.