94                                    U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 1990-1991


western part of Kuwait City and was the main operating area of the Iraqi 3d
Annored Division.   However, 1st Marine Division was fully occupied with the
counterattack, so General Boomer and the two division commanders agreed to
postpone the attack.  The shifting of the axis of the attack from northeast to
north meant that 1st Marine Division had to come left and move north about
another about 10 kilometers to get abreast of 2d Marine Division.
    This delay didn't bother higher headquarters; I MEF was now far ahead of
the Coalition Forces on each flank.  At midday, Colonel Bedard at the I MEF
Combat Operations Center received a call from Major General Burton Moore,
USAF, General Schwarzkopf's operations officer.   He asked if I MEF would
agree to holding up at Phase Line Red, an east-west road about 10 kilometers
north of Al Jaber Air Base, while the allies caught up.  This was acceptable
and Phase Line Red became the next jumping-off line in the attack.
    During the day, Task Force Grizzly moved up from its breach to clear Al
Jaber Air Base.  Grizzly's commander, Colonel Jim Fulks, requested to use a
riot agent (tear gas), but General Hearney at the MEF command center turned
him down.   The Iraqis were still holding off on chemical attacks, and Hearney
didn't want the Marines to be the first to use any type, even a non-lethal irritant.
A half hour later, the direct air support center got a message from Tiger Brigade
saying that they had captured an artillery brigade commander who said his unit
had no chemical weapons.    Interrogations of other Iraqi officers later indicated
that  all  artillery-delivered chemical weapons  were   stored at   III Corps
headquarters in the vicinity of Kuwait City.  Because of the Marines' rapid
advance and their control of the main Iraqi resupply routes by air, it is not likely
that the Iraqis would have had either time or the ability to move chemical
munitions down to their associated weapons systems.  However, there was no
evidence that a decision to use them was made in the first place.
    By noon on 25 February, the Iraqi counterattack was petering out.    Both
divisions reached Phase Line Red and began preparations to attack and seize
two MEF objectives designated B and C.    The 2d Marine Division on the west
was to seize Objective B, the area around the main supply route intersections
near Al Jahra, about 33 kilometers west of Kuwait City.      The 1st Marine
Division on the east was assigned Objective C, Kuwait International Airport
about 15 kilometers south of Kuwait City on the southern edge of the city's
built-up area.
    By 1341, all of 2d Marine Division's assault elements had crossed the line
of departure at Phase Line Red to begin the attack on the Ice Tray. This feature
and   a  25-kilometer-square  walled  enclosure immediately  northeast  of  it
containing Kuwait's radio and television transmitters dominated the terrain
ahead.   The 6th Marines in the center of 2d Marine Division had the task of
seizing the Ice Tray.  The preparatory artillery fires of 10th Marines' M198
batteries prompted a number of Iraqis to come forward to surrender. Within an
hour, the division was reporting numerous tanks destroyed and even more EPWs
from the Ice Tray area.  Throughout this period, the division received artillery
fire in return, but it was neither well-directed nor in much quantity.    By
mid-afternoon, the division reported 8,000 EPWs in custody.