NEW YORK--A missile expert working for the United Nations claimed the United States did not destroy any of Iraq's mobile Scud launchers during the Persian Gulf War.
The claim in an op-ed piece in Wednesday's New York Times
contradicts assertions by U.S. commanders, including Gen. Norman
Schwarzkopf, during the war.
The article quotes Scott Ritter*, a former marine captain who is
a missile analyst with the UN commission supervising the
destruction of Iraq's weapons, as saying no mobile launchers
were destroyed.
The piece was written by Mark Crispin Miller, a professor of
media studies at Johns Hopkins University and the author of the
forthcoming book Spectacle: Operation Desert Storm and the
Triumph of Illusion.
During the war, Schwarzkopf said that U.S. forces had destroyed
30 fixed-site launchers and as many as 16 of the estimated 20
mobile launchers that Iraq possessed.
But Ritter* said UN officials determined, during 11 inspections
beginning in June 1991, that only 12 fixed-missile sites were
destroyed.
At a Jan. 30, 1991, briefing, Schwarzkopf said 11 vehicles
carrying Scuds were bombed. But Miller said the vehicles were
probably carrying fuel.
(text of article from June 25, 1992 Vancouver Sun)
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