Attention focused on General Franks for end-of-war announcement

AS-SALIYAH (AFP) Apr 16, 2003
Like the proverbial fat lady whose singing indicates that the show is over, General 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 over by Wednesday, day 28 of the conflict that was launched on March 20, 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.

But she did indicate it seemed certain the announcement would come from Franks, even though the tall Texan commander is known to shun the limelight.

"I think at some point he will make this determination," Nielson-Green said, pointing out that President George W. Bush had made it clear the war is over when General Franks says so.

Central Command will not say, either, where the announcement would be made, but Franks has said he may headed to Baghdad this week.

Asked by Fox News television whether he was planning a trip to the Iraqi capital, the Centcom commander said on Sunday: "That would be my guess," though he stressed that the aim would be to visit US troops, who he called "my people."

Keen to be seen as a liberating rather than occupying force, the US military has made it clear the 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," Franks said.

While the war could be declared over any time now, Centcom stressed that Iraq remains an unsafe place.

"There is still an inherent risk," says Nielson-Green, adding that "in some cases, bullets are flying around."

US forces claim they came under fire Tuesday in the northern city of Mosul, where witnesses said the troops fired into a crowd killing 12 people.

Nielson-Green said that while US soldiers still faced pockets of resistance, these were "not coherent or strategically significant."

The US-led coalition is now mainly concentrating on what military officials call the stabilization phase of the campaign, which entails trying to restore law and order, help rebuild basic infrastructure and pave the way for the creation of a new Iraqi government.

But Nielson-Green warns the country may never be totally safe, pointing out that even in the United States "there's shootings going on every day."

SPACE.WIRE