An Iraqi man looks at the debris at a grain storage site in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town. (AFP) Related Links From The Post U.S. Targets Sites Crucial to Weapon-Making (Dec. 17) Aides: President Saw Little Alternative (Dec. 17) Limited Campaign Could Limit Success (Dec. 17) Sen. Lott Won't Back Clinton on Strike (Dec. 17) U.S. Says Iraq Determined Timing (Dec. 17) Arab Nations Are Quiet, but U.S. Claims Tacit Support (Dec. 17) Raids Spawn Suspicions, Wary Support (Dec. 17)

By Susanne M. Schafer
AP Military Writer
Thursday, December 17, 1998; 6:19 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Air Force B-52H bombers pounded scores of new military targets inside Iraq Thursday after Navy cruise missiles reduced Saddam Hussein's spy headquarters and a military barracks in Baghdad to rubble, Pentagon commanders said.

''There have been no American casualties and we are achieving good coverage of our targets,'' Defense Secretary William Cohen told reporters in a packed Pentagon briefing room.

Iraqi troops appeared to be offering paltry resistance, officials said. No Iraqi aircraft had taken wing nor had any Iraqi air defense units aimed targeting radar at incoming U.S. or British attack aircraft.

Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reported that the opening first-day salvo of ''Operation Desert Fox'' unleashed some 200 Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles to strike ''more than 50 sensitive targets.'' Some strikes, he acknowledged, were ''not quite as successful'' as others, but he did not explain.

Shelton said U.S. and British forces were targeting sites the Iraqi president had denied to U.N. weapons inspectors, including suspected sites associated with weapons of mass destruction, sites that provided security for such centers, Iraqi security forces, airfields, air defense sites and military communications and intelligence headquarters.

''One thing should be clear. We are concentrating on military targets. We are not attacking the people of Iraq,'' Cohen said, deflecting charges the operation had targeted Saddam personally or members of his family.

Shelton displayed two reconnaissance photos showing blasts had leveled Saddam's intelligence headquarters and the Abu Ghurayb military barracks in Baghdad.

''There's nothing left but rubble,'' Shelton said, gesturing at a photograph of a key building in the complex that houses the Iraqi intelligence headquarters. Another photo of a row of barracks buildings showed huge holes in four out of five.

U.S. officials said they were uncertain whether members of the Iraqi special guards were in their barracks when the cruise missiles hit home between 1 and 4 a.m. local time, or 6 to 9 p.m. EST Wednesday.

Because the strikes were anticipated and because air raid sirens sounded in Baghdad, people might have moved out of likely targets, Shelton said, but he added, ''there may have been some inside.''

Speaking even as a second round of strikes was under way, Shelton said ''a considerable amount of data'' from the first wave showed many of the strikes were ''as successful or more successful'' than those in the photos.

Defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the targets include a missile design and production facility in Al Taji, about 19 miles northwest of Baghdad; headquarters for Iraq's Special Security Services, responsible for guarding Saddam; and Jabul Makhul near the Iraqi town of Samarra, one of eight presidential palace sites, covering 10 square miles and containing command offices and bunkers.

The presidential palaces are believed to be hiding places for elements of Iraq's suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs, as well as specialized control headquarters used to communicate with Saddam's far-flung military empire.

Cohen said the goal of the strikes was to reduce Iraq's capability to threaten neighbors with chemical or biological weapons, not to end the nearly decade-long standoff between the United States and Iraq. He said more strikes after the latest campaign ends -- probably sometime this weekend -- may be needed.

''It would be my hope that following this operation Saddam Hussein would see the wisdom of finally complying'' with U.N. weapons inspections, Cohen said. But he added, ''We intend to continue the containment strategy. Should he either threaten his neighbors or try to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction program, we are prepared to take action again.''

The lack of an Iraqi military response might mean that Saddam has ordered his forces ''to just absorb the blow,'' in the belief that the attacks will last a relatively short time, and he could rise again to show that America still couldn't hurt him, one administration official said.

Shelton said the thousands of additional military forces ordered to the Gulf would continue flowing to the region. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was arriving in the Persian Gulf operations area later Thursday.

Defense officials said Air Force B-52s with loads of 2,000-pound and 3,000-pound cruise missiles formed the centerpiece of the strikes Thursday, firing from positions off the coast of Iraq. Navy and Marine Corps warplanes from the carrier Enterprise were also taking part, as well as British Tornado fighter-bombers, Shelton said.

The strikes are expected to run into the weekend, when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. But Cohen said the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf will remain as long as Iraq remains a threat.