US General Tommy Franks, in his first briefing since the start of the war inIraq, promised today that the campaign would be "unlike any other inhistory".
Gen Franks is running the assault on Saddam Hussein's regime from a command postin Qatar.
He said the assault on Iraq would be one of "shock, surprise, flexibility,"using munitions on a "scale never before seen".
The campaign, the general said, was taking the fight "across the breadth anddepth of Iraq" - aiming to secure bridges, airports and oil platforms. The Allied war plan allows commanders to "attack the enemy on our terms,"Gen Franks said.
"We are on our timeline," he said.
But he cautioned about what may lie ahead. "There may wellbe tough days ahead," he said.
Franks said targets chosen for air strikes, which havefocused on the capital Baghdad, were chosen to avoid harmingnon-combatants.
He said US forces were still looking for weapons of massdestruction, indicating none had yet been found.
Gen Franks also said US forces have no idea ofthe whereabouts of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "I suppose we will know inthe days ahead," he said.
At the same press briefing, General VinceBrooks said Iraq had sabotaged nine oil wells ofabout 500 in a southern area of Rumaila as US-led forcesinvaded.
Rumaila fields, which are capable of pumping more than onemillion barrels per day. Iraq's total output before theoutbreak of hostilities had been about 2.5 million barrels per day.Iraqi forces set fire to about 700 oil wells in Kuwaitduring the 1991 Gulf war.
Agencies