USA: REACTIONS OVER UN SPIES COMMENTS

(8 Jan 1999) English/Nat The man at the head of American forces in the recent Desert Fox campaign against Iraq has told reporters that evaluations of the strikes against Baghdad and targets around the country have weakened Saddam Hussein's regime. General Anthony Zinni said at the Pentagon on Friday that Saddam has had to reorganise his internal government structures to help counter the destabilising effects of the strikes. But he denied claims made in American newspapers on Friday that the U-S had used UNSCOM as a cover to spy on the Iraqis. The commander of U-S forces in the recent Desert Fox bomb strikes on Iraq said at the Pentagon on Friday that the military operation had achieved its objectives. He said that unconfirmed reports say up to two thousand Iraqi soldiers may have been killed in the raids, including between six and sixteen-hundred members of Saddam's elite Republican Guard. Zinni added that many of the successfully destroyed targets in the raids housed Saddam's key missile programme equipment. Military experts estimate that the raids have set Saddam Hussein's weapons production back by two years. SOUNDBITE: (English) "In the aftermath of Desert Storm, sic we have seen a number of unusual things internally that I think clearly indicate that he (Saddam Hussein) was shaken and the regime was shaken. We have seen executions in the south, one division particularly lost its commander and several others. I mentioned before that he broke his country into four sectors and put some very ruthless people in charge in the south "Chemical Ali" Ali Hassan Majid, who is famous for putting the chemicals on the Kurds in the north at Halabja and also for ruthlessly punishing the Shi'a in the south." SUPER CAPTION: General Anthony Zinni, commander of Operation Desert Fox Zinni also told reporters that he has no knowledge of any U-S spy operations carried out within the framework of UNSCOM. Newspaper articles published this week claimed that U-S intelligence had used UNSCOM as a cover to gather information in Iraq. The recent crisis was brought to a head after Saddam Hussein claimed that the inspectors were spying in Iraq. U-S officials have since conceded that American intelligence experts were among those who helped Richard Butler's teams hunt for Iraqi weapons. But Zinni made it clear that he did not believe that to be the case. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I have no knowledge of any special - I understand the reports are coming out, but I have no knowledge of any kind of efforts or intelligence coming through there. Obviously we are aware what UNSCOM does, as is any other country in the U-N Security Council. We see what UNSCOM does and where it goes and what the reports are. But nothing like the reports that I have any knowledge of any deliberate spying or any effort worked through UNSCOM." SUPER CAPTION: General Anthony Zinni, commander of Operation Desert Fox And at the United Nations headquarters in New York, there have been vigorous denials of newspaper allegations UNSCOM weapons inspectors permitted American intelligence agencies to access their surveillence operations. They say the United Nations asked for help from dozens of countries, not just the United States. And they say the U-N controlled all information from the outside experts. SOUNDBITE: English " I have said from the beginning, we have no evidence, we have no confidential information based on intelligence sources." SUPER CAPTION: Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the UN Secretary General SOUNDBITE: English 2. Medium view of press SOURCE: UNTV Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...