- AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters)
- The U.S. military said on Wednesday they believed Iraq had reached a
"tipping point" at which ordinary people started to realize that
the administration of President Saddam Hussein was over.
-
- Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks told a briefing at Central
Command in Qatar: "I think we are at a degree of a tipping point where
for the population there is a broader recognition that this regime is coming
to an end and will not return in a way that it has been in the past."
-
- "That's a very important point in the operation.
Militarily, however, we proceed on a plan that says there is more to follow.
All of the regime is not gone, there's still regime appendages in a variety
of places, there's still capability."
-
- Jubilant Iraqis welcomed advancing U.S. forces in Baghdad
and rampaging looters attacked symbols of Saddam's power on Wednesday.
But another U.S. military spokesman said earlier it was "premature"
to talk about the end of military operation yet.
-
- Brooks agreed that fighting was not over: "There's
still work to be done, without a doubt, and we remain focused on that work.
We believe that we will openly achieve a point where hostilities can cease
but we're not at that point yet."
-
- "Cease-fire doesn't have to come by way of a surrender.
Cease-fire is a decision and the decision will occur when we believe conditions
have been set on the battlefield and also when we have political instructions
from our leaders."
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