03/31/2003

By Byron Harris / WFAA-TV

Dispatches are exclusive reports from Belo Interactive field correspondents covering the conflict with Iraq. Byron Harris works as a reporter for WFAA-TV in Dallas. He is stationed with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit's Service Supply Group (CSSG-11). E-mail him at correspondents@belointeractive.com.

United Nations A U.N. inspector examines a tamper-proof tag on a short-range ballistic missile known as the "FROG," most likely purchased from the Soviet Union.

CENTRAL IRAQ — U.S. Marines approaching a small village about 100 miles south of Baghdad fought an Iraqi battalion of about 600 men for control of the village today.

Once all of the Iraqis were either dead or had fled, it did not take the Marines long to find out why the small settlement was so fiercely defended.

Inside the compound of just a few buildings, the Marines found two large missiles covered by tarps on the back of a trailer. The missiles, about 25 feet long and 3 feet in diameter, bore the markings of United Nations weapons inspectors.

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FROG backgrounder UNSCOM photo

If the markings are legitimate, the weapons, believed to be Soviet-made "FROG-7" (Free Rocket Over Ground) unguided missiles with a range of up to 70 kilometers, could be permitted weapons under current U.N. guidelines.

U.S. Marines believe the discovery of the missiles indicates that they were removed from Baghdad and hidden away from Americans, for use at a later time during the conflict. They deduced this because they could find nothing nearby worthy of being defended by missiles.

FROG-7 missiles are capable of carrying conventional, nuclear and chemical warheads. It was not immediately known what sort of warhead these missiles carried.