U.S. cruise missile strikes leveled headquarters buildings of Iraqi special forces and intelligence operations in Baghdad, the nation's top military officer said today.

Pointing to aerial photographs showing before and after photos, Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles slammed into key Iraqi command structures in the opening wave of what was expected to be a four-day air campaign.

``His headquarters is now rubble,'' Shelton said, pointing to a photograph of Iraq's special security brigade headquarters in Baghdad. Four of five barracks in the brigade's living quarters were destroyed, he added.

Shelton also pointed to reconnaissance photos of a key building in the complex that houses the Iraqi intelligence headquarters, ``where you don't see anything but rubble in what was formerly this building.''

U.S. officials were uncertain whether members of the special guards were in their barracks when the cruise missiles hit home between 1 and 4 a.m. local time today, 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. 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 was still coming in showing that many of the strikes were as successful or more successful than those he described. Others, he said, were ``not as successful.''

Well more than 200 cruise missiles were launched on more than 50 targets in Iraq, Shelton said.

Targets include sites for storage and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, headquarters of Iraqi security forces, air defense assets, military airfields and Iraq's defense infrastructure. Conspicuously missing from the target list was Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

``We have not been tracking Saddam Hussein by day and Saddam Hussein was not the objective established for this operation,'' Shelton said.

Defense Secretary William 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. And he said more strikes after the latest campaign ends -- probably some time 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 carrier USS Carl Vinson was to arrive in the Persian Gulf operations area later today, Shelton said. Strikes today involve land-based aircraft, British Tornados, and more sorties from the USS Enterprise, Shelton said.

Defense officials said Air Force B-52s with cruise missiles were taking part in strikes from positions off the coast of Iraq.

Cohen, who described the initial bomb damage reports as encouraging, rejected suggestions that U.S. and British forces were specifically targeting Saddam or his family members.

``We are targeting military or militarily related targets, period,'' he said.