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US TROOPS CAPTURE CHEMICAL PLANT
US TROOPS CAPTURE CHEMICAL PLANT
The Jerusalem Post
Caroline Glick Mar. 23, 2003
About 30 Iraqi troops, including a general, surrendered today to US forces of the 3rd Infantry Division as they overtook huge installation apparently used to produce chemical weapons in An Najaf, some 250 kilometers south of Baghdad.
One soldier was lightly wounded when a booby-trapped explosive went off as he was clearing the sheet metal-lined facility, which resembles the eery images of scientific facilities in World War II concentration camps.
The huge 100-acre complex, which is surrounded by a electrical fence, is perhaps the first illegal chemical plant to be uncovered by US troops in their current mission in Iraq. The surrounding barracks resemble an abandoned slum.
It wasn't immediately clear exactly which chemicals were being produced here, but clearly the Iraqis tried to camouflage the facility so it could not be photographed aerially, by swathing it in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert.
Within minutes of our entry into the camp on Sunday afternoon, at least 30 Iraqi soldiers and their commanding officer of the rank of General, obeyed the instructions of US soldiers who called out from our jeep in loudspeakers for them to lie down on the ground, and put their hands above their heads to surrender.
Today's operation is the third engagement with Iraqi forces by the First Brigade of the US army's 3rd Infantry Division, since Saturday afternoon.
So far in the campaign, the brigade has suffered no losses. But two were wounded Saturday night in an ambush on the outskirts of As-Samwah in southern Iraq.
(still waiting for independant confirmation for all you jew haters)
US TROOPS CAPTURE CHEMICAL PLANT
The Jerusalem Post
Caroline Glick Mar. 23, 2003
About 30 Iraqi troops, including a general, surrendered today to US forces of the 3rd Infantry Division as they overtook huge installation apparently used to produce chemical weapons in An Najaf, some 250 kilometers south of Baghdad.
One soldier was lightly wounded when a booby-trapped explosive went off as he was clearing the sheet metal-lined facility, which resembles the eery images of scientific facilities in World War II concentration camps.
The huge 100-acre complex, which is surrounded by a electrical fence, is perhaps the first illegal chemical plant to be uncovered by US troops in their current mission in Iraq. The surrounding barracks resemble an abandoned slum.
It wasn't immediately clear exactly which chemicals were being produced here, but clearly the Iraqis tried to camouflage the facility so it could not be photographed aerially, by swathing it in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert.
Within minutes of our entry into the camp on Sunday afternoon, at least 30 Iraqi soldiers and their commanding officer of the rank of General, obeyed the instructions of US soldiers who called out from our jeep in loudspeakers for them to lie down on the ground, and put their hands above their heads to surrender.
Today's operation is the third engagement with Iraqi forces by the First Brigade of the US army's 3rd Infantry Division, since Saturday afternoon.
So far in the campaign, the brigade has suffered no losses. But two were wounded Saturday night in an ambush on the outskirts of As-Samwah in southern Iraq.
(still waiting for independant confirmation for all you jew haters)
FatFinaHead
New member
Reuters
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 3:15 PM
By Luke Baker and Rosalind Russell
SOUTHERN IRAQ (Reuters) - Charred Iraqi corpses smolder in burned-out trucks. Black smoke hangs over bombed cities where U.S. troops battle Iraqi soldiers. Youths greet British tanks with smiles, then sneer when they have passed.
Reuters correspondents in southern Iraq -- some with U.S.-led forces, some operating independently -- watched the war to topple Saddam Hussein unfold on Sunday as U.S. convoys advanced on Baghdad and battles raged for control of key cities.
In the desert near the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, just 100 miles south of Baghdad, correspondent Luke Baker traveled through a plain littered with Iraqi bodies and gutted vehicles after U.S. forces fought a seven-hour battle against militiamen desperately trying to halt their advance.
Some vehicles were still smoldering, and charred ribs were the only recognizable part of three burned bodies in a destroyed car lying in the roadside dust.
"It wasn't even a fair fight. I don't know why they don't just surrender," said Col. Mark Hildenbrand, commander of the 937th Engineer Group. "When you're playing soccer at home, 3-2 is a fair score, but here it's more like 119-0."
U.S. troops showed reporters a hideout said to have been used by an Iraqi militiaman. The soldier who had used the hideout had only a filthy blanket to protect him from the cold desert nights, and just a plastic bag of raw meat for food.
When he fled, he left behind a picture of his two children.
Southeast of Najaf, Reuters correspondent Sean Maguire saw explosions and huge plumes of smoke over Nassiriya, a strategic city on the Euphrates river where U.S. forces have been fighting to secure bridges to allow them to advance toward Baghdad.
"It looks like artillery, or possibly air strikes," said Maguire, traveling with the U.S. 1st Marine Division.
BLACK SMOKE, WHITE FLAGS
In the southeastern city of Umm Qasr, Iraq's only deep-water port, U.S. and British forces used planes and tanks in a battle to dislodge at least 120 Iraqi Republican Guards.
Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft said British Harrier jets had dropped 500-pound bombs on the city, sending columns of black smoke curling into the air. When the bombing ended, some Iraqis could be seen waving white flags and surrendering.
As night fell U.S. soldiers were still using machinegun, artillery and mortar fire in an attempt to flush out another group of Iraqi fighters from a hideout.
Civilians streamed out of Umm Qasr and the city of Basra. Reuters correspondent Rosalind Russell, south of Basra, watched dozens of trucks and battered cars pass, crammed full with household belongings.
Machine gun and artillery fire echoed behind them.
"There is fighting in the center, on the streets. It is terrible," said Hussein, a 24-year-old engineer who works for the state-run southern oil company in Basra.
"We don't want Americans here. This is Iraq."
One group of Iraqi boys on the side of the road smiled and waved as a convoy of British tanks and trucks rolled by.
But once it had passed, leaving a trail of dust and grit in its wake, their smiles turned to scowls.
"We don't want them here," said 17-year-old Fouad, looking angrily up at the plumes of gray smoke rising from Basra.
He pulled a piece of paper from the waistband of his trousers. Unfolding it, he held up a picture of Saddam, showing the Iraqi leader sitting on a throne with a benign smile.
"Saddam is our leader," he said defiantly. "Saddam is good."
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 3:15 PM
By Luke Baker and Rosalind Russell
SOUTHERN IRAQ (Reuters) - Charred Iraqi corpses smolder in burned-out trucks. Black smoke hangs over bombed cities where U.S. troops battle Iraqi soldiers. Youths greet British tanks with smiles, then sneer when they have passed.
Reuters correspondents in southern Iraq -- some with U.S.-led forces, some operating independently -- watched the war to topple Saddam Hussein unfold on Sunday as U.S. convoys advanced on Baghdad and battles raged for control of key cities.
In the desert near the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, just 100 miles south of Baghdad, correspondent Luke Baker traveled through a plain littered with Iraqi bodies and gutted vehicles after U.S. forces fought a seven-hour battle against militiamen desperately trying to halt their advance.
Some vehicles were still smoldering, and charred ribs were the only recognizable part of three burned bodies in a destroyed car lying in the roadside dust.
"It wasn't even a fair fight. I don't know why they don't just surrender," said Col. Mark Hildenbrand, commander of the 937th Engineer Group. "When you're playing soccer at home, 3-2 is a fair score, but here it's more like 119-0."
U.S. troops showed reporters a hideout said to have been used by an Iraqi militiaman. The soldier who had used the hideout had only a filthy blanket to protect him from the cold desert nights, and just a plastic bag of raw meat for food.
When he fled, he left behind a picture of his two children.
Southeast of Najaf, Reuters correspondent Sean Maguire saw explosions and huge plumes of smoke over Nassiriya, a strategic city on the Euphrates river where U.S. forces have been fighting to secure bridges to allow them to advance toward Baghdad.
"It looks like artillery, or possibly air strikes," said Maguire, traveling with the U.S. 1st Marine Division.
BLACK SMOKE, WHITE FLAGS
In the southeastern city of Umm Qasr, Iraq's only deep-water port, U.S. and British forces used planes and tanks in a battle to dislodge at least 120 Iraqi Republican Guards.
Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft said British Harrier jets had dropped 500-pound bombs on the city, sending columns of black smoke curling into the air. When the bombing ended, some Iraqis could be seen waving white flags and surrendering.
As night fell U.S. soldiers were still using machinegun, artillery and mortar fire in an attempt to flush out another group of Iraqi fighters from a hideout.
Civilians streamed out of Umm Qasr and the city of Basra. Reuters correspondent Rosalind Russell, south of Basra, watched dozens of trucks and battered cars pass, crammed full with household belongings.
Machine gun and artillery fire echoed behind them.
"There is fighting in the center, on the streets. It is terrible," said Hussein, a 24-year-old engineer who works for the state-run southern oil company in Basra.
"We don't want Americans here. This is Iraq."
One group of Iraqi boys on the side of the road smiled and waved as a convoy of British tanks and trucks rolled by.
But once it had passed, leaving a trail of dust and grit in its wake, their smiles turned to scowls.
"We don't want them here," said 17-year-old Fouad, looking angrily up at the plumes of gray smoke rising from Basra.
He pulled a piece of paper from the waistband of his trousers. Unfolding it, he held up a picture of Saddam, showing the Iraqi leader sitting on a throne with a benign smile.
"Saddam is our leader," he said defiantly. "Saddam is good."
FatFinaHead
New member
Ground War on Baghdad Seen by Tuesday-UK Source
Sun March 23, 2003 06:35 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - The ground war to capture Baghdad should begin by Tuesday, with no plan for U.S.-British troops to get bogged down fighting in Iraq's second city of Basra, a British defense source said on Sunday.
"We're looking toward Monday night, Tuesday for the ground offensive on Baghdad," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
"The important thing is not to take Basra but to get through it and get to the north. We won't get into fighting in downtown Basra."
The source said thousands of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard forces were dug in around the capital city of Baghdad and that U.S.-British forces expected to encounter fierce resistance.
"That will be a tough fight. It will be interesting to see how they play it," the source said.
U.S.-British forces would move up to Baghdad and then assess the situation, he said, suggesting Iraqi troops may be softened up with heavy air bombardment before ground forces move in.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see a massive barrage from the air," he said. "You are dealing with a different enemy. The Republican Guard are going to put up a proper fight."
He said that U.S.-British forces did not plan on getting distracted by firefights on the way to the capital and that it was key to push on and keep supply routes open.
"Baghdad is the only one to watch. That is what this is all about. It needs to be looked at as the main focus," he said.
After a fierce battle, an armored U.S. column pushed on toward the central city of Najaf and came within 110 miles of the Iraqi capital, a Reuters reporter said.
Sun March 23, 2003 06:35 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - The ground war to capture Baghdad should begin by Tuesday, with no plan for U.S.-British troops to get bogged down fighting in Iraq's second city of Basra, a British defense source said on Sunday.
"We're looking toward Monday night, Tuesday for the ground offensive on Baghdad," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
"The important thing is not to take Basra but to get through it and get to the north. We won't get into fighting in downtown Basra."
The source said thousands of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard forces were dug in around the capital city of Baghdad and that U.S.-British forces expected to encounter fierce resistance.
"That will be a tough fight. It will be interesting to see how they play it," the source said.
U.S.-British forces would move up to Baghdad and then assess the situation, he said, suggesting Iraqi troops may be softened up with heavy air bombardment before ground forces move in.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see a massive barrage from the air," he said. "You are dealing with a different enemy. The Republican Guard are going to put up a proper fight."
He said that U.S.-British forces did not plan on getting distracted by firefights on the way to the capital and that it was key to push on and keep supply routes open.
"Baghdad is the only one to watch. That is what this is all about. It needs to be looked at as the main focus," he said.
After a fierce battle, an armored U.S. column pushed on toward the central city of Najaf and came within 110 miles of the Iraqi capital, a Reuters reporter said.
FatFinaHead
New member
THIS ONE REALLY BURNS MY ASS. Please read this gut wrenching story.
Just thought I would give a few words of insperation!
Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.
Rangers Lead The Way!
By ROBERT H. REID
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 3:01 PM
Arab television on Sunday aired Iraqi footage of purported dead Americans, some sprawled in a room, and interviews with five seemingly tense U.S. prisoners.
U.S. officials confirmed that up to 10 soldiers and perhaps one aircraft were missing in southern Iraq, and that some may have been lured into a trap by Iraqi soldiers pretending to surrender.
The casualties and the interviews with four men and a woman were broadcast by the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera with footage from state-controlled Iraqi television. Each was interviewed individually and gave their names and their home states. They spoke with American accents into a microphone labeled "Iraqi Television."
One prisoner identified herself as Shauna, 30, from Texas. Her eyes darted back and forth as she was interviewed and she held her arms tightly in her lap as she was questioned.
At one point, the camera panned back, showing that a massive white bandage wrapped around her ankle. Her voice was very shaky.
One prisoner, who said he was from El Paso, Texas, stared directly at the camera and spoke in a clear direct voice, often shaking his head and cupping his ear slightly to try to indicate that he couldn't hear one of several questions being shot at him from around the room.
The footage said the American soldiers were captured during fighting around An Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates River northwest of Basra.
The woman identified as Shauna also said she was from the 507th Maintenance. There are 507th Maintenance companies both in the Air Force and Army.
The prisoners looked scared. One captive, who said he was from Kansas, answered all his questions in a shaky voice, his eyes darting back and forth between and interviewer and another person who couldn't be seen on camera.
Asked why he came to Iraq, he simply replied "I come to fix broke stuff."
Prodded again by the interviewer, he was asked if he came to shoot Iraqis.
"No I come to shoot only if I am shot at," he said. "They (Iraqis) don't bother me, I don't bother them."
Another prisoner said only: "I follow orders."
A voice off-camera asked "how many officers" were in his unit.
"I don't know sir," the man replied.
Iraqi TV attempted to interview a wounded man lying down, at one point trying to cradle his head so it would hold steady for the camera.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said some American soldiers are missing in the fighting in Iraq and possibly being held as prisoners. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said he thought fewer than 10 soldiers were missing in southern Iraq and that military officials were trying to account for them. "Beyond that, we don't know," Gen. Richard Myers said on Fox television.
President Bush demanded that any American prisoners of war be treated humanely by Iraq.
Bush, returning to the White House from Camp David, said he did not have all the details, but expected that Iraq treat any prisoners "humanely, just like we'll treat any Iraqi prisoners."
In Cairo, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the casualties were proof the Iraqi military would fight. "What happened today showed that we're not surrendering easily. It is proof we're strong and it is not an easy invasion."
Al-Jazeera later showed footage of what appeared to be a fuel or water carrier parked alongside a highway and a body in uniform with full gear and still wearing a helmet lying behind the carrier.
Showing the television footage may have been Iraq's way of testing America's resolve in the war. In Somalia in 1993, American audiences were outraged by television pictures showing Somali crowds dragging the bodies of American soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu: U.S. troops were pulled out of Somalia shortly after the incident.
© 2003 The Associated Press
Just thought I would give a few words of insperation!
Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.
Rangers Lead The Way!
By ROBERT H. REID
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 3:01 PM
Arab television on Sunday aired Iraqi footage of purported dead Americans, some sprawled in a room, and interviews with five seemingly tense U.S. prisoners.
U.S. officials confirmed that up to 10 soldiers and perhaps one aircraft were missing in southern Iraq, and that some may have been lured into a trap by Iraqi soldiers pretending to surrender.
The casualties and the interviews with four men and a woman were broadcast by the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera with footage from state-controlled Iraqi television. Each was interviewed individually and gave their names and their home states. They spoke with American accents into a microphone labeled "Iraqi Television."
One prisoner identified herself as Shauna, 30, from Texas. Her eyes darted back and forth as she was interviewed and she held her arms tightly in her lap as she was questioned.
At one point, the camera panned back, showing that a massive white bandage wrapped around her ankle. Her voice was very shaky.
One prisoner, who said he was from El Paso, Texas, stared directly at the camera and spoke in a clear direct voice, often shaking his head and cupping his ear slightly to try to indicate that he couldn't hear one of several questions being shot at him from around the room.
The footage said the American soldiers were captured during fighting around An Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates River northwest of Basra.
The woman identified as Shauna also said she was from the 507th Maintenance. There are 507th Maintenance companies both in the Air Force and Army.
The prisoners looked scared. One captive, who said he was from Kansas, answered all his questions in a shaky voice, his eyes darting back and forth between and interviewer and another person who couldn't be seen on camera.
Asked why he came to Iraq, he simply replied "I come to fix broke stuff."
Prodded again by the interviewer, he was asked if he came to shoot Iraqis.
"No I come to shoot only if I am shot at," he said. "They (Iraqis) don't bother me, I don't bother them."
Another prisoner said only: "I follow orders."
A voice off-camera asked "how many officers" were in his unit.
"I don't know sir," the man replied.
Iraqi TV attempted to interview a wounded man lying down, at one point trying to cradle his head so it would hold steady for the camera.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said some American soldiers are missing in the fighting in Iraq and possibly being held as prisoners. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said he thought fewer than 10 soldiers were missing in southern Iraq and that military officials were trying to account for them. "Beyond that, we don't know," Gen. Richard Myers said on Fox television.
President Bush demanded that any American prisoners of war be treated humanely by Iraq.
Bush, returning to the White House from Camp David, said he did not have all the details, but expected that Iraq treat any prisoners "humanely, just like we'll treat any Iraqi prisoners."
In Cairo, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the casualties were proof the Iraqi military would fight. "What happened today showed that we're not surrendering easily. It is proof we're strong and it is not an easy invasion."
Al-Jazeera later showed footage of what appeared to be a fuel or water carrier parked alongside a highway and a body in uniform with full gear and still wearing a helmet lying behind the carrier.
Showing the television footage may have been Iraq's way of testing America's resolve in the war. In Somalia in 1993, American audiences were outraged by television pictures showing Somali crowds dragging the bodies of American soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu: U.S. troops were pulled out of Somalia shortly after the incident.
© 2003 The Associated Press
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
OPERATION: IRAQI FREEDOM
U.S. captures Iraqi chemical-weapons plant
100-acre, camouflaged facility overtaken 90 miles south of Baghdad
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: March 23, 2003
4:00 p.m. Eastern
U.S. forces have uncovered an illegal chemical-weapons plant in An Najaf, some 90 miles south of Baghdad, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.
At least 30 Iraqi troops, including a general, surrendered today to troops with the 3rd Infantry Division within minutes of U.S. forces entering the area to capture the huge sheet metal-lined chemical weapons production facility.
One U.S. soldier was wounded when a booby-trapped explosive went off at the 100-acre complex, which is surrounded by a electrical fence.
The surrounding barracks resemble an abandoned slum and the facility was camouflaged in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert, in an apparent attempt to keep it from being photographed aerially, according to the Jerusalem Post.
U.S. Lt. Gen. John Abizaid told reporters: ''I'm not going to confirm that report, but we have one or two generals officers who are providing us with information.''
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
U.S. captures Iraqi chemical-weapons plant
100-acre, camouflaged facility overtaken 90 miles south of Baghdad
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: March 23, 2003
4:00 p.m. Eastern
U.S. forces have uncovered an illegal chemical-weapons plant in An Najaf, some 90 miles south of Baghdad, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.
At least 30 Iraqi troops, including a general, surrendered today to troops with the 3rd Infantry Division within minutes of U.S. forces entering the area to capture the huge sheet metal-lined chemical weapons production facility.
One U.S. soldier was wounded when a booby-trapped explosive went off at the 100-acre complex, which is surrounded by a electrical fence.
The surrounding barracks resemble an abandoned slum and the facility was camouflaged in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert, in an apparent attempt to keep it from being photographed aerially, according to the Jerusalem Post.
U.S. Lt. Gen. John Abizaid told reporters: ''I'm not going to confirm that report, but we have one or two generals officers who are providing us with information.''
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
All violations of UN Resolutions!
US Protests Russian Arms Sales To Iraq
3-23-3
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday it had protested to Moscow about reports that Russian firms have sold Iraq antitank missiles, night vision goggles and jamming gear.
A State Department spokeswoman said Moscow's response had not been satisfactory.
U.S. and British forces are fighting Iraq in an effort to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and to find and destroy Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has denied it has such weapons.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the United States recently delivered a protest to the Russian government for refusing to stop Russian arms dealers from providing illegal weapons and assistance to the Iraqi military.
The newspaper cited Bush administration sources as saying one Russian company was helping the Iraqi military to deploy electronic jamming equipment against U.S. planes and bombs and two others have sold antitank missiles and thousands of night-vision goggles in violation of U.N. sanctions.
The sources told the newspaper Moscow had ignored U.S. concerns about the potential threat to U.S. forces.
"We regard this as a very serious matter," State Department spokeswoman Brenda Greenberg said. "We thus have raised this issue with the Russian government a number of times, including at senior levels and particularly over the past two weeks. The response so far has not been satisfactory.
"We hope that the responsible Russian agencies will take our concerns seriously," she said. "We are very concerned about reports that Russian firms are selling militarily sensitive equipment to Iraq. Such equipment in the hands of the Iraqi military may pose a direct threat to U.S. and coalition armed forces."
Greenberg declined to say if the Washington Post report was accurate, saying she could not discuss intelligence matters.
Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited.
US Protests Russian Arms Sales To Iraq
3-23-3
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday it had protested to Moscow about reports that Russian firms have sold Iraq antitank missiles, night vision goggles and jamming gear.
A State Department spokeswoman said Moscow's response had not been satisfactory.
U.S. and British forces are fighting Iraq in an effort to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and to find and destroy Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has denied it has such weapons.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the United States recently delivered a protest to the Russian government for refusing to stop Russian arms dealers from providing illegal weapons and assistance to the Iraqi military.
The newspaper cited Bush administration sources as saying one Russian company was helping the Iraqi military to deploy electronic jamming equipment against U.S. planes and bombs and two others have sold antitank missiles and thousands of night-vision goggles in violation of U.N. sanctions.
The sources told the newspaper Moscow had ignored U.S. concerns about the potential threat to U.S. forces.
"We regard this as a very serious matter," State Department spokeswoman Brenda Greenberg said. "We thus have raised this issue with the Russian government a number of times, including at senior levels and particularly over the past two weeks. The response so far has not been satisfactory.
"We hope that the responsible Russian agencies will take our concerns seriously," she said. "We are very concerned about reports that Russian firms are selling militarily sensitive equipment to Iraq. Such equipment in the hands of the Iraqi military may pose a direct threat to U.S. and coalition armed forces."
Greenberg declined to say if the Washington Post report was accurate, saying she could not discuss intelligence matters.
Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Saddam Attack OK Under US Assassination Rules
3-23-3
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday that a good start to changing the government in Iraq would be to kill President Saddam Hussein. But the United States is not supposed to be in the assassination business.
CIA plots to eliminate Cuba's Fidel Castro with poisoned cigars, an infected diving suit and exploding clam shells proved so embarrassing that an executive order from President Gerald Ford, subsequently reinforced by Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, barred the United States from engaging in assassinations.
Rumsfeld, asked on the CBS program "Face the Nation" on Sunday if killing Saddam was a good start to changing the regime, replied: "That's true, it would be."
So why doesn't last week's direct attack on the Iraqi leadership with laser-guided missiles and bunker-busting bombs qualify as an assassination attempt?
"In military conflict, command and control are legitimate targets," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer explained. U.S. officials described the Iraqi leadership as "targets of opportunity." President Bush called them "targets of military importance."
U.S. government lawyers determined that the attack on the compound where Saddam -- and perhaps his sons Uday and Qusay -- were believed to be was legal since the United States was at war with Iraq and it was deemed a command-and-control facility.
"The head of the chain of command in time of war would be considered a legitimate military target," said Warren Bass, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It would be like trying to kill Tojo or Hitler in the middle of World War II."
UNCLEAR IF SADDAM ALIVE
No U.S. official has said for certain if Saddam is alive, dead or injured. Bush said he was losing control of Iraq.
But Saddam wouldn't be the first to survive U.S. termination with extreme prejudice.
Osama bin laden apparently escaped the ferocious U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan. In fact, the al Qaeda leader blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, boasted about his survival on an audiotape.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a bomb dropped on his tent in the Libyan desert. Mohamed Farah Aideed eluded the CIA in Somalia. Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba escaped several CIA plots. Castro is still president of Cuba.
Bin Laden was personally targeted as long ago as 1998 when President Bill Clinton secretly authorized the CIA to use lethal force against him and his aides. After Sept. 11, 2001, Bush declared the Saudi-born exile wanted "dead or alive."
The United States has subsequently targeted individual al Qaeda operatives and in November used a Hellfire missile launched by a drone aircraft to kill one of the organization's leaders in Yemen. In Bush's words, "He's no longer a problem."
Washington has designated al Qaeda operatives "enemy combatants" under international law and says strikes against them are military actions rather than assassination attempts.
Bush ordered the pre-emptive strike on the top Iraqi leadership after the opportunity suddenly presented itself.
CIA Director George Tenet and Rumsfeld requested an urgent meeting with Bush on Wednesday afternoon when intelligence materialized about their whereabouts.
"They briefed the president and the war council on the updated information they had and the actionable items that were required," a senior administration official said. "The president at this stage has already signed off on a broad strategy and mission."
The war plan was quickly revised when Bush took one last look at the updated intelligence. "Let's go," he said.
Fleischer told reporters the executive order banning the U.S.-backed assassination of foreign leaders was still in effect.
In 1981, Reagan strengthened a policy laid down five years earlier by Ford, issuing Executive Order 12333 which states, "No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination."
An executive order does not have the force of law and can be changed by the president at any time. Because they are sometimes classified, the public may not know when they are issued.
3-23-3
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday that a good start to changing the government in Iraq would be to kill President Saddam Hussein. But the United States is not supposed to be in the assassination business.
CIA plots to eliminate Cuba's Fidel Castro with poisoned cigars, an infected diving suit and exploding clam shells proved so embarrassing that an executive order from President Gerald Ford, subsequently reinforced by Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, barred the United States from engaging in assassinations.
Rumsfeld, asked on the CBS program "Face the Nation" on Sunday if killing Saddam was a good start to changing the regime, replied: "That's true, it would be."
So why doesn't last week's direct attack on the Iraqi leadership with laser-guided missiles and bunker-busting bombs qualify as an assassination attempt?
"In military conflict, command and control are legitimate targets," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer explained. U.S. officials described the Iraqi leadership as "targets of opportunity." President Bush called them "targets of military importance."
U.S. government lawyers determined that the attack on the compound where Saddam -- and perhaps his sons Uday and Qusay -- were believed to be was legal since the United States was at war with Iraq and it was deemed a command-and-control facility.
"The head of the chain of command in time of war would be considered a legitimate military target," said Warren Bass, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It would be like trying to kill Tojo or Hitler in the middle of World War II."
UNCLEAR IF SADDAM ALIVE
No U.S. official has said for certain if Saddam is alive, dead or injured. Bush said he was losing control of Iraq.
But Saddam wouldn't be the first to survive U.S. termination with extreme prejudice.
Osama bin laden apparently escaped the ferocious U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan. In fact, the al Qaeda leader blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, boasted about his survival on an audiotape.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a bomb dropped on his tent in the Libyan desert. Mohamed Farah Aideed eluded the CIA in Somalia. Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba escaped several CIA plots. Castro is still president of Cuba.
Bin Laden was personally targeted as long ago as 1998 when President Bill Clinton secretly authorized the CIA to use lethal force against him and his aides. After Sept. 11, 2001, Bush declared the Saudi-born exile wanted "dead or alive."
The United States has subsequently targeted individual al Qaeda operatives and in November used a Hellfire missile launched by a drone aircraft to kill one of the organization's leaders in Yemen. In Bush's words, "He's no longer a problem."
Washington has designated al Qaeda operatives "enemy combatants" under international law and says strikes against them are military actions rather than assassination attempts.
Bush ordered the pre-emptive strike on the top Iraqi leadership after the opportunity suddenly presented itself.
CIA Director George Tenet and Rumsfeld requested an urgent meeting with Bush on Wednesday afternoon when intelligence materialized about their whereabouts.
"They briefed the president and the war council on the updated information they had and the actionable items that were required," a senior administration official said. "The president at this stage has already signed off on a broad strategy and mission."
The war plan was quickly revised when Bush took one last look at the updated intelligence. "Let's go," he said.
Fleischer told reporters the executive order banning the U.S.-backed assassination of foreign leaders was still in effect.
In 1981, Reagan strengthened a policy laid down five years earlier by Ford, issuing Executive Order 12333 which states, "No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination."
An executive order does not have the force of law and can be changed by the president at any time. Because they are sometimes classified, the public may not know when they are issued.
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Reports of chemical weapons near Iraq's Kut - U.S.
Reuters | 3/23/03
AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar, March 23 (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday there had been reports of some Iraqi forces with chemical weapons near the town of Kut, about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
U.S. Lt. Gen. John Abizaid told a news briefing at Central Command headquarters in Qatar that he expected invading U.S.-led forces to find weapons of mass destruction when they occupy Baghdad, but it would "take some time" to root them out.
The U.S.-British invasion of Iraq was prompted by Iraq's refusal to give up alleged weapons of mass destruction.
"We should not expect to immediately come across it," Abizaid said. "Although there are reports that some units in the vicinty of Al Kut may have some type of chenmical weapons and, of course, we're taking the necessary precautions to deal with that."
It was not immediately clear where the reports came from.
"I have no doubt we'll find weapons of mass destruction, but you shouldn't think it's going to happen tomorrow."
Analysts believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has chosen not to use chemical or biological weapons for fear of massive reprisals, or perhaps because he is waiting until Baghdad and other key strategic points come under attack.
Reuters | 3/23/03
AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar, March 23 (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday there had been reports of some Iraqi forces with chemical weapons near the town of Kut, about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
U.S. Lt. Gen. John Abizaid told a news briefing at Central Command headquarters in Qatar that he expected invading U.S.-led forces to find weapons of mass destruction when they occupy Baghdad, but it would "take some time" to root them out.
The U.S.-British invasion of Iraq was prompted by Iraq's refusal to give up alleged weapons of mass destruction.
"We should not expect to immediately come across it," Abizaid said. "Although there are reports that some units in the vicinty of Al Kut may have some type of chenmical weapons and, of course, we're taking the necessary precautions to deal with that."
It was not immediately clear where the reports came from.
"I have no doubt we'll find weapons of mass destruction, but you shouldn't think it's going to happen tomorrow."
Analysts believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has chosen not to use chemical or biological weapons for fear of massive reprisals, or perhaps because he is waiting until Baghdad and other key strategic points come under attack.
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UK MADE MISSILES FOUND
SkyNews
UK MADE MISSILES FOUND
British troops securing the outskirts of Basra have discovered missiles and warheads hidden inside fortified bunkers, reports say.
Cases of rockets, giant anti-shipping mines and other ammunition were found in dozens of Iraqi bunkers near what is marked on maps as the Az Zubaya Heliport.
Some of the boxes are clearly marked with the names of British manufacturers, Gethin Chamberlain of The Scotsman filed in a pool report.
It was not clear when the missiles were made.
Skirmish
One pile of boxes in a store housing rocket propelled grenades bears the name of Wallop Industries Limited, based in Middle Wallop in Hampshire, Chamberlain said.
Two Russian-made Al-Harith anti-shipping Cruise missiles, each 20 feet long and three feet in diameter, and nine warheads, hidden in two enormous reinforced concrete bunkers, were also found.
Another missile, as yet unidentified, was found still crated up at the rear of one of the bunkers.
The discovery of the missiles came as British troops from the Black Watch Regiment fought to secure the area around Iraqi's second city, Basra, ahead of a push to capture the city.
Several units were involved in skirmishes with pockets of Iraqi troops and with civilians who have seized abandoned weaponry.
Reinforced bunkers
It was while trying to secure the area around the heliport that units from the Black Watch stumbled upon the missiles and other weapons
The vast complex, surrounded by chainlink fence and barbed wire, stands to the south west of the town, defended by a network of earth works and with tanks and other armoured vehicles dug in to the surrounding area.
But the defenders have fled after coming under attack from coalition forces.
Outside of the perimeter fence were approximately 40 bunkers packed with a mixture of RPGs and other ammunition. Inside, 22 larger fortified bunkers contain heavy weaponry including the Al-Harith missiles.
Also housed inside the reinforced bunkers were what appeared to be large anti-shipping mines and a host of other munitions.
On one box, written in English, were the words: "Contract AS Navy. 5/1980 Iran."
SkyNews
UK MADE MISSILES FOUND
British troops securing the outskirts of Basra have discovered missiles and warheads hidden inside fortified bunkers, reports say.
Cases of rockets, giant anti-shipping mines and other ammunition were found in dozens of Iraqi bunkers near what is marked on maps as the Az Zubaya Heliport.
Some of the boxes are clearly marked with the names of British manufacturers, Gethin Chamberlain of The Scotsman filed in a pool report.
It was not clear when the missiles were made.
Skirmish
One pile of boxes in a store housing rocket propelled grenades bears the name of Wallop Industries Limited, based in Middle Wallop in Hampshire, Chamberlain said.
Two Russian-made Al-Harith anti-shipping Cruise missiles, each 20 feet long and three feet in diameter, and nine warheads, hidden in two enormous reinforced concrete bunkers, were also found.
Another missile, as yet unidentified, was found still crated up at the rear of one of the bunkers.
The discovery of the missiles came as British troops from the Black Watch Regiment fought to secure the area around Iraqi's second city, Basra, ahead of a push to capture the city.
Several units were involved in skirmishes with pockets of Iraqi troops and with civilians who have seized abandoned weaponry.
Reinforced bunkers
It was while trying to secure the area around the heliport that units from the Black Watch stumbled upon the missiles and other weapons
The vast complex, surrounded by chainlink fence and barbed wire, stands to the south west of the town, defended by a network of earth works and with tanks and other armoured vehicles dug in to the surrounding area.
But the defenders have fled after coming under attack from coalition forces.
Outside of the perimeter fence were approximately 40 bunkers packed with a mixture of RPGs and other ammunition. Inside, 22 larger fortified bunkers contain heavy weaponry including the Al-Harith missiles.
Also housed inside the reinforced bunkers were what appeared to be large anti-shipping mines and a host of other munitions.
On one box, written in English, were the words: "Contract AS Navy. 5/1980 Iran."
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Iraq Says It Will Follow Geneva Convention for POWs
Reuters
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 1:33 PM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said on Sunday that it would respect the Geneva Convention guaranteeing humane treatment of prisoners after taking at least five U.S. soldiers captive and displaying them on television.
"Iraq will not harm the captured prisoners of war," Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed told a news conference. "It will treat them in accordance with the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war."
At least four dead Americans and five prisoners were filmed by Iraqi television, in footage relayed on Sunday by the Arabic network Al-Jazeera, which said they had been taken during a battle at the southern town of Souq al-Shuyukh.
The prisoners were asked questions in what Washington said was a violation of the Geneva convention. Pictures of Iraqi prisoners have also been shown widely in the United States.
The Americans were the first prisoners known to have been taken by Iraq since U.S.-led forces invaded four days ago in a bid to overthrow President Saddam Hussein.
Ahmed also said that the bodies of U.S. soldiers were lying on a battlefield near the Iraqi city of Nassiriya, apparently different from those whose corpses were shown on television.
"A number of Americans were killed and their corpses are still abandoned in the area of Khomeiteh (near Nassiriya) in front of our forces," he said.
He also said that Iraq had destroyed 10 tanks and 20 armored personnel carriers in fighting across southern Iraq and shot down one unmanned spy plane.
Ahmed denied that the U.S. and British forces had entered any city in Iraq and said there was fierce fighting near Najaf 100 miles south of Baghdad.
Reuters
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 1:33 PM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said on Sunday that it would respect the Geneva Convention guaranteeing humane treatment of prisoners after taking at least five U.S. soldiers captive and displaying them on television.
"Iraq will not harm the captured prisoners of war," Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed told a news conference. "It will treat them in accordance with the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war."
At least four dead Americans and five prisoners were filmed by Iraqi television, in footage relayed on Sunday by the Arabic network Al-Jazeera, which said they had been taken during a battle at the southern town of Souq al-Shuyukh.
The prisoners were asked questions in what Washington said was a violation of the Geneva convention. Pictures of Iraqi prisoners have also been shown widely in the United States.
The Americans were the first prisoners known to have been taken by Iraq since U.S.-led forces invaded four days ago in a bid to overthrow President Saddam Hussein.
Ahmed also said that the bodies of U.S. soldiers were lying on a battlefield near the Iraqi city of Nassiriya, apparently different from those whose corpses were shown on television.
"A number of Americans were killed and their corpses are still abandoned in the area of Khomeiteh (near Nassiriya) in front of our forces," he said.
He also said that Iraq had destroyed 10 tanks and 20 armored personnel carriers in fighting across southern Iraq and shot down one unmanned spy plane.
Ahmed denied that the U.S. and British forces had entered any city in Iraq and said there was fierce fighting near Najaf 100 miles south of Baghdad.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
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DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Breaking News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Sun, Mar. 23, 2003
Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Kills 6
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A U.S. Air Force helicopter crashed in Afghanistan Sunday, killing all six people on board, the U.S. military said.
The HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter was on a medical evacuation mission when it crashed at about 11:20 a.m. EST, about 18 miles north of Ghazni, Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
The helicopter was not shot down, the statement said.
The precise cause of the crash is under investigation.
The Central Command statement did not say whether the medical emergency was in connection with Operation Valiant Strike, a mission involving members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in southeastern Afghanistan.
That mission, which began earlier this month, is meant to root out remnants of the al-Qaida and Taliban believed to be operating in the area.
The last helicopter crash in Afghanistan was Jan. 30, when an Army Black Hawk helicopter - the Army's version of the Pave Hawk - on a training mission crashed near the Bagram air base, killing four.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Sun, Mar. 23, 2003
Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Kills 6
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A U.S. Air Force helicopter crashed in Afghanistan Sunday, killing all six people on board, the U.S. military said.
The HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter was on a medical evacuation mission when it crashed at about 11:20 a.m. EST, about 18 miles north of Ghazni, Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
The helicopter was not shot down, the statement said.
The precise cause of the crash is under investigation.
The Central Command statement did not say whether the medical emergency was in connection with Operation Valiant Strike, a mission involving members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in southeastern Afghanistan.
That mission, which began earlier this month, is meant to root out remnants of the al-Qaida and Taliban believed to be operating in the area.
The last helicopter crash in Afghanistan was Jan. 30, when an Army Black Hawk helicopter - the Army's version of the Pave Hawk - on a training mission crashed near the Bagram air base, killing four.
p0ink
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POW video
i kind of have qualms with posting this, but i know if i dont, someone else will.
http://movies.ogrish.com/pow.asf
i kind of have qualms with posting this, but i know if i dont, someone else will.
http://movies.ogrish.com/pow.asf
Delinquent
Well-known member
ABC news just reported that they supposedly just found a chemical weapons plant and they also caputred the commanding general who is considered a gold mine when it comes to info regarding weapons that Saddam "doesn't have"
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
10 Marines killed in fake surrender
--MSNBC
March 23 — U.S. and British forces encountered strong resistance from Iraqi forces in taking the southern Iraq city of Nasiriyah, resulting in numerous deaths, injuries and the apparent capture of several U.S. troops in the “sharpest engagement of the war thus far,” a U.S. military official said Sunday. Separately, two large U.S. forces drove north, one of them coming to within 100 miles of Baghdad as a two-pronged assault on the Iraqi capital appeared to be taking shape following the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the U.S. military began assembling forces in the north of Iraq.
IT WAS “the toughest day of resistance that we’ve had thus far,” said Army Lt. Gen. John Abizaid at a Sunday press conference at Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar, as a heavy air raid crashed on Baghdad. He insisted the U.S. advance was still on track, however, and would soon reach the capital.
Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said about 10 Marines were killed in a faked surrender by Iraqi forces outside of Nasiriyah. The Marines came under fire while preparing to accept what appeared to be surrendering Iraqis.
“We of course will be much more cautious in the way we view the battlefield as a result of some of these incidents,” said Abizaid.
First reports indicated the Iraqis destroyed eight tanks, some anti-aircraft batteries that were in the region, and also some artillery, along with a number of infantry, Abizaid said.
Approximately 50 U.S. soldiers were wounded, some of whom were flown from the battlefield, NBC’s Kerry Sanders reported.
“Clearly they are not a beaten force. This is going to get a lot harder,” said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Everybody was predicting they’d be welcomed as liberators, but it’s working out differently,” said one senior Arab official in the gulf. “The Americans had a hard day today.”
Evoking Vietnam and Somalia, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf warned U.S. forces they were driving into “a quagmire from which they can never emerge, except dead.”
--MSNBC
March 23 — U.S. and British forces encountered strong resistance from Iraqi forces in taking the southern Iraq city of Nasiriyah, resulting in numerous deaths, injuries and the apparent capture of several U.S. troops in the “sharpest engagement of the war thus far,” a U.S. military official said Sunday. Separately, two large U.S. forces drove north, one of them coming to within 100 miles of Baghdad as a two-pronged assault on the Iraqi capital appeared to be taking shape following the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the U.S. military began assembling forces in the north of Iraq.
IT WAS “the toughest day of resistance that we’ve had thus far,” said Army Lt. Gen. John Abizaid at a Sunday press conference at Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar, as a heavy air raid crashed on Baghdad. He insisted the U.S. advance was still on track, however, and would soon reach the capital.
Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said about 10 Marines were killed in a faked surrender by Iraqi forces outside of Nasiriyah. The Marines came under fire while preparing to accept what appeared to be surrendering Iraqis.
“We of course will be much more cautious in the way we view the battlefield as a result of some of these incidents,” said Abizaid.
First reports indicated the Iraqis destroyed eight tanks, some anti-aircraft batteries that were in the region, and also some artillery, along with a number of infantry, Abizaid said.
Approximately 50 U.S. soldiers were wounded, some of whom were flown from the battlefield, NBC’s Kerry Sanders reported.
“Clearly they are not a beaten force. This is going to get a lot harder,” said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Everybody was predicting they’d be welcomed as liberators, but it’s working out differently,” said one senior Arab official in the gulf. “The Americans had a hard day today.”
Evoking Vietnam and Somalia, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf warned U.S. forces they were driving into “a quagmire from which they can never emerge, except dead.”
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Iraqi gas masks pose threat Captured, dead soldiers carrying new respirators raise fears of chem attack Masks pose Iraqi gas threat
--Melbourne Herald Sun
22mar03
IRAQI soldiers in the country's south were found carrying new gas masks, a sign that Saddam Hussein might be planning chemical attacks, a British officer has said.
The discovery was reported by Lieutenant Colonel Buster Howes of the 42 Commando Royal Marines who are currently securing the Fao peninsula on the third day of their drive to oust Saddam.
Among the rundown weapons, ammunition and machinery found with the dead or captured Iraqis were some new respirators, with an expiry date of 2007, Howes said.
"This is a dark discovery and a stark warning to my men," the officer said. "But we are all very well drilled against the threat and cannot let it stop us in our mission."
US and British military officials have said their biggest fear is a possible chemical or biological attack despite warnings to Iraqi commanders to refuse any such orders or face war crimes charges.
Dozens of gas masks were taken off the Iraqis, but none owned any chemical protection suits, British officers said. They said four Iraqis were killed in the Faw operation.
--Melbourne Herald Sun
22mar03
IRAQI soldiers in the country's south were found carrying new gas masks, a sign that Saddam Hussein might be planning chemical attacks, a British officer has said.
The discovery was reported by Lieutenant Colonel Buster Howes of the 42 Commando Royal Marines who are currently securing the Fao peninsula on the third day of their drive to oust Saddam.
Among the rundown weapons, ammunition and machinery found with the dead or captured Iraqis were some new respirators, with an expiry date of 2007, Howes said.
"This is a dark discovery and a stark warning to my men," the officer said. "But we are all very well drilled against the threat and cannot let it stop us in our mission."
US and British military officials have said their biggest fear is a possible chemical or biological attack despite warnings to Iraqi commanders to refuse any such orders or face war crimes charges.
Dozens of gas masks were taken off the Iraqis, but none owned any chemical protection suits, British officers said. They said four Iraqis were killed in the Faw operation.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
'CHEMICAL PLANT FOUND'
Skynews
Monday March 24, 2003
A huge chemical weapons factory has been found in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.
The facility was found in Najaf, around 225 miles south of Baghdad, US military officials say.
The General in charge of the factory has been arrested and is being questioned, the Pentagon said.
Sky News Foreign Affairs expert Tim Marshal said if the claims are substantiated they will in part vindicate President Bush and Prime Minister Blair.
They have argued the case for war against Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein had banned weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons.
The Iraqi regime has always denied this and UN weapons inspectors sent back into the country at the end of last year failed to find any evidence to suggest otherwise.
Skynews
Monday March 24, 2003
A huge chemical weapons factory has been found in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.
The facility was found in Najaf, around 225 miles south of Baghdad, US military officials say.
The General in charge of the factory has been arrested and is being questioned, the Pentagon said.
Sky News Foreign Affairs expert Tim Marshal said if the claims are substantiated they will in part vindicate President Bush and Prime Minister Blair.
They have argued the case for war against Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein had banned weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons.
The Iraqi regime has always denied this and UN weapons inspectors sent back into the country at the end of last year failed to find any evidence to suggest otherwise.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Specially Trained Iraqis Lead Resistance
By JOHN SOLOMON
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 7:21 PM
Specially trained paramilitary guerrillas and Saddam Hussein's security forces are leading the stiffest resistance to the U.S.-led invasion, trying to keep Iraqi soldiers from surrendering and organizing battlefield tricks that have inflicted casualties, U.S. and British officials said Sunday.
Members of the Fedayeen Saddam are suspected of having organized battlefield ruses using civilian clothes and cars and fake surrenders of Iraqi soldiers that drew in U.S. forces to be attacked in places like An Nasiriyah and Umm Qasr, the officials said.
The Fedayeen are elite inner-circle soldiers totaling about 15,000 that report directly to one of Saddam's sons. U.S. intelligence believes they were dispatched from their strongholds in the Baghdad area to outlying areas over the last few weeks to embolden regular Iraqi troops, the officials said, like others speaking on condition of anonymity.
Intelligence indicates "they are there to enforce loyalty and to make troops more effective and keep them from defecting," one senior U.S. official said.
Officials said the Fedayeen and Saddam's personal security force, known as the Special Security Organization, have been behind the stiffest resistance coalition troops have encountered as they raced from Kuwait through the south toward Baghdad.
"The majority of the resistance we have faced so far comes from Saddam's Special Security Organization and the Saddam Fedayeen," said Peter Wall, chief of staff to the British military contingent in the the U.S.-led coalition. "These are men who know that they will have no role in the building of a new Iraq and they have no future."
The role of the Fedayeen came as U.S. military leaders cautioned Sunday that the toughest days of the war are still ahead even as coalition forces raced to within 100 miles of Baghdad.
The coalition suffered some of their toughest episodes of the war so far as a handful of American soldiers were taken prisoner, a U.S. Patriot missile accidentally downed a British warplane and an American soldier attacked his own comrades with a grenade.
"The hardest part is yet to come," said Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
U.S. forces were preparing to engage the elite Iraqi Republican Guard as they closed in on Baghdad, and concerns grew about the possibility of a chemical or biological attacks. "The potential for the use of weapons of mass destruction, it grows as we get closer to Baghdad," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said.
As of Sunday, no such weapons were used or found, officials said. "I have no doubt that we'll find weapons of mass destruction, but you shouldn't think it's going to happen tomorrow," Abizaid told a news conference at command headquarters in Qatar.
Coalition forces on Sunday attacked targets to the north and west of Baghdad, including communications nodes, military leadership targets and Iraqi commando units, Abizaid said. Coalition forces were working in and around several airfields in western Iraq where Iraq launched missiles against Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.
The Fedayeen are specially trained in guerilla warfare and paramilitary tactics and in years past have been used by Saddam's regime to oppress internal foes. The force has been commanded by Odai Hussein, Saddam's eldest son.
The battlefriend ruses that led to U.S. casualties on Sunday, such as the use of civilian disguise and fake surrenders, are signature tactics of the Fedayeen, a senior U.S. military official said Sunday.
"They're specialists in this form of warfare, and we've seen them dress in civilian clothing or drive civilian vehicles," the official said. He said military planners were already making adjustments to ensure U.S. forces can detect and repel such tactics.
Earlier this month, U.S. officials claimed Fedayeen were acquiring military uniforms "identical down to the last detail" to those worn by American and British forces and planned to use them to shift blame for atrocities.
"Saddam intends to issue these uniforms to Fedayeen Saddam troops who would wear them when conducting reprisals against the Iraqi people so that they could pass the atrocities off as the work of the United States and the United Kingdom," Jim Wilkinson, director of strategic communication at Central Command.
Rumsfeld said various ploys used by the Iraqis won't work, such as writing messages on the roofs of some buildings saying that civilian "human shields" were inside. "We are not going to be deterred at all," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld noted that while Saddam can order the use of chemical or biological weapons, it is up to his military to carry it out.
"We have focused extensively on the military people that he would have to persuade to do it, and let them know in no uncertain terms that they must not do it, and if they do do it, they will be hunted down and punished," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld said that "sure" some things have gone wrong in the past five days, including the shooting down of the British plane. Myers said elaborate electronic procedures for identifying friendly aircraft "obviously ... didn't work."
© 2003 The Associated Press
By JOHN SOLOMON
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 23, 2003; 7:21 PM
Specially trained paramilitary guerrillas and Saddam Hussein's security forces are leading the stiffest resistance to the U.S.-led invasion, trying to keep Iraqi soldiers from surrendering and organizing battlefield tricks that have inflicted casualties, U.S. and British officials said Sunday.
Members of the Fedayeen Saddam are suspected of having organized battlefield ruses using civilian clothes and cars and fake surrenders of Iraqi soldiers that drew in U.S. forces to be attacked in places like An Nasiriyah and Umm Qasr, the officials said.
The Fedayeen are elite inner-circle soldiers totaling about 15,000 that report directly to one of Saddam's sons. U.S. intelligence believes they were dispatched from their strongholds in the Baghdad area to outlying areas over the last few weeks to embolden regular Iraqi troops, the officials said, like others speaking on condition of anonymity.
Intelligence indicates "they are there to enforce loyalty and to make troops more effective and keep them from defecting," one senior U.S. official said.
Officials said the Fedayeen and Saddam's personal security force, known as the Special Security Organization, have been behind the stiffest resistance coalition troops have encountered as they raced from Kuwait through the south toward Baghdad.
"The majority of the resistance we have faced so far comes from Saddam's Special Security Organization and the Saddam Fedayeen," said Peter Wall, chief of staff to the British military contingent in the the U.S.-led coalition. "These are men who know that they will have no role in the building of a new Iraq and they have no future."
The role of the Fedayeen came as U.S. military leaders cautioned Sunday that the toughest days of the war are still ahead even as coalition forces raced to within 100 miles of Baghdad.
The coalition suffered some of their toughest episodes of the war so far as a handful of American soldiers were taken prisoner, a U.S. Patriot missile accidentally downed a British warplane and an American soldier attacked his own comrades with a grenade.
"The hardest part is yet to come," said Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
U.S. forces were preparing to engage the elite Iraqi Republican Guard as they closed in on Baghdad, and concerns grew about the possibility of a chemical or biological attacks. "The potential for the use of weapons of mass destruction, it grows as we get closer to Baghdad," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said.
As of Sunday, no such weapons were used or found, officials said. "I have no doubt that we'll find weapons of mass destruction, but you shouldn't think it's going to happen tomorrow," Abizaid told a news conference at command headquarters in Qatar.
Coalition forces on Sunday attacked targets to the north and west of Baghdad, including communications nodes, military leadership targets and Iraqi commando units, Abizaid said. Coalition forces were working in and around several airfields in western Iraq where Iraq launched missiles against Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.
The Fedayeen are specially trained in guerilla warfare and paramilitary tactics and in years past have been used by Saddam's regime to oppress internal foes. The force has been commanded by Odai Hussein, Saddam's eldest son.
The battlefriend ruses that led to U.S. casualties on Sunday, such as the use of civilian disguise and fake surrenders, are signature tactics of the Fedayeen, a senior U.S. military official said Sunday.
"They're specialists in this form of warfare, and we've seen them dress in civilian clothing or drive civilian vehicles," the official said. He said military planners were already making adjustments to ensure U.S. forces can detect and repel such tactics.
Earlier this month, U.S. officials claimed Fedayeen were acquiring military uniforms "identical down to the last detail" to those worn by American and British forces and planned to use them to shift blame for atrocities.
"Saddam intends to issue these uniforms to Fedayeen Saddam troops who would wear them when conducting reprisals against the Iraqi people so that they could pass the atrocities off as the work of the United States and the United Kingdom," Jim Wilkinson, director of strategic communication at Central Command.
Rumsfeld said various ploys used by the Iraqis won't work, such as writing messages on the roofs of some buildings saying that civilian "human shields" were inside. "We are not going to be deterred at all," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld noted that while Saddam can order the use of chemical or biological weapons, it is up to his military to carry it out.
"We have focused extensively on the military people that he would have to persuade to do it, and let them know in no uncertain terms that they must not do it, and if they do do it, they will be hunted down and punished," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld said that "sure" some things have gone wrong in the past five days, including the shooting down of the British plane. Myers said elaborate electronic procedures for identifying friendly aircraft "obviously ... didn't work."
© 2003 The Associated Press
CanadianCripple
New member
The CIA must have built & planted it overnight. LOL
Hans Blix, you ass!
Hans Blix, you ass!
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Chemical weapons 'found'
themercury
24mar03
A HUGE chemical weapons factory has reportedly been found by allied forces operating near An Najaf, 150km south of Baghdad.
Caroline Glick, a journalist with the respected Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, reported the story from her "embedded" position with the 3rd Infantry Division.
She says the troops found a huge 100-acre complex, lined with sheet metal and surrounded by an electrical fence.
"It wasn't immediately clear exactly which chemicals were being produced here, but clearly the Iraqis tried to camouflage the facility so it could not be photographed aerially, by swathing it in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert," her report says.
At a news conference at Central Command this morning, US Lt. Gen. John Abizaid refused to confirm the find.
"I'm not going to confirm that report, but we have one or two generals officers who are providing us with information," he said.
But Fox News Channel's Pentagon reporter says he has confirmed the report with an unnamed senior Pentagon source.
themercury
24mar03
A HUGE chemical weapons factory has reportedly been found by allied forces operating near An Najaf, 150km south of Baghdad.
Caroline Glick, a journalist with the respected Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, reported the story from her "embedded" position with the 3rd Infantry Division.
She says the troops found a huge 100-acre complex, lined with sheet metal and surrounded by an electrical fence.
"It wasn't immediately clear exactly which chemicals were being produced here, but clearly the Iraqis tried to camouflage the facility so it could not be photographed aerially, by swathing it in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert," her report says.
At a news conference at Central Command this morning, US Lt. Gen. John Abizaid refused to confirm the find.
"I'm not going to confirm that report, but we have one or two generals officers who are providing us with information," he said.
But Fox News Channel's Pentagon reporter says he has confirmed the report with an unnamed senior Pentagon source.
theoak01
New member
here is a quick fact that most of you probably dont know.
Jimmy Carter made it against Cia policy to take part in political assasinations I am not to sure of the year this passed.
anyways as a result Saddam is still alive. In 1995 the cia was in country with a rebel force on their side,the kurds I believe and had it all set up to take him out,but because of this policy they couldnt.
Jimmy Carter made it against Cia policy to take part in political assasinations I am not to sure of the year this passed.
anyways as a result Saddam is still alive. In 1995 the cia was in country with a rebel force on their side,the kurds I believe and had it all set up to take him out,but because of this policy they couldnt.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
They did not have enough numbers for it to work! The plan was leaked back to Saddam anyways and well let's just say a lot of men ended up six feet under!
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Four days untill new moon in iraq! Bad sand storm weather in a day or so! Div. will reach baghdad on tues for siege!
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/40650.html
http://weather.cnn.com/weather/forecast.jsp?locCode=ORBB
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/40650.html
http://weather.cnn.com/weather/forecast.jsp?locCode=ORBB
CanadianCripple
New member
The Canadian Oak said:
Here's a fact most don't know... this is an Ececutive Order which can be cancelled by an American President.
vinylgroover
New member
The Canadian Oak said:
They are all excuses for the CIA and NSC being a bunch of bumbling idiots.
I can't believ with all the intelligence, and mind-boggling technology that they haven't been able to take him out.......or find Bin Laden for that matter.
The CIA and NSC should be disbanded for being a bunch of incompetent fucks.
They should be replaced with former members of Russia's KGB to get the job done properly.
jnuts
New member
http://www.af.mil/news/Mar2003/32203127print.shtml
'Shock air forces' hit Iraq
03/22/03 - OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (AFPN) -- Coalition "shock air forces" aircraft flew nearly 1,000 strike sorties March 21, hitting targets intended to end the regime of Saddam Hussein. The strikes marked the beginning of the air campaign portion of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During his first press conference since combat operations began, Gen. Tommy Franks, U.S. Central Command commander, spoke about the coalition "shock air forces" which flew nearly 2,000 sorties. Coalition airpower operations began a few minutes before 9 p.m. local time March 21.
For the first time in combat, only precision-guided munitions were used in an effort to minimize collateral damage while targeting a large number of military sites, according to defense officials. During Desert Storm, less than 10 percent of the munitions used were precision guided.
U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers, B-2A Spirits, B-52H Stratofortresses, F-117 Nighthawkss, F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons, plus Navy F/A-18 Hornets and F-14 Tomcat, Marine AV-8B Harrier and coalition Tornado GR-4, Harrier GR-7 and F/A-18 aircraft flew the strike missions.
Hundreds of Tomahawk land-attack missiles from coalition ships and conventional air-launched cruise missiles were also used in the strikes.
Targets included Iraqi regime leadership, regime command and control, regime security, integrated air defense systems and weapons of mass destruction.
The remaining sorties included intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; close-air support; electronic jamming; air refueling; intra- and inter-theater airlift; search and rescue; and interdiction.
Sorties were vital to the success of the strike sorties flying into the heart of Iraq's heavy air defenses, which included anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air-missiles, officials said.
Sorties originated from as far away as Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., the Indian Ocean, and the United Kingdom, as well as being flown from 30 locations throughout the CENTCOM area of responsibility and five Navy aircraft carriers. The B-2s flew the longest missions, lasting approximately 34 hours round-trip.
All coalition air missions are planned and controlled by the Combined Air Operations Center at an air base in Southwest Asia. The center functions as the brain for the entire coalition air campaign. CAOC officials plan, monitor and directs everything that goes into the air campaign, from picking the targets and determining what aircraft and munitions will be used to overcoming Iraqi air defenses and coordinating the flying routes of hundreds of aircraft at any given time.
Nearly 1,700 coalition aircraft and thousands of people are required to fly, maintain and support the missions directed by the CAOC.
'Shock air forces' hit Iraq
03/22/03 - OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (AFPN) -- Coalition "shock air forces" aircraft flew nearly 1,000 strike sorties March 21, hitting targets intended to end the regime of Saddam Hussein. The strikes marked the beginning of the air campaign portion of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During his first press conference since combat operations began, Gen. Tommy Franks, U.S. Central Command commander, spoke about the coalition "shock air forces" which flew nearly 2,000 sorties. Coalition airpower operations began a few minutes before 9 p.m. local time March 21.
For the first time in combat, only precision-guided munitions were used in an effort to minimize collateral damage while targeting a large number of military sites, according to defense officials. During Desert Storm, less than 10 percent of the munitions used were precision guided.
U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers, B-2A Spirits, B-52H Stratofortresses, F-117 Nighthawkss, F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons, plus Navy F/A-18 Hornets and F-14 Tomcat, Marine AV-8B Harrier and coalition Tornado GR-4, Harrier GR-7 and F/A-18 aircraft flew the strike missions.
Hundreds of Tomahawk land-attack missiles from coalition ships and conventional air-launched cruise missiles were also used in the strikes.
Targets included Iraqi regime leadership, regime command and control, regime security, integrated air defense systems and weapons of mass destruction.
The remaining sorties included intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; close-air support; electronic jamming; air refueling; intra- and inter-theater airlift; search and rescue; and interdiction.
Sorties were vital to the success of the strike sorties flying into the heart of Iraq's heavy air defenses, which included anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air-missiles, officials said.
Sorties originated from as far away as Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., the Indian Ocean, and the United Kingdom, as well as being flown from 30 locations throughout the CENTCOM area of responsibility and five Navy aircraft carriers. The B-2s flew the longest missions, lasting approximately 34 hours round-trip.
All coalition air missions are planned and controlled by the Combined Air Operations Center at an air base in Southwest Asia. The center functions as the brain for the entire coalition air campaign. CAOC officials plan, monitor and directs everything that goes into the air campaign, from picking the targets and determining what aircraft and munitions will be used to overcoming Iraqi air defenses and coordinating the flying routes of hundreds of aircraft at any given time.
Nearly 1,700 coalition aircraft and thousands of people are required to fly, maintain and support the missions directed by the CAOC.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
You don't know what the fuck you are talking about! The core agents and employees are not bumbling idiots! Don't blame the CIA and NSA organizations themselves! Politicians won't let them do their job! Osama and Saddam would have been taken care of a long time ago! They don't have enough money allocated for missions, Intel. Gathering and general overall support! Politicians appoint political friendly heads of each organization! When those that need to be taken out are in the cross hairs, most of the time they are not given permission by higher ups to pull the trigger! There is to much micromanaging within the organizations! You would not believe the shit that is going on even to this day! Blame the appointees, Presidents, Congress and the American people, but dont blame the CIA and NSA! They are doing the best they can with the tools they are allowed to use!
Last edited:
interesting that inspectors couldnt find that HUGE plant in months of searching, and here it is with all the equipment and chemicals needed to make weapons (as i am assuming they will probably find and show on tv) LOL.....so iraqis knew they were being inspected just 4 days ago, and just didnt bother getting rid of everything, and risking inspectors finding it all, since as somebody pointed out it couldnt have been built over last 4 days......makes you think doesnt it.
for arguments sake, IF iraq really didnt have any WMD, is there anybody here who actually thinks that US will just leave it at that, or would have to justify all the casualties and war to the public?
for arguments sake, IF iraq really didnt have any WMD, is there anybody here who actually thinks that US will just leave it at that, or would have to justify all the casualties and war to the public?
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Apache helicopters attack Republican Guard
Three-hour firefight
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Apache helicopters wait to take off on Sunday.
SOUTHERN IRAQ (CNN) -- U.S. Apache attack helicopters attacked Iraq's elite Republican Guard units early Monday in an intense firefight that lasted about three hours, CNN's Karl Penhaul reported.
Penhaul said the helicopters encountered a "heavy, heavy barrage" of anti-aircraft fire in the battle, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. He could not immediately say whether all of the U.S. helicopters returned safely.
The attack started sometime after midnight (4 p.m. ET) and lasted about three hours, said Penhaul, who was aboard a Black Hawk helicopter that served as the command and control craft of a unit of Apache attack helicopters. The helicopter in which Penhaul was riding was about 15-20 miles from the scene of the strike.
The Apache unit went up against the 2nd Armored Brigade of the elite Medina Division, which is part of the Republican Guard, the troops most loyal to Saddam Hussein, Penhaul said. They also attacked positions between Karbala and Hillah, which straddle the Euphrates River south of Baghdad.
Stiff resistance
As the Apaches flew in, they encountered stiff resistance, he said.
Penhaul said he could not see the extent of the anti-aircraft fire, but the pilots of his helicopter reported the Republican Guard "laid up a heavy, heavy barrage."
Some of the U.S. aircraft flying in the mission reported taking fire.
Following the mission, aircraft returned to an undisclosed location farther south of the location of the attack, and Penhaul said he expected to learn more about the specific locations of the units targeted.
Some of the elements the Apaches tried to strike were Iraqi T-72 battle tanks, the most advanced tank used by the Iraqi forces. The Republican Guard was estimated to have at least 90 of those tanks, along with multiple pieces of field artillery and armored personnel carriers, Penhaul said.
Penhaul is embedded with the U.S. Army's V Corps, 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment.
Three-hour firefight
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Apache helicopters wait to take off on Sunday.
SOUTHERN IRAQ (CNN) -- U.S. Apache attack helicopters attacked Iraq's elite Republican Guard units early Monday in an intense firefight that lasted about three hours, CNN's Karl Penhaul reported.
Penhaul said the helicopters encountered a "heavy, heavy barrage" of anti-aircraft fire in the battle, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. He could not immediately say whether all of the U.S. helicopters returned safely.
The attack started sometime after midnight (4 p.m. ET) and lasted about three hours, said Penhaul, who was aboard a Black Hawk helicopter that served as the command and control craft of a unit of Apache attack helicopters. The helicopter in which Penhaul was riding was about 15-20 miles from the scene of the strike.
The Apache unit went up against the 2nd Armored Brigade of the elite Medina Division, which is part of the Republican Guard, the troops most loyal to Saddam Hussein, Penhaul said. They also attacked positions between Karbala and Hillah, which straddle the Euphrates River south of Baghdad.
Stiff resistance
As the Apaches flew in, they encountered stiff resistance, he said.
Penhaul said he could not see the extent of the anti-aircraft fire, but the pilots of his helicopter reported the Republican Guard "laid up a heavy, heavy barrage."
Some of the U.S. aircraft flying in the mission reported taking fire.
Following the mission, aircraft returned to an undisclosed location farther south of the location of the attack, and Penhaul said he expected to learn more about the specific locations of the units targeted.
Some of the elements the Apaches tried to strike were Iraqi T-72 battle tanks, the most advanced tank used by the Iraqi forces. The Republican Guard was estimated to have at least 90 of those tanks, along with multiple pieces of field artillery and armored personnel carriers, Penhaul said.
Penhaul is embedded with the U.S. Army's V Corps, 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
SOS to Moscow to save Saddam? Intercept indicates dictator in desperate need of surgeon
Posted: March 24, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
In need of a surgeon to save his life, Saddam Hussein's aides have sought help from Moscow, according to the British daily The Sun.
The paper cited a senior UK government official who said British intelligence intercepted a message Saturday suggesting that Saddam is still alive in a secret hideaway in Baghdad but requires medical intervention the Iraqis cannot provide.
British intelligence chiefs believe the Iraqi leader suffered abdominal injuries when cruise missiles struck a bunker Thursday where he was reported to be meeting with his inner circle
Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, also are believed to have been injured, or possibly killed, in the attack.
The sources say Saddam was pulled from the rubble and whisked away in an ambulance, The Sun said. They believe he underwent a major operation and a blood transfusion, and at one point thought he might be dead.
The senior British official said Saddam's aides "requested urgent medical assistance for a senior government official who was injured."
"Saddam's name was not mentioned during the conversation – but there is little doubt it was him they were talking about," the official said.
"They said he was not critically injured but demanded urgent treatment because he had lost blood and could get worse. This regime wouldn't go to that trouble for anybody else – including members of his family."
Some intelligence sources believe a video of Saddam after the missile attack was pre-recorded. Yesterday, Iraqi state television showed Saddam chairing meetings with top officials, but American officials said there was no way to tell whether the footage was current or taped before the war began.
In the call for help, picked up by British intelligence in Cheltenham, the victim was described as having suffered third-degree burns, a crushed abdomen and trauma, which are typical of a bomb attack.
"There was some discussion of having the injured man medevaced out of Baghdad to be treated elsewhere," the source said. "But no mention was made of where that would be. The official who took the call said the request would be passed on to Moscow."
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Posted: March 24, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
In need of a surgeon to save his life, Saddam Hussein's aides have sought help from Moscow, according to the British daily The Sun.
The paper cited a senior UK government official who said British intelligence intercepted a message Saturday suggesting that Saddam is still alive in a secret hideaway in Baghdad but requires medical intervention the Iraqis cannot provide.
British intelligence chiefs believe the Iraqi leader suffered abdominal injuries when cruise missiles struck a bunker Thursday where he was reported to be meeting with his inner circle
Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, also are believed to have been injured, or possibly killed, in the attack.
The sources say Saddam was pulled from the rubble and whisked away in an ambulance, The Sun said. They believe he underwent a major operation and a blood transfusion, and at one point thought he might be dead.
The senior British official said Saddam's aides "requested urgent medical assistance for a senior government official who was injured."
"Saddam's name was not mentioned during the conversation – but there is little doubt it was him they were talking about," the official said.
"They said he was not critically injured but demanded urgent treatment because he had lost blood and could get worse. This regime wouldn't go to that trouble for anybody else – including members of his family."
Some intelligence sources believe a video of Saddam after the missile attack was pre-recorded. Yesterday, Iraqi state television showed Saddam chairing meetings with top officials, but American officials said there was no way to tell whether the footage was current or taped before the war began.
In the call for help, picked up by British intelligence in Cheltenham, the victim was described as having suffered third-degree burns, a crushed abdomen and trauma, which are typical of a bomb attack.
"There was some discussion of having the injured man medevaced out of Baghdad to be treated elsewhere," the source said. "But no mention was made of where that would be. The official who took the call said the request would be passed on to Moscow."
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
U.S. Army Starts Push on Republican Guard
NYtimes
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
March 24, 2003
CORPS ASSAULT COMMAND POST, near Najaf, Iraq, March 23 — American forces tonight began the battle for the "Red Zone," the area around Baghdad that is defended by the Iraqi Republican Guard and is one of the most treacherous regions of the country for the invading allied forces.
The strikes tonight by Army attack helicopters and Army surface-to-surface missiles represent the first American ground attacks on the Republican Guard. The aim was to soften up the Medina division, one of the three Republican Guard divisions that guard the approaches to Baghdad. The American firepower was intense, but the United States forces did not emerge unscathed. One pilot was wounded by small-arms fire but managed to fly back.
The assault underscored the risks of a war that began with lightning speed and is now approaching its most crucial phase. Optimistic statements in Washington may have created expectations that this war would be swift and relatively casualty-free. Certainly, allied forces have covered considerable ground and thrust deep into Iraq. But now that the military has raced toward central Iraq, American forces are girding for real battle.
"This is going to be a fight, not a one-day campaign," a senior military officer said. "Air is central, but it did not break his back inside of Baghdad."
And now there are dangers to the rear too. American forces have been attacked by the fedayeen, militia that are under the command of Saddam Hussein's son Uday, which have begun attacks in the south to harass and try to slow the advancing American troops and supply columns.
The first few days were intense, but perhaps the easiest part of a complex war. Many of the Iraqi soldiers the allies confronted were ill motivated and ill trained. Some surrendered, and many simply vanished. Even so, some of the celebrated capitulations have turned out to be less than advertised. American officials were quick to announce the surrender of the commander of the 51st Iraqi Division. Today, they discovered that the "commander" was actually a junior officer masquerading as a higher-up in an attempt to win better treatment.
The thunderous air strikes in Baghdad have no doubt taken a toll on the Iraqi military, but they have not destroyed its ability to direct its forces, according to senior American military officials. Before the attacks today, the three Republican Guard divisions surrounding the capital were close to full strength.
The command and control of the Special Republican Guard, which is charged with defending the interior of the capital, is still intact, according to the American military officials.
Special Republican Guard forces have not collapsed but are defending key sites in the city, including command centers and Baghdad's airport. To shield themselves from airstrikes, they are taking refuge in schools, mosques and other structures off limits to air attack.
Iraq still retains the ability to fire and guide mobile surface-to-air missiles, according to Air Force officials. Much of the antiaircraft artillery is still active. Despite all the Pentagon's boasts about the ability to use air power to shock the Iraqi adversary and perhaps encourage surrender, the air defenses in and around Baghdad are still functional, though diminished.
Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, the land-war commander, flew by helicopter deep into Iraq to confer about the coming assault on the Republican Guard with Lt. Gen. William S. Wallace, the commander of the Army's V Corps who will lead the attack on Baghdad. This reporter accompanied General McKiernan.
As General McKiernan flew into Iraq, long convoys of trucks, armored vehicles and Humvees could be seen from the air. The columns kicked up a swirl of dust as the American forces pushed north past the palm groves, irrigation canals, barren desert and small towns that are characteristic of southern Iraq.
Troops have occasionally been snarled in traffic jams, which can stop traffic for hours, as the supplies for the final assault on Baghdad are pushed north.
The American forces have been moving so fast that it took a bit of doing to find General Wallace's command post, a tracked C-2 command vehicle filled with electronic gear. After the helicopter landed, the two American commanders huddled in the cramped vehicle to plot the initial assaults on the Republican Guard.
There are six Republican Guard divisions in and around Baghdad. Early today, American planes focused on the Medina, attacking their command posts, armor and artillery. American commanders want to stop the Republican Guard forces from moving inside Baghdad, where they could engage in urban warfare, or from moving south toward American troops. Attacks on artillery were a high priority, in part because it can be used to fire the chemical shells that Iraq is believed to possess.
The initial assault on the Medina division was carried out by several squadrons of Apache attack helicopters from the Army's 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment. More than 30 of the surface-to-surface missiles, called Atacms and considered one of the Army's most devastating weapons, were also unleashed.
"We have to shape the fight," General Wallace, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible, said before the attack began.
American commanders call this "shaping fires," an effort to weaken the enemy so he can be destroyed in follow-on attacks.
It was just the first step of a combined arms offensive intended to deal the Republican Guard a decisive defeat. The hope is that a firm blow against the Medina will help persuade other Republican Guard units not to resist.
The attack served another purpose as well. American officials are trying to regain the initiative during a day in which they were surprised by attacks by the fedayeen militia columns.
Thousands of fedayeen fighters, who wear black uniforms or civilian clothes, are now in the southern zone, according to American estimates, and have produced the largest American casualties so far. Their fervor and determination to fight outside Baghdad caught American forces by surprise and appeared to be part of a calculated effort to attack vulnerable American supply convoys as they head north.
There was no disguising the fact that the attacks by the fedayeen were a setback and a surprise. General Wallace said he had expected to run across the militia in the cities, but had not anticipated that they would venture out of towns to take on American forces.
Not all of the military in the south may be fedayeen. Some may be hard-core members of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party or security officers who were deployed in Iraqi divisions to stop them from surrendering and who have taken up arms now that their units have dissipated.
American officials say they are driving S.U.V.'s or trucks and are armed with machine guns, antitank weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. They have reportedly been using taxi cabs and have been seen in one small town handing out small arms.
The strategy of the American forces has been to bypass Basra and other cities as they drive toward Baghdad. But some of the bridges the Americans need to head north are close to cities.
As the Americans have pushed north, the fedayeen and other security forces have sought to hamper their advance by coming out to ambush the invading forces. Instead of fighting American armored formations in the open desert, the fedayeen seem to be positioning themselves to attack more vulnerable columns and supply trucks as they roll north. Instead of a head-to-head confrontation, they are raising the specter of guerrilla war.
One encounter with the fedayeen occurred when Task Force Tawara encountered a group of Iraqis that pretended to be surrendering, only to turn on the marines near Nasariya. Six marines were killed, and at least 14 wounded marines were evacuated. Some reports put the number of wounded at 82.
NYtimes
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
March 24, 2003
CORPS ASSAULT COMMAND POST, near Najaf, Iraq, March 23 — American forces tonight began the battle for the "Red Zone," the area around Baghdad that is defended by the Iraqi Republican Guard and is one of the most treacherous regions of the country for the invading allied forces.
The strikes tonight by Army attack helicopters and Army surface-to-surface missiles represent the first American ground attacks on the Republican Guard. The aim was to soften up the Medina division, one of the three Republican Guard divisions that guard the approaches to Baghdad. The American firepower was intense, but the United States forces did not emerge unscathed. One pilot was wounded by small-arms fire but managed to fly back.
The assault underscored the risks of a war that began with lightning speed and is now approaching its most crucial phase. Optimistic statements in Washington may have created expectations that this war would be swift and relatively casualty-free. Certainly, allied forces have covered considerable ground and thrust deep into Iraq. But now that the military has raced toward central Iraq, American forces are girding for real battle.
"This is going to be a fight, not a one-day campaign," a senior military officer said. "Air is central, but it did not break his back inside of Baghdad."
And now there are dangers to the rear too. American forces have been attacked by the fedayeen, militia that are under the command of Saddam Hussein's son Uday, which have begun attacks in the south to harass and try to slow the advancing American troops and supply columns.
The first few days were intense, but perhaps the easiest part of a complex war. Many of the Iraqi soldiers the allies confronted were ill motivated and ill trained. Some surrendered, and many simply vanished. Even so, some of the celebrated capitulations have turned out to be less than advertised. American officials were quick to announce the surrender of the commander of the 51st Iraqi Division. Today, they discovered that the "commander" was actually a junior officer masquerading as a higher-up in an attempt to win better treatment.
The thunderous air strikes in Baghdad have no doubt taken a toll on the Iraqi military, but they have not destroyed its ability to direct its forces, according to senior American military officials. Before the attacks today, the three Republican Guard divisions surrounding the capital were close to full strength.
The command and control of the Special Republican Guard, which is charged with defending the interior of the capital, is still intact, according to the American military officials.
Special Republican Guard forces have not collapsed but are defending key sites in the city, including command centers and Baghdad's airport. To shield themselves from airstrikes, they are taking refuge in schools, mosques and other structures off limits to air attack.
Iraq still retains the ability to fire and guide mobile surface-to-air missiles, according to Air Force officials. Much of the antiaircraft artillery is still active. Despite all the Pentagon's boasts about the ability to use air power to shock the Iraqi adversary and perhaps encourage surrender, the air defenses in and around Baghdad are still functional, though diminished.
Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, the land-war commander, flew by helicopter deep into Iraq to confer about the coming assault on the Republican Guard with Lt. Gen. William S. Wallace, the commander of the Army's V Corps who will lead the attack on Baghdad. This reporter accompanied General McKiernan.
As General McKiernan flew into Iraq, long convoys of trucks, armored vehicles and Humvees could be seen from the air. The columns kicked up a swirl of dust as the American forces pushed north past the palm groves, irrigation canals, barren desert and small towns that are characteristic of southern Iraq.
Troops have occasionally been snarled in traffic jams, which can stop traffic for hours, as the supplies for the final assault on Baghdad are pushed north.
The American forces have been moving so fast that it took a bit of doing to find General Wallace's command post, a tracked C-2 command vehicle filled with electronic gear. After the helicopter landed, the two American commanders huddled in the cramped vehicle to plot the initial assaults on the Republican Guard.
There are six Republican Guard divisions in and around Baghdad. Early today, American planes focused on the Medina, attacking their command posts, armor and artillery. American commanders want to stop the Republican Guard forces from moving inside Baghdad, where they could engage in urban warfare, or from moving south toward American troops. Attacks on artillery were a high priority, in part because it can be used to fire the chemical shells that Iraq is believed to possess.
The initial assault on the Medina division was carried out by several squadrons of Apache attack helicopters from the Army's 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment. More than 30 of the surface-to-surface missiles, called Atacms and considered one of the Army's most devastating weapons, were also unleashed.
"We have to shape the fight," General Wallace, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible, said before the attack began.
American commanders call this "shaping fires," an effort to weaken the enemy so he can be destroyed in follow-on attacks.
It was just the first step of a combined arms offensive intended to deal the Republican Guard a decisive defeat. The hope is that a firm blow against the Medina will help persuade other Republican Guard units not to resist.
The attack served another purpose as well. American officials are trying to regain the initiative during a day in which they were surprised by attacks by the fedayeen militia columns.
Thousands of fedayeen fighters, who wear black uniforms or civilian clothes, are now in the southern zone, according to American estimates, and have produced the largest American casualties so far. Their fervor and determination to fight outside Baghdad caught American forces by surprise and appeared to be part of a calculated effort to attack vulnerable American supply convoys as they head north.
There was no disguising the fact that the attacks by the fedayeen were a setback and a surprise. General Wallace said he had expected to run across the militia in the cities, but had not anticipated that they would venture out of towns to take on American forces.
Not all of the military in the south may be fedayeen. Some may be hard-core members of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party or security officers who were deployed in Iraqi divisions to stop them from surrendering and who have taken up arms now that their units have dissipated.
American officials say they are driving S.U.V.'s or trucks and are armed with machine guns, antitank weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. They have reportedly been using taxi cabs and have been seen in one small town handing out small arms.
The strategy of the American forces has been to bypass Basra and other cities as they drive toward Baghdad. But some of the bridges the Americans need to head north are close to cities.
As the Americans have pushed north, the fedayeen and other security forces have sought to hamper their advance by coming out to ambush the invading forces. Instead of fighting American armored formations in the open desert, the fedayeen seem to be positioning themselves to attack more vulnerable columns and supply trucks as they roll north. Instead of a head-to-head confrontation, they are raising the specter of guerrilla war.
One encounter with the fedayeen occurred when Task Force Tawara encountered a group of Iraqis that pretended to be surrendering, only to turn on the marines near Nasariya. Six marines were killed, and at least 14 wounded marines were evacuated. Some reports put the number of wounded at 82.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
'We aired news': TV station justifies PoW film
www.smh.com
March 24 2003, 4:06 PM
Iraqi TV shows US dead and POWs
The Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera has justified broadcasting pictures of what it says are American dead and prisoners of war by stating: "We did what our professional duty calls upon us to do. We aired news."
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today it would be "unfortunate" if other television networks carried the same pictures and American television networks indicated they were treating the al-Jazeera footage, shot by Iraqi television, with caution, with some opting to show only a still image of the dead soldiers or only limited excerpts of the questioning of POWs.
CNN initially said it had decided not to air footage of the dead soldiers in the United States and would show only a single frame which did not allow identification.
But later today it ran brief video of one of the captured soldiers being questioned by the Iraqis, saying it had confirmed the relatives of the man had been notified of his capture.
"We make this decision because reporting on the captives' treatment is an important part of the coverage of the war in Iraq," a CNN statement said.
Rumsfeld said it was a breach of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war to show "humiliating" footage of the American military captives.
Sources at Central Command in Qatar said the US had e-mailed media organisations to formally ask them not to broadcast the pictures of the US dead or captured.
Rumsfeld was shown a brief extract from the videotape while he was being interviewed on CBS's Face the Nation.
"The Geneva Convention indicates that it's not permitted to photograph and embarrass or humiliate prisoners of war," Rumsfeld said. "And if they do happen to be American or coalition ground forces that have been captured, the Geneva Convention indicates how they should be treated."
Interviewed later on CNN, Rumsfeld said, "and needless to say, television networks that carry such pictures are, I would say, doing something that's unfortunate".
The International Committee of the Red Cross agreed the footage violated the convention.
An official at Qatar's al-Jazeera, the most widely watched news network in the Arab world, defended the decision to air the footage and took a swipe at the United States for citing UN conventions while waging a war with no UN backing.
"Countries all over the world should abide by all UN conventions. You can't pick and choose as you please," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "We did what our professional duty calls upon us to do. We aired news."
The tape showed some US soldiers being interrogated and some dead from gunshot wounds to the head. US officials said a small number of US soldiers had been seized. There was no confirmation of reports that the capture involved as many as 10 troops from an Army maintenance unit.
Despite the controversy over showing pictures of US prisoners, images of Iraqi prisoners have appeared in US and British media in the past days, although some had their faces deliberately blurred.
A spokesperson for Fox News said the network had "no plans to air the POW footage at this point".
She said Fox had decided to show a single still image of dead US soldiers in which the dead were unrecognisable.
Barbara Levin, a spokeswoman for NBC, said the network was deciding what to do with the videotape. Asked if the network would be swayed by Rumsfeld's views, she said NBC was a news organisation that made editorial decisions "all the time".
ABC said it had not aired the footage.
CBS said it had only shown a few seconds of the tape while Rumsfeld was in the studio, because the pictures were felt to be newsworthy.
CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said the company had agreed to show the tape subsequently with the faces of the prisoners blurred out. It had also agreed to wait until next of kin had been contacted by the Pentagon before ultimately deciding what to do with the film.
"I think we'll make those decisions in real time," she said, adding that Rumsfeld's criticisms appeared to be aimed at al-Jazeera.
CNN International, which airs abroad and has few viewers in the United States, said it had shown parts of the "disturbing" video of the POW interviews, after having given the Pentagon time to notify the families. CNN International said it would not show the video of the dead bodies but would air a single image with no identifiable features.
Iraq promised to respect the Geneva Convention and said it would not harm the prisoners.
President George W Bush warned Iraqis they would be treated as war criminals if they mistreated the prisoners.
A senior US officer, Lieutenant General John Abizaid, said he was "very disappointed" that al-Jazeera had chosen to air the picture in breach of the Geneva Convention. "It is not right and we will hold those (responsible) accountable for their actions," he told a news briefing in Qatar.
www.smh.com
March 24 2003, 4:06 PM
Iraqi TV shows US dead and POWs
The Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera has justified broadcasting pictures of what it says are American dead and prisoners of war by stating: "We did what our professional duty calls upon us to do. We aired news."
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today it would be "unfortunate" if other television networks carried the same pictures and American television networks indicated they were treating the al-Jazeera footage, shot by Iraqi television, with caution, with some opting to show only a still image of the dead soldiers or only limited excerpts of the questioning of POWs.
CNN initially said it had decided not to air footage of the dead soldiers in the United States and would show only a single frame which did not allow identification.
But later today it ran brief video of one of the captured soldiers being questioned by the Iraqis, saying it had confirmed the relatives of the man had been notified of his capture.
"We make this decision because reporting on the captives' treatment is an important part of the coverage of the war in Iraq," a CNN statement said.
Rumsfeld said it was a breach of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war to show "humiliating" footage of the American military captives.
Sources at Central Command in Qatar said the US had e-mailed media organisations to formally ask them not to broadcast the pictures of the US dead or captured.
Rumsfeld was shown a brief extract from the videotape while he was being interviewed on CBS's Face the Nation.
"The Geneva Convention indicates that it's not permitted to photograph and embarrass or humiliate prisoners of war," Rumsfeld said. "And if they do happen to be American or coalition ground forces that have been captured, the Geneva Convention indicates how they should be treated."
Interviewed later on CNN, Rumsfeld said, "and needless to say, television networks that carry such pictures are, I would say, doing something that's unfortunate".
The International Committee of the Red Cross agreed the footage violated the convention.
An official at Qatar's al-Jazeera, the most widely watched news network in the Arab world, defended the decision to air the footage and took a swipe at the United States for citing UN conventions while waging a war with no UN backing.
"Countries all over the world should abide by all UN conventions. You can't pick and choose as you please," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "We did what our professional duty calls upon us to do. We aired news."
The tape showed some US soldiers being interrogated and some dead from gunshot wounds to the head. US officials said a small number of US soldiers had been seized. There was no confirmation of reports that the capture involved as many as 10 troops from an Army maintenance unit.
Despite the controversy over showing pictures of US prisoners, images of Iraqi prisoners have appeared in US and British media in the past days, although some had their faces deliberately blurred.
A spokesperson for Fox News said the network had "no plans to air the POW footage at this point".
She said Fox had decided to show a single still image of dead US soldiers in which the dead were unrecognisable.
Barbara Levin, a spokeswoman for NBC, said the network was deciding what to do with the videotape. Asked if the network would be swayed by Rumsfeld's views, she said NBC was a news organisation that made editorial decisions "all the time".
ABC said it had not aired the footage.
CBS said it had only shown a few seconds of the tape while Rumsfeld was in the studio, because the pictures were felt to be newsworthy.
CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said the company had agreed to show the tape subsequently with the faces of the prisoners blurred out. It had also agreed to wait until next of kin had been contacted by the Pentagon before ultimately deciding what to do with the film.
"I think we'll make those decisions in real time," she said, adding that Rumsfeld's criticisms appeared to be aimed at al-Jazeera.
CNN International, which airs abroad and has few viewers in the United States, said it had shown parts of the "disturbing" video of the POW interviews, after having given the Pentagon time to notify the families. CNN International said it would not show the video of the dead bodies but would air a single image with no identifiable features.
Iraq promised to respect the Geneva Convention and said it would not harm the prisoners.
President George W Bush warned Iraqis they would be treated as war criminals if they mistreated the prisoners.
A senior US officer, Lieutenant General John Abizaid, said he was "very disappointed" that al-Jazeera had chosen to air the picture in breach of the Geneva Convention. "It is not right and we will hold those (responsible) accountable for their actions," he told a news briefing in Qatar.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
US special forces mass in Kurdish enclave
We had nearly given up hope, say locals
Luke Harding in Sulaimaniya, northern Iraq
Monday March 24, 2003
The Guardian
After months of frustration and delay, the American military finally began opening up its northern front against Saddam Hussein last night, flying in several hundred US soldiers into Kurdish-controlled Iraq.
Four American planes carrying "scores" of American military personnel landed on Saturday night at Bakrajo airstrip, 10 miles west of the Kurdish regional capital of Sulaimaniya, officials confirmed.
This is the first time large numbers of US soldiers have arrived in the opposition-controlled area. It follows the Turkish parliament's refusal earlier this month to allow 60,000 US troops to cross the country with their equipment into northern Iraq.
More flights were expected over the next few days, officials added. The new American troops - most of them special forces - are likely to be deployed across the region, and along the front line facing the strategic northern oil cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, which are a key target for coalition forces.
Kurdish leaders yesterday admitted they had virtually given up hope that the US would ever turn up.
"It was an exhilarating moment when the troops landed," one high-level Kurdish source said. "These forces should have arrived two weeks ago. But it's better late than never."
Until now, most US military activity has been focused on southern Iraq and Baghdad. The Pentagon was forced to drastically scale back its plans for a northern front following the Turkish vote.
The US has now announced that its 4th Infantry division will not be deployed through Turkey, as planned, but will instead join the southern thrust into Iraq from Kuwait.
About 20 military cargo ships that have been sitting off the Turkish coast for weeks have been rerouted. They are shortly expected to move to the Gulf.
On Friday night, Turkey did give Washington belated permission to use Turkish airspace. But the planes that arrived in northern Iraq over the weekend set off from Jordan or Kuwait, Kurdish officials said. Barham Salih, the prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which controls the eastern half of the Kurdish area, yesterday refused to confirm that the Americans had flown in, but he said the arrival of American forces would be welcome.
The planes landed in darkness, using no lights, and flew off as soon as personnel had got on to buses, locals said.
The three airstrips in the region were refurbished several months ago to receive US aircraft.
Groups of American special forces have had a small, clandestine presence in northern Iraq for some time. But in recent days their numbers seem to have gone up, and they have been spotted travelling in convoys with Kurdish fighters armed with Kalashnikovs.
The US teams are now likely to operate on two fronts. Yesterday they directed airstrikes against territory in north-eastern Iraq controlled by the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam. In the coming days they will also coordinate attacks against Iraqi troops sitting on the frontline outside Mosul and Kirkuk, clearing the way for the advance of coalition troops.
We had nearly given up hope, say locals
Luke Harding in Sulaimaniya, northern Iraq
Monday March 24, 2003
The Guardian
After months of frustration and delay, the American military finally began opening up its northern front against Saddam Hussein last night, flying in several hundred US soldiers into Kurdish-controlled Iraq.
Four American planes carrying "scores" of American military personnel landed on Saturday night at Bakrajo airstrip, 10 miles west of the Kurdish regional capital of Sulaimaniya, officials confirmed.
This is the first time large numbers of US soldiers have arrived in the opposition-controlled area. It follows the Turkish parliament's refusal earlier this month to allow 60,000 US troops to cross the country with their equipment into northern Iraq.
More flights were expected over the next few days, officials added. The new American troops - most of them special forces - are likely to be deployed across the region, and along the front line facing the strategic northern oil cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, which are a key target for coalition forces.
Kurdish leaders yesterday admitted they had virtually given up hope that the US would ever turn up.
"It was an exhilarating moment when the troops landed," one high-level Kurdish source said. "These forces should have arrived two weeks ago. But it's better late than never."
Until now, most US military activity has been focused on southern Iraq and Baghdad. The Pentagon was forced to drastically scale back its plans for a northern front following the Turkish vote.
The US has now announced that its 4th Infantry division will not be deployed through Turkey, as planned, but will instead join the southern thrust into Iraq from Kuwait.
About 20 military cargo ships that have been sitting off the Turkish coast for weeks have been rerouted. They are shortly expected to move to the Gulf.
On Friday night, Turkey did give Washington belated permission to use Turkish airspace. But the planes that arrived in northern Iraq over the weekend set off from Jordan or Kuwait, Kurdish officials said. Barham Salih, the prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which controls the eastern half of the Kurdish area, yesterday refused to confirm that the Americans had flown in, but he said the arrival of American forces would be welcome.
The planes landed in darkness, using no lights, and flew off as soon as personnel had got on to buses, locals said.
The three airstrips in the region were refurbished several months ago to receive US aircraft.
Groups of American special forces have had a small, clandestine presence in northern Iraq for some time. But in recent days their numbers seem to have gone up, and they have been spotted travelling in convoys with Kurdish fighters armed with Kalashnikovs.
The US teams are now likely to operate on two fronts. Yesterday they directed airstrikes against territory in north-eastern Iraq controlled by the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam. In the coming days they will also coordinate attacks against Iraqi troops sitting on the frontline outside Mosul and Kirkuk, clearing the way for the advance of coalition troops.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Iraq Says Zionists Participating in War
Agencies
www.arabnews.com
CAIRO, 24 March 2003 — Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said yesterday that no Iraqi city had fallen to US-led forces and alleged that Israel was taking part in the four-day-old war to topple President Saddam Hussein.
“No city has fallen into their hands. Umm Qasr, which is a small, isolated community, is still resisting,” Sabri, the first Iraqi official to travel abroad since the start of the war, told reporters at Cairo’s airport.
The British military said yesterday that coalition troops were encountering small pockets of resistance from elite Iraqi troops in Umm Qasr, Iraq’s only deep water port which is just across the Kuwaiti border.
Fighting is still reported to be taking place round Basra and in Nasiriyah on the Euphrates river.
Sabri, arriving in Egypt after a stop in Syria, also charged that Israel was involved in the war.
Iraq is “sure that the Zionists are participating in the aggression, after having found an Israeli missile,” he said, saying that Baghdad was “fighting a tripartite American-Anglo-Zionist aggression.”
The statement follows a report on official Iraqi television that an Israeli-made missile had been found in Baghdad.
During the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel, which exercised restraint after heavy US pressure not to upset the coalition which included a number of Arab countries.
Sabri is in Egypt to attend a meeting today of Arab League foreign ministers which will discuss the war on Iraq.
He said he would ask his counterparts “to condemn the aggression and call for an immediate and retreat of the invaders on our land.”
Sabri will also ask for “condemnation of those who have offered facilities (to the US and British forces) and who are stabbing Iraq in the back — that means the agents and dwarfs who rule Kuwait.”
According to an Arab League source, Kuwait will in turn ask the meeting to condemn Baghdad’s “aggression” against it, in reference to the 12 Iraqi missiles fired at the emirate in the first two days of the war. None of the missiles caused damage or casualties.
Arab foreign ministers try to bridge Arab divisions and forge a unified anti-war position. The meeting at the Arab League headquarters will also try to convince restive Arab populations their governments are doing their best to stop the four-day old war, which has provoked sometimes violent demonstrations across the Arab world, diplomats said.
“The Arab foreign ministers want to see what steps can be taken to stop the war,” Arab League spokesman Hesham Youssef said, adding the ministers would discuss a diplomatic initiative to try to stop the conflict through the United Nations.
The meeting has been scheduled since before the war began, but the start of the conflict has given it greater urgency.
Sabri said on Saturday his country wanted Arab states to take a “true Arab stand” against the war which he said would mirror sentiment on the Arab street.
In Damascus yesterday he said reports that Iraqi leaders had been killed during the war were “fables.”
Thousands of anti-war demonstrators have held protests and in some cases clashed with riot police across the Arab world since the US-led assault began on Thursday. States including Egypt, Morocco and Jordan have called for public calm.
Many Arabs blame their governments for failing to prevent the conflict.
Arab diplomatic efforts in the run-up to the war failed to overcome deep differences between the League’s 22 members on agreeing substantive proposals to help defuse the crisis.
Analysts say the foreign ministers stood equally little chance of halting the war, which aims to unseat the Iraqi government and destroy alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters yesterday Egypt had done all it could to prevent the conflict. “We are not able to do more than we have done,” he said.
One Western diplomat said: “I don’t think we can really expect anything substantive to come out of the foreign ministers’ meeting, and the League doesn’t expect this either.
“But it’s smart diplomacy to meet, compare notes, try to unite ranks and show Arabs are working together.”
Agencies
www.arabnews.com
CAIRO, 24 March 2003 — Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said yesterday that no Iraqi city had fallen to US-led forces and alleged that Israel was taking part in the four-day-old war to topple President Saddam Hussein.
“No city has fallen into their hands. Umm Qasr, which is a small, isolated community, is still resisting,” Sabri, the first Iraqi official to travel abroad since the start of the war, told reporters at Cairo’s airport.
The British military said yesterday that coalition troops were encountering small pockets of resistance from elite Iraqi troops in Umm Qasr, Iraq’s only deep water port which is just across the Kuwaiti border.
Fighting is still reported to be taking place round Basra and in Nasiriyah on the Euphrates river.
Sabri, arriving in Egypt after a stop in Syria, also charged that Israel was involved in the war.
Iraq is “sure that the Zionists are participating in the aggression, after having found an Israeli missile,” he said, saying that Baghdad was “fighting a tripartite American-Anglo-Zionist aggression.”
The statement follows a report on official Iraqi television that an Israeli-made missile had been found in Baghdad.
During the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel, which exercised restraint after heavy US pressure not to upset the coalition which included a number of Arab countries.
Sabri is in Egypt to attend a meeting today of Arab League foreign ministers which will discuss the war on Iraq.
He said he would ask his counterparts “to condemn the aggression and call for an immediate and retreat of the invaders on our land.”
Sabri will also ask for “condemnation of those who have offered facilities (to the US and British forces) and who are stabbing Iraq in the back — that means the agents and dwarfs who rule Kuwait.”
According to an Arab League source, Kuwait will in turn ask the meeting to condemn Baghdad’s “aggression” against it, in reference to the 12 Iraqi missiles fired at the emirate in the first two days of the war. None of the missiles caused damage or casualties.
Arab foreign ministers try to bridge Arab divisions and forge a unified anti-war position. The meeting at the Arab League headquarters will also try to convince restive Arab populations their governments are doing their best to stop the four-day old war, which has provoked sometimes violent demonstrations across the Arab world, diplomats said.
“The Arab foreign ministers want to see what steps can be taken to stop the war,” Arab League spokesman Hesham Youssef said, adding the ministers would discuss a diplomatic initiative to try to stop the conflict through the United Nations.
The meeting has been scheduled since before the war began, but the start of the conflict has given it greater urgency.
Sabri said on Saturday his country wanted Arab states to take a “true Arab stand” against the war which he said would mirror sentiment on the Arab street.
In Damascus yesterday he said reports that Iraqi leaders had been killed during the war were “fables.”
Thousands of anti-war demonstrators have held protests and in some cases clashed with riot police across the Arab world since the US-led assault began on Thursday. States including Egypt, Morocco and Jordan have called for public calm.
Many Arabs blame their governments for failing to prevent the conflict.
Arab diplomatic efforts in the run-up to the war failed to overcome deep differences between the League’s 22 members on agreeing substantive proposals to help defuse the crisis.
Analysts say the foreign ministers stood equally little chance of halting the war, which aims to unseat the Iraqi government and destroy alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters yesterday Egypt had done all it could to prevent the conflict. “We are not able to do more than we have done,” he said.
One Western diplomat said: “I don’t think we can really expect anything substantive to come out of the foreign ministers’ meeting, and the League doesn’t expect this either.
“But it’s smart diplomacy to meet, compare notes, try to unite ranks and show Arabs are working together.”
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Explosions rattle Iraqi capital
Coalition forces press on after series of setbacks
Monday, March 24, 2003 Posted: 2:02 AM EST
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Explosions that might have damaged an air force building rocked the Iraqi capital early Monday, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, U.S.-led Apache attack helicopters carried out a fierce attack on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's most loyal troops, the elite Republican Guard, south of Baghdad.
The developments followed a day that disabused the Pentagon and the American public that the war in Iraq was going to be clean and easy. U.S. soldiers were captured, a gunbattle left several Marines dead, and two British pilots were shot down and killed by U.S. Patriot missiles.
Britain later said two soldiers were missing in southern Iraq after several of its vehicles were attacked. (Full story)
Monday's explosions around Baghdad jolted the city about 3 a.m. [7 p.m. Sunday EST]. Witnesses said an Iraqi air force building was hit, along with other buildings southeast of the capital that were struck in previous days.
In the Apache helicopter attack, CNN's Karl Penhaul reported that U.S. forces encountered stiff anti-aircraft fire about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Penhaul could not say whether all of the U.S. helicopters returned safely.
The attack started after midnight (4 p.m. EST) and lasted about three hours, said Penhaul, who was aboard a Black Hawk helicopter that served as the command-and-control craft of the Apache unit.
The Apaches fought the 2nd Armored Brigade of the elite Medina Division of the Republican Guard, Penhaul said. The attack intensified around Karbala, near the Euphrates River south of Baghdad. (Full story)
Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, had vowed hours earlier to press forward with the military campaign despite Sunday's setbacks.
"We are satisfied with the strategy of our campaign plan. It's on track. It's being very successful in the broadest military sense," Abizaid said. "There will be times when actions will happen throughout the sector where loss of life will occur."
At the Central Command briefing, Abizaid acknowledged "a high probability" that coalition forces would encounter Republican Guard units in and around Baghdad.
"Whether or not they fight with any degree of tenacity remains to be seen," Abizaid said. "Suffice it to say that we are applying significant pressure on them from the air as ground troops continue to close with them."
Abizaid said that, perhaps, fewer than 10 Marines were killed in combat Sunday and more were wounded in fighting around Nasiriya --described as the "sharpest" resistance coalition troops have seen so far.
After that battle, 12 U.S. soldiers from an Army supply unit in southern Iraq were unaccounted for and were believed to have been captured in an ambush by Iraqi forces.
Referring to those soldiers, Abizaid said, "[Some] I believe, turned up on Baghdad television."
Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language satellite network, broadcast pictures of American soldiers recorded by Iraqi television. Iraqi TV said the soldiers were killed in action or captured near Nasiriya on the Euphrates River.
The video showed five captured U.S. soldiers, who said their names. It also showed the bodies of four soldiers, some of which had gunshot wounds to their foreheads.
In Washington, President Bush said any Iraqi officials involved in mistreating prisoners "will be treated as war criminals," and Abizaid said showing prisoners of war on television was a "clear violation" of the Geneva Conventions.
Mohamed Aldouri, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, said Iraq will follow international guidelines for the humane treatment of POWs
"We will respect carefully the international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions," he said. "I hope that the American Army will respect [this] also."
Anecita Hudson, the mother of one captured soldier, told CNN's Aaron Brown that she just wants her son to come home.
"He's a really good son and a good husband, and I know he misses us and we miss him," Hudson said of her son, Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23.
"I just would like to the president of United States of America [to] do something about it -- to save my son," Hudson said. "And I want him to come home."
Other developments
• The U.S. military has secured a facility in southern Iraq that Pentagon officials said might have been used to produce chemical weapons. The officials cautioned that it wasn't clear what materials were at the facility in Najaf, about 90 miles south of Baghdad. (Full story)
• An unmanned, remote-controlled Predator drone destroyed an antiaircraft artillery gun in southern Iraq on Saturday. It was the first Predator strike of Operation Iraqi Freedom, coalition defense officials said. The MQ-1 Predator dropped one Hellfire II missile on the mobile antiaircraft artillery piece outside Amarah at 1:25 p.m. (5:25 a.m. Saturday EST), near the Iranian border, according to the Combined Forces Air Component Command.
• Two U.S. cruise missiles fell in unpopulated areas of Turkey on Monday, the Pentagon said. No one was hurt. In a separate incident the day before, Turkish and U.S. military authorities investigated an undetonated missile that appeared to have fallen into a remote village in southeastern Turkey. No one was hurt by the missile, which witnesses said left a crater 13 feet [4 meters] wide and 3.3 feet [1 meter] deep. The missile fell in Ozveren, 430 miles [688 kilometers] northwest of the border with Iraq, about 5:30 p.m. [9:30 a.m. EST], as planes were seen flying overhead, witnesses said.
• A Patriot missile intercepted an Iraqi missile fired toward Kuwait about 1 a.m. Monday [5 p.m. Sunday EST], a Kuwaiti army spokesman said. The missile was intercepted north of Kuwait City and came down away from any residential area, Col. Youssef Al-Mulla told CNN. The resulting explosion could be heard as a muffled, distant boom in the Kuwaiti capital.
• Demonstrations about the conflict touched the 75th annual Academy Awards held Sunday in Los Angeles, California. Barricades at the famed intersection of Hollywood and Vine kept demonstrators at bay, some of whom voiced opposition to the war and others who expressed support for U.S. troops in Iraq. (Full story)
• In Umm Qasr, U.S. Marines ended a skirmish with a small pocket of Iraqi forces. Forces from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit exchanged fire with Iraqis inside a large concrete building early Sunday, according to David Bowden, a British reporter embedded with the unit. (Full story)
• In Kuwait, a U.S. soldier being questioned in connection with a fatal grenade and small arms attack at a 101st Airborne Division camp was identified Sunday as Sgt. Asan Akbar, according to George Heath, spokesman for the unit's base at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. U.S. military officials said 15 soldiers were wounded in the attack, at least five of them seriously. The Pentagon identified the soldier killed in the incident as Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27. (Full story)
• A British military spokesman Sunday confirmed that a Tornado GR4 aircraft returning from an operational mission was shot down by a Patriot missile near the Kuwait border. The pilot and copilot were killed, London's Ministry of Defense said. An investigation is under way. (Full story)
• Arab media are reporting that a coalition plane went down in Baghdad and Iraqi crews are searching the Tigris River for the pilot or pilots. U.S. and British military officials said they have no reports of a plane downed over Baghdad.
Coalition forces press on after series of setbacks
Monday, March 24, 2003 Posted: 2:02 AM EST
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Explosions that might have damaged an air force building rocked the Iraqi capital early Monday, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, U.S.-led Apache attack helicopters carried out a fierce attack on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's most loyal troops, the elite Republican Guard, south of Baghdad.
The developments followed a day that disabused the Pentagon and the American public that the war in Iraq was going to be clean and easy. U.S. soldiers were captured, a gunbattle left several Marines dead, and two British pilots were shot down and killed by U.S. Patriot missiles.
Britain later said two soldiers were missing in southern Iraq after several of its vehicles were attacked. (Full story)
Monday's explosions around Baghdad jolted the city about 3 a.m. [7 p.m. Sunday EST]. Witnesses said an Iraqi air force building was hit, along with other buildings southeast of the capital that were struck in previous days.
In the Apache helicopter attack, CNN's Karl Penhaul reported that U.S. forces encountered stiff anti-aircraft fire about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Penhaul could not say whether all of the U.S. helicopters returned safely.
The attack started after midnight (4 p.m. EST) and lasted about three hours, said Penhaul, who was aboard a Black Hawk helicopter that served as the command-and-control craft of the Apache unit.
The Apaches fought the 2nd Armored Brigade of the elite Medina Division of the Republican Guard, Penhaul said. The attack intensified around Karbala, near the Euphrates River south of Baghdad. (Full story)
Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, had vowed hours earlier to press forward with the military campaign despite Sunday's setbacks.
"We are satisfied with the strategy of our campaign plan. It's on track. It's being very successful in the broadest military sense," Abizaid said. "There will be times when actions will happen throughout the sector where loss of life will occur."
At the Central Command briefing, Abizaid acknowledged "a high probability" that coalition forces would encounter Republican Guard units in and around Baghdad.
"Whether or not they fight with any degree of tenacity remains to be seen," Abizaid said. "Suffice it to say that we are applying significant pressure on them from the air as ground troops continue to close with them."
Abizaid said that, perhaps, fewer than 10 Marines were killed in combat Sunday and more were wounded in fighting around Nasiriya --described as the "sharpest" resistance coalition troops have seen so far.
After that battle, 12 U.S. soldiers from an Army supply unit in southern Iraq were unaccounted for and were believed to have been captured in an ambush by Iraqi forces.
Referring to those soldiers, Abizaid said, "[Some] I believe, turned up on Baghdad television."
Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language satellite network, broadcast pictures of American soldiers recorded by Iraqi television. Iraqi TV said the soldiers were killed in action or captured near Nasiriya on the Euphrates River.
The video showed five captured U.S. soldiers, who said their names. It also showed the bodies of four soldiers, some of which had gunshot wounds to their foreheads.
In Washington, President Bush said any Iraqi officials involved in mistreating prisoners "will be treated as war criminals," and Abizaid said showing prisoners of war on television was a "clear violation" of the Geneva Conventions.
Mohamed Aldouri, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, said Iraq will follow international guidelines for the humane treatment of POWs
"We will respect carefully the international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions," he said. "I hope that the American Army will respect [this] also."
Anecita Hudson, the mother of one captured soldier, told CNN's Aaron Brown that she just wants her son to come home.
"He's a really good son and a good husband, and I know he misses us and we miss him," Hudson said of her son, Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23.
"I just would like to the president of United States of America [to] do something about it -- to save my son," Hudson said. "And I want him to come home."
Other developments
• The U.S. military has secured a facility in southern Iraq that Pentagon officials said might have been used to produce chemical weapons. The officials cautioned that it wasn't clear what materials were at the facility in Najaf, about 90 miles south of Baghdad. (Full story)
• An unmanned, remote-controlled Predator drone destroyed an antiaircraft artillery gun in southern Iraq on Saturday. It was the first Predator strike of Operation Iraqi Freedom, coalition defense officials said. The MQ-1 Predator dropped one Hellfire II missile on the mobile antiaircraft artillery piece outside Amarah at 1:25 p.m. (5:25 a.m. Saturday EST), near the Iranian border, according to the Combined Forces Air Component Command.
• Two U.S. cruise missiles fell in unpopulated areas of Turkey on Monday, the Pentagon said. No one was hurt. In a separate incident the day before, Turkish and U.S. military authorities investigated an undetonated missile that appeared to have fallen into a remote village in southeastern Turkey. No one was hurt by the missile, which witnesses said left a crater 13 feet [4 meters] wide and 3.3 feet [1 meter] deep. The missile fell in Ozveren, 430 miles [688 kilometers] northwest of the border with Iraq, about 5:30 p.m. [9:30 a.m. EST], as planes were seen flying overhead, witnesses said.
• A Patriot missile intercepted an Iraqi missile fired toward Kuwait about 1 a.m. Monday [5 p.m. Sunday EST], a Kuwaiti army spokesman said. The missile was intercepted north of Kuwait City and came down away from any residential area, Col. Youssef Al-Mulla told CNN. The resulting explosion could be heard as a muffled, distant boom in the Kuwaiti capital.
• Demonstrations about the conflict touched the 75th annual Academy Awards held Sunday in Los Angeles, California. Barricades at the famed intersection of Hollywood and Vine kept demonstrators at bay, some of whom voiced opposition to the war and others who expressed support for U.S. troops in Iraq. (Full story)
• In Umm Qasr, U.S. Marines ended a skirmish with a small pocket of Iraqi forces. Forces from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit exchanged fire with Iraqis inside a large concrete building early Sunday, according to David Bowden, a British reporter embedded with the unit. (Full story)
• In Kuwait, a U.S. soldier being questioned in connection with a fatal grenade and small arms attack at a 101st Airborne Division camp was identified Sunday as Sgt. Asan Akbar, according to George Heath, spokesman for the unit's base at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. U.S. military officials said 15 soldiers were wounded in the attack, at least five of them seriously. The Pentagon identified the soldier killed in the incident as Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27. (Full story)
• A British military spokesman Sunday confirmed that a Tornado GR4 aircraft returning from an operational mission was shot down by a Patriot missile near the Kuwait border. The pilot and copilot were killed, London's Ministry of Defense said. An investigation is under way. (Full story)
• Arab media are reporting that a coalition plane went down in Baghdad and Iraqi crews are searching the Tigris River for the pilot or pilots. U.S. and British military officials said they have no reports of a plane downed over Baghdad.
iraq has pictiures of an abandoned apache chopper, still armed just sitting in a field which farmers supposedly shot and forced to land. the crew isnt around..., but suprised they didnt radio in an airstrike or at least got the missles on the chopper to self detonante (if they can do that)
I thought it would make a great saturday night live skit with embedded reports interviewing troops on there minute to minute activities.
Have some guy sitting on a porta john grunting and groaning and screaming about some spicey food he is passing.
And have a reporter questioning him on the play by play.
Then cut over to another guy brushing his teeth.
That'd be funny.
Have some guy sitting on a porta john grunting and groaning and screaming about some spicey food he is passing.
And have a reporter questioning him on the play by play.
Then cut over to another guy brushing his teeth.
That'd be funny.
While I feel for the POW's and MY GOD - their families I absolutely believe that most Americans need a good dose of what the reality of WAR is and what the consequences are for both sides.
Regardless of the details of legalities of whether or not these photos or videos should or should not be aired I am somewhat happy that they did. (With the exception of those who may have recognized a friend or loved one.)
Regardless of the details of legalities of whether or not these photos or videos should or should not be aired I am somewhat happy that they did. (With the exception of those who may have recognized a friend or loved one.)
PoyeBoy
New member
WODIN said:
Now that is what Im talking about, the media has already exploited the war, now it should over over exploit it
Or it should show useless clips of the pres doing everyday stuff, like taking a walk, getting comfortable in his chair, combing his hair, and playing with his dogs
Oh wait, they already did
HumorMe
New member
What is being reported today is for the past year to year and a half, Russian companies have been providing anti-tank missles, GPS jammers, and night-vision scopes. The US is very upset and has been in direct contact with Soviet Union President Putin about this.
Don't know exactly where this is going but things are getting tougher and will get a lot of tougher with the Iraquis having these things in their possession.
Don't know exactly where this is going but things are getting tougher and will get a lot of tougher with the Iraquis having these things in their possession.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Saddam deputy Aziz says president in 'full control'
Deputy PM Aziz
REUTERS
March 24, 2003
Associated Press
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Monday the Iraqi leadership was "in good shape" and President Saddam Hussein was "in full control of the army and the country."
BAGHDAD – Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Monday the Iraqi leadership was "in good shape" and President Saddam Hussein was "in full control of the army and the country."
His comments, made at a news conference in the capital, were aimed at ending intense speculation about the Iraqi leader's health and whereabouts since U.S. and British warplanes and missiles began bombarding Baghdad last week.
"All members of the Iraqi leadership, with the exception of one martyr who died in a battle at Najaf, are alive and in good shape, and each and every one is working efficiently," he said.
The Iraqi authorities said Sunday the local Najaf leader of the ruling Baath party had been killed in fighting near the town.
Iraqi state television twice aired footage of Saddam on Monday – making a televised speech to the nation and meeting officials with his younger son Qusay. In both clips, Saddam looked relaxed.
Since the aerial assault on the capital began, there have been some reports Saddam may have been killed. Others said he was so badly wounded he had to receive a blood transfusion.
Asked about U.S. and British officials' comments saying their forces would be advancing soon on Baghdad, Aziz said they would receive the same kind of defense and defiance they had met in southern Iraq.
"They will be welcomed (in Baghdad) in the same way they were welcomed in Umm Qasr, Faw and Nassiriya and by the Iraqi peasants who brought down the Apache (helicopter)," he said, referring to battles in southern Iraq where local troops have put up tougher resistance than many had expected.
"We will receive them with the best music they have ever heard and with the finest flowers they have ever known," Aziz added, pointedly referring to U.S. comments that Iraqis would welcome U.S.-led troops "with music and flowers."
"We do not have candies to offer. We are just offering them bullets," he said.
Aziz also dismissed reports U.S.-led forces advancing into Iraq had found a potential chemical weapons plant near Najaf.
"This factory was visited by (U.N. weapons) inspectors. It's just a small and isolated factory used for civilian purposes," Aziz said.
Deputy PM Aziz
REUTERS
March 24, 2003
Associated Press
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Monday the Iraqi leadership was "in good shape" and President Saddam Hussein was "in full control of the army and the country."
BAGHDAD – Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Monday the Iraqi leadership was "in good shape" and President Saddam Hussein was "in full control of the army and the country."
His comments, made at a news conference in the capital, were aimed at ending intense speculation about the Iraqi leader's health and whereabouts since U.S. and British warplanes and missiles began bombarding Baghdad last week.
"All members of the Iraqi leadership, with the exception of one martyr who died in a battle at Najaf, are alive and in good shape, and each and every one is working efficiently," he said.
The Iraqi authorities said Sunday the local Najaf leader of the ruling Baath party had been killed in fighting near the town.
Iraqi state television twice aired footage of Saddam on Monday – making a televised speech to the nation and meeting officials with his younger son Qusay. In both clips, Saddam looked relaxed.
Since the aerial assault on the capital began, there have been some reports Saddam may have been killed. Others said he was so badly wounded he had to receive a blood transfusion.
Asked about U.S. and British officials' comments saying their forces would be advancing soon on Baghdad, Aziz said they would receive the same kind of defense and defiance they had met in southern Iraq.
"They will be welcomed (in Baghdad) in the same way they were welcomed in Umm Qasr, Faw and Nassiriya and by the Iraqi peasants who brought down the Apache (helicopter)," he said, referring to battles in southern Iraq where local troops have put up tougher resistance than many had expected.
"We will receive them with the best music they have ever heard and with the finest flowers they have ever known," Aziz added, pointedly referring to U.S. comments that Iraqis would welcome U.S.-led troops "with music and flowers."
"We do not have candies to offer. We are just offering them bullets," he said.
Aziz also dismissed reports U.S.-led forces advancing into Iraq had found a potential chemical weapons plant near Najaf.
"This factory was visited by (U.N. weapons) inspectors. It's just a small and isolated factory used for civilian purposes," Aziz said.
gymrat
New member
Just heard a very interesting stat on CNN.
IF anyone else heard this too, correct me if I'm wrong.
During WW1, WW2 and viatnam, the US lost somewhere between 1-13, and 1-15 troops. During the First Gulf war, the US lost only 1,700 out of over a million. So far, CNN is reporting that there are less than 40 confirmed deaths in Iraq of colilation troops.
IF anyone else heard this too, correct me if I'm wrong.
During WW1, WW2 and viatnam, the US lost somewhere between 1-13, and 1-15 troops. During the First Gulf war, the US lost only 1,700 out of over a million. So far, CNN is reporting that there are less than 40 confirmed deaths in Iraq of colilation troops.
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DcupSheepNipples
Guest
US Troop Deaths!
Revolutionary War - 4,435 deaths
Civil War (both sides) - 498,332 deaths
World War I - 116,708 deaths
World War II - 407,316 deaths
Korea - 36,616 deaths
Vietnam - 58,202 deaths
Gulf War 148 battle deaths, 145 nonbattle deaths
TV: Iraq May Use Chemical Weapons on US in Baghdad - Reuters
TV: Iraq May Use Chemical Weapons on US in Baghdad
Mon March 24, 2003 07:47 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2440520
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials say the Iraqi leadership has drawn "a red line" around the map of Baghdad and once American troops cross it Iraqi Republican Guards have been authorized to use chemical weapons, U.S. television networks reported on Monday.
The reports, by CNN, NBC and CBS's National Security correspondent David Martin, did not name the U.S. officials or give any further details.
NBC said its information was coming from intelligence officials who based it on intercepts of Iraqi communications.
"It's believed once U.S. ground troops cross the line drawn roughly between Karbala and Al Kut, the Republican Guards are under orders to attack with chemical weapons," NBC said.
CNN said the fact that the use of the weapons had apparently been authorized did not mean they would ultimately be used.
A senior Pentagon source told Reuters he could not confirm the reports.
The United States and Britain invaded Iraq last week to overthrow President Saddam Hussein and get rid of any weapons of mass destruction Iraq might have.
U.S. war commander General Tommy Franks said at a news conference in central command in Qatar earlier that his forces had not found weapons of mass destruction, but that it was "a bit early" to expect them to.
American and British forces hit Iraqi Republican Guards defending the approaches to Baghdad on the fifth day of the war.
The Pentagon said U.S. forces had advanced more than 200 miles into Iraqi territory and were beginning to confront an elite division of the Republican Guards deployed to defend the capital.
***************************************
I guess we'll see in the next few days how this all plays out.
TV: Iraq May Use Chemical Weapons on US in Baghdad
Mon March 24, 2003 07:47 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2440520
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials say the Iraqi leadership has drawn "a red line" around the map of Baghdad and once American troops cross it Iraqi Republican Guards have been authorized to use chemical weapons, U.S. television networks reported on Monday.
The reports, by CNN, NBC and CBS's National Security correspondent David Martin, did not name the U.S. officials or give any further details.
NBC said its information was coming from intelligence officials who based it on intercepts of Iraqi communications.
"It's believed once U.S. ground troops cross the line drawn roughly between Karbala and Al Kut, the Republican Guards are under orders to attack with chemical weapons," NBC said.
CNN said the fact that the use of the weapons had apparently been authorized did not mean they would ultimately be used.
A senior Pentagon source told Reuters he could not confirm the reports.
The United States and Britain invaded Iraq last week to overthrow President Saddam Hussein and get rid of any weapons of mass destruction Iraq might have.
U.S. war commander General Tommy Franks said at a news conference in central command in Qatar earlier that his forces had not found weapons of mass destruction, but that it was "a bit early" to expect them to.
American and British forces hit Iraqi Republican Guards defending the approaches to Baghdad on the fifth day of the war.
The Pentagon said U.S. forces had advanced more than 200 miles into Iraqi territory and were beginning to confront an elite division of the Republican Guards deployed to defend the capital.
***************************************
I guess we'll see in the next few days how this all plays out.
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JohnyJuice
Guest
Oh. So they are gonna use the chemical weapons they dont have? Injteresting. If the chem atttack us, i say we MOAB all of Bagdad.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Breaking News
Posted on Tue, Mar. 25, 2003
Explosions Shake Buildings in Baghdad
HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Huge explosions shook buildings in the heart of the capital Tuesday, apparently from U.S. forces bombing Iraqi positions on the city outskirts. With coalition troops closing in, the streets were nearly empty as people hunkered down in anticipation of the battle for Baghdad.
Thousands of Marines poured toward the city in convoys, taking dirt roads to avoid cities and towns and creating traffic jams in the push north.
A cold, howling wind blew gray smoke over Baghdad from fuel fires that Iraqi authorities started to conceal targets. Blasts could be heard in the distance.
The explosions started at midnight Monday, flashing a faint orange glow on the horizon to the south, where units of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard are located. In Washington, Pentagon officials said Monday that U.S. helicopters had begun attacking Saddam's forces arrayed around the capital.
Baghdad's many dogs stopped barking during the explosions but the late-night Islamic call for prayer continued to sound from minarets.
At about the same time, in northern Iraq, heavy bombing was heard from near the key northern city Mosul, indicating that coalition forces were hitting positions closer to the border with the Kurdish area.
On Monday in Baghdad, security and police officers dug more trenches around military offices in the center of the capital, as smoke from fires set to conceal targets from bombing hung over the city.
Daytime traffic was heavy in some areas, youngsters played soccer on side streets and Iraqis walked the city despite the tension from days of bombing by coalition forces.
Some shops reopened along the commercial Al-Rasheed Street, but most were suitcase vendors. The upscale area of Irasat al-Hindiah, where Baghdad has its fashionable restaurants and boutiques, was nearly deserted.
Saddam tried to rally his people in a TV appearance Monday calculated to show that U.S. bombs and missiles had missed him. Iraq also claimed Monday to have shot down two American helicopters and taken pilots prisoner.
During a briefing at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, U.S. Commander Gen. Tommy Franks acknowledged an attack helicopter operating south of Baghdad was missing with its two-man crew.
The Iraqi government continued to urge citizens to resist invaders as the military prepared defenses against U.S.-led troops advancing on Baghdad.
Anti-aircraft guns that had been removed earlier were placed once again atop one of the main gates to the Old Palace, a presidential compound hit in earlier attacks. Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said the U.S. bombardment of Baghdad had injured 194 civilians.
Announcers on Iraq's two TV stations have started wearing olive-green military uniforms to introduce patriotic songs, archival footage of Saddam and old films with a patriotic message.
"You Iraqis are in line with what God has ordered you to do, to cut their throats," Saddam said in his television appearance.
Saddam looked strikingly more vigorous than he did in the speech that aired hours after the first airstrikes on Baghdad last week. Saddam referred specifically to U.S. tactics and the fighting around Umm Qasr in an obvious attempt to show that the address was current.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said U.S. intelligence had determined that Saddam's speech was recorded. However, it is unclear when it was taped.
Posted on Tue, Mar. 25, 2003
Explosions Shake Buildings in Baghdad
HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Huge explosions shook buildings in the heart of the capital Tuesday, apparently from U.S. forces bombing Iraqi positions on the city outskirts. With coalition troops closing in, the streets were nearly empty as people hunkered down in anticipation of the battle for Baghdad.
Thousands of Marines poured toward the city in convoys, taking dirt roads to avoid cities and towns and creating traffic jams in the push north.
A cold, howling wind blew gray smoke over Baghdad from fuel fires that Iraqi authorities started to conceal targets. Blasts could be heard in the distance.
The explosions started at midnight Monday, flashing a faint orange glow on the horizon to the south, where units of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard are located. In Washington, Pentagon officials said Monday that U.S. helicopters had begun attacking Saddam's forces arrayed around the capital.
Baghdad's many dogs stopped barking during the explosions but the late-night Islamic call for prayer continued to sound from minarets.
At about the same time, in northern Iraq, heavy bombing was heard from near the key northern city Mosul, indicating that coalition forces were hitting positions closer to the border with the Kurdish area.
On Monday in Baghdad, security and police officers dug more trenches around military offices in the center of the capital, as smoke from fires set to conceal targets from bombing hung over the city.
Daytime traffic was heavy in some areas, youngsters played soccer on side streets and Iraqis walked the city despite the tension from days of bombing by coalition forces.
Some shops reopened along the commercial Al-Rasheed Street, but most were suitcase vendors. The upscale area of Irasat al-Hindiah, where Baghdad has its fashionable restaurants and boutiques, was nearly deserted.
Saddam tried to rally his people in a TV appearance Monday calculated to show that U.S. bombs and missiles had missed him. Iraq also claimed Monday to have shot down two American helicopters and taken pilots prisoner.
During a briefing at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, U.S. Commander Gen. Tommy Franks acknowledged an attack helicopter operating south of Baghdad was missing with its two-man crew.
The Iraqi government continued to urge citizens to resist invaders as the military prepared defenses against U.S.-led troops advancing on Baghdad.
Anti-aircraft guns that had been removed earlier were placed once again atop one of the main gates to the Old Palace, a presidential compound hit in earlier attacks. Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said the U.S. bombardment of Baghdad had injured 194 civilians.
Announcers on Iraq's two TV stations have started wearing olive-green military uniforms to introduce patriotic songs, archival footage of Saddam and old films with a patriotic message.
"You Iraqis are in line with what God has ordered you to do, to cut their throats," Saddam said in his television appearance.
Saddam looked strikingly more vigorous than he did in the speech that aired hours after the first airstrikes on Baghdad last week. Saddam referred specifically to U.S. tactics and the fighting around Umm Qasr in an obvious attempt to show that the address was current.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said U.S. intelligence had determined that Saddam's speech was recorded. However, it is unclear when it was taped.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Son of a bitch! The Iraqi division that gave up and walked away from fighting the other day has moved back into Basra and is attacking Coalition Troops! Fuck it! No more walk away surrenders! Round them up if they want to surrender! If not mow em down! This PC shit is shafting the troops! They are not Cannon Fodder! But they are starting to be treated like it!
what happened to if you surrender, throw down your weapons.....? i knowe it takes troops and infrastructure to suport this but they must have planned for it
why not complete;y disarm them and put them in an area which is completely mined apart from an entrance and shoot anyone who comes out
why not complete;y disarm them and put them in an area which is completely mined apart from an entrance and shoot anyone who comes out
J
JohnyJuice
Guest
DcupSheepNipples said:Son of a bitch! The Iraqi division that gave up and walked away from fighting the other day has moved back into Basra and is attacking Coalition Troops! Fuck it! No more walk away surrenders! Round them up if they want to surrender! If not mow em down! This PC shit is shafting the troops! They are not Cannon Fodder! But they are starting to be treated like it!
Yup. they should have been carpet bombed. PC is going to kill us al one of these days.
Baby Gorilla
New member
Uh....
2. Good point, but you can obscure faces and most likely surrender at the sight of the man in a uniform, flying of a flag, not the white of the eye.
1. You can buy 100% of American Uniforms from catalogues.Darktooth said:
2. Good point, but you can obscure faces and most likely surrender at the sight of the man in a uniform, flying of a flag, not the white of the eye.
CanadianCripple
New member
Re: US admits '8,000 Iraqis captured' claim was false
Funny. I was never under the impression there were that many EPWs. I think the number is in the area of 2000-3000.
This number of 8000 came from the surrender of part of an Iraqi battalion. The US (mistakenly imo) let most of these people drop there guns and go 'home'. Of course, they simply reorganized.
Check out this item:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_765072.html
SUST-MAN said:
Funny. I was never under the impression there were that many EPWs. I think the number is in the area of 2000-3000.
This number of 8000 came from the surrender of part of an Iraqi battalion. The US (mistakenly imo) let most of these people drop there guns and go 'home'. Of course, they simply reorganized.
Check out this item:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_765072.html
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CanadianCripple
New member
Look at this asshole: (Brits should be extra interested)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,922836,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,922836,00.html
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
The Pentagon has just announced 120,000 additional US troops are being deployed to Iraq and the region!
UpperTone said:
as a british citizen i dont think he can be viewed as part of an iraqi army unless he holds dual nationality, and even then treason is illegal
and im not sure militia fighters get classed as soldiers under the geneva convention as well
so i;d hope this is one of the few legitamate uses of terrorism laws
Delinquent
Well-known member
Shit is about to hit the fan 
U.S. accuses Syria of aiding Iraq
Rumsfeld also warns Iran, stops short of threatening strikes
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON, March 28 — Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld on Friday lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing Syria of aiding Iraq militarily and Iran of sending in shiite expatriates as the U.S.-led coalition tries to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. He did not explicitly threaten military action, but said the alleged actions could be considered a “hostile act.”
IN THE CASE of Syria, Rumsfeld told reporters that “we have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night-vision goggles.”
Asked if the United States was threatening military action against Syria, Rumsfeld said: “I’m saying exactly what I’m saying. It was carefully phrased.”
“These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces” fighting in Iraq, Rumsfeld added, and will be considered a “hostile act” if they continue.
Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment.
IRANIAN ‘COMBATANTS’?
On Iran, Rumsfeld said armed Iranian proxies were gathered inside Iraq and would be considered combatants if they interfered with U.S. forces.
“They report up to the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guard, and they’re armed, and there are some additional ones that are close to the border,” Rumsfeld said. “To the extent they interfere with Gen. (Tommy) Franks activities they would have to be considered combatants.”
Iran has opposed Saddam, and even waged an eight-year war against him in the 1980s. But it also has called the U.S.-led coalition an illegal invasion. One possible scenario is that any Iranians in Iraq might move to rally fellow Shiite Muslims in Iraq’s south.
Senior U.S. military officials told NBC News that a “few hundred” exiled Shiite Iraqis had re-entered from Iran recently. They saw the move as a significant development because it adds yet another group into the mix.
One of exiles’ stated goals is the liberation of two Shiite holy cities in Iraq, Karbala and Najaf.
U.S. accuses Syria of aiding Iraq
Rumsfeld also warns Iran, stops short of threatening strikes
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON, March 28 — Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld on Friday lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing Syria of aiding Iraq militarily and Iran of sending in shiite expatriates as the U.S.-led coalition tries to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. He did not explicitly threaten military action, but said the alleged actions could be considered a “hostile act.”
IN THE CASE of Syria, Rumsfeld told reporters that “we have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night-vision goggles.”
Asked if the United States was threatening military action against Syria, Rumsfeld said: “I’m saying exactly what I’m saying. It was carefully phrased.”
“These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces” fighting in Iraq, Rumsfeld added, and will be considered a “hostile act” if they continue.
Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment.
IRANIAN ‘COMBATANTS’?
On Iran, Rumsfeld said armed Iranian proxies were gathered inside Iraq and would be considered combatants if they interfered with U.S. forces.
“They report up to the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guard, and they’re armed, and there are some additional ones that are close to the border,” Rumsfeld said. “To the extent they interfere with Gen. (Tommy) Franks activities they would have to be considered combatants.”
Iran has opposed Saddam, and even waged an eight-year war against him in the 1980s. But it also has called the U.S.-led coalition an illegal invasion. One possible scenario is that any Iranians in Iraq might move to rally fellow Shiite Muslims in Iraq’s south.
Senior U.S. military officials told NBC News that a “few hundred” exiled Shiite Iraqis had re-entered from Iran recently. They saw the move as a significant development because it adds yet another group into the mix.
One of exiles’ stated goals is the liberation of two Shiite holy cities in Iraq, Karbala and Najaf.
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DcupSheepNipples
Guest
US lawmakers seek to end French company's contract
Reuters, 03.28.03
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - No matter whether it's french toast or french fries they're serving to the Marines, a group of U.S. lawmakers want caterer Sodexho Inc. to stop it -- because its parent company is French.
Angry at France's refusal to support the war on Iraq, the lawmakers are urging the military to cancel a contract with Sodexho Inc., the North American unit of France's Sodexho Alliance <EXHO.PA>.
But one lawmaker, whose Maryland district contains Sodexho Inc.'s headquarters, has launched a counterattack, noting the company employs Americans in every U.S. state.
Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican, has collected some 60 lawmakers' signatures against Sodexho so far and plans to send the petition later on Friday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a Kingston spokeswoman said.
"My colleagues and I abhor the idea of continuing to pour American dollars into a French-based firm when those dollars could be feeding our wartime economy," says the petition.
Terminating Sodexho Inc.'s $881 million contract to supply 55 Marine mess halls across the United States would "send a tangible signal to the French government that there are economic consequences associated with their international policies," Kingston wrote.
But his effort has launched a war of words with Maryland Democrat Rep. Chris Van Hollen who has sent Rumsfeld his own letter that notes that the people working for Sodexho in those Marine mess halls are Americans.
"Sodexho provides 110,000 American jobs, employing people in all 50 states and paying $646 million in taxes," said Van Hollen's letter. Also, he said, Sodexho Inc. lost employees at New York's World Trade Center in the Sept. 11 attacks, and participated in the recovery efforts there by catering for rescue workers.
Sodexho Inc. spokeswoman Leslie Aun said the controversy was unfortunate. "The Marines have a lot on their plate right now," she said. "We want to keep putting food on their plate." She said the company, headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, had also catered for U.S. soldiers in the 1991 Gulf War and in Bosnia.
Kingston's effort reflects indignation among some U.S. policymakers at the French for helping to confound U.S. attempts to get the United Nations Security Council to authorize military force against Iraq.
Earlier this month, lawmakers in the House of Representatives changed "french fries" and "french toast" to "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" on House menus. Since then, "freedom toast" has also been served on the president's plane, Air Force One.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
Reuters, 03.28.03
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - No matter whether it's french toast or french fries they're serving to the Marines, a group of U.S. lawmakers want caterer Sodexho Inc. to stop it -- because its parent company is French.
Angry at France's refusal to support the war on Iraq, the lawmakers are urging the military to cancel a contract with Sodexho Inc., the North American unit of France's Sodexho Alliance <EXHO.PA>.
But one lawmaker, whose Maryland district contains Sodexho Inc.'s headquarters, has launched a counterattack, noting the company employs Americans in every U.S. state.
Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican, has collected some 60 lawmakers' signatures against Sodexho so far and plans to send the petition later on Friday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a Kingston spokeswoman said.
"My colleagues and I abhor the idea of continuing to pour American dollars into a French-based firm when those dollars could be feeding our wartime economy," says the petition.
Terminating Sodexho Inc.'s $881 million contract to supply 55 Marine mess halls across the United States would "send a tangible signal to the French government that there are economic consequences associated with their international policies," Kingston wrote.
But his effort has launched a war of words with Maryland Democrat Rep. Chris Van Hollen who has sent Rumsfeld his own letter that notes that the people working for Sodexho in those Marine mess halls are Americans.
"Sodexho provides 110,000 American jobs, employing people in all 50 states and paying $646 million in taxes," said Van Hollen's letter. Also, he said, Sodexho Inc. lost employees at New York's World Trade Center in the Sept. 11 attacks, and participated in the recovery efforts there by catering for rescue workers.
Sodexho Inc. spokeswoman Leslie Aun said the controversy was unfortunate. "The Marines have a lot on their plate right now," she said. "We want to keep putting food on their plate." She said the company, headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, had also catered for U.S. soldiers in the 1991 Gulf War and in Bosnia.
Kingston's effort reflects indignation among some U.S. policymakers at the French for helping to confound U.S. attempts to get the United Nations Security Council to authorize military force against Iraq.
Earlier this month, lawmakers in the House of Representatives changed "french fries" and "french toast" to "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" on House menus. Since then, "freedom toast" has also been served on the president's plane, Air Force One.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
'Showdown' looms - UK army chief
British soldiers in Basra risked their lives to protect civilians under fire
Britain's most senior army chief has said a "showdown" with Iraqi units in Baghdad loyal to Saddam Hussein is "not too far away".
Chief of the General Staff General Sir Mike Jackson said irregular Iraqi forces were being "pinned down" and "dying in large numbers".
He spoke as earlier in the day British troops engaged in fierce fighting on the outskirts of Basra to defend some 2,000 Iraqi civilians who were fired on by the country's militia.
Sir Michael said he believed a major clash with Iraqi Republican Guard forces - entrenched outside Baghdad - would happen soon.
He rejected suggestions coalition forces have become "bogged down" and that military plans have gone astray.
'Stopping and regrouping'
There has been criticism in some quarters at the pace of coalition advances and the progress made by troops trying to reach the capital.
Speaking at a news conference in London, General Jackson dismissed suggestions that the strength of Iraqi forces had surprised UK and US troops.
"Armies cannot keep moving forever without stopping from time to time to regroup, to ensure their supplies are up," he said.
"This 'bogged down' is a tendentious phrase. It's a pause while people get sorted out for what comes next."
Outside Basra on Friday the fighting continued, with British troops trying to defend civilians trying to flee the city coming under fire from Iraqi militia forces.
Women and children were among those attacked with mortars and machine guns.
British forces spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood said: "Paramilitary forces loyal to the regime followed them and commenced firing upon them.
"The Black Watch then attempted to intercept the paramilitaries by going round the civilians."
BBC correspondent Hilary Andersson said British military ambulances had reportedly taken away the wounded, although casualty figures were unknown.
It was suggested the civilians may have been trying to get to food and water at points outside Basra - as they had done on previous days.
The city has been encircled for five days and with water supplies cut by half and international agencies warning of a crisis, coalition forces are anxious to be seen to deliver aid.
Major Will McKinlay said centres were being set up on Basra's outskirts to provide food and water to the "hundreds" of fleeing civilians, who would be given safe passage.
'Not many more troops'
Sergeant Duane Gardner, of the Queen's Royal Lancers, said: "Civilians tell us that the militia have piled into Basra.
"All their kit, their army - apparently the tanks are hidden in the shop windows and under car parks."
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said on Friday that Britain would not be sending many more troops to join the 45,000 already in Iraq, despite Washington's decision to sent up to 120,000 US reinforcements.
Meanwhile the first British aid ship has reached the southern port of Umm Qasr, and the bodies of the first British servicemen killed are being flown home.
British soldiers in Basra risked their lives to protect civilians under fire
Britain's most senior army chief has said a "showdown" with Iraqi units in Baghdad loyal to Saddam Hussein is "not too far away".
Chief of the General Staff General Sir Mike Jackson said irregular Iraqi forces were being "pinned down" and "dying in large numbers".
He spoke as earlier in the day British troops engaged in fierce fighting on the outskirts of Basra to defend some 2,000 Iraqi civilians who were fired on by the country's militia.
Sir Michael said he believed a major clash with Iraqi Republican Guard forces - entrenched outside Baghdad - would happen soon.
He rejected suggestions coalition forces have become "bogged down" and that military plans have gone astray.
'Stopping and regrouping'
There has been criticism in some quarters at the pace of coalition advances and the progress made by troops trying to reach the capital.
Speaking at a news conference in London, General Jackson dismissed suggestions that the strength of Iraqi forces had surprised UK and US troops.
"Armies cannot keep moving forever without stopping from time to time to regroup, to ensure their supplies are up," he said.
"This 'bogged down' is a tendentious phrase. It's a pause while people get sorted out for what comes next."
Outside Basra on Friday the fighting continued, with British troops trying to defend civilians trying to flee the city coming under fire from Iraqi militia forces.
Women and children were among those attacked with mortars and machine guns.
British forces spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood said: "Paramilitary forces loyal to the regime followed them and commenced firing upon them.
"The Black Watch then attempted to intercept the paramilitaries by going round the civilians."
BBC correspondent Hilary Andersson said British military ambulances had reportedly taken away the wounded, although casualty figures were unknown.
It was suggested the civilians may have been trying to get to food and water at points outside Basra - as they had done on previous days.
The city has been encircled for five days and with water supplies cut by half and international agencies warning of a crisis, coalition forces are anxious to be seen to deliver aid.
Major Will McKinlay said centres were being set up on Basra's outskirts to provide food and water to the "hundreds" of fleeing civilians, who would be given safe passage.
'Not many more troops'
Sergeant Duane Gardner, of the Queen's Royal Lancers, said: "Civilians tell us that the militia have piled into Basra.
"All their kit, their army - apparently the tanks are hidden in the shop windows and under car parks."
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said on Friday that Britain would not be sending many more troops to join the 45,000 already in Iraq, despite Washington's decision to sent up to 120,000 US reinforcements.
Meanwhile the first British aid ship has reached the southern port of Umm Qasr, and the bodies of the first British servicemen killed are being flown home.
Delinquent
Well-known member
from CNN breaking news
An explosion in Kuwait City early Saturday sent smoke over the city. The cause was not immediately known. Details soon.
No link yet
An explosion in Kuwait City early Saturday sent smoke over the city. The cause was not immediately known. Details soon.
No link yet
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Possible Missile/Patriot! No major Casualties!
Live Video Kuwait City!
http://www.msnbc.com/m/lv/default.asp?0cm=c50
Live Video Kuwait City!
http://www.msnbc.com/m/lv/default.asp?0cm=c50
Last edited:
Delinquent
Well-known member
Anyone see the blast behind one of the cameras they have mounted? That shit was crazy. Light was so bright, the screen was all white for a second the went red then this huge ass boom. With the windows blasting out from the building next door and sparks flying in front of the camera.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
U.S. Orders 4-6 Day Pause in Iraq Advance-Officers
Reuters
Saturday, March 29, 2003; 12:02 AM
CENTRAL IRAQ (Reuters) - U.S. commanders have ordered a pause of between four to six days in a northwards push toward Baghdad because of supply shortages and stiff Iraqi resistance, U.S. military officers said on Saturday.
They said the "operational pause," ordered on Friday, meant that advances would be put on hold while the military sorted out logistics problems with long supply lines from Kuwait.
The invasion force would continue to attack Iraqi forces ahead of them with heavy air strikes during the pause, softening them up ahead of any eventual attack on Baghdad, said the officers, declining to be named.
Use of gas-guzzling armored vehicles has been restricted to save fuel and food is also in short supply. In one frontline infantry unit, for instance, soldiers have had their rations cut to one meal packet a day from three.
Resistance from Iraqi militias fighting in towns along the advance lines has hampered the stretched supply convoys.
Reuters
Saturday, March 29, 2003; 12:02 AM
CENTRAL IRAQ (Reuters) - U.S. commanders have ordered a pause of between four to six days in a northwards push toward Baghdad because of supply shortages and stiff Iraqi resistance, U.S. military officers said on Saturday.
They said the "operational pause," ordered on Friday, meant that advances would be put on hold while the military sorted out logistics problems with long supply lines from Kuwait.
The invasion force would continue to attack Iraqi forces ahead of them with heavy air strikes during the pause, softening them up ahead of any eventual attack on Baghdad, said the officers, declining to be named.
Use of gas-guzzling armored vehicles has been restricted to save fuel and food is also in short supply. In one frontline infantry unit, for instance, soldiers have had their rations cut to one meal packet a day from three.
Resistance from Iraqi militias fighting in towns along the advance lines has hampered the stretched supply convoys.
PursuitOfShredded
New member
DENIED
see below, Centcom denies pause:
Denying War Pause, U.S. Seeks to Play Up Successes
Sat March 29, 2003 11:02 AM ET
By John Chalmers
AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - U.S. Central Command denied on Saturday that there had been a pause in military operations to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but provided little new to quash doubts about its military strategy.
Major General Victor Renuart could not confirm that Marines on the front line had seen their rations cut to one meal a day and threw no light on what was behind a bloody Baghdad market bombing or when the siege of Basra might come to an end.
Instead, in a briefing at Central Command's forward headquarters in Qatar he sought to underline successes in the 10-day campaign and the "terror behavior" he said U.S.-led forces have encountered from Iraqis.
In one incident, he said, an Iraqi woman who waved a white flag of surrender was later found hanging from a street lampost. In another, four U.S. soldiers were killed in a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint near the central city of Najaf.
He said the car bombing was the kind of attack associated with "terrorists" and suggested an organization "that is beginning to get a little bit desperate."
"Iraqi terror organizations continue to force young men to come out of the towns and fight," Renuart said. "They're probably being forced to fight because they fear for their families as opposed to being loyal to the regime."
Renuart said small Iraqi units were still operating in the south of the country -- where irregular forces have confounded expectations of little resistance to the U.S. and British onslaught -- but they were now getting smaller and smaller.
Asked about concerns that U.S. forces' supply lines were overstretched, allowing Iraqi guerrillas to strike, he said: "There have been some harassing attacks on our supply lines but they have not stopped the movement of our logistical support."
"NO PAUSE"
Overall, he said, Central Command was getting the results it wanted on the battlefield, with long-range patrols and artillery attacks to dent the enemy lines of communication. "We're having our effect on a much broader scale than these small attacks getting some publicity are having on our forces," he said.
Earlier, U.S. officers in the field said commanders had ordered a pause of four to six days in their push toward Baghdad because of supply shortages and stiff Iraqi resistance.
They said the "operational pause," ordered on Friday, meant advances would be put on hold while the military tried to sort out logistics problems caused by long supply lines from Kuwait.
"There is no pause on the battlefield. Just because you see a particular formation pause on the battlefield it does not mean there is a pause," Renuart said.
He joked that he had asked U.S. Central Command chief General Tommy Franks for a few days off and been turned down.
Renaurt said 10 days did not amount to a long conflict, noting it took some 60 to 70 days before Hamid Karzai was installed as the new president of Afghanistan after the U.S.-led military campaign to topple the Taliban administration.
Officers in the field said the U.S.-led invasion force would continue to attack Iraqi forces to the north with heavy air strikes during the pause, battering them before any attack on Baghdad.
On Friday, Britain's army chief, Mike Jackson, dismissed suggestions that the campaign had become bogged down after a few days of quick advances from Kuwait since the invasion started on March 20. But he spoke of a need to pause.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government has played down the apparently lightning advance by the U.S.-led forces, saying that most of the gains have been across tracts of desert while skirting major towns along the route.
______________________________________________________________________
doesn't mean it's true, but, they denied it!
I'm already tired of it...I don't even have the TV on!
see below, Centcom denies pause:
Denying War Pause, U.S. Seeks to Play Up Successes
Sat March 29, 2003 11:02 AM ET
By John Chalmers
AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - U.S. Central Command denied on Saturday that there had been a pause in military operations to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but provided little new to quash doubts about its military strategy.
Major General Victor Renuart could not confirm that Marines on the front line had seen their rations cut to one meal a day and threw no light on what was behind a bloody Baghdad market bombing or when the siege of Basra might come to an end.
Instead, in a briefing at Central Command's forward headquarters in Qatar he sought to underline successes in the 10-day campaign and the "terror behavior" he said U.S.-led forces have encountered from Iraqis.
In one incident, he said, an Iraqi woman who waved a white flag of surrender was later found hanging from a street lampost. In another, four U.S. soldiers were killed in a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint near the central city of Najaf.
He said the car bombing was the kind of attack associated with "terrorists" and suggested an organization "that is beginning to get a little bit desperate."
"Iraqi terror organizations continue to force young men to come out of the towns and fight," Renuart said. "They're probably being forced to fight because they fear for their families as opposed to being loyal to the regime."
Renuart said small Iraqi units were still operating in the south of the country -- where irregular forces have confounded expectations of little resistance to the U.S. and British onslaught -- but they were now getting smaller and smaller.
Asked about concerns that U.S. forces' supply lines were overstretched, allowing Iraqi guerrillas to strike, he said: "There have been some harassing attacks on our supply lines but they have not stopped the movement of our logistical support."
"NO PAUSE"
Overall, he said, Central Command was getting the results it wanted on the battlefield, with long-range patrols and artillery attacks to dent the enemy lines of communication. "We're having our effect on a much broader scale than these small attacks getting some publicity are having on our forces," he said.
Earlier, U.S. officers in the field said commanders had ordered a pause of four to six days in their push toward Baghdad because of supply shortages and stiff Iraqi resistance.
They said the "operational pause," ordered on Friday, meant advances would be put on hold while the military tried to sort out logistics problems caused by long supply lines from Kuwait.
"There is no pause on the battlefield. Just because you see a particular formation pause on the battlefield it does not mean there is a pause," Renuart said.
He joked that he had asked U.S. Central Command chief General Tommy Franks for a few days off and been turned down.
Renaurt said 10 days did not amount to a long conflict, noting it took some 60 to 70 days before Hamid Karzai was installed as the new president of Afghanistan after the U.S.-led military campaign to topple the Taliban administration.
Officers in the field said the U.S.-led invasion force would continue to attack Iraqi forces to the north with heavy air strikes during the pause, battering them before any attack on Baghdad.
On Friday, Britain's army chief, Mike Jackson, dismissed suggestions that the campaign had become bogged down after a few days of quick advances from Kuwait since the invasion started on March 20. But he spoke of a need to pause.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government has played down the apparently lightning advance by the U.S.-led forces, saying that most of the gains have been across tracts of desert while skirting major towns along the route.
______________________________________________________________________
doesn't mean it's true, but, they denied it!
I'm already tired of it...I don't even have the TV on!
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
As of now all the heads of the major divisions in Iraq are digging in, resupplying with supplies and troops! Sat. photos support this! They will continue to bomb and and fight the resistance though! Centcom also said that they did not over extend their supply lines! And that has been proved to be false!
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Turks, Saudis ban cruise missile flights
Saturday, March 29, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea have stopped firing cruise missile at Iraq after complaints by Turkey and Saudia Arabia that some of the missiles have fallen on their territories, a Pentagon official said Saturday.
Both countries asked the U.S. to stop the flights. Since the start of the war with Iraq last week, four malfunctioning Tomahawk missiles have landed in Saudi Arabia and three in Turkey.
There has been no reported damage from any of the stray missiles, which fell in remote areas.
Negotiations between the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to reopen the flight corridors are ongoing, the official said.
Earlier this week, Turkey closed its air space to cruise missile overflights when two of them fell within its borders. Airspace was subsequently re-opened, then closed again when another cruise missile fell in Turkey within the past day or so.
Pentagon officials tell CNN that the U.S. Central Command maybe forced to move the ships from the Mediterranean and Red Sea locations into the Persian Gulf if both Turkey and Saudi Arabia continue the ban.
Saturday, March 29, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea have stopped firing cruise missile at Iraq after complaints by Turkey and Saudia Arabia that some of the missiles have fallen on their territories, a Pentagon official said Saturday.
Both countries asked the U.S. to stop the flights. Since the start of the war with Iraq last week, four malfunctioning Tomahawk missiles have landed in Saudi Arabia and three in Turkey.
There has been no reported damage from any of the stray missiles, which fell in remote areas.
Negotiations between the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to reopen the flight corridors are ongoing, the official said.
Earlier this week, Turkey closed its air space to cruise missile overflights when two of them fell within its borders. Airspace was subsequently re-opened, then closed again when another cruise missile fell in Turkey within the past day or so.
Pentagon officials tell CNN that the U.S. Central Command maybe forced to move the ships from the Mediterranean and Red Sea locations into the Persian Gulf if both Turkey and Saudi Arabia continue the ban.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Bush ranch targeted by Iraqi-terror team
'Hit squad' armed with millions of dollars tried to get smuggled into U.S. via Mexico
Posted: March 29, 2003
An Iraqi-terror team armed with hundreds of millions of dollars tried to hire smugglers to sneak them into the U.S. through Mexico this month in an attempt to ''get to'' President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch, a law enforcement source told the New York Daily News.
The unidentified members of the Iraqi ''hit squad'' reportedly asked a Mexican doctor and a lawyer to change about $100 million in Iraqi dinars into about $325 million in U.S. currency.
The Texas White House in Crawford is where the President and First Lady Laura Bush spend most of their downtime. The 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch is nestled in the central Texas scrubland and was where the president wooed world leaders into his ''coalition of the willing'' against Saddam Hussein.
The Iraqi dictator tried to assassinate Bush's father, the former President George H.W. Bush, in 1993, while he was attending ceremonies in Kuwait to celebrate the success of the Gulf War.
Secret Service officials would not comment about the possible threat to the ranch or the suspects' whereabouts, but as WorldNetDaily reported last week, CIA sources revealed that a half-dozen Iraqis – possibly carrying chemical and biological weapons – were being sought in the border region.
Fox News cited sources claiming the Iraqis sought to pay human smugglers to escort them across the border, and authorities were reacting to tips from the public and ongoing undercover investigations.
Sources in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas told NBC News that agents of the national security agency were seeking six Iraqi nationals with German passports.
Mexico's Notimex news agency reported two Iraqi brothers and an American of Iraqi descent were detained by Mexican immigration authorities in a Tijuana bus station as the three prepared to enter California.
The agency quoted immigration sources as saying Dahsh and Janges Slio Mattis were carrying forged Austrian papers when taken into custody.
With them was Saad Murad, an American citizen, whom they had allegedly paid $8,000 each to arrange for political asylum in the U.S.
Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said police in the municipality of Valle Hermoso, some 60 miles southwest of Brownsville, Texas, were informed of the search for the six Iraqis.
The attempt by the Iraqis to infiltrate the U.S. comes to light as U.S. officials announced the arrests in Jordan and Yemen of at least four Iraqi spies in two sleeper cells for plotting terror attacks on U.S. targets abroad. Investigations are underway in nine other nations where Iraqi terrorists may be planning to attack American interests, according to an ABC News report.
State Department officials declined to say whether the Mexico report had any connection to those Iraqi terrorist plots, according to the Daily News.
Meanwhile, a deadly suicide bombing that killed four U.S. soldiers was followed by a threat from Iraq's vice president to kill Americans on U.S. soil.
Taha Yassin Ramadan suggested the terror attack was not the work of a freelance fanatic but rather part of a coordinated effort to beat back invaders who cannot be defeated by conventional warfare.
''I am sure that the day will come when a single martyrdom operation will kill 5,000 enemies,'' he said. ''The Iraqi people have a legal right to deal with the enemy with any means.''
Ramadan held out the threat of Iraqi-sponsored terrorism on U.S. soil.
''We will use any means to kill our enemy in our land and we will follow the enemy into its land,'' Ramadan said. ''This is just the beginning.
''You'll hear more pleasant news later.''
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
'Hit squad' armed with millions of dollars tried to get smuggled into U.S. via Mexico
Posted: March 29, 2003
An Iraqi-terror team armed with hundreds of millions of dollars tried to hire smugglers to sneak them into the U.S. through Mexico this month in an attempt to ''get to'' President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch, a law enforcement source told the New York Daily News.
The unidentified members of the Iraqi ''hit squad'' reportedly asked a Mexican doctor and a lawyer to change about $100 million in Iraqi dinars into about $325 million in U.S. currency.
The Texas White House in Crawford is where the President and First Lady Laura Bush spend most of their downtime. The 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch is nestled in the central Texas scrubland and was where the president wooed world leaders into his ''coalition of the willing'' against Saddam Hussein.
The Iraqi dictator tried to assassinate Bush's father, the former President George H.W. Bush, in 1993, while he was attending ceremonies in Kuwait to celebrate the success of the Gulf War.
Secret Service officials would not comment about the possible threat to the ranch or the suspects' whereabouts, but as WorldNetDaily reported last week, CIA sources revealed that a half-dozen Iraqis – possibly carrying chemical and biological weapons – were being sought in the border region.
Fox News cited sources claiming the Iraqis sought to pay human smugglers to escort them across the border, and authorities were reacting to tips from the public and ongoing undercover investigations.
Sources in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas told NBC News that agents of the national security agency were seeking six Iraqi nationals with German passports.
Mexico's Notimex news agency reported two Iraqi brothers and an American of Iraqi descent were detained by Mexican immigration authorities in a Tijuana bus station as the three prepared to enter California.
The agency quoted immigration sources as saying Dahsh and Janges Slio Mattis were carrying forged Austrian papers when taken into custody.
With them was Saad Murad, an American citizen, whom they had allegedly paid $8,000 each to arrange for political asylum in the U.S.
Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said police in the municipality of Valle Hermoso, some 60 miles southwest of Brownsville, Texas, were informed of the search for the six Iraqis.
The attempt by the Iraqis to infiltrate the U.S. comes to light as U.S. officials announced the arrests in Jordan and Yemen of at least four Iraqi spies in two sleeper cells for plotting terror attacks on U.S. targets abroad. Investigations are underway in nine other nations where Iraqi terrorists may be planning to attack American interests, according to an ABC News report.
State Department officials declined to say whether the Mexico report had any connection to those Iraqi terrorist plots, according to the Daily News.
Meanwhile, a deadly suicide bombing that killed four U.S. soldiers was followed by a threat from Iraq's vice president to kill Americans on U.S. soil.
Taha Yassin Ramadan suggested the terror attack was not the work of a freelance fanatic but rather part of a coordinated effort to beat back invaders who cannot be defeated by conventional warfare.
''I am sure that the day will come when a single martyrdom operation will kill 5,000 enemies,'' he said. ''The Iraqi people have a legal right to deal with the enemy with any means.''
Ramadan held out the threat of Iraqi-sponsored terrorism on U.S. soil.
''We will use any means to kill our enemy in our land and we will follow the enemy into its land,'' Ramadan said. ''This is just the beginning.
''You'll hear more pleasant news later.''
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Baby Gorilla
New member
Uh....
IIRC, the desert is not a friend to anything turbine-powered. I believe Operation Eagle Claw was scuttled because the desert sand gobbed up a chopper's engine intake and made it crash.Firebaall said:
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Dozens killed as US special forces overrun 'terrorist' camps
By Patrick Cockburn in Sherawa, northern Iraq
31 March 2003
US special forces working with Kurdish militia have over-run the base camps of Ansar al-Islam, a small Kurdish Islamic group which achieved sudden notoriety when the US administration claimed it was linked both to al-Qa'ida and Saddam Hussein.
About 100 US Special Forces and 6,000 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) peshmerga started their attack last Friday against an Ansar force of 700, which for several years has occupied a narrow wedge of hills between the eastern Kurdish city of Halabja and the Iranian border.
Barham Salih, the prime minister of PUK-controlled eastern Kurdistan, said: "It was a very tough battle. You're talking about a bunch of terrorists who are very well-trained and well-equipped." He said 17 of his men and up to 150 Ansar militants were killed.
Ansar has been a thorn in the side of the PUK government, fiercely defending its handful of villages close to the border with Iran, but in Kurdish politics it was a small player.
It came to international attention when Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, claimed before the UN Security Council that Ansar had connections simultaneously to al-Qa'ida and Baghdad. But it was always an unlikely alliance.
General Powell said an al-Qa'ida member called Abu Musab Zarqawi had established a "poison and explosive training factory" on Ansar territory. He also said the Iraqi government had "an agent in the most senior levels of Ansar".
The claim that Ansar was linked to al-Qa'ida was encouraged by the PUK, which wanted to get rid of a local irritant, and could point to some 100 Arabs within the group who had previously been in Afghanistan. But Mr Salih said Ansar had no link to Baghdad because the Iraqi Arabs with the group were clearly anti-Saddam Hussein.
In the few villages it held, Ansar had instituted an Islamic regime similar to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan where television, dancing, girls' schools and women appearing without a veil were prohibited. There was little firm evidence, however, that Ansar was connected to al Qa'ida.
The site alleged to have been the poison factory turned out to be controlled by another Islamic group.
Mullah Krekar, the leader of Ansar, in exile in Norway, denied any link with President Saddam, whom he frequently denounced. "As a Kurdish man I believe he is our enemy," he said. He also denied that a senior Ansar Iraqi Arab commander called Abu Wa'el was linked to Iraqi intelligence, describing him as "a toothless diabetic, too old feeble to harm anyone".
Ansar could not have survived without Iranian support, probably channelled through the Revolutionary Guards just across the Iranian border. In recent months, however, aid has been reduced or cut off because Iran fears complications with the US.
In an authoritative report on Ansar published earlier in the year, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said prophetically: "Should Ansar lose its Iranian sponsor, it would be deprived of its critical fall-back area across the border, and in the face of concerted PUK assault, possibly with US assistance, it would not be likely to survive as a visible fighting force."
Meanwhile on the front line north of Kirkuk, Iraqi forces have fallen back seven or eight miles to a ridge defending the city. The withdrawal, completed over the weekend, was carefully planned and retreating troops left nothing in their bunkers. Troops to the east of Kirkuk also pulled back to less exposed positions nearer the city.
By Patrick Cockburn in Sherawa, northern Iraq
31 March 2003
US special forces working with Kurdish militia have over-run the base camps of Ansar al-Islam, a small Kurdish Islamic group which achieved sudden notoriety when the US administration claimed it was linked both to al-Qa'ida and Saddam Hussein.
About 100 US Special Forces and 6,000 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) peshmerga started their attack last Friday against an Ansar force of 700, which for several years has occupied a narrow wedge of hills between the eastern Kurdish city of Halabja and the Iranian border.
Barham Salih, the prime minister of PUK-controlled eastern Kurdistan, said: "It was a very tough battle. You're talking about a bunch of terrorists who are very well-trained and well-equipped." He said 17 of his men and up to 150 Ansar militants were killed.
Ansar has been a thorn in the side of the PUK government, fiercely defending its handful of villages close to the border with Iran, but in Kurdish politics it was a small player.
It came to international attention when Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, claimed before the UN Security Council that Ansar had connections simultaneously to al-Qa'ida and Baghdad. But it was always an unlikely alliance.
General Powell said an al-Qa'ida member called Abu Musab Zarqawi had established a "poison and explosive training factory" on Ansar territory. He also said the Iraqi government had "an agent in the most senior levels of Ansar".
The claim that Ansar was linked to al-Qa'ida was encouraged by the PUK, which wanted to get rid of a local irritant, and could point to some 100 Arabs within the group who had previously been in Afghanistan. But Mr Salih said Ansar had no link to Baghdad because the Iraqi Arabs with the group were clearly anti-Saddam Hussein.
In the few villages it held, Ansar had instituted an Islamic regime similar to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan where television, dancing, girls' schools and women appearing without a veil were prohibited. There was little firm evidence, however, that Ansar was connected to al Qa'ida.
The site alleged to have been the poison factory turned out to be controlled by another Islamic group.
Mullah Krekar, the leader of Ansar, in exile in Norway, denied any link with President Saddam, whom he frequently denounced. "As a Kurdish man I believe he is our enemy," he said. He also denied that a senior Ansar Iraqi Arab commander called Abu Wa'el was linked to Iraqi intelligence, describing him as "a toothless diabetic, too old feeble to harm anyone".
Ansar could not have survived without Iranian support, probably channelled through the Revolutionary Guards just across the Iranian border. In recent months, however, aid has been reduced or cut off because Iran fears complications with the US.
In an authoritative report on Ansar published earlier in the year, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said prophetically: "Should Ansar lose its Iranian sponsor, it would be deprived of its critical fall-back area across the border, and in the face of concerted PUK assault, possibly with US assistance, it would not be likely to survive as a visible fighting force."
Meanwhile on the front line north of Kirkuk, Iraqi forces have fallen back seven or eight miles to a ridge defending the city. The withdrawal, completed over the weekend, was carefully planned and retreating troops left nothing in their bunkers. Troops to the east of Kirkuk also pulled back to less exposed positions nearer the city.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Iraqis Moving More Troops to Guard Baghdad From South
The New York Times
By JOHN BRODER
Mon, Mar 31, 2003
CAMP SALIYA, Qatar, March 31 - American ground units engaged Iraqi Republican Guards this morning near the town of Najaf, about 70 miles south of Baghdad, in a sharp armor and artillery exchange, field commanders reported.
The skirmishes do not suggest that coalition forces are pressing forward toward Baghdad, officers here said, but rather are engaging the Iraqis when the opportunity arises.
Commanders hope to weaken the Republican Guard divisions ringing Baghdad with ground and air assaults in preparation for a major offensive that may be days or weeks away.
But the assaults come as reports emerged that Iraq (news - web sites) is moving to reinforce Republican Guards in the south.
The probing American attacks were not the opening act of the battle for Baghdad, but were nonetheless intended to shape the coming battle and re-establish allied momentum. American commanders have made no secret of their determination to keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
``We just want to maintain the initiative,'' said Maj. Michael G. Birmingham, spokesman for the Third Infantry Division. ``We don't want to dig in our heels here.''
A senior American military officer at Central Command headquarters said that Iraq appears to be moving significant numbers of Republican Guard troops from the Nebuchadnezzar Division and other units based north of Baghdad to reinforce troops south of the city. Units of the Third Infantry Division have been engaged with elements of the Medina Division in and around Karbala, southwest of the capital, for the past several days.
Officials here believe that the Iraqi military is strengthening the Medina Division in preparation for a major battle with American ground forces in coming days. The Iraqi troops are not moving in organized formations, officials said, but rather in small convoys of military and civilian vehicles.
The Medina has been subjected to punishing air attacks since Saturday, including strikes from B-1, B-2 and B-52 heavy bombers using precision-guided bombs, the officer said. The Army is also hitting the division's troops and equipment with artillery and attack helicopters.
``We're hitting the Medina hard,'' he said. But he did not offer an estimate of how badly the division's fighting strength had been degraded.
Officials said they had detected the southward movement of troops from the Iraq Division, also based north of Baghdad. It was not clear whether these troops were also aiming to join up with the Medina.
A third Iraqi Republican Guard division, now based near the city of Tikrit, Mr. Hussein's hometown, has also begun to move southward toward Baghdad.
``Some of them have moved down, but not all the way down,'' the officer said.
The Medina division and its reinforcements are placing men and equipment in and around the cities of Karbala and Babylon, home to many historical artifacts and sites held holy by the Shia sect of Islam. The deployment raises the possibility that American efforts to dislodge them will cause many civilian casualties and damage to important cultural treasures.
As the ground action continued sporadically across a wide swath of territory south and west of Baghdad, the aerial bombardment of the capital intensified.
United States Air Force officials said that coalition aircraft had flown 1,800 sorties Sunday and into this morning. More than half of the strikes were directed at three Republican Guard units outside Baghdad, while heavy bombing continued aimed at targets in and around the city.
The Air Force said that waves of B-1, B-2 and B-52 heavy bombers struck targets in Baghdad, including communications facilities and suspected leadership compounds. It was the first time the three long-range bombers had been joined in a single squadron for attack, the Air Force said.
Among the targets was a presidential palace used by Mr. Hussein's son Qusay, who has been charged with the defense of Baghdad. A Tomahawk cruise missile also struck the Iraqi Information Ministry, which was hit over the weekend, the Air Force said today. Observers in Baghdad said the building and nearby structures were in flames early this morning.
American B-52's bombers also struck north of the capital, near Mosul and Kirkuk, areas contested by Iraqis and Kurds.
In other fighting around Najaf and Samawa, soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division killed about 100 ``terror squad members,'' according to Central Command officials here. The United States troops took 50 Iraqi troops prisoner, officials said.
Top Pentagon (news - web sites) and Central Command officials denied that allied forces would ``pause'' before moving on to Baghdad, but reinforcements were sent to secure the town of Nasiriya and to protect supply lines that now snake more than 300 miles north from American bases in Kuwait.
Heavy armor units are en route to the theater from the United States and are not expected to be in position to fight for several weeks.
Marines raided the town of Shatra, about 20 miles north of Nasiriya, in hopes of locating leaders of the Iraqi forces battling American units and supply lines.
Marine officers told a Reuters correspondent traveling with the unit that local informants had told them that Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of Mr. Hussein's most trusted commanders, was directing the resistance from Shatra.
Mr. al-Majid is known as ''Chemical Ali'' because he directed the poison gas attacks against Kurdish villagers in 1988.
British forces trying to quash resistance by Iraqi militiamen in and around Basra moved into the village of Abu al-Qassib south of Basra after a day-long battle Sunday, British authorities said today.
The troops said they captured 200 Iraqi soldiers and five officers, while seven British soldiers were wounded in what an American officer said today was a mistaken attack by an United States ground attack plane on a British armored vehicle.
Momentum has been stalled in recent days by fierce attacks on allied supply lines. This has led to recriminations over whether allied commanders misjudged the willingness of Mr. Hussein's loyalists to resist and underestimated the size of the armed force needed to subdue them.
The American commander in the region, Gen. Tommy R. Franks, spoke publicly on Sunday in defense of his war plan, as did two of his superiors, Gen. Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
General Franks said that his war strategy was being misperceived by ``pundits'' who believe ''we are in an operational pause.''
``It's simply not the case,'' General Franks said Sunday at his headquarters in Doha, Qatar. ``There is a continuity of operations in this plan. That continuity has been seen. It will be seen in the days ahead.''
But despite General Franks' expression of confidence, the situation in Iraq appeared tense. The war continued to unfold as a far more complex tapestry than expected, with dispersed engagements, political and psychological warfare against Saddam's government, mobilization to deliver aid in the South, frenetic diplomacy and shifting explanations at home about the duration and cost of the war.
There was no sign of any crumbling of the Hussein government, which vowed a wave of suicide bombings against American troops.
After days of consolidation, there appeared to be some momentum on Sunday for the allied forces. To the east, thousands of soldiers from the First Marine Division moved north from their static lines to engage Iraqi forces in towns along the highway approach to Baghdad, military officials said.
Brig. Gen. John Kelly, the division's assistant commander, described those operations as ``liberation tactics'' designed to break the hold of officials of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party who are still mobilizing guerrilla-style attacks.
``People are beginning to rat them out,'' General Kelly said after a raid on one Baath Party headquarters where weapons was seized, though the local Baath leader escaped. There were no reports of casualties.
British forces fought intense battles in and around Basra, the southern Iraqi city of 1.5 million. American and British officials expressed guarded optimism that they were close to breaking Baghdad's hold over the city and establishing a secure zone to commence aid deliveries.
Early Sunday, Royal Marine commandos killed a Republican Guard colonel believed to be directing irregular forces that have fired on civilians trying to flee the city.
But the day was not without casualties. A Marine UH-1 Huey helicopter crashed in southern Iraq at a refueling station killing three American crewmen, a military spokesman said.
A British soldier was killed in fighting near Basra, 340 miles from Baghdad, and several others were injured, the Defense Ministry in London said.
More han a dozen soldiers were injured in Kuwait when a contract worker at a rear-area base drove his truck into a line of soldiers waiting to enter the camp store. The driver was shot after he prepared to make a second run at theinjured.
With combat operations resuming at the front, the rear area blazed with fresh Marine Corps helicopter assaults on Nasiriya, where Hellfire missiles were fired into blocks of houses and buildings on the Euphrates River waterfront.
General Franks was vague on Sunday in responding to reports that he had pressed for a delay in commencing combat operations when Turkey refused to allow the passage of the Fourth Infantry Division through its territory. That division was to have headed a northern front against Baghdad.
The Fourth Division's equipment ships passed through the Suez Canal last week and its soldiers were set to fly to Kuwait over the next two weeks to form up in the Kuwaiti desert and push north to join the battle.
The New York Times
By JOHN BRODER
Mon, Mar 31, 2003
CAMP SALIYA, Qatar, March 31 - American ground units engaged Iraqi Republican Guards this morning near the town of Najaf, about 70 miles south of Baghdad, in a sharp armor and artillery exchange, field commanders reported.
The skirmishes do not suggest that coalition forces are pressing forward toward Baghdad, officers here said, but rather are engaging the Iraqis when the opportunity arises.
Commanders hope to weaken the Republican Guard divisions ringing Baghdad with ground and air assaults in preparation for a major offensive that may be days or weeks away.
But the assaults come as reports emerged that Iraq (news - web sites) is moving to reinforce Republican Guards in the south.
The probing American attacks were not the opening act of the battle for Baghdad, but were nonetheless intended to shape the coming battle and re-establish allied momentum. American commanders have made no secret of their determination to keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
``We just want to maintain the initiative,'' said Maj. Michael G. Birmingham, spokesman for the Third Infantry Division. ``We don't want to dig in our heels here.''
A senior American military officer at Central Command headquarters said that Iraq appears to be moving significant numbers of Republican Guard troops from the Nebuchadnezzar Division and other units based north of Baghdad to reinforce troops south of the city. Units of the Third Infantry Division have been engaged with elements of the Medina Division in and around Karbala, southwest of the capital, for the past several days.
Officials here believe that the Iraqi military is strengthening the Medina Division in preparation for a major battle with American ground forces in coming days. The Iraqi troops are not moving in organized formations, officials said, but rather in small convoys of military and civilian vehicles.
The Medina has been subjected to punishing air attacks since Saturday, including strikes from B-1, B-2 and B-52 heavy bombers using precision-guided bombs, the officer said. The Army is also hitting the division's troops and equipment with artillery and attack helicopters.
``We're hitting the Medina hard,'' he said. But he did not offer an estimate of how badly the division's fighting strength had been degraded.
Officials said they had detected the southward movement of troops from the Iraq Division, also based north of Baghdad. It was not clear whether these troops were also aiming to join up with the Medina.
A third Iraqi Republican Guard division, now based near the city of Tikrit, Mr. Hussein's hometown, has also begun to move southward toward Baghdad.
``Some of them have moved down, but not all the way down,'' the officer said.
The Medina division and its reinforcements are placing men and equipment in and around the cities of Karbala and Babylon, home to many historical artifacts and sites held holy by the Shia sect of Islam. The deployment raises the possibility that American efforts to dislodge them will cause many civilian casualties and damage to important cultural treasures.
As the ground action continued sporadically across a wide swath of territory south and west of Baghdad, the aerial bombardment of the capital intensified.
United States Air Force officials said that coalition aircraft had flown 1,800 sorties Sunday and into this morning. More than half of the strikes were directed at three Republican Guard units outside Baghdad, while heavy bombing continued aimed at targets in and around the city.
The Air Force said that waves of B-1, B-2 and B-52 heavy bombers struck targets in Baghdad, including communications facilities and suspected leadership compounds. It was the first time the three long-range bombers had been joined in a single squadron for attack, the Air Force said.
Among the targets was a presidential palace used by Mr. Hussein's son Qusay, who has been charged with the defense of Baghdad. A Tomahawk cruise missile also struck the Iraqi Information Ministry, which was hit over the weekend, the Air Force said today. Observers in Baghdad said the building and nearby structures were in flames early this morning.
American B-52's bombers also struck north of the capital, near Mosul and Kirkuk, areas contested by Iraqis and Kurds.
In other fighting around Najaf and Samawa, soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division killed about 100 ``terror squad members,'' according to Central Command officials here. The United States troops took 50 Iraqi troops prisoner, officials said.
Top Pentagon (news - web sites) and Central Command officials denied that allied forces would ``pause'' before moving on to Baghdad, but reinforcements were sent to secure the town of Nasiriya and to protect supply lines that now snake more than 300 miles north from American bases in Kuwait.
Heavy armor units are en route to the theater from the United States and are not expected to be in position to fight for several weeks.
Marines raided the town of Shatra, about 20 miles north of Nasiriya, in hopes of locating leaders of the Iraqi forces battling American units and supply lines.
Marine officers told a Reuters correspondent traveling with the unit that local informants had told them that Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of Mr. Hussein's most trusted commanders, was directing the resistance from Shatra.
Mr. al-Majid is known as ''Chemical Ali'' because he directed the poison gas attacks against Kurdish villagers in 1988.
British forces trying to quash resistance by Iraqi militiamen in and around Basra moved into the village of Abu al-Qassib south of Basra after a day-long battle Sunday, British authorities said today.
The troops said they captured 200 Iraqi soldiers and five officers, while seven British soldiers were wounded in what an American officer said today was a mistaken attack by an United States ground attack plane on a British armored vehicle.
Momentum has been stalled in recent days by fierce attacks on allied supply lines. This has led to recriminations over whether allied commanders misjudged the willingness of Mr. Hussein's loyalists to resist and underestimated the size of the armed force needed to subdue them.
The American commander in the region, Gen. Tommy R. Franks, spoke publicly on Sunday in defense of his war plan, as did two of his superiors, Gen. Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
General Franks said that his war strategy was being misperceived by ``pundits'' who believe ''we are in an operational pause.''
``It's simply not the case,'' General Franks said Sunday at his headquarters in Doha, Qatar. ``There is a continuity of operations in this plan. That continuity has been seen. It will be seen in the days ahead.''
But despite General Franks' expression of confidence, the situation in Iraq appeared tense. The war continued to unfold as a far more complex tapestry than expected, with dispersed engagements, political and psychological warfare against Saddam's government, mobilization to deliver aid in the South, frenetic diplomacy and shifting explanations at home about the duration and cost of the war.
There was no sign of any crumbling of the Hussein government, which vowed a wave of suicide bombings against American troops.
After days of consolidation, there appeared to be some momentum on Sunday for the allied forces. To the east, thousands of soldiers from the First Marine Division moved north from their static lines to engage Iraqi forces in towns along the highway approach to Baghdad, military officials said.
Brig. Gen. John Kelly, the division's assistant commander, described those operations as ``liberation tactics'' designed to break the hold of officials of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party who are still mobilizing guerrilla-style attacks.
``People are beginning to rat them out,'' General Kelly said after a raid on one Baath Party headquarters where weapons was seized, though the local Baath leader escaped. There were no reports of casualties.
British forces fought intense battles in and around Basra, the southern Iraqi city of 1.5 million. American and British officials expressed guarded optimism that they were close to breaking Baghdad's hold over the city and establishing a secure zone to commence aid deliveries.
Early Sunday, Royal Marine commandos killed a Republican Guard colonel believed to be directing irregular forces that have fired on civilians trying to flee the city.
But the day was not without casualties. A Marine UH-1 Huey helicopter crashed in southern Iraq at a refueling station killing three American crewmen, a military spokesman said.
A British soldier was killed in fighting near Basra, 340 miles from Baghdad, and several others were injured, the Defense Ministry in London said.
More han a dozen soldiers were injured in Kuwait when a contract worker at a rear-area base drove his truck into a line of soldiers waiting to enter the camp store. The driver was shot after he prepared to make a second run at theinjured.
With combat operations resuming at the front, the rear area blazed with fresh Marine Corps helicopter assaults on Nasiriya, where Hellfire missiles were fired into blocks of houses and buildings on the Euphrates River waterfront.
General Franks was vague on Sunday in responding to reports that he had pressed for a delay in commencing combat operations when Turkey refused to allow the passage of the Fourth Infantry Division through its territory. That division was to have headed a northern front against Baghdad.
The Fourth Division's equipment ships passed through the Suez Canal last week and its soldiers were set to fly to Kuwait over the next two weeks to form up in the Kuwaiti desert and push north to join the battle.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Raid on Iraqi Militant Group Indicates Ties to al-Qaida but Leadership on the Run to Iran
The Associated Press
BIYARE, Iraq March 31
A U.S.-led assault on a compound controlled by an extremist Islamic group turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking the group to al-Qaida, coalition commanders said Monday.
The cache of documents at the Ansar al-Islam compound, including computer discs and foreign passports belonging to Arab fighters from around the Middle East, could bolster the Bush administration's claims that the two groups are connected, although there was no indication any of the evidence tied Ansar to Saddam Hussein as Washington has maintained.
There were indications, however, that the group has been getting help from inside neighboring Iran.
Kurdish and Turkish intelligence officials, some speaking on condition of anonymity, said many of Ansar's 700 members have slipped out of Iraq and into Iran putting them out of reach of coalition forces.
The officials also said a U.S. missile strike on Ansar's territory on the second day of the war missed most of its leadership which crossed into Iran days earlier.
U.S. officials said the government had reports some Ansar fighters could have made it into Iran and have been shuttling back and forth with fresh supplies.
According to a high-level Kurdish intelligence official, three Ansar leaders identified as Ayoub Afghani, Abdullah Shafeye and Abu Wahel were among those who had fled into Iran. The official said the three were seen being detained by Iranian authorities Sunday.
"We asked the Iranian authorities to hand over to us any of the Afghan Arabs or Islamic militants hiding themselves inside the villages of Iran," said Boorhan Saeed, a member of the pro-U.S. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. "We asked them about it Sunday, and still don't have a response."
Last week, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned the Iranians to stop meddling in the war. Tehran denied any involvement.
Using airstrikes and ground forces, Kurdish soldiers and U.S. troops have cooperated in the past week to dislodge and crush Ansar militants in 18 villages surrounding the Iraqi city of Halabja about 160 miles northeast of Baghdad.
"We actually believe we destroyed a significant portion of the Ansar al-Islam force there," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations on the Pentagon's Joint Staff, said Monday. He said forces were investigating the finds.
Among a trove of evidence found inside Ansar compounds were passports and identity papers of Ansar activists indicating that up to 150 of them were foreigners, including Yemenis, Turks, Palestinians, Pakistanis, Algerians and Iranians.
Coalition forces also found a phone book containing numbers of alleged Islamic activists based in the United States and Europe as well as the number of a Kuwaiti cleric and a letter from Yemen's minister of religion. The names and numbers were not released.
"What we've discovered in Biyare is a very sophisticated operation," said Barham Salih, prime minister of the Kurdish regional government.
Seized computer disks contained evidence showing meetings between Ansar and al-Qaida activists, according to Mahdi Saeed Ali, a military commander.
It was unclear how strong Ansar remains.
Officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two parties that share control of an autonomous Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, say they killed 250 Ansar members during two days of intense fighting and aerial bombardments.
"There was ferocious fighting," Saeed said. He said he chased 25 Ansar militants across the Iranian border and captured nine Ansar sympathizers belonging to a group called the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan.
The remaining Ansar fighters are thought to be in the mountains along the Iraq-Iran border, U.S. and Kurdish military officials have said.
Kurdish soldiers on Monday continued sporadic fighting in several villages around Halabja and along the Iran-Iraq border near the village of Sargat, site of a destroyed building once allegedly used by Ansar militants to produce poison.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday the Sargat compound was probably the site where militants made a biological toxin, traces of which were later found by police in London.
"We think that's probably where the ricin that was found in London came (from)" he told CNN's "Late Edition." "At least the operatives and maybe some of the formulas came from this site."
British police raided a London apartment in January and found traces of ricin, a powerful poison made from castor plant beans. U.S. officials believe the poison and those arrested were linked to Ansar.
The group's leader, Mullah Krekar, is being held in Norway on charges of kidnapping and aiding terrorists.
Krekar has denied any links to Saddam or al-Qaida, but said he considers Osama bin Laden a "good Muslim."
In a recent interview with Dutch television, Krekar said his fighters would use suicide attacks if U.S. troops went after the group.
One such attack came three days into the war when an apparent car bomb killed at least five people, including an Australian cameraman, at a checkpoint near an Ansar training camp.
Associated Press Writer Dafna Linzer contributed to this report from New York.
The Associated Press
BIYARE, Iraq March 31
A U.S.-led assault on a compound controlled by an extremist Islamic group turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking the group to al-Qaida, coalition commanders said Monday.
The cache of documents at the Ansar al-Islam compound, including computer discs and foreign passports belonging to Arab fighters from around the Middle East, could bolster the Bush administration's claims that the two groups are connected, although there was no indication any of the evidence tied Ansar to Saddam Hussein as Washington has maintained.
There were indications, however, that the group has been getting help from inside neighboring Iran.
Kurdish and Turkish intelligence officials, some speaking on condition of anonymity, said many of Ansar's 700 members have slipped out of Iraq and into Iran putting them out of reach of coalition forces.
The officials also said a U.S. missile strike on Ansar's territory on the second day of the war missed most of its leadership which crossed into Iran days earlier.
U.S. officials said the government had reports some Ansar fighters could have made it into Iran and have been shuttling back and forth with fresh supplies.
According to a high-level Kurdish intelligence official, three Ansar leaders identified as Ayoub Afghani, Abdullah Shafeye and Abu Wahel were among those who had fled into Iran. The official said the three were seen being detained by Iranian authorities Sunday.
"We asked the Iranian authorities to hand over to us any of the Afghan Arabs or Islamic militants hiding themselves inside the villages of Iran," said Boorhan Saeed, a member of the pro-U.S. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. "We asked them about it Sunday, and still don't have a response."
Last week, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned the Iranians to stop meddling in the war. Tehran denied any involvement.
Using airstrikes and ground forces, Kurdish soldiers and U.S. troops have cooperated in the past week to dislodge and crush Ansar militants in 18 villages surrounding the Iraqi city of Halabja about 160 miles northeast of Baghdad.
"We actually believe we destroyed a significant portion of the Ansar al-Islam force there," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations on the Pentagon's Joint Staff, said Monday. He said forces were investigating the finds.
Among a trove of evidence found inside Ansar compounds were passports and identity papers of Ansar activists indicating that up to 150 of them were foreigners, including Yemenis, Turks, Palestinians, Pakistanis, Algerians and Iranians.
Coalition forces also found a phone book containing numbers of alleged Islamic activists based in the United States and Europe as well as the number of a Kuwaiti cleric and a letter from Yemen's minister of religion. The names and numbers were not released.
"What we've discovered in Biyare is a very sophisticated operation," said Barham Salih, prime minister of the Kurdish regional government.
Seized computer disks contained evidence showing meetings between Ansar and al-Qaida activists, according to Mahdi Saeed Ali, a military commander.
It was unclear how strong Ansar remains.
Officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two parties that share control of an autonomous Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, say they killed 250 Ansar members during two days of intense fighting and aerial bombardments.
"There was ferocious fighting," Saeed said. He said he chased 25 Ansar militants across the Iranian border and captured nine Ansar sympathizers belonging to a group called the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan.
The remaining Ansar fighters are thought to be in the mountains along the Iraq-Iran border, U.S. and Kurdish military officials have said.
Kurdish soldiers on Monday continued sporadic fighting in several villages around Halabja and along the Iran-Iraq border near the village of Sargat, site of a destroyed building once allegedly used by Ansar militants to produce poison.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday the Sargat compound was probably the site where militants made a biological toxin, traces of which were later found by police in London.
"We think that's probably where the ricin that was found in London came (from)" he told CNN's "Late Edition." "At least the operatives and maybe some of the formulas came from this site."
British police raided a London apartment in January and found traces of ricin, a powerful poison made from castor plant beans. U.S. officials believe the poison and those arrested were linked to Ansar.
The group's leader, Mullah Krekar, is being held in Norway on charges of kidnapping and aiding terrorists.
Krekar has denied any links to Saddam or al-Qaida, but said he considers Osama bin Laden a "good Muslim."
In a recent interview with Dutch television, Krekar said his fighters would use suicide attacks if U.S. troops went after the group.
One such attack came three days into the war when an apparent car bomb killed at least five people, including an Australian cameraman, at a checkpoint near an Ansar training camp.
Associated Press Writer Dafna Linzer contributed to this report from New York.
CanadianCripple
New member
Dcup! Be weary! Don't fall prey to the puppet masters!
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
I think I'm seeing double! I think you are imply that I believe everything in the news/info posts, I post! I'm just posting breaking war news/info true, real or not! Any educated non Sheeple can usually decipher between fact or fiction! Sheeples need help though! Much of this news comes under the Fog of war anyways and the true facts may or may not come out with the passage of time!
CanadianCripple
New member
DcupSheepNipples said:
Nope. You got me wrong. I guess I should have added a
. I figured you to have the ability to decipher the intended humour. Oh well.Double post because of George's slow board.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
And You thought I was serious! Shame on you Sheeple! Shame on you! I knew of your intentions to try to trick me with humour! I just threw you some bait and you bit
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Air War Weapon Stockpile Runs Critically Low
By Julian Borger in Washington
The Guardian - UK
4-1-3
With the war in Iraq threatening to last significantly longer than expected, US forces in the Gulf are in increasing danger of running out of some of their most important weapons in the air war.
In the first 11 days of the conflict, the US navy has fired 700 of its stock of 1,200 Tomahawk cruise missiles on ships and submarines in the region. Meanwhile, the air force and navy together have used 5,000 satellite-guided bombs, known as JDAMs, which account for more than 80% of the bombs dropped so far. The JDAM (joint direct attack munitions) arsenals on the five US aircraft carriers in the Gulf are already running low.
One solution is to switch to different types of weapons, which will happen anyway as the focus of the air campaign shifts from fixed to moving targets, from palaces and government buildings to tanks.
The other solution is to take more Tomahawks and JDAMs into the region. But even worldwide inventories would not last for many months, and US military planners, always thinking at least one war ahead, are concerned that the US might use all its firepower in Iraq and not leave enough to deal with another possible threat, such as a North Korean attack on Seoul.
There are about 13,000 JDAMs left in stockpiles around the world, according to air force estimates, and they can be shipped to the region relatively easily. They may need to be. US warplanes are maintaining a rate of 500 strike sorties a day (and 1,000 more support flights) as they continue to attack Baghdad and the Republican Guard divisions around the city.
There are also about 2,300 Tomahawk missiles left in American global arsenals, enough for about three more weeks of air strikes at the current rate. They are much harder to bring into action, as the missile arsenals of ships and submarines cannot be replenished at sea. More Tomahawks can only be brought to the battlefield by bringing new ships and submarines into the region.
JDAM have a strap-on guidance system added, mainly to 1,000lb or 2,000lb "dumb" gravity bombs, to make them "smart". They are therefore relatively cheap, about $20,000 each, a fraction of the cost of other guided bombs and missiles, such as the $600,000 Tomahawk.
Boeing, the manufacturer, has been turning JDAMs out around the clock since the Afghan war, when stocks ran seriously low. It has also increased its capacity over the past year, but monthly output is still only 1,500 a month, enough for only about two days at the current rate of sorties.
Military analysts say there is a limit to the extent the Pentagon can afford to move its arsenal of munitions around the world because it cannot leave itself unprepared to face a second, simultaneous threat elsewhere.
"The problem is that there has to be enough for this war and another one. We would have to be able to respond if the North Koreans move on Seoul," said Daniel Gour, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute.
But the US armed forces will need fewer Tomahawks and JDAMs as the war progresses.
Bob Martinage, an expert at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said: "The Tomahawk is meant to go after fixed targets and they've hit most of those. There are only so many targets in that target set. When you shift to hitting targets of opportunity, you don't need them so much."
The same is true for JDAMs, which use satellite signals and GPS (global positioning system) to adjust the tail fins on the bomb, landing it within a few metres of the target. They need to be programmed with the targets' coordinates and are less useful against moving targets like tanks in battle.
Mr Gour said as pitched battles get under way between coalition and Iraqi forces, coalition warplanes would be used less to bomb buildings and more to serve as close air support. "For that, Mavericks [heat-guided air-to-surface missiles] and laser-guided weapons," he said. "Laser-guided weapons are better than JDAMs when you start getting moving targets."
There are already signs that the coalition planners are running out of fixed targets to bomb. Over the past few days the bombers have gone back to presidential palaces and government buildings they had already attacked.
When it comes to trying to destroy bunkers, JDAMs and Tomahawks are not the ideal weapons. For that the US air force has the GBU 57, a 5,000lb satellite-guided bomb in a hardened casing that can penetrate 12 metres (40ft) of concrete or 30 metres of earth.
The Pentagon has already placed orders to replenish its stocks. Admiral William Fallon, the vice-chief of naval operations, said last week that the navy was requesting at least $3.7bn to replenish its munitions stocks to "restore inventories to pre-conflict levels".
In the short term, JDAMs can be reallocated from the air force to the navy. In the longer term, Boeing is due to double its production to 3,000 a month by the end of this year. The company will supply the air force and navy with a 250,000 of the guided bombs by 2008.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,926959,00.html
By Julian Borger in Washington
The Guardian - UK
4-1-3
With the war in Iraq threatening to last significantly longer than expected, US forces in the Gulf are in increasing danger of running out of some of their most important weapons in the air war.
In the first 11 days of the conflict, the US navy has fired 700 of its stock of 1,200 Tomahawk cruise missiles on ships and submarines in the region. Meanwhile, the air force and navy together have used 5,000 satellite-guided bombs, known as JDAMs, which account for more than 80% of the bombs dropped so far. The JDAM (joint direct attack munitions) arsenals on the five US aircraft carriers in the Gulf are already running low.
One solution is to switch to different types of weapons, which will happen anyway as the focus of the air campaign shifts from fixed to moving targets, from palaces and government buildings to tanks.
The other solution is to take more Tomahawks and JDAMs into the region. But even worldwide inventories would not last for many months, and US military planners, always thinking at least one war ahead, are concerned that the US might use all its firepower in Iraq and not leave enough to deal with another possible threat, such as a North Korean attack on Seoul.
There are about 13,000 JDAMs left in stockpiles around the world, according to air force estimates, and they can be shipped to the region relatively easily. They may need to be. US warplanes are maintaining a rate of 500 strike sorties a day (and 1,000 more support flights) as they continue to attack Baghdad and the Republican Guard divisions around the city.
There are also about 2,300 Tomahawk missiles left in American global arsenals, enough for about three more weeks of air strikes at the current rate. They are much harder to bring into action, as the missile arsenals of ships and submarines cannot be replenished at sea. More Tomahawks can only be brought to the battlefield by bringing new ships and submarines into the region.
JDAM have a strap-on guidance system added, mainly to 1,000lb or 2,000lb "dumb" gravity bombs, to make them "smart". They are therefore relatively cheap, about $20,000 each, a fraction of the cost of other guided bombs and missiles, such as the $600,000 Tomahawk.
Boeing, the manufacturer, has been turning JDAMs out around the clock since the Afghan war, when stocks ran seriously low. It has also increased its capacity over the past year, but monthly output is still only 1,500 a month, enough for only about two days at the current rate of sorties.
Military analysts say there is a limit to the extent the Pentagon can afford to move its arsenal of munitions around the world because it cannot leave itself unprepared to face a second, simultaneous threat elsewhere.
"The problem is that there has to be enough for this war and another one. We would have to be able to respond if the North Koreans move on Seoul," said Daniel Gour, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute.
But the US armed forces will need fewer Tomahawks and JDAMs as the war progresses.
Bob Martinage, an expert at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said: "The Tomahawk is meant to go after fixed targets and they've hit most of those. There are only so many targets in that target set. When you shift to hitting targets of opportunity, you don't need them so much."
The same is true for JDAMs, which use satellite signals and GPS (global positioning system) to adjust the tail fins on the bomb, landing it within a few metres of the target. They need to be programmed with the targets' coordinates and are less useful against moving targets like tanks in battle.
Mr Gour said as pitched battles get under way between coalition and Iraqi forces, coalition warplanes would be used less to bomb buildings and more to serve as close air support. "For that, Mavericks [heat-guided air-to-surface missiles] and laser-guided weapons," he said. "Laser-guided weapons are better than JDAMs when you start getting moving targets."
There are already signs that the coalition planners are running out of fixed targets to bomb. Over the past few days the bombers have gone back to presidential palaces and government buildings they had already attacked.
When it comes to trying to destroy bunkers, JDAMs and Tomahawks are not the ideal weapons. For that the US air force has the GBU 57, a 5,000lb satellite-guided bomb in a hardened casing that can penetrate 12 metres (40ft) of concrete or 30 metres of earth.
The Pentagon has already placed orders to replenish its stocks. Admiral William Fallon, the vice-chief of naval operations, said last week that the navy was requesting at least $3.7bn to replenish its munitions stocks to "restore inventories to pre-conflict levels".
In the short term, JDAMs can be reallocated from the air force to the navy. In the longer term, Boeing is due to double its production to 3,000 a month by the end of this year. The company will supply the air force and navy with a 250,000 of the guided bombs by 2008.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,926959,00.html
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