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DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Yes, great news!
But I hate to think what they did to her!
War: Latest News
- Thread starter manny78
- Start date
Yes, great news!
But I hate to think what they did to her!not news but, the usual arab propaganda...probably photo-shopped...
interesting quotes too
http://www.marchforjustice.com/id191.htm
this one was interesting in particular:
http://www.marchforjustice.com/237dc440.jpg
interesting quotes too
http://www.marchforjustice.com/id191.htm
this one was interesting in particular:
http://www.marchforjustice.com/237dc440.jpg
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Not the most recent one!
Army Black Hawk Shot Down; Seven Killed
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 2, 2003; 9:18 PM
A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in southern Iraq Wednesday, killing seven of the 11 soldiers aboard, Pentagon officials said.
The helicopter was downed by small-arms fire near Karbala, the site of fierce fighting between the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and Iraqi troops, including Republican Guard forces.
The other four soldiers on board the Black Hawk were wounded, officials said.
They were rescued by American troops, the officials said.
The Black Hawk was the second U.S. helicopter to go down in combat. An Army Apache assault helicopter went down March 24 during an assault on Republican Guard forces; its two pilots were captured by Iraqis.
The UH-60 Black Hawk is one of the Army's main utility and troop transport helicopters. Each one is flown by a crew of four and can carry up to 11 soldiers.
The helicopters are equipped with advanced avionics and electronics, such as global positioning systems.
A Black Hawk crashed in a remote, wooded area of Fort Drum, N.Y., during a training exercise last month, killing 11 of the 13 soldiers aboard.
In February, a Black Hawk crashed during night training in the Kuwaiti desert, killing all four crew members. The Kuwaiti military said sandstorms were reported in the area at the time the chopper went down.
In January, an MH-60, an adapted version of the Black Hawk, crashed during training near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, killing four members of an elite aviation regiment.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
U.S. Infantry Vanguard 6 Miles from S. Baghdad
Thu April 3, 2003 03:51 AM ET
NEAR BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Advance armored units of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division were just six miles from the southern edge of Baghdad on Thursday, U.S. military sources in the area told Reuters correspondent Luke Baker.
In the center of the Iraqi capital, Reuters correspondent Samia Nakhoul said she heard an intense and sustained anti-aircraft barrage coming from the southern outskirts where U.S.-led forces have been bombarding the city's defenders
Thu April 3, 2003 03:51 AM ET
NEAR BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Advance armored units of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division were just six miles from the southern edge of Baghdad on Thursday, U.S. military sources in the area told Reuters correspondent Luke Baker.
In the center of the Iraqi capital, Reuters correspondent Samia Nakhoul said she heard an intense and sustained anti-aircraft barrage coming from the southern outskirts where U.S.-led forces have been bombarding the city's defenders
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
I was discussing this in the civilian checkpoint deaths thread! Looks like thngs are going to change regarding Tear Gas on the battlefield!
Bush approves use of tear gas in battlefield
Only to save civilian lives, military says
Weapons experts fear violation of law
NICHOLAS WADE AND ERIC SCHMITT
NEW YORK TIMES
Apr. 2, 2003
President George W. Bush has authorized American military forces to use tear gas in Iraq, the Pentagon says, a development that some weapons experts said could set up a conflict between American and international law.
The U.S. Defence Department said that tear gas, which has been issued to American troops but not used by them, would be used only to save civilian lives and in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, ratified by the United States in 1997. Critics say any battlefield use of tear gas would violate the convention, offend crucial allies including Britain, and hand Saddam Hussein a legal basis for using chemical weapons against the United States.
"Riot-control agents, such as C.S., better known as tear gas, are non-lethal and may be used by U.S. forces only when authorized by the president and only under specific, well-defined circumstances, to protect non-combatants," a Pentagon spokesperson, Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, said in response to questions Friday. Use of the agents for defensive purposes to save lives "would be consistent with the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of riot control agents as a method of warfare," he said.
Some experts disagreed. Elisa Harris, of the Centre for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, said a violation could arise if riot control agents were used against Iraqi soldiers using civilians as a screen. This battlefield use would contravene the Chemical Weapons Convention, she said, but is explicitly permitted by an Executive Order of 1975.
The Pentagon was citing the language of this Executive Order in saying Bush had authorized use of riot control agents in Iraq, she said. Harris worked on chemical weapons policy for the National Security Council during the Clinton administration.
Riot-control agents may be used behind battlefield lines, to quell riots or control prisoners being transported, but the chemical weapons convention says riot-control agents may not be used as a "method of warfare." Signatories feared their deployment might escalate to the use of lethal chemicals and had done so in the past.
In four major uses of chemical weapons in the past — by combatants in World War I; by the Italians in Ethiopia; by the Egyptians in Yemen; and in the Iran-Iraq war — deployment was preceded by use of non-lethal agents, Harris said. The framers of the convention therefore sought to draw a clear line against use of all chemical agents on the battlefield. This is the position of signatories including Britain. The British defence minister, Geoff Hoon, said last week that non-lethal chemical agents "would not be used by the United Kingdom in any military operation or on any battlefield."
The U.S. Senate, in a convention-ratifying resolution, wrote in a condition allowing battlefield use of riot-control agents with presidential approval.
Bush approves use of tear gas in battlefield
Only to save civilian lives, military says
Weapons experts fear violation of law
NICHOLAS WADE AND ERIC SCHMITT
NEW YORK TIMES
Apr. 2, 2003
President George W. Bush has authorized American military forces to use tear gas in Iraq, the Pentagon says, a development that some weapons experts said could set up a conflict between American and international law.
The U.S. Defence Department said that tear gas, which has been issued to American troops but not used by them, would be used only to save civilian lives and in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, ratified by the United States in 1997. Critics say any battlefield use of tear gas would violate the convention, offend crucial allies including Britain, and hand Saddam Hussein a legal basis for using chemical weapons against the United States.
"Riot-control agents, such as C.S., better known as tear gas, are non-lethal and may be used by U.S. forces only when authorized by the president and only under specific, well-defined circumstances, to protect non-combatants," a Pentagon spokesperson, Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, said in response to questions Friday. Use of the agents for defensive purposes to save lives "would be consistent with the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of riot control agents as a method of warfare," he said.
Some experts disagreed. Elisa Harris, of the Centre for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, said a violation could arise if riot control agents were used against Iraqi soldiers using civilians as a screen. This battlefield use would contravene the Chemical Weapons Convention, she said, but is explicitly permitted by an Executive Order of 1975.
The Pentagon was citing the language of this Executive Order in saying Bush had authorized use of riot control agents in Iraq, she said. Harris worked on chemical weapons policy for the National Security Council during the Clinton administration.
Riot-control agents may be used behind battlefield lines, to quell riots or control prisoners being transported, but the chemical weapons convention says riot-control agents may not be used as a "method of warfare." Signatories feared their deployment might escalate to the use of lethal chemicals and had done so in the past.
In four major uses of chemical weapons in the past — by combatants in World War I; by the Italians in Ethiopia; by the Egyptians in Yemen; and in the Iran-Iraq war — deployment was preceded by use of non-lethal agents, Harris said. The framers of the convention therefore sought to draw a clear line against use of all chemical agents on the battlefield. This is the position of signatories including Britain. The British defence minister, Geoff Hoon, said last week that non-lethal chemical agents "would not be used by the United Kingdom in any military operation or on any battlefield."
The U.S. Senate, in a convention-ratifying resolution, wrote in a condition allowing battlefield use of riot-control agents with presidential approval.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
U.S. actively sows doubts about whether Saddam is alive
David E. Sanger and James Risen The New York Times Thursday, April 3, 2003
WASHINGTON The Bush administration has embarked on a campaign — using radio broadcasts and other communications with Iraqi military leaders — to sow doubts about whether Saddam Hussein is still alive and in control of the country, senior administration and military officials said. American officials say they have still reached no conclusions about whether Saddam survived an attack two weeks ago. But they are trying to turn that uncertainty to battlefield advantage, attempting to raise questions in the minds of Iraqi military commanders defending Baghdad about whether they should stand and fight for a leader who may have been killed or incapacitated. ‘‘From what our intelligence is picking up, some of the Iraqi commanders themselves have not heard from him,’’ said one senior official. ‘‘And we don’t know ourselves. So you could call this psychological warfare, or you could call it exploitation of the biggest mystery out there.’’ The administration’s effort to raise doubts about Saddam comes after American military officials have reported that the majority of the Iraqi people encountered by American forces believe that Saddam is still alive, although there is no hard evidence either way. President George W. Bush himself has discussed the issue in at least one meeting this week and is ‘‘deeply intrigued’’ about Saddam’s fate, according to a participant. ‘‘The consensus was that the mystery about Saddam is growing, and that could be useful to us as we head into Baghdad,’’ said one participant in the meeting. If Saddam is alive, officials said, the administration’s decision to publicly question why he has not appeared in public may help flush him out — and perhaps give clues to his whereabouts. In briefings here in Washington, officials ranging from the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have repeatedly noted that Saddam has not appeared in public since before the start of the war two weeks ago. They have questioned whether tapes of Saddam, shown on Iraqi television, were prerecorded. Now those briefings, translated into Arabic, are being broadcast through Commando Solo, airborne radio broadcasts beamed into Iraq by American forces on a number of different frequencies. The same doubts are being raised in private cell phone and e-mail traffic. One senior administration official said Wednesday night that ‘‘a big morale blow’’ to the Iraqi troops has been the rumor that Saddam’s family is flee ing, and that Saddam himself, if alive, may not be far behind. Some captured Iraqi POWs have told American forces that such rumors are spreading fast — and the Untied States is doing everything it can to encourage them. Other American officials, however, have expressed concern that until recent days many ordinary Iraqis have had little reason to question whether Saddam re mains in power. Until a few days ago, the regional Ba‘ath Party offices remained largely untouched. Both the Fedayeen Saddam and the Special Security Organization have conducted a reign of terror against Iraqi civilians, leaving many convinced that his government is still intact, U.S. intelligence officials said. Now, the American bombing campaign is beginning to target the destruction of offices and other facilities used by the Ba‘ath Party in cities across the south. Local Ba‘ath Party headquarters buildings are often seen by the Iraqi public as the most important symbols of the regime, and the fact that they survived the first days of the war was a powerful sign of Saddam’s continued control. One official noted, for instance, that when local Shia Muslims rose up against the regime in Basra at the end of the first Gulf War, one of their first targets was the Ba‘ath Party headquarters there. ‘‘It has only been recently that we have been targeting party apparatus,’’ one intelligence official said. ‘‘If we underestimated anything, it was Saddam’s ability to project the perception that he is still in charge,’’ the intelligence official said. ‘‘We haven’t seen a massive uprising, and we think that is because most of the people are still convinced he is alive.’’ American intelligence officials said Wednesday that they were still uncertain about Saddam’s fate and had not yet heard Saddam or either of his two sons issuing orders since the initial raid on his bunker. U.S. intelligence is convinced that he was in the bunker at the time of the raid, but they say they have not yet obtained intelligence about whether he survived. The United States has also not been able to identify by name any other members of Saddam’s inner circle who are trying to coordinate Iraqi military forces in the field. The ability of the Iraqi leadership to communicate with the forces has been damaged, but not completely destroyed, officials said. While the National Security Agency has intercepted some orders from Bagdhad to forces in the field, the United States is not yet certain who is in overall command of military forces. The questions about why no one has heard directly from Saddam since before the start of the war were fueled again Wednesday when the Iraqi government issued another statement in Saddam’s name. But U.S. intelligence officials said that was not proof that Saddam is dead. They cautioned that while Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arab news network, had said that Saddam was supposed to appear on television, it is not clear that Iraqi state television ever made that claim. The Iraqi leader has also been seen on Iraqi television since the war’s start, but the broadcasts have not shown clear evidence of when the taped messages were made. Nor have any of them referred to Saddam’s whereabouts or status. So far, American intelligence officials have received a number of conflicting reports about Saddam, but no definitive information. American analysts remain convinced that several people were killed and wounded in the raid, but they have not been able to assemble an authoritative list of casualties. Saddam’s absence is not a complete surprise. During the 1991 Gulf War, he dropped from sight, and it is possible that a leader who has long been preoccupied with his personal security could be reverting to a survival strategy that worked then. Some officials said that they have detected a continuing drop in the pattern of communications traffic from the Baghdad leadership to the country’s four regional military commands. Neverthess, they believe that some form of central control remains intact, even if Mr. Hussein has been wounded or is dead.
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If he survived the attack, Mr. Hussein may have decided to isolate himself from his ruling circle, some analysts said, fearing that some of his lieutenants may be considering defecting as coalition forces thurst closer to the Iraqi capital.
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David E. Sanger and James Risen The New York Times Thursday, April 3, 2003
WASHINGTON The Bush administration has embarked on a campaign — using radio broadcasts and other communications with Iraqi military leaders — to sow doubts about whether Saddam Hussein is still alive and in control of the country, senior administration and military officials said. American officials say they have still reached no conclusions about whether Saddam survived an attack two weeks ago. But they are trying to turn that uncertainty to battlefield advantage, attempting to raise questions in the minds of Iraqi military commanders defending Baghdad about whether they should stand and fight for a leader who may have been killed or incapacitated. ‘‘From what our intelligence is picking up, some of the Iraqi commanders themselves have not heard from him,’’ said one senior official. ‘‘And we don’t know ourselves. So you could call this psychological warfare, or you could call it exploitation of the biggest mystery out there.’’ The administration’s effort to raise doubts about Saddam comes after American military officials have reported that the majority of the Iraqi people encountered by American forces believe that Saddam is still alive, although there is no hard evidence either way. President George W. Bush himself has discussed the issue in at least one meeting this week and is ‘‘deeply intrigued’’ about Saddam’s fate, according to a participant. ‘‘The consensus was that the mystery about Saddam is growing, and that could be useful to us as we head into Baghdad,’’ said one participant in the meeting. If Saddam is alive, officials said, the administration’s decision to publicly question why he has not appeared in public may help flush him out — and perhaps give clues to his whereabouts. In briefings here in Washington, officials ranging from the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have repeatedly noted that Saddam has not appeared in public since before the start of the war two weeks ago. They have questioned whether tapes of Saddam, shown on Iraqi television, were prerecorded. Now those briefings, translated into Arabic, are being broadcast through Commando Solo, airborne radio broadcasts beamed into Iraq by American forces on a number of different frequencies. The same doubts are being raised in private cell phone and e-mail traffic. One senior administration official said Wednesday night that ‘‘a big morale blow’’ to the Iraqi troops has been the rumor that Saddam’s family is flee ing, and that Saddam himself, if alive, may not be far behind. Some captured Iraqi POWs have told American forces that such rumors are spreading fast — and the Untied States is doing everything it can to encourage them. Other American officials, however, have expressed concern that until recent days many ordinary Iraqis have had little reason to question whether Saddam re mains in power. Until a few days ago, the regional Ba‘ath Party offices remained largely untouched. Both the Fedayeen Saddam and the Special Security Organization have conducted a reign of terror against Iraqi civilians, leaving many convinced that his government is still intact, U.S. intelligence officials said. Now, the American bombing campaign is beginning to target the destruction of offices and other facilities used by the Ba‘ath Party in cities across the south. Local Ba‘ath Party headquarters buildings are often seen by the Iraqi public as the most important symbols of the regime, and the fact that they survived the first days of the war was a powerful sign of Saddam’s continued control. One official noted, for instance, that when local Shia Muslims rose up against the regime in Basra at the end of the first Gulf War, one of their first targets was the Ba‘ath Party headquarters there. ‘‘It has only been recently that we have been targeting party apparatus,’’ one intelligence official said. ‘‘If we underestimated anything, it was Saddam’s ability to project the perception that he is still in charge,’’ the intelligence official said. ‘‘We haven’t seen a massive uprising, and we think that is because most of the people are still convinced he is alive.’’ American intelligence officials said Wednesday that they were still uncertain about Saddam’s fate and had not yet heard Saddam or either of his two sons issuing orders since the initial raid on his bunker. U.S. intelligence is convinced that he was in the bunker at the time of the raid, but they say they have not yet obtained intelligence about whether he survived. The United States has also not been able to identify by name any other members of Saddam’s inner circle who are trying to coordinate Iraqi military forces in the field. The ability of the Iraqi leadership to communicate with the forces has been damaged, but not completely destroyed, officials said. While the National Security Agency has intercepted some orders from Bagdhad to forces in the field, the United States is not yet certain who is in overall command of military forces. The questions about why no one has heard directly from Saddam since before the start of the war were fueled again Wednesday when the Iraqi government issued another statement in Saddam’s name. But U.S. intelligence officials said that was not proof that Saddam is dead. They cautioned that while Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arab news network, had said that Saddam was supposed to appear on television, it is not clear that Iraqi state television ever made that claim. The Iraqi leader has also been seen on Iraqi television since the war’s start, but the broadcasts have not shown clear evidence of when the taped messages were made. Nor have any of them referred to Saddam’s whereabouts or status. So far, American intelligence officials have received a number of conflicting reports about Saddam, but no definitive information. American analysts remain convinced that several people were killed and wounded in the raid, but they have not been able to assemble an authoritative list of casualties. Saddam’s absence is not a complete surprise. During the 1991 Gulf War, he dropped from sight, and it is possible that a leader who has long been preoccupied with his personal security could be reverting to a survival strategy that worked then. Some officials said that they have detected a continuing drop in the pattern of communications traffic from the Baghdad leadership to the country’s four regional military commands. Neverthess, they believe that some form of central control remains intact, even if Mr. Hussein has been wounded or is dead.
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If he survived the attack, Mr. Hussein may have decided to isolate himself from his ruling circle, some analysts said, fearing that some of his lieutenants may be considering defecting as coalition forces thurst closer to the Iraqi capital.
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Baby Gorilla
New member
Nukes should fly any day now....
Let's see how much worse it can get....
Syria had a load of suicide bombers intercepted going into Iraq all with Syrian passports.
If Pakistan and India getting hot over Cashmire isn't bad enough, China's signed a defensive pact with Pakistan (no surprise as China hates India).
The wolves are lurking about Iraq waiting to see what happens when we try to take Baghdad. I US ground forces take heavy losses, will other nations jump on on Iraq's side?
King of Jordan is calling Iraqi civilians killed maryters.
All of this was predicted, but we decided to go in anyway. Going to stock up on sunblock
Let's see how much worse it can get....
Syria had a load of suicide bombers intercepted going into Iraq all with Syrian passports.
If Pakistan and India getting hot over Cashmire isn't bad enough, China's signed a defensive pact with Pakistan (no surprise as China hates India).
The wolves are lurking about Iraq waiting to see what happens when we try to take Baghdad. I US ground forces take heavy losses, will other nations jump on on Iraq's side?
King of Jordan is calling Iraqi civilians killed maryters.
All of this was predicted, but we decided to go in anyway. Going to stock up on sunblock
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
OPERATION: IRAQI FREEDOM
Saddam trains kids to kill 8,000-strong army of children ready to take on U.S. forces
Posted: April 4, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Reminiscent of the Hitler Youth of World War II, Saddam Hussein has trained an 8,000-strong army of children to face coalition forces in Baghdad.
In a report by the New York Daily News, Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution explains the children are considered a junior Fedayeen Saddam – the paramilitary forces Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has dubbed "death squads" for the atrocities they commit.
The child army is called Ashbal Saddam, or Saddam's Lion Cubs, according to the report.
"Whatever the Fedayeen has been willing to do, you can extrapolate that these children will do the same," Singer told the paper.
After the first Gulf War, says Singer, Saddam began forcing boys as young as 6 into military boot camps. By age 10 the children are trained in the use of small arms and basic infantry tactics. Their uniform includes shirts with the inscription "Ashbal Saddam," according to the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights.
So, what can U.S. forces expect to see from the Lion Cubs?
"Ambushes, sniping, hit-and-run tactics are the most likely things we'll see," Singer said.
In northern Iraq, said the Daily News report, U.S. troops may find themselves fighting in the trenches alongside children. There are an estimated 3,000 children serving with Kurdish opposition forces opposed to Saddam, according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
Facing child warriors is nothing new for U.S. forces, having battled them in Vietnam, Somalia and Afghanistan.
U.S. military personnel are taught tactics to use when fighting children.
Keni Thomas, an Army Ranger who fought in Somalia, said that in the heat of battle, a soldier is a soldier.
"At the time, it is not a difficult decision to make," he told the paper. "In the end, only you know what you see down your sight. Whether it's a man, woman, child or machine firing at you, it's a threat."
In a December 2002 report titled "Iraq: A Population Silenced," the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor disclosed that Saddam Hussein forces "children between the ages of 10 and 15 to attend 3-week training courses in weapons’ use, hand-to-hand fighting, rappelling from helicopters, and infantry tactics. These children endure 14 hours of physical training and psychological pressure each day." If families object to having their children turned into soldiers for Saddam, said the State Department report, they're "threatened with the loss of their food ration cards."
Saddam's recruitment and cultivation of child warriors is not surprising considering his close ties with the Palestinian Authority. As WorldNetDaily has reported, under the direction of PA leader Yasser Arafat, Palestinian children are commonly taught to hate Jews, to glorify jihad, violence, death and child martyrdom almost the earliest ages. Use of children as warriors, human shields and as suicide bombers is an essential part of the Palestinians' war strategy against Israel.
Saddam has routinely paid $25,000 to families of youthful Palestinian "martyrs" who died killing Israelis.
WorldNetDaily.com
Saddam trains kids to kill 8,000-strong army of children ready to take on U.S. forces
Posted: April 4, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Reminiscent of the Hitler Youth of World War II, Saddam Hussein has trained an 8,000-strong army of children to face coalition forces in Baghdad.
In a report by the New York Daily News, Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution explains the children are considered a junior Fedayeen Saddam – the paramilitary forces Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has dubbed "death squads" for the atrocities they commit.
The child army is called Ashbal Saddam, or Saddam's Lion Cubs, according to the report.
"Whatever the Fedayeen has been willing to do, you can extrapolate that these children will do the same," Singer told the paper.
After the first Gulf War, says Singer, Saddam began forcing boys as young as 6 into military boot camps. By age 10 the children are trained in the use of small arms and basic infantry tactics. Their uniform includes shirts with the inscription "Ashbal Saddam," according to the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights.
So, what can U.S. forces expect to see from the Lion Cubs?
"Ambushes, sniping, hit-and-run tactics are the most likely things we'll see," Singer said.
In northern Iraq, said the Daily News report, U.S. troops may find themselves fighting in the trenches alongside children. There are an estimated 3,000 children serving with Kurdish opposition forces opposed to Saddam, according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
Facing child warriors is nothing new for U.S. forces, having battled them in Vietnam, Somalia and Afghanistan.
U.S. military personnel are taught tactics to use when fighting children.
Keni Thomas, an Army Ranger who fought in Somalia, said that in the heat of battle, a soldier is a soldier.
"At the time, it is not a difficult decision to make," he told the paper. "In the end, only you know what you see down your sight. Whether it's a man, woman, child or machine firing at you, it's a threat."
In a December 2002 report titled "Iraq: A Population Silenced," the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor disclosed that Saddam Hussein forces "children between the ages of 10 and 15 to attend 3-week training courses in weapons’ use, hand-to-hand fighting, rappelling from helicopters, and infantry tactics. These children endure 14 hours of physical training and psychological pressure each day." If families object to having their children turned into soldiers for Saddam, said the State Department report, they're "threatened with the loss of their food ration cards."
Saddam's recruitment and cultivation of child warriors is not surprising considering his close ties with the Palestinian Authority. As WorldNetDaily has reported, under the direction of PA leader Yasser Arafat, Palestinian children are commonly taught to hate Jews, to glorify jihad, violence, death and child martyrdom almost the earliest ages. Use of children as warriors, human shields and as suicide bombers is an essential part of the Palestinians' war strategy against Israel.
Saddam has routinely paid $25,000 to families of youthful Palestinian "martyrs" who died killing Israelis.
WorldNetDaily.com
Lao Tzu
New member
Officer: Troops Find Vials of Powder
NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops found thousands of boxes of white powder, nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents on how to engage in chemical warfare at an industrial site south of Baghdad, a U.S. officer said Friday.
AP Photo
Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said the materials were found Friday at the Latifiyah industrial complex 25 miles south of Baghdad.
"It is clearly a suspicious site," Peabody said.
Peabody said troops found thousands of boxes, each of which contained three vials of white powder, together with documents written in Arabic that dealt with how to engage in chemical warfare.
He also said they discovered atropine, used to counter the effects of nerve agents.
The facility had been identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons site. U.N. inspectors visited the plant at least a dozen times, including as recently as Feb. 18.
The facility is part of a larger complex known as the Latifiyah Explosives and Ammunition Plant al Qa Qaa.
During the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites), U.S. jets bombed the plant.
On April 1, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, in a statement on Iraqi television, repeated Baghdad's position that it had no weapons on mass destruction. Referring to reports that gas masks and other chemical gear had been found elsewhere in the country, he said the coalition might plant weapons of mass destruction to implicate Iraq (news - web sites).
"Let me say one more time that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"The aggressors may themselves intend to bring those materials to plant them here and say those are weapons of mass destruction," he said.
NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops found thousands of boxes of white powder, nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents on how to engage in chemical warfare at an industrial site south of Baghdad, a U.S. officer said Friday.
AP Photo
Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said the materials were found Friday at the Latifiyah industrial complex 25 miles south of Baghdad.
"It is clearly a suspicious site," Peabody said.
Peabody said troops found thousands of boxes, each of which contained three vials of white powder, together with documents written in Arabic that dealt with how to engage in chemical warfare.
He also said they discovered atropine, used to counter the effects of nerve agents.
The facility had been identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons site. U.N. inspectors visited the plant at least a dozen times, including as recently as Feb. 18.
The facility is part of a larger complex known as the Latifiyah Explosives and Ammunition Plant al Qa Qaa.
During the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites), U.S. jets bombed the plant.
On April 1, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, in a statement on Iraqi television, repeated Baghdad's position that it had no weapons on mass destruction. Referring to reports that gas masks and other chemical gear had been found elsewhere in the country, he said the coalition might plant weapons of mass destruction to implicate Iraq (news - web sites).
"Let me say one more time that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"The aggressors may themselves intend to bring those materials to plant them here and say those are weapons of mass destruction," he said.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Russian ships headed for Gulf region
Moscow claims exercises with India planned before war started
April 4, 2003
Two groups of Russian warships and nuclear-powered submarines are heading for the Arabian Sea, sparking speculation about Moscow's possible military involvement in the Persian Gulf area.
According to Z News, however, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says the movement of naval vessels is not linked to the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
Ivanov explained to the Itar-Tass news agency that Russia had planned to stage war games with India's navy "long before" hostilities broke out in the gulf region.
This is the first time Russian ships and subs have been sent to the area since the breakup of the USSR, reports Z News.
Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes visited Moscow in January, said the report, at which time the war games were planned for May. The vessels are scheduled to arrive in the Arabian Sea by the end of April.
According to a report in the Latvian news service LETA, the ships from the Black Sea fleet will include the cruiser Moskva, military transport ship Cezar Kunikov and two guard vessels. They are scheduled to leave Sevastopol within a few days. The news service says more ships from the Pacific fleet will join the armada to double its size. Three nuclear submarines also will be part of the exercise.
The Russian defense minister declined to comment on media reports about the presence of tactical nuclear missiles on board one of the battleships, reports Z News.
"No military ever comments on this," Ivanov told the news service.
According to the Russia-U.S. agreement, ships are not allowed to carry tactical (short-range) nuclear missiles in peacetime.
WorldNetDaily.com
Moscow claims exercises with India planned before war started
April 4, 2003
Two groups of Russian warships and nuclear-powered submarines are heading for the Arabian Sea, sparking speculation about Moscow's possible military involvement in the Persian Gulf area.
According to Z News, however, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says the movement of naval vessels is not linked to the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
Ivanov explained to the Itar-Tass news agency that Russia had planned to stage war games with India's navy "long before" hostilities broke out in the gulf region.
This is the first time Russian ships and subs have been sent to the area since the breakup of the USSR, reports Z News.
Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes visited Moscow in January, said the report, at which time the war games were planned for May. The vessels are scheduled to arrive in the Arabian Sea by the end of April.
According to a report in the Latvian news service LETA, the ships from the Black Sea fleet will include the cruiser Moskva, military transport ship Cezar Kunikov and two guard vessels. They are scheduled to leave Sevastopol within a few days. The news service says more ships from the Pacific fleet will join the armada to double its size. Three nuclear submarines also will be part of the exercise.
The Russian defense minister declined to comment on media reports about the presence of tactical nuclear missiles on board one of the battleships, reports Z News.
"No military ever comments on this," Ivanov told the news service.
According to the Russia-U.S. agreement, ships are not allowed to carry tactical (short-range) nuclear missiles in peacetime.
WorldNetDaily.com
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Ground troops roll into Baghdad
NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES
April 5 — U.S. Marines and Army troops rolled into the center of Baghdad in “substantial” numbers Saturday morning, a U.S. military official told MSNBC TV. Meanwhile, south of the city, Army forces captured the headquarters of the Republican Guard’s vaunted Medina Division and launched an air assault on Karbala.
MARINES AND ARMY troops encountered only sporadic resistance from Republican Guard divisions as they advanced into Baghdad from the south, Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar, told MSNBC TV.
“We do have reports of engagement with a small number of Special Republican Guard,” Thorp said. “At this point, we have engaged the Al Nida Division of the Republican Guard.”
Officials at Central Command told NBC’s David Shuster that the ground troops, members of the Army’s V Corps and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, were supported by a “full component” of close air support, meaning helicopters and low-flying warplanes were able to fly over the city without threat.
Central Command officials stressed that the advance did not constitute the leading edge of an invasion. But the troops’ mission clearly was not merely a preliminary probing operation.
“That’s not the intent to come back out,” Thorp said. “They’re in Baghdad.”
U.S. special operations forces are known to have been in the city on covert missions for some time, but until Saturday morning, U.S. ground forces had not ventured inside the city limits. The special operations forces laid the groundwork for the ground advance, which had been in the works for some time, Central Command officials told NBC News.
“All of this has been deliberately planned, and you are now seeing the fruits of that work,” an official said.
There was no immediate comment from Iraqi authorities.
In Suwayrah, 35 miles southeast of Baghdad, two tank companies and an infantry company of the 3rd Infantry Division rolled through the headquarters of the Republican Guard’s Medina Division unopposed, military officials at the Pentagon told NBC’s Carl Rochelle.
Hundreds of bunkers and foxholes and dozens of artillery pieces, antiaircraft guns, tanks and armored personnel carriers littered the grounds of the base, the Associated Press reported. All of them had been abandoned by Iraqi troops. No troops could be seen.
The U.S. tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles used their main guns to destroy the military vehicles along the route.
Fifteen miles farther southwest of Baghdad, the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, launched an airborne assault on Karbala, reported NBC’s Dana Lewis, who is traveling with the 2nd Brigade.
Several hundred infantrymen were pushing into the city under the cover of AH-64 Apache and OH58D Kiowa attack helicopters. They met little resistance.
Karbala was one of the cities the 3rd Infantry bypassed as it raced up to Baghdad. The 101st Airborne was cleaning up behind it in cities to the south of the capital, Lewis reported.
NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES
April 5 — U.S. Marines and Army troops rolled into the center of Baghdad in “substantial” numbers Saturday morning, a U.S. military official told MSNBC TV. Meanwhile, south of the city, Army forces captured the headquarters of the Republican Guard’s vaunted Medina Division and launched an air assault on Karbala.
MARINES AND ARMY troops encountered only sporadic resistance from Republican Guard divisions as they advanced into Baghdad from the south, Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar, told MSNBC TV.
“We do have reports of engagement with a small number of Special Republican Guard,” Thorp said. “At this point, we have engaged the Al Nida Division of the Republican Guard.”
Officials at Central Command told NBC’s David Shuster that the ground troops, members of the Army’s V Corps and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, were supported by a “full component” of close air support, meaning helicopters and low-flying warplanes were able to fly over the city without threat.
Central Command officials stressed that the advance did not constitute the leading edge of an invasion. But the troops’ mission clearly was not merely a preliminary probing operation.
“That’s not the intent to come back out,” Thorp said. “They’re in Baghdad.”
U.S. special operations forces are known to have been in the city on covert missions for some time, but until Saturday morning, U.S. ground forces had not ventured inside the city limits. The special operations forces laid the groundwork for the ground advance, which had been in the works for some time, Central Command officials told NBC News.
“All of this has been deliberately planned, and you are now seeing the fruits of that work,” an official said.
There was no immediate comment from Iraqi authorities.
In Suwayrah, 35 miles southeast of Baghdad, two tank companies and an infantry company of the 3rd Infantry Division rolled through the headquarters of the Republican Guard’s Medina Division unopposed, military officials at the Pentagon told NBC’s Carl Rochelle.
Hundreds of bunkers and foxholes and dozens of artillery pieces, antiaircraft guns, tanks and armored personnel carriers littered the grounds of the base, the Associated Press reported. All of them had been abandoned by Iraqi troops. No troops could be seen.
The U.S. tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles used their main guns to destroy the military vehicles along the route.
Fifteen miles farther southwest of Baghdad, the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, launched an airborne assault on Karbala, reported NBC’s Dana Lewis, who is traveling with the 2nd Brigade.
Several hundred infantrymen were pushing into the city under the cover of AH-64 Apache and OH58D Kiowa attack helicopters. They met little resistance.
Karbala was one of the cities the 3rd Infantry bypassed as it raced up to Baghdad. The 101st Airborne was cleaning up behind it in cities to the south of the capital, Lewis reported.
CanadianCripple
New member
Marines Digging Up Suspected Chemical Arms Site
Sat April 5, 2003 07:07 AM ET
AZIZIYAH, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines were digging up a suspected chemical weapons hiding place in the courtyard of an Iraqi school southeast of Baghdad on Saturday.
The Marines said that a man who described himself as a former member of the Iraqi special forces told them that groups of Iraqi men had knocked down a wall of the girls' school two months ago, hidden something in the courtyard and then concreted it over again during the course of three nights.
"We don't have a clue now but we're going to dig it up and see," General James Mattis, the commander of the Marine Division which is the main Marine ground force in Iraq, said at the scene.
Marine forces were digging up the heavy concrete laid in the courtyard of the school in the dusty town 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
Washington and London launched the invasion of Iraq on March 20, saying they wanted to rid the nation of alleged chemical and biological weapons and oust President Saddam Hussein. Saddam denies having such weapons.
Sat April 5, 2003 07:07 AM ET
AZIZIYAH, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines were digging up a suspected chemical weapons hiding place in the courtyard of an Iraqi school southeast of Baghdad on Saturday.
The Marines said that a man who described himself as a former member of the Iraqi special forces told them that groups of Iraqi men had knocked down a wall of the girls' school two months ago, hidden something in the courtyard and then concreted it over again during the course of three nights.
"We don't have a clue now but we're going to dig it up and see," General James Mattis, the commander of the Marine Division which is the main Marine ground force in Iraq, said at the scene.
Marine forces were digging up the heavy concrete laid in the courtyard of the school in the dusty town 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
Washington and London launched the invasion of Iraq on March 20, saying they wanted to rid the nation of alleged chemical and biological weapons and oust President Saddam Hussein. Saddam denies having such weapons.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
US begins the process of 'regime change'
Ed Vulliamy in New York and Kamal Ahmed
Sunday April 6, 2003
The Observer
The US is ready to install the first leg of an interim government for the new Iraq as early as Tuesday, even while fighting still rages in Baghdad, officials said yesterday.
America's readiness to establish the first stages of a civil administration to run post-war Iraq comes at lightning speed and constitutes a rebuff to European ambitions to stall on the process until some kind of role for the United Nations is agreed.
It was reported yesterday that the National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has also ruled out any key role for the UN.
The decision to proceed with an embryonic government comes in response to memoranda written by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week, urging that the US begin to entrench its authority in areas under its control before the war is over.
Pentagon officials told The Observer that the administration is determined to impose the Rumsfeld plan and sees no use for a UN role, describing the international body as 'irrelevant'.
The proposal is due to be discussed by George Bush and his closest security officials when he returns from this week's Northern Ireland war council with Tony Blair.
But according to US offi cials in Doha, elements of an embryonic new government will be established in the southern port of Umm Qasr, taken by coalition forces during the first days of the war.
It will be installed by the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, under the former US army Lieutenant General Jay Garner, and answerable to the Pentagon.
'What we are going to start trying to do, even before the fighting is over in Iraq, is to move to the areas in Iraq that are relatively peaceful, places like Umm Qasr, and to start moving [the office of reconstruction] into Iraq,' the official said. 'It is a fair assessment to say that this is the first step to set up a civil administration in Iraq.'
The decision is a rebuff to European diplomats who pleaded with US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday to allow for a UN role.
By brushing the UN aside at such an early stage, the move also places Tony Blair - whose own preference is for a UN role - in a difficult situation ahead of his meeting with Bush this week.
Rumsfeld presented two memoranda to the White House last week, urging the President to begin setting up government institutions in areas under US control. He said the new organs could install Iraqis returning from exile under the tutelage of American civilians answerable to General Garner.
But his plan has been opposed even within the administration. Colin Powell is known to favour a military government established after victory is assured, prepared to nurture an Iraqi government centred around citizens resident in Iraq, rather than exiles sponsored by neo-conservatives in the Pentagon.
General Garner is already set to make his media debut in Kuwait tomorrow as the man whom the US has named to be Iraq's temporary post-war civilian administrator.
The US viceroy of the Southern region will be retired General Buck Walters; one of three governors slated to minister the new Iraqi provinces.
The others are General Bruce Moore in the largely Kurdish north and former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine based in Baghdad, governing the central region.
Ed Vulliamy in New York and Kamal Ahmed
Sunday April 6, 2003
The Observer
The US is ready to install the first leg of an interim government for the new Iraq as early as Tuesday, even while fighting still rages in Baghdad, officials said yesterday.
America's readiness to establish the first stages of a civil administration to run post-war Iraq comes at lightning speed and constitutes a rebuff to European ambitions to stall on the process until some kind of role for the United Nations is agreed.
It was reported yesterday that the National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has also ruled out any key role for the UN.
The decision to proceed with an embryonic government comes in response to memoranda written by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week, urging that the US begin to entrench its authority in areas under its control before the war is over.
Pentagon officials told The Observer that the administration is determined to impose the Rumsfeld plan and sees no use for a UN role, describing the international body as 'irrelevant'.
The proposal is due to be discussed by George Bush and his closest security officials when he returns from this week's Northern Ireland war council with Tony Blair.
But according to US offi cials in Doha, elements of an embryonic new government will be established in the southern port of Umm Qasr, taken by coalition forces during the first days of the war.
It will be installed by the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, under the former US army Lieutenant General Jay Garner, and answerable to the Pentagon.
'What we are going to start trying to do, even before the fighting is over in Iraq, is to move to the areas in Iraq that are relatively peaceful, places like Umm Qasr, and to start moving [the office of reconstruction] into Iraq,' the official said. 'It is a fair assessment to say that this is the first step to set up a civil administration in Iraq.'
The decision is a rebuff to European diplomats who pleaded with US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday to allow for a UN role.
By brushing the UN aside at such an early stage, the move also places Tony Blair - whose own preference is for a UN role - in a difficult situation ahead of his meeting with Bush this week.
Rumsfeld presented two memoranda to the White House last week, urging the President to begin setting up government institutions in areas under US control. He said the new organs could install Iraqis returning from exile under the tutelage of American civilians answerable to General Garner.
But his plan has been opposed even within the administration. Colin Powell is known to favour a military government established after victory is assured, prepared to nurture an Iraqi government centred around citizens resident in Iraq, rather than exiles sponsored by neo-conservatives in the Pentagon.
General Garner is already set to make his media debut in Kuwait tomorrow as the man whom the US has named to be Iraq's temporary post-war civilian administrator.
The US viceroy of the Southern region will be retired General Buck Walters; one of three governors slated to minister the new Iraqi provinces.
The others are General Bruce Moore in the largely Kurdish north and former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine based in Baghdad, governing the central region.
BowlingForSoup
New member
Looks like they're making their second raid into Baghdad right this minute. There's a column of tanks on the way as well as air support.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Yep! Taking control of Pres. palaces and the information ministry live right now! They got some great intl. from an Iraqi general that was caught earlier in the war! He has been giving up all kinds of info! Weapons caches, hideouts, etc.! They cut a deal with him and Special Ops his family out of Iraq! He is going to get Secret Asylum identity change for his help!
BowlingForSoup
New member
See! If they play nice, we give them neato names and toys! Seriously, Dcup, you checkin' this out? This is a bit awe inspiring.
BowlingForSoup
New member
Saddam's presidential palance....property....of the U.S.A.!!
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Yep watching and typing at the same time!
BowlingForSoup
New member
They're gonna take a shower in Saddam's shower! THAT KICKS ASS!
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Yes, But they better clear the joint before hand! I don't know if it was nervousness or cockiness! But they better keep their guard up! Things can change in a hurry on the battle field!
Last edited:
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
Posted on Sun, Apr. 06, 2003
Troops, journalists undergo cleanup for nerve gas exposure
By TOM LASSETER
Knight Ridder Newspapers
ALBU MUHAWISH, Iraq - U.S. soldiers evacuated an Iraqi military compound on Sunday after tests by a mobile laboratory confirmed evidence of sarin nerve gas. More than a dozen soldiers of the Army's 101st Airborne Division had been sent earlier for chemical weapons decontamination after they exhibited symptoms of possible exposure to nerve agents.
The evacuation of dozens of soldiers Sunday night followed a day of tests for the nerve agent that came back positive, then negative. Additional tests Sunday night by an Army Fox mobile nuclear, biological and chemical detection laboratory confirmed the existence of sarin.
Sgt. Todd Ruggles, a biochemical expert attached to the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne said, "I was right" that chemical agents Iraq has denied having were present.
In addition to the soldiers sent for decontamination, a Knight Ridder reporter, a CNN cameraman and two Iraqi prisoners of war also were hosed down with water and bleach.
U.S. soldiers found the suspect chemicals at two sites: an agricultural warehouse containing 55-gallon chemical drums and a military compound, which soldiers had begun searching on Saturday. The soldiers also found hundreds of gas masks and chemical suits at the military complex, along with large numbers of mortar and artillery rounds.
Chemical tests for nerve agents in the warehouse came back positive for so-called G-Series nerve agents, which include sarin and tabun, both of which Iraq has been known to possess. More than a dozen infantry soldiers who guarded the military compound Saturday night came down with symptoms consistent with exposure to very low levels of nerve agent, including vomiting, dizziness and skin blotches.
A hand-held scanning device also indicated the soldiers had been exposed to a nerve agent. Two tests at the compound were negative, but further testing indicated sarin was present.
Sarin can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and is considered one of the most feared but also the most volatile of the nerve agents, chemical weapons experts have said. A cloud of sarin can dissipate after several minutes or hours depending on wind and temperature.
The soldiers, journalists and prisoners of war who tested positive were isolated as everyone else evacuated the area. After about 45 minutes, the group was walked, single-file, down a road for about a city block to where two water trucks awaited them. The men stepped between the two trucks and were hosed down as they lathered themselves with a detergent containing bleach.
1st Lt. Elena Aravjo of the 63rd Chemical Company said she thought there might well be chemical weapons at the site. "We do think there's stuff in this compound and the other (agricultural warehouse) compound, but we think it's buried," she said. "I'm really suspicious of both of those compounds."
The suspicions, or at the very least concerns, were widespread. The 2nd Brigade's commander, Col. Joseph Anderson, toured the site on Sunday, as did Brig. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, the assistant commander of the 101st Airborne for operations. Shortly after, the division commander, Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, also visited the site.
The ranking officers made no official comment about suspected nerve agents. Troops not wearing chemical protection suits later reoccupied the military complex, while sections of the agricultural warehouse remained taped off.
Troops, journalists undergo cleanup for nerve gas exposure
By TOM LASSETER
Knight Ridder Newspapers
ALBU MUHAWISH, Iraq - U.S. soldiers evacuated an Iraqi military compound on Sunday after tests by a mobile laboratory confirmed evidence of sarin nerve gas. More than a dozen soldiers of the Army's 101st Airborne Division had been sent earlier for chemical weapons decontamination after they exhibited symptoms of possible exposure to nerve agents.
The evacuation of dozens of soldiers Sunday night followed a day of tests for the nerve agent that came back positive, then negative. Additional tests Sunday night by an Army Fox mobile nuclear, biological and chemical detection laboratory confirmed the existence of sarin.
Sgt. Todd Ruggles, a biochemical expert attached to the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne said, "I was right" that chemical agents Iraq has denied having were present.
In addition to the soldiers sent for decontamination, a Knight Ridder reporter, a CNN cameraman and two Iraqi prisoners of war also were hosed down with water and bleach.
U.S. soldiers found the suspect chemicals at two sites: an agricultural warehouse containing 55-gallon chemical drums and a military compound, which soldiers had begun searching on Saturday. The soldiers also found hundreds of gas masks and chemical suits at the military complex, along with large numbers of mortar and artillery rounds.
Chemical tests for nerve agents in the warehouse came back positive for so-called G-Series nerve agents, which include sarin and tabun, both of which Iraq has been known to possess. More than a dozen infantry soldiers who guarded the military compound Saturday night came down with symptoms consistent with exposure to very low levels of nerve agent, including vomiting, dizziness and skin blotches.
A hand-held scanning device also indicated the soldiers had been exposed to a nerve agent. Two tests at the compound were negative, but further testing indicated sarin was present.
Sarin can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and is considered one of the most feared but also the most volatile of the nerve agents, chemical weapons experts have said. A cloud of sarin can dissipate after several minutes or hours depending on wind and temperature.
The soldiers, journalists and prisoners of war who tested positive were isolated as everyone else evacuated the area. After about 45 minutes, the group was walked, single-file, down a road for about a city block to where two water trucks awaited them. The men stepped between the two trucks and were hosed down as they lathered themselves with a detergent containing bleach.
1st Lt. Elena Aravjo of the 63rd Chemical Company said she thought there might well be chemical weapons at the site. "We do think there's stuff in this compound and the other (agricultural warehouse) compound, but we think it's buried," she said. "I'm really suspicious of both of those compounds."
The suspicions, or at the very least concerns, were widespread. The 2nd Brigade's commander, Col. Joseph Anderson, toured the site on Sunday, as did Brig. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, the assistant commander of the 101st Airborne for operations. Shortly after, the division commander, Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, also visited the site.
The ranking officers made no official comment about suspected nerve agents. Troops not wearing chemical protection suits later reoccupied the military complex, while sections of the agricultural warehouse remained taped off.
BowlingForSoup
New member
Yeah good point. For the moment, uplifting, but we all need to be on our toes if you get what I mean.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
SADDAM, SONS TARGETED
The Associated Press
AP-NY-04-07-03 2241EDT
WASHINGTON (April 7) - An American bomber struck a residential complex in Baghdad on Monday after U.S. intelligence received information that Saddam Hussein, his sons and other top Iraqi leaders might be meeting there, U.S. officials said.
There was no immediate word on who might have been killed, but U.S. officials said they had evidence the target had been destroyed. ''There is a big hole where that target used to be,'' one U.S. official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
The attack was carried out by a single B-1B bomber which dropped fewer than five 2,000-pound bunker-penetrating bombs on the residential building, the officials said.
It came on a day when U.S. forces also occupied two of Saddam's palaces and knocked down a statue of the Iraqi leader as they tried to wrest control of Baghdad from his regime.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said American intelligence learned Monday morning of a high-level meeting in Baghdad between senior Iraqi intelligence officials and, possibly, Saddam and his two sons, Qusai and Odai.
The intelligence was passed to U.S. Central Command, which sent aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on the target.
Coalition strikes have aimed at top Iraqi leaders since the beginning of the war. U.S. and British troops have invaded at least four of Saddam's many palaces in recent days, including two in Baghdad Monday, looking for information, including clues to where he and his inner circle might be.
On March 19, President Bush authorized a strike on a suburban Baghdad compound where Saddam and his sons were believed to be staying. That strike, like Monday's attack, was based on time-sensitive intelligence.
For days after the initial strike, U.S. officials sorted through intelligence suggesting Saddam may have been killed or injured, but intelligence officials have become increasingly confident he survived that strike.
Earlier Monday, U.S. and British officials said they believed Saddam's top commander in southern Iraq had been killed in a U.S. airstrike.
American warplanes bombed a home in Basra where Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, was believed to be staying. That attack, too, was based on a time-sensitive tip. Al-Majid was a former Iraqi defense chief whose enemies called him ''Chemical Ali'' for his role in 1988 chemical weapons attacks on Iraqi Kurds.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, showed a video clip of the attack at a Pentagon news conference Monday.
''We believe that the reign of terror of Chemical Ali has come to an end. To Iraqis who have suffered at his hand, particularly in the last few weeks in that southern part of the country, he will never again terrorize you or your families,'' Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said.
The Associated Press
AP-NY-04-07-03 2241EDT
WASHINGTON (April 7) - An American bomber struck a residential complex in Baghdad on Monday after U.S. intelligence received information that Saddam Hussein, his sons and other top Iraqi leaders might be meeting there, U.S. officials said.
There was no immediate word on who might have been killed, but U.S. officials said they had evidence the target had been destroyed. ''There is a big hole where that target used to be,'' one U.S. official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
The attack was carried out by a single B-1B bomber which dropped fewer than five 2,000-pound bunker-penetrating bombs on the residential building, the officials said.
It came on a day when U.S. forces also occupied two of Saddam's palaces and knocked down a statue of the Iraqi leader as they tried to wrest control of Baghdad from his regime.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said American intelligence learned Monday morning of a high-level meeting in Baghdad between senior Iraqi intelligence officials and, possibly, Saddam and his two sons, Qusai and Odai.
The intelligence was passed to U.S. Central Command, which sent aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on the target.
Coalition strikes have aimed at top Iraqi leaders since the beginning of the war. U.S. and British troops have invaded at least four of Saddam's many palaces in recent days, including two in Baghdad Monday, looking for information, including clues to where he and his inner circle might be.
On March 19, President Bush authorized a strike on a suburban Baghdad compound where Saddam and his sons were believed to be staying. That strike, like Monday's attack, was based on time-sensitive intelligence.
For days after the initial strike, U.S. officials sorted through intelligence suggesting Saddam may have been killed or injured, but intelligence officials have become increasingly confident he survived that strike.
Earlier Monday, U.S. and British officials said they believed Saddam's top commander in southern Iraq had been killed in a U.S. airstrike.
American warplanes bombed a home in Basra where Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, was believed to be staying. That attack, too, was based on a time-sensitive tip. Al-Majid was a former Iraqi defense chief whose enemies called him ''Chemical Ali'' for his role in 1988 chemical weapons attacks on Iraqi Kurds.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, showed a video clip of the attack at a Pentagon news conference Monday.
''We believe that the reign of terror of Chemical Ali has come to an end. To Iraqis who have suffered at his hand, particularly in the last few weeks in that southern part of the country, he will never again terrorize you or your families,'' Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES
April 8 — A U.S. Air Force warplane dropped four enormous bombs Monday on a residential complex where “extremely reliable” intelligence indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and one or both of his two sons were attending a meeting, senior administration officials told NBC News. The sources would not rule out the possibility that Saddam could have moved before the bomber struck, but they said it was likely that he and his sons were dead.
BASED ON information from an intelligence source on the ground in Baghdad, U.S. military officials were confident that Saddam and his son Qusay were attending a meeting in the neighborhood with other top Iraqi leaders, senior officials told NBC’s Carl Rochelle at the Pentagon and Andrea Mitchell at the State Department. They said they believed it was possible that Saddam’s other son, Uday, also was there.
The intelligence information was considered so reliable that it justified a massive attack in a residential area of the al-Mansour district of western Baghdad despite the administration’s declared emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties, diplomatic and military sources said.
Officials quickly called in an Air Force B-1B bomber to strike the location. At 2 p.m. Monday (6 a.m. ET Sunday), the warplane dropped four GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition weapons, the 2,000-pound smart bombs known as “bunker busters,” leaving giant holes in the ground, the officials said.
Diplomatic officials and officials at the Pentagon told NBC News that they were highly confident that they killed everyone at the meeting, but they said it could take a day or two before they knew for sure.
Senior administration officials at the White House and military officials at U.S. Central Command forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar, confirmed the airstrike. The officials would not comment on the possible effect of the airstrike, but officials in Qatar said that the atmosphere at Central Command was one of “confidence” and that more information could be released in the coming hours.
Senior U.S. officials have told NBC News that Saddam’s likely successor, assuming Qusay Hussein was not available to take command, would be Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. The sources said Ibrahim was believed to be in Mosul in northern Iraq in recent weeks, not in Baghdad.
April 8 — A U.S. Air Force warplane dropped four enormous bombs Monday on a residential complex where “extremely reliable” intelligence indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and one or both of his two sons were attending a meeting, senior administration officials told NBC News. The sources would not rule out the possibility that Saddam could have moved before the bomber struck, but they said it was likely that he and his sons were dead.
BASED ON information from an intelligence source on the ground in Baghdad, U.S. military officials were confident that Saddam and his son Qusay were attending a meeting in the neighborhood with other top Iraqi leaders, senior officials told NBC’s Carl Rochelle at the Pentagon and Andrea Mitchell at the State Department. They said they believed it was possible that Saddam’s other son, Uday, also was there.
The intelligence information was considered so reliable that it justified a massive attack in a residential area of the al-Mansour district of western Baghdad despite the administration’s declared emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties, diplomatic and military sources said.
Officials quickly called in an Air Force B-1B bomber to strike the location. At 2 p.m. Monday (6 a.m. ET Sunday), the warplane dropped four GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition weapons, the 2,000-pound smart bombs known as “bunker busters,” leaving giant holes in the ground, the officials said.
Diplomatic officials and officials at the Pentagon told NBC News that they were highly confident that they killed everyone at the meeting, but they said it could take a day or two before they knew for sure.
Senior administration officials at the White House and military officials at U.S. Central Command forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar, confirmed the airstrike. The officials would not comment on the possible effect of the airstrike, but officials in Qatar said that the atmosphere at Central Command was one of “confidence” and that more information could be released in the coming hours.
Senior U.S. officials have told NBC News that Saddam’s likely successor, assuming Qusay Hussein was not available to take command, would be Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. The sources said Ibrahim was believed to be in Mosul in northern Iraq in recent weeks, not in Baghdad.
D
DcupSheepNipples
Guest
It may be impossible! I saw the Crater and it is huge! They may be able to find a few pieces of bodyparts to check for DNA, but it will be hard! So in the end it may never be confirmed!
BowlingForSoup
New member
With all that destruction, if they were in there, or even underneath in the tunnels, wouldn't they just be vaporized? I mean I don't really know...but yet again, I don't know how the human body would be able to handle that.
Baby Gorilla
New member
Uh....
Seen this elsewhere.
Why would Saddam be so STUPID as to go out in the open when he spent MILLIONS to build a bunker we likely couldn't reach with a bomb?
Seen this elsewhere.
Why would Saddam be so STUPID as to go out in the open when he spent MILLIONS to build a bunker we likely couldn't reach with a bomb?
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