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50 miles from Baghdad
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Britain
Mosque dispute man dies
A 30-year-old man has died a week after he was gunned down during a dispute between members of Europe's largest mosque, police have said. Shaham Ali lost his fight for life at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after being shot in the head in the Small Heath area of the city. West Midlands Police said two brothers charged of Mr Ali's attempted murder on March 17 may be facing fresh allegations.
Sounds like the attempted murder is now successful murder...
Mr Ali, a member of Birmingham Central Mosque from Acocks Green, had climbed out of a Honda Civic car in Waverley Road, Small Heath, to use a public telephone when he was hit by shots fired from a Volkswagen Golf which drew up nearby. Another occupant of the car and mosque member, Asmat Yaqub, 34, was hit in the shoulder by the same hail of bullets. Fellow members Mohammed Sharafit Khan, 30, of Fitters Mill Close, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, and his brother Mohammed Arshad Khan, 29, of Princess Road, Edgbaston, were last week charged with the attempted murder of Mr Ali and remanded in custody.
Guess they showed them who's more devout...
Mohammed Sharafit Khan is one of three men who has been charged with the false imprisonment of Shockat Lal, the secretary of the mosque, in a separate incident.
Boy, I heard those rectory politix can be murder, but this seems a little extreme... But then, it's the Religion of Peace™, isn't it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 06:19 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What great insult prompted this? Somebody make some crack about somebody's mustache?
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 21:19 Comments || Top||

#2  and I thought our Knights of Columbus meetings got rowdy.....
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2003 18:36 Comments || Top||

#3  That can't be, there's no guns allowed in Britain.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 19:56 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Michael Moore booed as he slams Iraq war at Oscars
Famed US documentary maker Michael Moore predictably used his win of an Oscar to launch a violent attack on US President George W. Bush and war in Iraq amid loud boos from the audience. "We live in fictitious times," he said when picking up the award for best fictitious documentary for his anti-gun film "Bowling for Columbine." "We live in a time with fictitious election results that elect fictitious presidents. We live in a time when we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.
"We live in a time where fictitious innalekshuls display fictitious innaleck..."
"We are against this war Mr Bush. Shame on you. Shame on you!," he said to loud boos from an audience of 3,500 including most of Hollywood's top stars.
Hmmm... Takes a lot to get booed for one's dumbass statements in Gollywood. But Mikey's got a lot...
When he went backstage at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre to face reporters, Moore was unapologetic for his outburst. "I'm an American, and you don't leave your citizenship when you enter the doors of the Kodak Theater. What's great about this country is that you can speak your mind," he said.
"If any..."
He said that, far from being appalled, many fictitious people in the audience stood up to applaud him. "I say tonight I showed myself to be a traitorous dumbass put America in a good light," he said praising the decision to push ahead with the Oscars despite the war raging in the Middle East. "I showed how vital it is to have trivial free speech in our country and all Americans have the right to stand up and make fools of themsleves for what they believe in," he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 08:02 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What's the hunting season for Michigan Land-Cows?
Posted by: mojo || 03/24/2003 12:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Distasteful Night at the Oscars! I am saddened by the ignorance of some of some people in this country. (Pray to God they remain in the minority) I can't understand why these people don't recognize that no amount of anti-war, anti-America reiterick will change how they would be viewed or accepted in many parts of the middle east. If only we could send Michael Moore over there, then he would find out that people like Saddam and Bin Laden would consider him an "infidel" and have him shot just for being a "zionist" American, famous or not. Mr. Moore and other Hollywood stars have much to say with little information or education behind it....their craft allows them to skillfully convince us that they are someone else on screen, but I am not to inpressed with the 'real' people some of them are.
Posted by: USgirl || 03/24/2003 21:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, if anyone knows about "fiction" it's fat, ugly Mikey. Just watch one of his movies. Didn't know they made tuxes in size "blimp".
I'm glad he did it because anyone out there who doesn't know his fat ass from a hole in the wall sure knows who he is now. And what an asshole he is. Hope you enjoyed your career, Mikey.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 8:12 Comments || Top||

#4  "I'm an American, and you don't leave your citizenship when you enter the doors of the Kodak Theater. What's great about this country is that you can speak your mind," he said.

Yes, he kept his citizenship, but apparently he left his integrity and humanity elsewhere. He's too stupid to notice that it's missing.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 9:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Interesting headline switcheroo: this morning, Yahoo!'s headline was "Michael Moore booed at Oscars" (or something very similar); now it's "Michael Moore slams war on Iraq at Oscars." The article appears to be the same.

The only Moore slam I would fear is a body-slam.
Posted by: matt || 03/24/2003 11:28 Comments || Top||

#6  What's the hunting season for Michigan Land-Cows?
Posted by: mojo || 03/24/2003 12:17 Comments || Top||

#7  The only truth about what you stated Mr. Moore - was that you can speak your mind in America. However, it is obvious that you are just filled with stupidity. President Bush has more class in his little pinky toe - than you have in your WHOLE - AND I MEAN WHOLE entire body. You should take some lessons from him......Don't open your mouth - if crap is just going to come flying out of it...
Posted by: Andrea from Jersey || 03/24/2003 14:06 Comments || Top||

#8  "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

That's what America is all about. Even in Iraq. I'm quoting a French here: Voltaire

In Iraq Michael Moore would have more than his tongue cut out.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 14:13 Comments || Top||

#9  Why isn't Michael Moore in Iraq using himself as a human shield if he is so opposed to the war and "OUR" President?? And where the hell was he on 9/11 when over 3,000 "Americans" were killed...I didn't see him helping our heroes in a rescue and recovery effort!!! SHAME ON YOU MICHAEL MOORE !!! God Bless America, our President and our Troops!!!
Posted by: Sheila from New Jersey || 03/24/2003 14:17 Comments || Top||

#10  Just because you have the right to say something, doesn't mean its right to say something. The left need to relearn common decency.

One report of the incident said the booing came from the cheap seats, that the stars sat on their hands and basically fought not to clap for Mikey. The lesson of the Dixie Chix is ringing strong in Hollywood right now.
Posted by: Yank || 03/24/2003 14:20 Comments || Top||

#11  This article nicely explains why "Bowling for Columbine" is not a documentary but a piece of propaganda.

http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 16:59 Comments || Top||

#12  Michael Moore should be a human shield. After all, he could shield about 4 Iraqis with his fat bag.

What a cheap man-slut, a man-bitch and a man-whore.
Posted by: anon1 || 03/24/2003 17:02 Comments || Top||

#13  Best thing was Steve Martin's crack right after - something like "You should see backstage, it's so sweet, the teamsters are helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his car."

Whether Martin meant it this way or not, that joke perfectly captured the difference between people like Moore and the rest of us (especially those of us who live a few miles from a giant hole in the ground in lower Manhattan),
Posted by: Bone || 03/24/2003 21:37 Comments || Top||

#14  FWIW, Moore lives on the Upper West Side. He's still a douchebag, though.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 21:43 Comments || Top||

#15  "That's what America is all about. Even in Iraq. I'm quoting a French here: Voltaire"

Don't believe you are right,I think that was from a Patriot from the American Revolution(can't remember his name).
Posted by: raptor || 03/25/2003 7:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakland piously condemns slaughter of Pandits
The government of Pakistan has strongly condemned the massacre of twenty-four Kashmiri Pandits in Nandimarg village in Shopian in the Indian administered Kashmir. In a statement issued in Islamabad the Foreign Office spokesman said that "this blatant act of terrorism, reportedly carried out by persons wearing Indian army uniforms, is reprehensible". The government of Pakistan also offers condolences to the bereaved families.
"I weep for you, the Walrus said. I deeply sympathize..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 01:40 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Gunmen kill 24 Kashmir Hindus
Senior Indian cabinet members are holding an emergency meeting after 24 Hindus were shot dead in Indian-administered Kashmir. Police said unidentified gunmen shot members of the state's minority Hindu community near the southern town of Shopian.
Now that Washington is distracted the Pak Jihadis can ramp up the murder again.
It is the worst such attack since a new government was elected in Indian-administered Kashmir last September. Many people had hoped the vote, which was largely peaceful, would ease tensions in the region over the disputed state.
"Largely peaceful"? The jihadis were bumping off politicians and voters right and left!
The Kashmir director-general of police, AK Suri, said gunmen dressed in army uniforms entered Nadimarg village near Shopian — about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the summer capital Srinagar. They told police they were Indian army soldiers and wanted to carry out a search operation. They then snatched the policemen's weapons and shot their victims. The dead included women and children, police said.
They're easiest to kill, aren't they? They're usually not armed...
Deepak Kumar, whose mother was among those killed, hid inside his house when the attackers came to his door. "There was a knock on the door. These people said 'we are security forces and want to search houses for militants,'" he told the Reuters news agency. Another eyewitness, Chunni Lal, said he was lined up outside his house with other villagers after which the gunmen opened fire. "I was hit. I fell down and pretended to be dead," he said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 03/24/2003 07:29 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't expect to hear about these, The Children(TM) from the (snicker) caring peace activists. Bottom line, if America doesn't cause it, your suffering doesn't count.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 9:16 Comments || Top||


Pakistani tribes allow military into the areas
The agreement to deploy troops in the Mohmand Agency, one of seven agencies that comprise the restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas, is being described by the government and observers as nothing short of a breakthrough. Last week’s agreement between the federal government and local tribal chiefs in Mohmand allows forces to search for al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants in this region bordering the Kunar province of Afghanistan.
I guess they will have to move to Peshawar now
“We are now in complete control of our border with Afghanistan,” Mohmand Agency chief administrator Sahibzada Muhammad Anees told TFT last week in Ghalanai, agency headquarters of the most underdeveloped and poverty-stricken tribal zone. Anees described the negotiations, “tiring”. The move followed intense pressure from Washington to plug the last hole in ensuring US search operations against Osama bin Laden and former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, launching attacks against the Americans. GHQ believes the Northern Alliance across the border is engaged in “serious Indian activities”, in the words of a military expert.
The Pakistanis supported the Taliban, and the Indians supported the Northern Allaince, and since the Tajiks are practically running Kabul, the Indians are said to have been moving in troops and spies to encircle Pakistan.
The unprecedented co-operation follows the agreement reached between Islamabad and a 25-member jirga of Mohmand chieftains. “The tribesmen do not refuse you if you assure them their culture and code of life will not be threatened,” Mr Anees told TFT, adding that tribesmen also felt the need for government-provided basic civic amenities and facilities. Baizai and Khoizai tribes were regarded as the most conservative of the tribes. Both finally opened their areas to government-initiated development schemes in October 2002 after six years of talks. The hermetic nature of the tribes was legendary: they viewed the wheel as a symbol of depravity. The ban on vehicles was lifted seven years ago with these areas seeing tractors for the first time.
No comment.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 03/24/2003 07:32 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  a breakthrough, hmmm. Good if true. The proof of the pudding .....
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  --Mr Anees told TFT, adding that tribesmen also felt the need for government-provided basic civic amenities and facilities.--

Ahhh, entitlement.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 12:52 Comments || Top||

#3  ...they viewed the wheel as a symbol of depravity.

What is this, "Quest For Fire"? How the hell do you deal with people like this? But I also see that they have their hand out so they can't be that primitive. They've learned that game.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 21:52 Comments || Top||


Iraq
POWs to be dealt with as per Islamic law: Sabri
Prisoners of war in Iraqi hands will be treated in accordance with "the teachings of Islam," Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told the BBC today. Sabri, in Egypt to rally Arab governments against what he called US and British "colonialism, neo-colonialism and war," said Islamic principles took precedence over the Geneva Convention. "First of all, we are committed to the teachings of Islam. We are faithful Muslims. We take care of our prisoners of war in accordance with our teachings of Islam," he told BBC radio's The World At One programme. "We are the people who created law when the grandfathers of Blair and Bush were living like animals in the caves."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 08:15 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anybody still wondering why we're over there now?
The more of these Religion of Peace lunatics we crush into dust, the better off the civilized world is.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 21:27 Comments || Top||

#2  "We are the people who created law when the grandfathers of Blair and Bush were living like animals in the caves."

"In fact, we liked the caves so much we threw them out and took them for ourselves. And here we shall remain!"
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 03/24/2003 20:19 Comments || Top||

#3  We are the people who, among others, inherited the laws handed down by God Himself at Sinai. From all the reading I've done (considerable) working toward a Master's Degree in Modern European History, I never read anything that has said that Islamic law predates Jewish Law. Jewish law is a major underlying fundament of the law of most modern nations of the world.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 20:38 Comments || Top||

#4  I guess when they tortured prisoners during and after the Gulf War that was in keeping with Sharia.
Posted by: mhw || 03/24/2003 20:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Actually, most of western law is based on Roman law which predated Islam by a few centuries.
Posted by: Denny || 03/24/2003 20:53 Comments || Top||

#6  "We take care of our prisoners of war in accordance with our teachings of Islam"

It's true. That's why our soldiers were murdered for trying to remove oppression.
Posted by: g wiz || 03/24/2003 20:55 Comments || Top||

#7  What if Iraq treats them as "unlawful combattants"? After all the UN says that war violates international law.
It's a bit funny that Rumsfeld, the master of Guantanamo camp, should ask Saddam, the bloody dictator, to respect the Geneva convention.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 22:01 Comments || Top||

#8  This is a bunch of smoke blowing. Muslim and Islamic people do not view us as being worthy of equal treatment...we are referred to as "animals in caves" by this Saddam-loving idiot. They are the animals...look what the bastards did to our soldiers! I don't trust them to be humane or follow the code of any religion. Clearly they are going to do what they do best...be brutal savages!
Posted by: USgirl || 03/24/2003 22:14 Comments || Top||

#9  Last time I looked, they weren't shooting people in the head in Guantanamo.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 22:36 Comments || Top||

#10  You gotta know "islamic doublespeak" to know what they are saying, when they say that they will treat POW's properly, what they are REALLY saying is that our guys arent really POW's but illegal mercenaries.

Some smartass reporter aught to ask that of the Iraqi regime " do you consider the captured americans to be POW's, or illegal combatants"?

Then watch then squirm with the answer.
Posted by: Frank Martin || 03/25/2003 0:01 Comments || Top||


Syrian Volunteers Reportedly Head for Iraq
From Stratfor: subscription needed to access link
The BBC has reported that busloads of Syrian volunteers have left Syria to fight alongside Iraqi soldiers. The network offered no further details regarding the numbers involved or Damascus' position on their actions. However, while Syria has stated its opposition to the war, Damascus has been extremely cautious in avoiding the impression of providing material support to Iraq. Even tacit approval of Syrian volunteers in Iraq would be tantamount to siding with Iraq in its war with the United States. That would be a tremendous gamble on the outcome of the war.
That would be a good way to have U.S. troops eventually end up 50 miles from Damascus — and still moving...
Damascus certainly would prefer that the United States not successfully occupy Iraq. Should that occupation occur, Syria would be surrounded by U.S. and allied forces to the north, south and east, severely limiting its diplomatic and military options. However, since U.S. forces already are deployed to Iraq, en route and available, it would be difficult to argue at this time that Iraq will emerge from this war victorious. Coalition troops have faced some resistance, but not enough to justify a Syrian gamble on a U.S. loss.
So it's non-official dumbasses, off to fight jihad?
Sources in Syria report that tens of thousands of Syrian volunteers are pressing Damascus to allow them to cross the border to help their Iraqi brethren fight the U.S. Army. The government reportedly is refusing, as it fears U.S. anger and already has been warned by Washington. But the sources say that hundreds of young Syrians, many of them former soldiers with the Syrian army, are successfully finding their way into Iraq — either crossing the desert on foot or camel or by bribing border guards.
Yeah. And there's no Pak involvement in the Kashmir infiltration, either. Sounds more like plausible deniability...
There is one anomaly that could support the BBC report of busloads of volunteers leaving Syria to fight. According to Syria's SANA news agency, a U.S. warplane fired a missile at a busload of Syrian nationals in Iraq at 10:00 a.m. local time March 23. The bus was carrying 37 laborers, purportedly returning to Syria from jobs in Iraq, when it was attacked near Ar Rutbah, roughly 100 miles from the Syrian border. Five of the passengers died and at least 10 were wounded in the attack. Regarding the reported attack, a CENTCOM spokeswoman said only that the United States selects its targets carefully and uses precision-guided munitions to avoid civilian casualties.
The story on the radio this afternoon was that the pilot had already launched when he saw the bus...
This could be an accident and a coincidence. After all, according to SANA, the bus was returning to Syria, not traveling to Baghdad. But one last nagging fact emerged: One of those wounded in the attack was transferred to his hometown of Hamma. Hamma was the site of an Islamist uprising in 1982, which was brutally suppressed by then-President Hafez al Assad. Now, just because someone comes from a town that was a hotbed of Islamist activism two decades ago, when he was an infant, doesn't mean he is either an Islamist or inclined to volunteer for a war against U.S. forces in neighboring Iraq.
I'm from Kentucky, but I've never owned a thoroughbred...
Just to weave in two more tenuous threads of circumstance, we note that last year there were reports of secret Iraqi-Syrian security negotiations and of the transfer of Iraqi arms to Syria and Syrian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. And on March 21, U.S. aircraft bombed the Iraqi town of Akashat, near the Syrian border. There were subsequent reports in the Lebanese and Chinese press of U.S. Special Operations forces skirmishing with Iraqis in that town. There were no reports of Syrian involvement, and the town is reportedly the site of weapons of mass destruction manufacturing facilities. It could have been targeted for reasons having nothing to do with the Syrian volunteers.
But that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with jihadis swarming across the border...
While Stratfor sources confirm that Syrian volunteers are trying to reach Iraq, the BBC allegations of busloads pouring out of the country are difficult to believe and can be bolstered only by the thinnest of circumstances. A few busloads of Syrian volunteers would do nothing to shift the course of the war in Iraq, but would draw U.S. wrath after the war if the coalition emerged victorious. The only conditions under which Damascus would allow volunteers to join Iraqi forces would be if they knew the battle was stacked against CENTCOM or if they were also planning to send significant forces to shift the course of the battle. Neither seems likely, but the situation in Syria is worth monitoring.
Posted by: scott ross || 03/24/2003 08:26 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I seem to recall something about foreign jihadi coming to the aid of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. I don't recall the volunteers being of much help. Perhaps the Syrian bus that took a hit was picking up Syrian human sheilds who had a
last minute change of heart? Too bad...
Posted by: Mark || 03/24/2003 20:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Step right up. Take a number. You guys can get in line right behind Hezbollah.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 21:56 Comments || Top||

#3  I think Bush moved the 4th ID too soon. Maybe it's not too late for them to go ashore in Beirut and march toward Damascus. The mountain range there isn't that high, and there are several nice passes. In passing they can do a little "ethnic cleansing" in the Bekaa valley.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 22:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmm...they might want to read rantburg.
http://www.rantburg.com/?d=3/24/2003#11760

Sometimes our bombs go astray and accidently hit busses full of Syrian's "fleeing" Iraq.
Posted by: becky || 03/25/2003 7:28 Comments || Top||


'Time to stop being Mr Nice Guy'
'I lost a scout this morning to sniper fire and my first sergeant was hit by a mortar round yesterday. That means I am taking it a little bit personally. How am I meant to protect my men when the generals are denying me the ability to bomb enemy positions?".
This sounds too familiar for comfort...
On the outskirts of the central Iraqi town of Samawah, Capt David Waldron and his company of tanks are locked in a defensive formation. His men are under intermittent attack by snipers and mortar fire. They are also increasingly angry and frustrated. From Basra to Karbala, south of Baghdad, coalition forces are under attack from soldiers in civilian clothes and Saddam Hussein's shadowy Fedayeen paramilitaries. And yet 50 per cent of the coalition's desired targets are being vetoed by high command for fear of hitting a sensitive "no combat zone".
"Nope. Nope. You can't bomb them when they're in Laos. Just isn't done, y'know..."
In the latest insight into the resistance, one of Capt Waldron's patrols stopped a civilian car on a routine search and found an armed Iraqi in the back seat. This was not a trained soldier but a 12-year-old boy, his face stricken with terror as he hugged an AK47 to his chest. According to the unit that detained him, the boy said he had been given the weapon by men from Saddam's paramilitary forces. They entered his home, forced it into his hands and then told him to confront the American invaders.
I guess we should consider it a blessing that they don't round up the little girls the same age and send them out, too...
US intelligence now believes that the Fedayeen, a paramilitary group under the control of Saddam's second son, Qusay, and loyalists from Iraq intelligence services are issuing weapons to citizens in the cities at the forefront of the American advance. They are ordering them to fight or face brutal reprisals not only upon them but also their families. In one incident at Samawah, a city with a population of 200,000 halfway between Basra and Karbala, captured PoWs have told American soldiers that they were herded into taxis and ferried to the front. There they were forced out at gunpoint and told to charge the stationed Abrams tanks of the 3/7 cavalry unit. The Americans, seeing that their attackers were in civilian clothes, at first shot above their heads but, as they came closer, they opened fire, killing several Iraqis before the rest surrendered. The unit commander described the assault as "almost a suicide attack".
Yeah. We've seen that before, too...
From Basra to Karbala coalition forces report facing not the formations of Iraq military they had expected - and which their Abrams tanks and air power could easily cope with - but men in civilian clothing riding in non-military vehicles. The centres of cities are being held by the Fedayeen, preventing the advancing army from using the main roads to ferry fuel, ammunition and water to the troops further ahead. Before the invasion, US military intelligence learnt that some Iraqi units were packing their civilian clothes with their uniforms. At the time it was thought this was an indication that they were planning to desert. Now it appears that it may have been an order from high command so that they could blend into the crowd to confuse the Americans. Mortars and artillery are reported to be positioned by hospitals, schools and mosques.
Which can legitimately, in those cases, be flattened...
Other targets are being identified by special forces operating in the urban areas - and yet the targets are being vetoed as too "sensitive". As one of Capt Waldron's tank commanders, Sgt Robert Byrd, put it: "It's time to stop trying to be Mr Nice Guy. They are bombing us. Let's start bombing the hell out of them."
Westmoreland Franks had better fix this problem really quick. No one wants to kill civilians needlessly, but I consider our guys more valuable than their guys — and if the civilians get in the way, even if they're herded in the way — that's really too bad.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 07:54 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Fedayeen Saddam are sick evil bastards. Saddam's reservation in hell will be soon:

---snip---
The Fidayi Saddam include a special unit known as the death squadron, whose masked members perform certain executions, including in victims' homes. The Fidayi operate completely outside the law, above and outside political and legal structures.

It is difficult to establish the exact date when the beheading of women campaign began in Iraq. Witness accounts report the public beheading of women from June 2000 through to May 2001. Saddam’s Fidayi conduct the beheading operations, which take place in two stages. Accompanied by the leaders of the Ba’th party, the Fidayi make a night raid on the district. The latter is gone through with a fine toothcomb to eliminate any hints of revolt and in order to discover any weapons. The population is summoned for the next day at prayer time. They arrive at the stated hour at the home of the victim, who is dragged out in the clothes she is wearing. She is then stretched out on an iron bench, her head hanging down, in front of her children, her family and the whole population of the district. The executioner and his assistants are dressed in brown bearing the logo ‘Saddam’s Fidayi’ and usually do not come from the district or the region. The Feddayi detailed to carry out the beheading takes his sword held out by an assistant and cut’s the victim’s head off. According to the scenes described, the head is exhibited or the body and the head are thrown into black boxes and taken away. Women belonging to families suspected of being hostile to the regime or whose members are in prison as “opponents” (the term of course covers a considerable number of definitions) are particularly targeted.



Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 21:32 Comments || Top||

#2  IF Sadsack is going to force every citizen of Iraq to be a soldier, then the best thing to do is to treat them as soldiers. Either they surrender or we stomp them. I'm sure the second time we flatten a city where the Fedayeen are hiding among the citizens, that will become a very difficult thing for them to do.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 20:18 Comments || Top||

#3  House to house, guys. House to house. Tedious but necessary.
Posted by: Chuck || 03/24/2003 20:43 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm sure the second time we flatten a city where the Fedayeen are hiding among the citizens, that will become a very difficult thing for them to do

That's what I'm talkin about. MOAB! MOAB! MOAB!
Posted by: g wiz || 03/24/2003 20:50 Comments || Top||

#5  You do NOT let your enemy dictate how you fight. That's a losing proposition. Make them fight on your terms and destroy them. The faster it's over, the better off everyone is.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 21:45 Comments || Top||

#6  It's time from Gen. Franks to call the Israelis, get a copy of that standard press release: "The hospital/ambulance/house was no longer being used for civilian purposes . . ."
Posted by: Bone || 03/24/2003 21:46 Comments || Top||

#7  You got it Bone.
Posted by: RW || 03/24/2003 22:33 Comments || Top||

#8  Has anyone here ever done any research on the results of firebomb raids on Tokyo? These did as much as atomic bombs to break the back of the Japanese. Killed and maimed more people, too, but took 100 or more B29's to accomplish.

I think George Bush should draw a "Red Ring" around Baghdad, too - one of fire. Anyone left inside the ring has 48 hours to get out, or sayanora. The world won't like it, but it'll sure save a heckuva lot of OUR people.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 22:57 Comments || Top||

#9  Yeah right, let's liberate Iraq... from its population.
That will show 'em!
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 23:31 Comments || Top||

#10  I hope that we can send as many militant Muslims as possible, as quickly as possible, to be with Allah. I think they would prefer to relax a bit with all those virgins (even though it wouldn't involve killing), and we could use their guns. If Saddam uses VX or any WMD, I think we should use nukes on Baghdad. Even little nukes make great deep bunker busters and tunnel flatteners. The world would be better off without these vermin. And GET SADDAM, and his murderous sons if they're still alive. It's payback time. It's time to roll the Koran up REAL TIGHT, and shove it where the sun don't shine.
Posted by: Screw political correctness || 03/24/2003 23:47 Comments || Top||

#11  Priorities:
1) Win the War
2) Liberate Iraqis

Winning is paramount - if the city of Bagdad is going to resist, flatten it. Priority 2) is clearly lower than 1)
Posted by: flash91 || 03/25/2003 0:40 Comments || Top||


U.S. troops within 50 miles of Baghdad
FoxNews reports U.S. troops within fifty miles of Baghdad and that the Iraqi command has ordered units to use chemical weapons if they cross a "red line."

Followup: Here it is from their website...
Advancing on Saddam Hussein’s hub of power, coalition planes and helicopters pummeled Iraqi Republican Guard forces just south of Baghdad Monday as ground forces got to about 50 miles within the capital city in the midst of blinding sandstorms.

"Coalition forces are closing in on Baghdad," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal of the Joint Staff Operations said Monday.

Citing U.S. officials, CBS News reported that the Republican Guard had been authorized to use chemical weapons on coalition troops once they crossed a red line that Iraqi leadership had drawn around Baghdad. The report was unconfirmed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 09:01 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Could make sense given Sammy's recent "victory soon" speech. If he's expecting victory as the allies are about to enter Baghdad, he's intending to use his chemicals. Bad move. Wonder if the french are paying attention.
Posted by: RW || 03/24/2003 19:19 Comments || Top||

#2  I just hope that the decon units are as far forward as they can afford to be and that they have plenty of detergent, bleach and water. God bless them all.
Posted by: 11A5S || 03/24/2003 19:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Agreed. We knew this was coming - it's a necessary part of the equation. I hope all those nay-sayers who claim there are no WMDs pay attention and then STFU from here on out.
Watch yer top-knot guys!
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/24/2003 19:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Jeezuz, really? Nothing on the FNC website yet. Where did they get this info? This is the dumbest threat Saddam (or whoever) could possibly make (other than, "we have a nuke."), and he should know what this will do to world opinion...well, except for three or four countries I could name.
Posted by: matt || 03/24/2003 20:01 Comments || Top||

#5  It's up now...
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2003 21:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Sammy uses it and the gloves come off. Shock and Awe will look like a day at the beach. Thanks Jacques, Kofi, Blixie, et al. You'll have to scrub a long time to get the blood off your hands.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 22:04 Comments || Top||


Franks’ War Strategy in Iraq Deemed Full of Risks
U.S. commander Gen. Tommy Franks is electing to bypass some Iraqi forces and not occupy key cities in the dash to Baghdad, raising questions about leaving behind dangerous enemy fighters and chaos in urban areas in the wake of his advancing troops. Military analysts said on Monday that Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command, may be taking unnecessary risks in the strategy he is employing, including stretching supply lines, allowing concentrations of enemy forces in the rear of his advancing troops, and using an invasion force that simply may be too small for the task at hand.
I think our planners may have underestimated the grip of the diehards on local populations as well as the lukewarm interest in being liberated by the hated Americans.
In essence the United States is attacking a dozen Iraqi divisions with two divisions of its own, he said. Divisions generally are composed of roughly 15,000 troops. "Normally with a ground force of this size going up against a ground force the size of the Iraqis, one doesn't prevail quickly," said Thompson, who still foresees a decisive and swift victory for the U.S.-led forces. "Can air power compensate for that? It's going to be interesting to watch."
We may know soon.
Posted by: JAB || 03/24/2003 07:07 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not so risky when you assume that one of our battalions is as effective as one of their divisions. (I'm being very conservative.) The biggest risk that I see isn't that we've bypassed enemy concentrations. It's that (when I do the math anyway) we don't have enough folks to do the mopping up and root out the Baath scumbags. We should have called up a couple of NG divisions for this. Not for full scale urban warfare, but to wait out the sieges and establish order as towns and neighborhoods capitulate.
Posted by: 11A5S || 03/24/2003 19:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Man, I'm telling you, a few MOABS will fix all of these problems. Enough with the PC war.
Posted by: g wiz || 03/24/2003 20:33 Comments || Top||

#3  All the analysts now being out of the service, and more than a few because they were passed over for promotion. Hardly a sterling recommendation.

The idea is to lop off the head. If Baghdad falls, the rest will follow. Cheap shots from the cheap seats.
Posted by: Chuck || 03/24/2003 20:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Gee, a war plan full of risks? Wow! What a concept!

Such fascinating times we live in...
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 20:52 Comments || Top||

#5  This discussion led me to dig out a book I bought before GWI, How to Deafeat Saddam Hussein by Col. Trevor N. Dupuy which has some interesting discussion about relative combat effectiveness. Back then, Dupuy concluded that US troops had a general effectiveness mutiplier ratio of about 2.0, that is, considering force quality, technology and force posture (Iraq on the defensive), 10,000 US troops would be equal about 20,000 Iraq troops.

Today's multiplier ratio would be even greater for the US, considering that their forces have deteriorated over the past 12 years, and our technology has improved.

Also, the figure of 2.0 was for ground forces only; it didn't take into account air power, which has to have a gigantic additional impact considering that air power will be brought to bear against them strategically before the fight (ie. against their command & control etc.) as well as tactically before and during the fight.

Supposing, conservatively, that air power and new technology together will increase our ratio to 4.0, then our 20,000 troops will equal 80,000 Iraqi troops. We will however attack their divisions one at a time, so we'll be attacking at about an 8:1 effectiveness ratio.

They will get crushed.

z


Posted by: ziphius || 03/24/2003 20:58 Comments || Top||

#6  IIRC the Dupuy book, he predicted 5,000 KIA in the American army. When it didn't pan out, he fudged and said something to the effect that he didn't factor something in [like the qualitative difference of the skill, training, education of the average troop and the NCO corps].
Posted by: Don || 03/24/2003 21:54 Comments || Top||

#7  General McAffery is more pessimistic.
Posted by: anon || 03/24/2003 21:57 Comments || Top||

#8  I'd feel better if the 4th ID was in the picture.
Any ideas when they're in theatre? (P.S.: Thanks, Turkey.)
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 22:14 Comments || Top||

#9  4th ID is loading up on planes in Colorado Springs as we speak, their gear is reaching Kuwait just now. With luck, if they can get Umm Qasr cleared, the second and third brigades may unload there. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the fastest moving heavy armored unit we have, is in that group too - when they land they will move very quickly to clear the flanks. Also the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (light) (I served with them) will be unloading soon and will probably be providing rear area and flank security against the irregualrs and remnants. Those forces all come on line within the next 2 weeks.
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/24/2003 22:47 Comments || Top||

#10  Old Spook, I'd just LOVE to know where you get your info...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 22:58 Comments || Top||

#11  Run for the hills! Its a plan that not risk free! Its the end of civilization!

From General Eisenhower: A plan by itself is meaningless, but having a plan is everything.
Posted by: Frank Martin || 03/24/2003 23:57 Comments || Top||


Iraqi opposition makes chicken count
A prominent figure close to the Supreme Assembly of Iraq Islamic Revolution (SAIIR) Seyed Mohsen Hakim, told IRNA in a telephone interview from Iraqi Kurdistan's Sulaymaniyeh on Monday of near future developments in which the dissidents would play a decisive role. He said that the General Assembly of the SAIIR would convene in Sulaymaniyeh on Tuesday, March 25, adding, "the members of the leadership council have been engaged in intensive consultations with each other and all involved parties in Iraq crisis during the past few days. Hakim said, "in their meetings that were bilateral, trilateral, and multilateral, the Iraqi dissidents' leaders discussed various issues, including the latest developments in Iraq crisis following the beginning of the US-British forces' military attack."
So far, they've been doing a lot more talking than fighting...
He said that among the other issues discussed during the previous days was how to make the committees of the leadership council more dynamic, how to arrange the chairs, the color of wallpaper, and other issues related to those councils. A delegation from the Supreme Assembly of the Iraq Islamic Revolution, led by Seyed's Dad Abdolaziz Hakim, left Tehran for northern parts of Iraq to take part at the meeting. During the second conference of the Iraq dissidents in Salaheddin held from February (26-28), the Follow Up Committee of the Iraqi dissidents chose a five-man Supreme Leadership council. They included the leader of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Jalal Talabani, member of the Leadership Council of National Congress of Iraq Ahmad Chalabi, former Iraqi foreign minister in 1960s Adnan Pachechi, member of the Supreme Assembly of the Iraq Islamic Revolution Seyed Abdolaziz Hakim, and member of the National Unity Movement Ayad Alavi. The second Salaheddin conference also commissioned 14 committees to take control of Iraq's post-Saddam affairs and to fill the political vacuum during the transitional period.
It's no goddamn wonder they haven't gotten rid of Sammy — though I'm surprised they haven't formed a committee to talk him to death by now...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 06:53 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are these the same guys who were complaining that W would choose their flag? One would think w/20 years of meetings they'd not only have a flag, but a plan in place.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 21:03 Comments || Top||

#2  What this sounds like is a "What's in it for me." meeting. That's what it ALWAYS comes down to.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 22:21 Comments || Top||

#3  The Kurds have fought - and are almost certainly working with Spec Ops right now. As for the south, im not sure coalition military wants the opposition doing anything yet. It certainly seems like we've been underutilizing them. I certainly think we dont want hem moving around on thier own, without coordinating with Spec Ops.

I would also point out that when they did fight, in April 1991, they were slaughtered by the Republican Guards, while we looked on.

Yeah they spend time in commitees - they're trying to work out a future govt - seems reasonable enough. (maybe we should have spent MORE time on commitee meetings involving Kurds, Iraqis, and Turks - maybe if we had done so the 4th ID would be fighting now, instead of on ships)

I hope we dont discount the Iraqi opposition, and end up either with prolonged US military rule, or a Baathist general instead. If so the liberation will fail, and so will our grand strategic efforts.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/25/2003 10:21 Comments || Top||


Bush confronts Putin on Iraq arms
US President George W Bush has complained directly to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that Russian companies have been selling military equipment to Iraq in breach of UN sanctions.

The White House says it has "credible evidence" that Russian companies had sold military equipment such as satellite-jamming devices, anti-tank missiles and night-vision goggles to Iraq, despite Russian denials. In a phone conversation with Mr Bush, the sweating profusely Russian president said he would look into the allegations immediately, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov denied the claims, saying that relevant agencies had investigated the allegations and found them unwarranted. "Russia strictly fulfils all its international obligations and has not supplied any equipment, including military, to Iraq in violation of the sanctions regime," he said.
Aha ha ha ha ha

On Sunday the Washington Post newspaper reported, citing sources within the Bush administration, that one Russian company was aiding the Iraqi regime in efforts to jam satellite signals that could guide bombs and military aircraft used by the US-led coalition. A further two companies, it said, had sold night-vision goggles and anti-tank missiles to the regime in contravention of United Nations sanctions.

Officials within the Bush administration have long been frustrated by Russia's perceived failure to crack down on arms sales to countries the US considers sponsors of terrorism.

However a Russian deputy, Andrei Kokoshin, suggested that Iraq could have obtained Soviet-era weapons through a former Soviet republic such as the Ukraine, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

BBC Washington correspondent Rob Watson says the incident could worsen relations between the two countries, already soured by Russia's continuing opposition to the war in Iraq.
Not so much worsening as clarifying
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 06:40 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now the truth about our so-called allies is finally coming out....first we heard about the French connection to Iraq, now we are hearing about the Russian connection to Iraq....No wonder they didn't want to push too hard on old Saddam...I guess they like his blood money!
I say to the French "remember how we saved your ass in WWI and WWII?...we won't be there to save it again!" to the Russians I say, "Have you forgotten our humanitarian aid after the fall of the communist regime? Well, we want our money back with interest, just have Saddam cut a check to Uncle Sam." and to Germany I say "Who the hell are you to talk about world peace when your people started two world wars? If we wouldn't have occuppied you nation after WWII, your hole country (versus only half of it) would have lived in communist oppression and would probably still be struggling to have an economy!" With friends like these countries, who needs enemies!
Posted by: USgirl || 03/24/2003 21:32 Comments || Top||


British soldier killed in combat
UK forces in Iraq have suffered their first [confirmed] combat loss with the death of a British soldier. He was reported to have been shot during civilian rioting on Sunday near al-Zubayr, to the south of Basra, and died on Monday of his injuries. The news came shortly before administration officials in Washington said Prime Minister Tony Blair was due to fly to the United States for talks with President George Bush later in the week. Earlier on Monday it was reported that elements of Britain's Desert Rats - the 7th Armoured Brigade - were forced to withdraw from the vicinity of Basra in the face of unexpectedly fierce Iraqi resistance. Meanwhile, efforts continue to locate and recover two other British soldiers missing in action since Sunday.

No details of Monday's combat fatality have been released, but military sources said next of kin had been informed. A small number of British soldiers injured in hostilities in Iraq have been flown to a UK base on Cyprus. Details of the exact number of troops or the extent of their injuries have not been given. The soldiers will be flown on from the Akrotiri base to the UK when their condition allows. British troops have been involved in "extremely heavy fighting" around Basra and the port of Umm Qasr on Monday, according to the BBC's Caroline Wyatt at British forces HQ in northern Kuwait. UK forces spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon said UK troops about 5km (3.1 miles) west of Basra had exchanged artillery fire with Iraqi forces inside the city. He said the defenders were regular army and about 1,000 "pretty determined" irregular militia, using guerrilla tactics such as wearing civilian clothes or faking surrender. Elements of the 7th Armoured Brigade, including Challenger 2 tanks of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, pulled away from Basra early on Monday, according to journalist Simon Houston of the Daily Record. Officers told him they were rethinking their tactics as they had underestimated likely resistance. "We always had the idea that everyone in this area hated Saddam. Clearly, there are a number who don't," said Captain Patrick Trueman.

But politicians and military leaders insisted the campaign was progressing well, despite "pockets" of resistance. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said the paramilitaries in Basra were hated by the local population and had little to lose. "Basra is surrounded and cannot be used as an Iraqi base. But there are pockets of Saddam's most fiercely loyal security services who are holding out. They are contained but still able to inflict casualties on our troops and so we are proceeding with caution." He said Basra airport had been secured.

The commander of 3 Commando Brigade, Brigadier Jim Dutton, said he was "very pleased" with the progress of his troops so far. "It was inevitable that we would be slightly slower in some areas than we originally expected, and faster in others, which has been the case." The BBC's Paul Adams, in Qatar, said some reporting had given "terribly misleading" views of the conflict by focusing on specific incidents.

Elsewhere, British forces are also searching for the two soldiers who went missing in an attack on a convoy near Basra on Sunday. They were involved in fierce fighting around the town of Al Zubayr, a few miles south west of Basra, when their Land Rovers were attacked by rocket propelled grenades. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon says ongoing fighting and landmine danger mean it could be several days before port of Umm Qasr is safe enough to land humanitarian supplies.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 06:24 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraqi TV Shows Men Said Downed in Copter
Well, this sucks...
Iraqi television on Monday showed two men said to have been the U.S. crew of an Apache helicopter forced down during heavy fighting the night before in central Iraq. Gen. Tommy Franks, the U.S. war commander, confirmed that one helicopter did not return from its mission and that its two-man crew was missing. The two shown on Iraqi TV wore cream pilot overalls and did not speak to the camera but appeared confused. They turned their heads and looked in different directions as the camera filmed them. Iraq's state television later showed a collection of documents arrayed on the floor. They included what looked like ID cards and a VISA credit card. Iraq claimed Monday that it shot down two Apache helicopters and was holding the pilots prisoner. "A small number of peasants shot down two Apaches," Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said earlier. "Perhaps we will show pictures of the pilots." Franks denied that a second chopper had been lost, or that any craft had been shot down by farmers. Iraqi state television showed pictures of one Apache helicopter in a grassy field. Men in Arab headdresses holding Kalashnikovs automatic rifles danced around the aircraft.
Has it been destroyed yet. Are we concerned about the assholes guarding it? We shouldn't be...
The station also aired pictures of two helmets apparently belonging to members of the helicopter's crew, as well as documents and other papers lying on the ground.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 06:25 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Men in Arab headdresses holding Kalashnikovs automatic rifles danced around the aircraft.

And there was something strange about that whole scene. There were two guys in the group wearing the headress of the locals that seemed to be really fat and out of place compared to the other villagers. The first one was doing all the talking and holding the microphone, the other was standing in the backround a bit. The one in the background is the one who came up and started leading the others in the cheer.

Oh well, they will all die horrible deaths and hopefully soon.
Posted by: g wiz || 03/24/2003 17:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Why the hell is Iraq TV still on the air? It's crap like this that has a lot of Iraqis thinking that Saddam is doing just fine. If they think that, they will continue to back him out of fear. I feel this has been a real miscalculation. Please, someone convince me I'm wrong.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/24/2003 17:27 Comments || Top||

#3  I hope to hell they've destroyed it by now. Pray for those crewmen.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 03/24/2003 16:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Just listened to Jay Levine, Chicago embed with 101st. Asked about morale, said that the 101 troops are completely focused and pissed off that pilots are being shown on TV. I suspect "steely resolve" just got "steelier".
Posted by: Capsu78 || 03/24/2003 17:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Men in Arab headdresses holding Kalashnikovs automatic rifles danced around the aircraft.

And there was something strange about that whole scene. There were two guys in the group wearing the headress of the locals that seemed to be really fat and out of place compared to the other villagers. The first one was doing all the talking and holding the microphone, the other was standing in the backround a bit. The one in the background is the one who came up and started leading the others in the cheer.

Oh well, they will all die horrible deaths and hopefully soon.
Posted by: g wiz || 03/24/2003 17:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Why the hell is Iraq TV still on the air? It's crap like this that has a lot of Iraqis thinking that Saddam is doing just fine. If they think that, they will continue to back him out of fear. I feel this has been a real miscalculation. Please, someone convince me I'm wrong.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/24/2003 17:27 Comments || Top||

#7  The only reason I think we're leaving the teevee on is that we want to time turning it off to maximize the effect on resistence. Maybe it will coincide with recognizing an alternative government. Let's hope that time comes soon.
Posted by: JAB || 03/24/2003 18:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Methinks it's best to wait until we're close enough and have the correct power connections to simply overpower the station.
Posted by: Dishman || 03/24/2003 18:59 Comments || Top||

#9  JAB / Dishman: Hopin' you're right. I've considered the effect of suddenly showing up on the doorstep of a population that has been consistently told that we're nowhere in the area and then suddenly turn off the lights. It's a trade off and I'm still not sure if we're getting the best part of the deal.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/24/2003 19:20 Comments || Top||

#10  Rex, just heard on Fox News that the Iraqi tv station or transmitter or both is inside a daycare or hospital-like facility, which is why we haven't taken it out yet.
Posted by: Kathy || 03/24/2003 19:24 Comments || Top||

#11  CNN is scrolling that the Pentagon says they scragged the copter. Hopefully before our dancing friends could depart the area.

TV is still on for two reasons that I've heard. We have the ability to hijack the channel. And, it's part of the whole normal life for normal Iraqis campaign.
Posted by: Chuck || 03/24/2003 20:59 Comments || Top||


Seven Baath elements executed in southern Iraq: report
Tehran, March 25, IRNA -- Seven members of Iraq's ruling Baath party were executed on Sunday on the order of President Saddam Hussein's cousin and the commander in the south, Ali Hassan al-Majid, the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq cited its sources inside Iraq as saying Monday. "Security elements and Saddam's (suicide paramilitary) Fedayeen
on Sunday arrested these seven around Basra for alleged laxity in fulfilling their military duties," the information center of SAIRI here said. They were executed at a security office building in Basra without any interrogation or probe, it added.
"Probe? We don't need no steeking probe!"
Majid, known as Chemical Ali, is blamed for the 1988 chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja, in which about 5,000 were killed. A US State Department official has been reported as saying that Majid had been authorized to use chemical weapons against the local Shiite Muslim population in southern Iraq. US Secretary of State Colin Powell was reported on Monday as saying that Washington was informed of the report and would follow the matter carefully. There were also unconfirmed reports that Saddam was intending to appoint Majid as the new governor of Basra, which is under the siege of US-led forces.
If Majid is still alive, which is open to debate, I'd worry about him using chemical weapons on Basra.
The city, which has 1.2 million residents, is Iraq's key economic artery and is defended by the Republican Guards and Iraq's 51st mechanized division.
I think the correct phrase is "was defended".
Posted by: Steve || 03/24/2003 03:42 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Matt! finally, that brought a smile to my face after a long day, thanks!
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2003 18:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Ever see an execution by suicide squad? Only one guy has real explosives around his waist, the others have belts full of Folgers' crystals. Then they can all meet Allah without troubled consciences.
Posted by: matt || 03/24/2003 16:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Matt! finally, that brought a smile to my face after a long day, thanks!
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2003 18:04 Comments || Top||


U.S. Believes Russians in Baghdad Aiding Iraq
The United States believes Russian company technicians are in Baghdad helping train Iraqis to operate electronic jamming systems that could interfere with U.S. forces fighting Iraq, a U.S. official said on Monday. President Bush telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to protest against alleged Russian sales of night-vision goggles, antitank missiles and global positioning system (GPS) jamming systems to Iraq, the White House said. U.S. officials said such sales would violate U.N. sanctions. "It's the kind of equipment that will put our young men and women in harm's way," Secretary of State Colin Powell told Fox News Channel, without identifying the materiel. "It gives an advantage to the enemy, an advantage we don't want them to have.We have been in touch with the Russians over a period of many months to point this out .... and in the last 48 hours I have seen even more information that causes me concern," Powell said. "So far I am disappointed at the response."

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov of Russia, which with France opposed the U.S.-led war against Iraq and threatened to veto a U.N. resolution sanctioning it, denied Russia had supplied Iraq with any military equipment in breach of U.N. sanctions."No facts proving U.S. concerns have been found," Ivanov said in Moscow, although a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said Moscow would study any evidence Washington provides.

U.S. officials said Washington had been worried about the alleged sales by Russian companies for the better part of a year and had protested to Moscow at increasingly senior levels, culminating in Bush's telephone call to Putin on Monday. "We are very concerned that there are reports of ongoing cooperation and support to Iraqi military forces being provided by a Russian company that produces GPS jamming equipment," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, also citing alleged sales of night-vision goggles and anti-tank guided missiles.

For years, the United States has with limited success asked Russia not to spread weapons technology, notably to Iran, where U.S. officials complain Moscow has sold missile technology. The United States has in particular pushed Russia to tighten export controls to prevent private firms from making such sales. U.S. officials believe the alleged military sales to Iraq have been carried out by private Russian firms and they want greater oversight by the Russian government to stop them.

A U.S. official who asked not to be named said Washington decided to make its accusations public late last week when it discovered Russian company technicians in Baghdad aiding the Iraqis with the jamming system after the U.S.-led war began. "They are there in Baghdad ... trying to make the system work, the jamming system," said the U.S. official. "It was the discovery that there are ... Russian technicians helping to make this GPS jamming work in Baghdad that prompted the internal debate in the U.S. government about what to do and (whether) to go public," the official added.

Allegations of such alleged Russian military sales surfaced on Sunday in the Washington Post, which reported that the United States had protested against the sales late last week. The newspaper cited Bush administration sources as saying one Russian company was helping the Iraqi military 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. A U.S. official who asked not to be named told Reuters there were signs some of materiel may have been listed as bound for Syria or Yemen to hide its intended destination.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 03/24/2003 06:29 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think it's time for us to stop whining about the Geneva convention and the Russians and just MOAB a few select areas. This PC method of waging war has backfired tremendously.

BTW,

anyone know what became of the supposed Iraqi officials who reportedly were fleeing Baghdad a few days ago? Do we have them in custody?
Posted by: g wiz || 03/24/2003 15:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Why waste a perfectly good American MOAB, when we've got two Russian cruise missiles with warheads to spare? "No facts proving U.S. concerns," huh?
Posted by: matt || 03/24/2003 15:31 Comments || Top||

#3  If the AT missiles and night vision goggles work as good as the GPS jammers, this will all be over tomorrow.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 16:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Agreed g wiz. Sammy's boys are taking full advantage of this PC approach. They so far have read us pretty good and have adapted their tactics accordingly. It's still early, and the real battle has yet to commence. When we go for Baghdad the gloves have to come off, or we could be facing an entirely different conflict.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/24/2003 16:23 Comments || Top||

#5  We could be facing slaughter...on our side. Just heard pilots only NOW are allowed to engage targets of opportunity. Sheesh. FRANKS DON'T BE A FOOL. You know what needs to be done, so do it!
Posted by: RW || 03/24/2003 17:09 Comments || Top||

#6  How 'bout saving the MOAB for later on? I'm for releasing a few daisy cutters on some of those bastards south of Baghdad.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 03/24/2003 21:58 Comments || Top||


Jamaat Islami party temporarily shifts positions
Iraqi Kurdistan's Jamaat Islami party has shifted its positions in Khormal north of Iraq temporarily, said sources close to Iraqi Kurish dissident groups. The source said Mullah Ali Rabi, leader of Iraqi Kurdistan Jamaat Islami party, Mohammad Hadj Mahmoud, leader of Iraqi Kurdistan Socialist party, and Salaheddin Bahaoddin, leader of Iraqi Kurdistan Islamic Unity party, are in talks in Suleymanieh. The talks follow strong bombardments of Iraqi Jamaat Islami positions by the US planes and cruise missile raids on Iraq Saturday. Some 55 Jamaat Islami forces were either killed or wounded in the wake of the bombings. Iraqi Kurdistan Jamaat Islam said Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was responsible for the bombings because it has given the green light to Americans to take the move. Northern parts of Iraq are dominated by PUK and Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) with Arbil serving as a buffer zone. Iraqi Kurdistan's Jamaat Islami has deployed its forces in the areas controlled by PUK leader Jalal Talabani. Experts believe that Jamaat Islami is to station its forces temporarily in Qale Dizeh.
That would seem a nice place to send a few Tomahawks. Gulf News described the JI as a "mainstream" party in its account, but allowed that it was running interference for Ansar al-Islam...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 02:02 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq continues sending reinforcements to Basra
The mobilization of Iraqi troops to the southern port city of Basra continued on Monday as a convoy comprising six Iraqi armored vehicles was reported to be moving on the Faw-Basra road. IRNA correspondent in the southwestern border island of Minoo has reported that the convoy was moving toward Basra at 03:25 pm local time, adding that the vehicles kept pulling over and forming arrangement to counter air raids at the sound of approaching hostile planes. The US-British planes had bombarded the Faw-Basra road for several times earlier in the day.
Hope somebody noticed and delivered the delicacies of the season... By air mail.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 01:41 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Forming arrangmeents to counter air raids? If this is true they are just making themselves easier targets. This report is bogus, unless those six armored vehicles are heading to Basra to surrender, and they've contacted the coalition troops, they're dead men driving.
Posted by: Yank || 03/24/2003 14:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Six armored vehicles. Six?

[enable sarcasam]

A mighty Arab armada! The Black Watch are now doubt quaking in their kilts, contemplating this furious six-vehicle Blitzkrieg.

[disable sarcasm]

In all honesty, what sort of militarily significant counterattack is a reinforced platoon of six vehicles going to mount against a couple of divisions, assuming they even get there alive?
Posted by: Mike || 03/24/2003 15:22 Comments || Top||

#3  uh, geography, people :)

Theyre moving TOWARDS Basra on the Fao-Basra road. IE they're heading north. IE they're retreating.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 15:34 Comments || Top||

#4  correct liberalhawk, but you missed one critical strategy:

" the vehicles kept pulling over and forming arrangement to counter air raids at the sound of approaching hostile planes"

the dreaded Tikrit version of a Chinese Fire Drill
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2003 18:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Daisy cutter time!!!!!!!
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 03/24/2003 22:01 Comments || Top||


Belgium warns Turkey not to enter Iraq
Belgium has issued a warning to Turkey no to misuse the war as an opportunity to invade Iraq. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt joined Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in threatening Turkey with trouble within NATO if the Turkish army enters the Kurdish region of Iraq, local media reported Monday. Rumours have been circulating that Turkish troops entered Iraq to subdue the Kurds. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said that Turkish interference would jeopardize the country's ambition to join the European Union. Verhofstadt said that Belgian support for the possible defence of Turkey could be withdrawn if Turkey enters Iraq.
That oughta scare all the bejabbers out of them. No EU membership — boy, those Belgians are tough!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 01:29 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Turkish Prime Minister addressed his nation today saying "Hey, look you guys, we still have one good foot to shoot."
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 15:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Careful now, Fred, the Belgars could always frown at them. You wouldn't want to be responsible for that.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 14:39 Comments || Top||

#3  No chocolate for you Turkey!
Posted by: Hermetic || 03/24/2003 14:48 Comments || Top||

#4  This is really surprising. It's obvious the Turks would go in to support Saddam against the US, which are an illegitimate state according to the Belgians. Why are they backstabbing those who want to stab their enemy (the US) in the back ?
Posted by: Peter || 03/24/2003 15:10 Comments || Top||

#5  The Turkish Prime Minister addressed his nation today saying "Hey, look you guys, we still have one good foot to shoot."
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 15:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Peter, the Turks would go in to subdue the Kurds and ensure there is no Kurdish state. Supporting Saddam has nothing to do with it. The Beligians don't actually want extra bonus Muslim bloodshed, which is what would result from Turkey going in.
Posted by: angua || 03/24/2003 16:09 Comments || Top||

#7  The Chocolate Poodles bark! Terrifying!
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 22:31 Comments || Top||


Russia arms cache found
RUSSIAN missiles dated 2002 were found yesterday in a bunker south of Basra — despite a UN embargo on arms sales to Iraq since 1991. Components, believed to be fuses for detonators, were also discovered in boxes stamped “Wallop Industries Limited, Middle Wallop, Hampshire”. The missiles find threatens a major diplomatic bust-up with Russia, which has opposed Allied efforts to disarm Saddam. Russian lettering and the year 2002 were clearly stencilled on the containers of two Al Harith anti-ship cruise missiles. A larger missile, between 30 and 40ft long, lay nearby. It also bore Russian writing. There were no dates on the British components. The arms were discovered by Scottish troops from the Black Watch Battle Group at As Zubayr.They also found rocket-propelled grenades, landmines and machine-gun rounds, stacked in 24 bunkers and 48 sheds.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 03/24/2003 06:29 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What a goldmine. But I smell something fishy here. Scottish squaddies finding English munitions? Gotta be a set up. They're still smarting from the rugby at the weekend...
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 13:36 Comments || Top||

#2  The sales staff at Wallop Industries now have the Black Watch laddies wishing to speak with them.

Brrrrrrr...
Posted by: mojo || 03/24/2003 13:54 Comments || Top||

#3  When the "Sold To", "Ship To" and "Bill to" are three different addresses, and the customer arranged for a "customer pick up", and "Paid on Delivery"...maybe the end user is responsible for sending in the warranty card.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 03/24/2003 14:04 Comments || Top||


Coalition to alter tactics after ambush attacks
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon insisted Monday that the US-led war to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein was going according to its strategic plan despite a series of military setbacks in the first few days. But Hoon suggested that the coalition would alter its tactics following Iraqi ambush attacks behind the frontline that has led to several US troops being killed or taken as prisoners-of-war in Iraq. "We have got to recognise that it is not simply the front-line that is vulnerable. That might have been the traditional way of viewing the risk in this kind of conflict where there is such a fast moving advance," he said. "As we have seen there risks behind the front we will face and certainly we will need to adjust our force protection to take account of those risks and the way the enemy is operating," Hoon told domestic and foreign journalists.
Yeah. Like maybe we should emphasize killing them more than trying to coax them out with a bowl of warm milk...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 01:26 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like the perfect mission for the 101st.

Deploy them in the area already over-run, and mop up those left behind. Take the prisoners into custody. Establish a rudimentary police force by constripting young men they catch who are obviously NOT Sunni guerillas. Promise them all the MRE's they can take home for doing a good job. Indicate you'll slit their throat if the screw up. Have them direct traffic, round up loose military weapons, and point out those "freedom fighters" still loyal to Sadsack. Should have things well in hand in a few hours.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 13:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Could these be al qaeda?
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/25/2003 0:27 Comments || Top||


Iraqi opposition to declare government once Basra, Mosul fall
Iraqi opposition groups on Monday stressed that they would declare an Iraqi transitional government once the two important cities of Basra and Mosul have fallen to US-led troops. The London-based newspaper "Asharq al-Awsat" quoted sources with the Iraqi opposition standing committee as saying that Turkey's failure to authorize US mobilization of troops into northern Iraq through its territory was the main problem to declare the transitional government. The Asharq al-Awsat stressed that Turkey's decision would eventually force US commanders to transfer their troops to Kuwait from Turkish shores, and thereon to Iraq's Kurdistan by plane. This mobilization, the daily added, will take a long time, and is against the plans that had already been set regarding the war on Iraq. The Asharq al-Awsat further highlighted speculations that launching a military action in Mosul without the support of military hardware such as tanks and armored vehicles would be impossible. "Therefore, it could be concluded that the Iraqi opposition might be content with the liberation of Basra to declare a transitional government in case the occupation of Mosul is delayed," it wrote.
Slight change of plans there, thanks to the ever-helpful Turks...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 01:22 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


US encounter with Medina Unit 'crucial,' says Blair
Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Monday that the rapid advance by US troops to Baghdad would soon be facing a crucial phase near Karbala in the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime. "They will encounter the Medina Division of the Republican Guard, who are defending the route to Baghdad. This will plainly be a crucial moment," he said. Blair was addressing MPs on the latest development in the war against Iraq amid reports that up to 40 US helicopters were involved in the first assault on the Medina Division to 'soften' up Iraq's elite troops before the eventual battle for Baghdad. The Prime Minister warned that there was "bound to be difficult days ahead" but insisted that the war so far had gone according to plan despite the series of military setbacks. He referred to what he called the "difficulties that had arisen" and the "tragedies and the accidents" but said the UK and US "must keep sight of the bigger picture."
Nothing ever goes totally according to plan. The Medes and the Persians are hoping for a U.S.-British fiasco — they weren't able to beat up Sammy in ten years. If we can beat him up in a week, that implies bad things for them...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 01:15 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Karbala Gap is the key to the entire middle portion of the country. That's why there are 2 SRG divisions sitting there.

Take no chances. These boys don't get the chance to surrender first. They get hit, HARD.

Any that are still alive can surrender later.
Posted by: mojo || 03/24/2003 13:58 Comments || Top||

#2  A week perhaps, but lets hope for no more than one month. The resistance so far has been somewhat greater than anticipated, but everything rests on taking Baghdad. We're only witnessing the prelude right now, the real show is about to happen.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/24/2003 13:38 Comments || Top||

#3  I know the situation is very serious. But everytime I hear the Medina Division I can't help but think of this:

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palace/2009/Funky.html
Posted by: penguin || 03/24/2003 13:38 Comments || Top||

#4  The Karbala Gap is the key to the entire middle portion of the country. That's why there are 2 SRG divisions sitting there.

Take no chances. These boys don't get the chance to surrender first. They get hit, HARD.

Any that are still alive can surrender later.
Posted by: mojo || 03/24/2003 13:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Send in the MOABs...
Posted by: Ptah || 03/24/2003 14:13 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm sick of all this "setback" talk. Hold this campaign up to any other military action in history, and talk to me about "setbacks." First the media warn of (and wish for) their beloved "quagmire," but then a few remarkable days of allied open-desert blitz become their standard, against which all real fighting will be seen as near failure. News ratings are highest when disaster looms...

I think it would be interesting to compare the language of the embedded journalists with that of the studio anchors.
Posted by: matt || 03/24/2003 14:32 Comments || Top||

#7  As I watch Tommy Frank today (monday) show the surrender instruction cards that have been released, I wondered why is he showing those now? Could it be to prep the media for reports of carnage that may come tommorow.
Posted by: Canaveral Dan || 03/24/2003 14:44 Comments || Top||


Russia, Cuba call for immediate halt of Iraq war
Foreign ministers of Russia and Cuba on Monday called for an immediate halt in the US-led war on Iraq while warning against the detrimental consequences of the war in the region. In their joint statement issued Monday, the Russian foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque stressed the US and British military action in Iraq must be stopped as soon as possible. The two ministers warned against the ominous effects of a lengthy war on Iraq and said the war would disturb the peace and stability not only in the Middle East but also in the entire globe. The two sides said the US-led war on Iraq is against the internationally accepted rules and regulations and the United Nations Charter.They termed as very dangers the consequences of any unilateralmilitary action in the region.
Don't worry, guys. We don't intend to take long. Sorry we have to disturb the stagnation stability and tranquility that normally prevails in the region, though...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 01:12 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This makes me nervous. France, Russia and Turkey are just about to lose Multi-Billions of dollars in backroom deals as well as be exposed for making them. They mistakenly believed they could maintain these deals with UN assistance and the treachery of the Turks. Now they see they seriously miscalculated.

Expect them to lash out like drowing men. I think we should be very concerned by this. They have too much to lose if we succeed.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 13:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't worry so much, Becky. For every dollar they have invested in Iraq, they have five invested in the United States. They know which side will prevail, and will cut their losses. This is just another in a series of propaganda moves to show they "really care for the Iraqi people". Thank God I have a strong stomach!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 14:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Old Patriot, I used to think so too, but now I'm not so sure. Everyone kept telling me that Turkey would allow our troops in, but you gotta admit, I called that one long before anyone else did. It always seemed to me that how we expected them to behave and how they actually were behaving were completely out of sync.

So too again with the Russians. I hope you are right. But once again, how we are expecting the Russians to behave, and how they are actually behaving at this point in the conflict, is completely out of sync with a country interested in mending fences with the obvious victor of the Iraq war.

I find it particularly ominous that they chose to bring Cuba into their statement.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 15:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Turkey can't possibly think they'd make more money trading with Saddam than with a free Iraq.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 15:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Nor can Russia, but that's what makes their actions so odd. It's like cards or chess - when you play a skilled opponent who makes a blatantly stupid move, chances are that you better pay attention - it means you are getting set up.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 16:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Cuba? Cuba? Holy smokes! We're in real trouble now!
Posted by: Denny || 03/24/2003 20:56 Comments || Top||


SAIRI sends message to Iraq's army
The Supreme Assembly for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) sent a message on Monday to Iraqi Army as well as other militants inviting them all to seriously put an end to the hegemony of Iraqi regime and prepare grounds for Iraqi people to administer their own affairs. Elsewhere in the message, it said the Iraqi regime, ignoring the interests of its army and nation, has engaged its troops into this war in a bid to maintain power. Addressing the army of Iraq, the message said,"You are fully aware of the stupid policies of the regime, and you should consider that your nation and your motherland require you to put an end to this hegemony which has brought murder and killing and has let the foreign forces invade your home." Aggressive policies and stubbornness of Iraqi criminal regime who is not in compliance with international conventions and principles, have encouraged the aliens to invade the country, it said. The Iraqi nation asks their army to prevent the unjustifiable mass killing, invasion and blood bath, concluded the statement.
"Hey, you guys! Why don't you throw Sammy out of office, and then the Merkins will go away and we'll take power..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 03/24/2003 01:08 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is one of my big fears. The current Iraqi regime, horrific as it is, is secular and anti-Islamist. Get rid of Saddam and install democracy, and then how long do you think it will be before they vote for a Islamist Mullah-ocracy? Not too long, I don't think. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire!"
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 03/24/2003 13:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Scooter, I don't think so, because I think our occupation of Iraq will be much like our occupation of Germany after WW2: there were certain things the Germans knew they weren't allowed to do, because if they started edging towards those things, we'd react. Same thing in Iraq, and one of those things (I suspect) will be the attempt of an Islamist party to assert itself.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 14:46 Comments || Top||


Kirkuk under Attack
US-led forces carried out massive airstrikes around the key northern oil capital of Kirkuk on Monday, as pro-US Kurdish forces here signalled that a new front against Saddam Hussein could soon be opened. A resident inside Kirkuk contacted by telephone said there were "many dead and injured" after a morning of intense airstrikes on Iraqi army positions guarding the perimeter of the city. US jets also hit a frontline ridge overlooking Kurdish rebel-held Chamchamal, 40km east of Kirkuk, with six massive blasts hitting dug-in troops shortly before 10:00. US or British warplanes also bombed Iraqi positions at Pir Daud to the northwest, 80km north of Kirkuk and one of the last posts under Baghdad's control outside Kurdish-held territory, Kurdish security officials said.

Meanwhile, more US special forces were flown into this eastern part of the Kurdish zone run by the pro-US Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), with witnesses saying at least one planeload of troops and several helicopters were flown in during the night.

"Kirkuk is now under heavy attack. We are on full alert," said senior PUK military official Rostam Hamid Rahim in Chamchamal. "Some positions on the frontlines were also hit and the road between here and Kirkuk as well." But he said his forces in this almost deserted town, situated less than 1.5km from some of the Iraqi lines hit, had no intention of attacking given that the opposing troops had yet to show any sign of giving up. "It seems that this was more of a warning for the Iraqi soldiers on the hill," he said. The warning was certainly clear: the force of the blasts blew out some windows here and, amid the huge plumes of black smoke thrown up on the ridge, Iraqi troops could be seen dashing from bunker to bunker.

There was only a brief barrage of anti-aircraft fire in response to the surprise attack, the first on frontlines here since war began. Normally home to some 10 000 people, Chamchamal has been reduced to ghost town by a mass exodus of residents. The strike immediately sent the few residents still here packing their belongings and leaving the town for safer areas away from the front. Virtually the only people still here were armed men guarding their homes and PUK peshmerga militia. But behind the ridge towards Kirkuk, jets were heard roaring overhead throughout the morning. The attacks near the city appeared far more intense. A Kirkuk resident contacted by telephone said the long morning raid, the third on the city since war broke out, was "unrelenting". "Nobody is on the streets. There are many dead and injured in the hospital - mostly soldiers but some civilians. A lot of the bombs are landing around the city, but it's terrifying," said the source.

The United States also appeared to be building up its troop presence in the area, with more aircraft landing discreetly at a small runway near the PUK's administrative centre of Sulaymaniya on Sunday night. Residents living near the Bakrajo airfield, which was sealed off during the night, said at least one plane full of troops and up to 11 helicopters were seen touching down under cover of darkness. On Saturday night four planes had landed there, primarily carrying "scores" of US special forces who were to be "deployed across the region", a senior PUK political official said.

In Baghdad, Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said Iraqi troops had foiled an attempted British and US landing near Kirkuk late on Sunday, saying the attacking forces had fled.

The US and PUK troops are also jointly fighting a hardline Islamist group, Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam), who are dug into an area between the town of Halabja and the Iranian border south of Sulaymaniya. More strikes on Ansar were reported overnight, but the area around Halabja has been closed to the press after an Australian television cameraman was killed there on Saturday in an apparent reprisal suicide bombing. With sources confirming that many of the US troops had been sent to Halabja, PUK officials said they hoped to finish off the group before turning their attention to government-held Kirkuk.
Don't want to leave a armed force behind them.

However with the morning attack on the frontline here and the bombardment of Kirkuk, that shift in focus may come sooner than expected, even though the number of US troops able to deploy here has been seriously limited by Turkey's refusal to allow the US military to use its soil to transit to the north of Iraq. The PUK, along with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), has been running the north as an autonomous zone since they wrested control over the area in the wake of the 1991 Gulf war.
Would have been nice to have the 4th ID coming down from the north. Thanks a lot, Turkey.
Posted by: Steve || 03/24/2003 12:37 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Ralph Peters on the war so far (link only)
Fred, feel free to delete the link if this is OT. I won't quote the article here as it's long, and I'd never make snarky comments about Mr. Peters. Everyone might want to take a look -- Mr. Peters explains why things are going well.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 11:17 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Instead, we have been trying to spare lives by giving our enemies a chance to surrender."
I think that this will need to change, and it will. Take those that surrender after a thorough pounding. Then they will be less willing to cause trouble in the future.
Posted by: RW || 03/24/2003 12:18 Comments || Top||


Coalition Warplanes Bomb Iraqi Barracks
Coalition warplanes bombed a military barracks in northern Iraq on Monday, shattering windows for miles around and igniting huge plumes of smoke. Frightened residents fled the area in a stream of cars, taxis and buses. At least six bombs struck Iraqi positions with such force that the ground shook three miles away in the city of Chamchamal. A top Kurdish military official, Rostam Kirkuki, said the Americans bombed the entire corridor between Chamchamal and Kirkuk, a key oil center.

The few residents who had not yet fled started to pack up and leave. Vehicles of all sizes poured onto the main road out of the town. "People are evacuating, but not because of the bombing. They are afraid Saddam will respond with chemical weapons," said Ahmad Qafoor, a schoolteacher.

Warplanes continued to fly overhead after the first wave of bombings that struck the Bani Maqem barracks, close to the line that separates the Kurdish-held area, including Chamchamal, from territory under the control of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In the nearby village of Shoresh, civil servant Ali Nouri Karim said he spotted Iraqi soldiers evacuating the area and pulling people into ambulances. Residents contacted by telephone in Kirkuk, 25 miles to the west of Chamchamal, said the city came under heavy bombardment by coalition aircraft. An unknown number of casualties were brought to local hospitals, they said. Minutes before the bombings in Chamchamal, several loud explosions heard from the direction of Qara Hanjir, according to Kurdish soldier Mohammed Omar Mohammed. Qara Hanjir is situated between Chamchamal and Kirkuk and is the site of an Iraq military barracks and command post.

The United States has been building up its presence in the Kurdish north, bringing in warplanes and military personnel. Mohammad Haji Mahmoud, leader of the Kurdistan Social Democratic Party and a key member of the Iraqi opposition, said the Americans are welcome to use Kurdistan as a staging ground for a northern assault against Saddam's regime. "We're not going to say no to anything the Americans want," he said. "America is the true liberator and the only one who could liberate us from this regime. We couldn't do it with our rusty Kalashnikovs in more than 40 years."
I don't think Bush is going to betray the Kurds the way his father did.
Posted by: Steve || 03/24/2003 12:32 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Turkish News Roundup
MYERS: WE USE TURKISH AIRSPACE
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Turkish airspace was first used on March 22 to transport U.S. soldiers to Northern Iraq. Pointing out that they opposed to entrance of the Turkish forces in Northern Iraq apart from preventing refugee inflow, Gen. Myers said no such refugee inflow has been seen so far, stating that thus there was no need for the Turkish soldiers to enter. Speaking at a tv program in ABC television, Myers said they used the Turkish airspace on March 22 night. He said in fact technically they were not the first U.S. soldiers in Northern Iraq, but that they were the first soldiers who entered the region following the permission which had been taken in the Turkish Parliament.

TWO TOMAHAWKS FELL ON SANLIURFA
Two missiles on Sunday fell on two villages in Viransehir and Birecik townships of southeastern Sanliurfa province. Firstly, it was thought that the missiles fell from planes, but later it was claimed that they could be the two Tomahawk Cruise missiles which were launched from the war ships in the Mediterranean.
The first missile fell near Ozveren village in Birecik township at around 17.30 local time. This was an area that is 500 meters away from the village houses. The villagers called the gendarme to inform about the incident. The gendarme forces saw the missile which opened a four meters wide and one meter deep hole, but did not explode. Immediately after this incident, news report that another bomb fell from a warplane near Ayakli village in Viransehir township. Officials, who went to the spot, found another missile which stuck in the soil.
Warheads don't arm till they reach target area. EOD will be busy rounding these up.

NO REFUGEE INFLOW FROM THE NORTH
Prime Ministry Crisis Administration Center said no refugee inflow toward Turkey was observed. The center stressed that activities targeting preparation for humanitarian aid continued. Meanwhile, Cukurca Mayor Mehmet Kanar, who pointed out that he talked to Northern Iraq by phone everyday, stated that the peshmerga families he talked there told him that they did not think of migrating to Turkey, and that they would shelter in mosques and schools in case they are in a difficult situation.
No stream of refugees into Turkey, no need for Turkish troops. Bet the Kurds put the word out.

“NEGOTIATIONS ARE CONTINUING WITH US OFFICIALS OVER NORTHERN IRAQ"
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that negotiations with US officials on coordinating the countries’ respective roles in northern Iraq were continuing, stressing that Turkey would decide through its own will on whether or not to enter northern Iraq. “There is nothing negative in our talks with the Americans,” said Gul. “Everything is moving forward with coordination and mutual understanding." US troop activities in Turkey are continuing within the framework of Parliament’s permission and cooperation regarding humanitarian aid will continue in the future as well, he remarked. Gul added that Turkey had permitted a C-130 plane to land at Incirlik Airbase the previous day as it had carried wounded personnel. In related news, Gul yesterday had telephone conversations with his German and Greek counterparts, Joschka Fischer and George Papandreou, to convey Turkey’s stance on the Iraq war. In addition, Gul sent a message to Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa during the league’s current Cairo, Egypt summit laying out Turkey’s Iraq policy.

PEARSON VISITS FOREIGN MINISTRY TO DISCUSS NORTHERN IRAQ, TURKISH SIDE SEES “SOFTENING”
US Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson yesterday visited the Foreign Ministry to discuss the issue of Turkey’s role in northern Iraq. During meetings with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal and Ambassador Deniz Bolukbasi, the two sides reportedly held preliminary talks on Turkey’s possible entrance into northern Iraq. Whereas Pearson reiterated US concerns that Turkey’s entrance might cause trouble with the region’s Kurds and endanger the US-led war, the Turkish side reportedly saw signs of a softening of the US position on the issue. The talks are due to continue today with the participation of Zalmay Khalilzad, US President George W. Bush’s envoy to the Iraqi opposition.

KHALILZAD TO ARRIVE IN TURKEY TO DISCUSS NORTHERN IRAQ
US presidential envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is set to arrive in Ankara today to meet with Foreign Ministry officials to discuss a number of issues, among them Turkey’s entering northern Iraq, a move which the US has expressed opposition to. During the bilateral talks, the size and role of Turkish forces entering the region are expected to be discussed.
How about none?

US PULLS BACK NORTHERN FRONT PREPARATIONS FROM TURKEY
After the Pentagon formally abandoned plans Saturday to open a northern front through Turkey in the Iraq war, dozens of American ships waiting off Turkey’s Iskenderun and Mersin Mediterranean seaports started to head to the Persian Gulf yesterday. The US also started pulling back logistical stockpiles in southeastern Turkey.
Thanks for nothing, Turkey.

BUSH: “THE US HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT DOESN’T WANT A TURKISH MILITARY PRESENCE IN NORTHERN IRAQ”
Speaking yesterday at the White House after meeting with his war advisors in Camp David, US President George W. Bush reiterated his administration’s policy against Turkish forces entering northern Iraq. “The US is making it very clear that it does not want a Turkish military presence in northern Iraq,” he told journalists. “They know our policy, and it's a firm policy, and, they know we're working with the Kurds to make sure there's not an incident with the Turkish military.” However, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged over the weekend to send Turkish troops into the region, saying, "The presence of our troops will be a source of security and stability both for Turkey and the region."
Not taking no for an answer.
Posted by: Steve || 03/24/2003 12:29 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think the two missiles landed exactly where aimed at. Like a love letter, something like: 'Dear Love, DO NOT move'.
Posted by: Poitiers || 03/24/2003 11:36 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder if the reason we are facing more fighting in South is because Sadaam knew Turkey would deny the front. We expected the more loyal units to be closer to Baghdad - due to the threat of a northern front. If so, it's a decision they will regret because it means that there will be less resistance in the North where we expected it. Ha!

I think Sadaam offered France, Russia and Turkey REEEAAALLY good deals prior to the start of the war - how else to explain their actions? They thought they would be able to prevent US allied cooperation into the war through the UN hoopla, legality issues, and then finally, a grave blow from the prior knowledge of the denial of the Turkish front.

How Turkey, France and Russia must have rubbed their greedy little hands in anticipation of laughing at US all the way to the bank.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 12:58 Comments || Top||

#3  I think the two missiles landed exactly where aimed at. Like a love letter, something like: 'Dear Love, DO NOT move'.
Posted by: Poitiers || 03/24/2003 11:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Does anyone have the slightest notion what Turkey's goal is ? What do they think they will achieve in the end ? No US aid, bad relations with the US, harder time joining the EU, a strong Kurdish Iraqi province, etc, etc. Maybe there is nothing else they CAN do, except watch and try to shore up the border areas with some troops.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 12:03 Comments || Top||

#5  If you want to believe Stratfor, Ankara will be bankrupt by the summer. Perhaps they were getting ready to make their own oil grab to shore up the public exchequer? Or perhaps the deal was we give up the northern oil fields if we get the fast track into the EU.

The simplest explanation is that they're overreaching and making this up as they go along. Just like everybody else.
Posted by: Hiryu || 03/24/2003 12:19 Comments || Top||

#6  I wonder if the reason we are facing more fighting in South is because Sadaam knew Turkey would deny the front. We expected the more loyal units to be closer to Baghdad - due to the threat of a northern front. If so, it's a decision they will regret because it means that there will be less resistance in the North where we expected it. Ha!

I think Sadaam offered France, Russia and Turkey REEEAAALLY good deals prior to the start of the war - how else to explain their actions? They thought they would be able to prevent US allied cooperation into the war through the UN hoopla, legality issues, and then finally, a grave blow from the prior knowledge of the denial of the Turkish front.

How Turkey, France and Russia must have rubbed their greedy little hands in anticipation of laughing at US all the way to the bank.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 12:58 Comments || Top||

#7  other articles today noting lite resistance in Baghdad and Iraqi soldiers in the North were shooting Iraqi soldiers trying to defect to the Kurds. (Sgt. Stryker had the scoop), support this idea. May also be why Russia is starting to freak and make statements (threats?) with Cuba.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 13:48 Comments || Top||


Polish elite troops see first action in Iraq
Polish public opinion is not all that different than French and they've only been American allies (on paper anyway) for a few years, but they're with us anyway:
Polish commandos have seen their first action of the Iraq war, with more than 50 troops joining the five-day-old campaign to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the Defence Ministry said on Monday. Confirmation came after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday the main U.S.-British assault force was being actively supported by troops from Australia and Poland. A Defence Ministry spokesman said "GROM" (Thunder) special forces had joined operations in the Gulf port of Umm Qasr, where resistance by Iraqi forces was continuing. Prime Minister Leszek Miller said no Polish casualties had been taken so far. "These operations are regarded as highly professional and highly effective. Our soldiers are earning very high marks," Miller told public radio.
Posted by: JAB || 03/24/2003 12:28 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No jokes, folks. Polish elite units have an outstanding reputation and history. See Italy and Operation Market Garden in WW2. Be glad they're there.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 10:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't think anyone's going to start making derogatory references to the Poles' fighting ability, tu3031! In addition to your list above, there's also the Polish contribution to the RAF in WWII. From this page, well worth a visit:

"...in the words of Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding, the C-in-C of the RAF Fighter Command during the Battle: (...) had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of battle would have been the same."
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 11:06 Comments || Top||

#3  I've seen polish EOD in action.

It's a frightening thing.

Not to be negative about the polish forces, they really are good troops, I would just like to say that there is indeed a fineline between hardass and dumbass.

I know, I've tapdanced on that line, perhaps the poles are doing a little dancing too.

It makes ya look Gallant.

-DS
"the horns hold up the halo."
Posted by: DeviantSaint || 03/24/2003 11:35 Comments || Top||

#4  And the Polish helped us out in the Revolutionary War much as the French did. Nice to know one of them is still on our side.
Posted by: Hermetic || 03/24/2003 14:53 Comments || Top||

#5  DeviantSaint: it's the difference between doing a half-ass job and having to come back to do it again, or doing it right the first time. BTW, have you seen GROM train? goodness gracious...
Posted by: RW || 03/24/2003 18:29 Comments || Top||


Australian pilot refuses US bombing order
Edited for brevity.
An Australian FA/18 Hornet pilot has refused an American command to bomb a target in Iraq in the first conflict between the different rules governing the way the two allies make war. Although Prime Minister John Howard said the incident during the coalition's drive towards Baghdad was not evidence of tension between the two commands, the prospect of a clash of rules was clear from the start.

Australia operates under a tougher set of rules of engagement than the US because Canberra has ratified more international agreements than Washington. The decision of the RAAF pilot not to attack an Iraqi target was taken when his Hornet, armed with a range of strike weapons, was ordered away from the round-the-clock escort missions the Australians have been flying since war started. "However, the crew chose not to complete the mission because they could not positively identify the target," Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Mike Hannan said. "The crew's decision reflects the ADF's strong commitment to the laws of armed conflict and its support of the Government's targeting policy, right down to the lowest levels."

The rules under which Australians are fighting in Iraq are governed by Australian and international law, the 1949 Geneva Convention, and additional 1977 protocols that the US has not signed. A range of weapons in the American arsenal — such as landmines and cluster bombs — are banned by Australia, and Canberra has emphasised that its forces will refuse to attack civilian targets, including key bridges, dams and other vital infrastructure of the kind bombed by the US in the 1991 Gulf War. Australia has also emphasised that its troops remain strictly under national command, but Brigadier Hannan said the final choice of whether or not to attack was a decision made by "ordinary young Australians, often in a split second, that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives".
This article is very upsetting to me. I don't mind that they choose not to use every weapon in our arsenal, but refusing an order to attack a target does not sit well with me, especially if it happens to involve our boys on the ground under fire, in grave danger, and in need of close air support.
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 12:27 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is a fairly straight report and follows pretty closely what was said in Parliament. The RAAF pilots took the mission, arrived at the target area and couldn't identify the target at the coordinates given. Under our ROE they are only supposed to fire if they know what they are going to hit and it is a valid military target - they couldn't confirm that so they decided not to fire.

I'm with Fred on this - it would only be a problem if this sort of thing happened a lot. It is not the type of thing that could arise in a close air support situation - if there had been something clearly identifiable to hit they would have hit it.
Posted by: Russell || 03/24/2003 15:30 Comments || Top||

#2  What a way to fight a war. I appreciate the fact that the Aussies are there, but if this is their ROE, what's the use of having them there?
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 10:18 Comments || Top||

#3  This may be just a lack of clarity. My understanding is that American rules of engagement require identifing the target. Basicly, the Aussies couldn't , so they returned with their load. It's happening with our planes, too.

This may also be the reporter spinning a normal occurance into an imaginary conflict.
Posted by: Chuck || 03/24/2003 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Looked twice. It's a New Zealand paper reporting, and they are very anti-war. This looks like someone trying to create a problem where there is not one.
Posted by: Chuck || 03/24/2003 10:20 Comments || Top||

#5  I hope you're right, Chuck (on both comments). If you can't count on them in a pinch, they're more hindrance than help.
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 10:27 Comments || Top||

#6  It's the friendly fire you have to be worried about.
Posted by: glen || 03/24/2003 10:56 Comments || Top||

#7  This was a big issue in the Australian parliament. Collateral damage is hotly political with their lefties.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 11:36 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm not that bent out of shape about it. The Aussies know their rules of engagement, and initiative also includes telling upstairs when they're wrong. If it happens every time the Aussies go up, it's a different matter; since it doesn't, it doesn't matter.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2003 13:33 Comments || Top||

#9  This is a fairly straight report and follows pretty closely what was said in Parliament. The RAAF pilots took the mission, arrived at the target area and couldn't identify the target at the coordinates given. Under our ROE they are only supposed to fire if they know what they are going to hit and it is a valid military target - they couldn't confirm that so they decided not to fire.

I'm with Fred on this - it would only be a problem if this sort of thing happened a lot. It is not the type of thing that could arise in a close air support situation - if there had been something clearly identifiable to hit they would have hit it.
Posted by: Russell || 03/24/2003 15:30 Comments || Top||

#10  Sounds like they couldn't identify their target, period. Nothing political in it.

But our troops have to contend with the fact that Simon (rat-face) Crean our Opposition Leader told them at a speech on their leaving, that he didn't support them being there. Every one of them now has to contend with the idea that if Howard were voted out and Crean in, then their country would not support them being there.

Our ADF are highly professional and will support their allies in every way possible. If they refused the mission, it is more likely it was due to the technical problems.
Posted by: anon1 || 03/24/2003 16:43 Comments || Top||


Kuwaitis Put Out First Iraqi Oil Fire in South
Kuwaiti firefighters put out on Monday the first of seven oil wells blazing in Iraq vast southern Rumaila field as sporadic guerrilla-style resistance by armed Iraqis continued nearby. A crack team from Kuwait Oil Company is now tackling six other wellheads on fire at the southern end of the 50-mile-long Rumaila oilfield near the border with Kuwait. The Kuwaiti experts used techniques mastered while battling more than 700 wellhead fires set by Iraqi troops fleeing the Gulf state in 1991 after a U.S.-led campaign ended Baghdad's seven-month occupation. "We have just finished putting out the fire and are in the process of capping the well," a senior Kuwaiti oil official told Reuters.

The team, which fights fires only during daylight hours, could take up to four weeks to finish its task. Aside from the wells set alight, another 10-15 have been mined, he said. While British troops were firming their grip on the southern oil region, a Kuwaiti oil executive said there were security problems in the northern section of the Rumaila field. Small groups of Iraqi troops in civilian clothes made it unsafe for journalists to travel to the region, British Lt. Col. Rob Partridge told Reuters. "At the moment there are groups of Iraqi forces dressed in civilian clothes in the area," he said. "They are all over the bloody place."

Farther east at Iraq's second city of Basra, Iraqi militia armed with rocket propelled grenades, hand grenades and AK-47 rifles were on the prowl around the 140,000-barrels-per-day Basra refinery. Southern fields normally account for half Iraq's oil output, ranked as the world's seventh largest exporter before the war.
I hope when this war is over the capture of these oil fields and the quick resolution of the oil fires gets the praise it deserves.
Posted by: Domingo || 03/24/2003 09:52 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Slightly OT: after the first Gulf War, I remember seeing parts of a very cinematic-type documentary about Kuwait, with long aerial shots before and after the War, with a substantial portion focusing on the guys extinguishing the well fires and capping them off. Riveting, beautiful footage, but I can't remember what it was called. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
Posted by: matt || 03/24/2003 11:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Saw same, I think on History channel
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2003 18:12 Comments || Top||

#3  How about Fires of Kuwait? I saw it as an IMAX movie.
Posted by: Nick || 03/24/2003 21:56 Comments || Top||


New Clot-forming Bandage Standard Issue to Medics
Edited for brevity.
Along with tanks and tents, the Army is taking one very sophisticated medical item onto the battlefields of Iraq: clot-forming bandages. Scientists have transformed the standard, 4-by-4-inch gauze pads found in every hospital and drugstore into life-saving dressings that rapidly stanch even the most severe bleeding. In addition to the antibiotics, splints, painkillers and other supplies in their kits, Army medics may have fibrin bandages, which are coated with human clotting factors that were bioengineered to be produced in the milk of pigs.
I wonder if our Muslim cohorts are aware of this? That might make importing them and using them--especially on a Muslim POW or civilian--rather dicey.
They also carry the chitosan bandage, which is made with shrimp shells and vinegar. With them, "you get an instant scab," said Col. Bob Vandre of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.
I guess Jews have it easier than the Muslims. The shrimp shells would seem to make them non-kosher, but I guess if you don't eat them it's okay...
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 09:33 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sure the dying and injured will agree that bioengineered (ie: never got near momma pig) is a technicality they can live with.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 9:39 Comments || Top||

#2  These are truly amazing. Not approved for EMS use in the States in most places. Reviews I have read in EMS journals are outstanding. Only drawback is that they get a little hot from the immediate chemical reaction, not unbearable, but unusual. There is also a powder form.

High tech goes to war in a different way.
Posted by: Chuck || 03/24/2003 9:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Jews don't have any issues with using pig products - wallets, etc... Just eating them. Not sure about pig insulin, though. But for sure in any life threatening situation, as in war injuries, there would be absolutely no issue in using such products. Unlike the Muslim death-cult, Judaism stresses life in this world.
Posted by: Chicxulubavitcher Rebbe || 03/24/2003 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  If our Muslim friends don't want them used on them....oh,well. Guess they'll have to bleed to death.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 10:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Pig insulin was definitely usable by Jews, but these days with rDNA Human insulin so readily available, its not much of an issue.
Posted by: Hermetic || 03/24/2003 14:55 Comments || Top||


Moscow Denies Supplying Iraq With Weapons
Russia denied Monday that it had sold sensitive military equipment — including GPS jammers that could throw U.S. bombs and aircraft off course — to Iraq in violation of U.N. sanction. Other items reportedly included anti-tank guided missiles and night-vision goggles. "The Russian Federation is not delivering weapons or weapons systems to Iraq and strictly observes all U.N. Security Council resolutions passed with regard to Iraq," Alexei Volin, deputy head of staff for the government, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that three Russian companies were involved in military equipment sales. Fox News confirmed that report. U.N. sanctions have allowed Iraq only to import goods approved by the oil-for-food program. The State Department said it had raised the issue with senior Russian officials several times, particularly over the past two weeks, because the equipment could pose a direct threat to coalition forces. The United States even provided specific information regarding the transactions to Moscow in hopes the Russians would rein in the dealers. But Friday was the last straw, as U.S. officials found out the Russian dealers were in Baghdad showing the Iraqis how to use the equipment. The Russians "sure as hell should have been able to stop these guys," an official told the Post.

The U.S. government suspects that the Russians were hiding some of the jamming equipment in humanitarian aid flights to Baghdad, Fox News has learned. The boxes are about 3 ft. x 3 ft. Volin called the allegations "not only groundless, but absolutely invented."

Also Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Iraq to obey international conventions on the humane treatment of prisoners of war after 12 American soldiers were ambushed and believed captured or killed. Putin told top Cabinet ministers that he had asked the Foreign Ministry "to appeal to Iraq with an urgent request to comply with these particular rules."

The Post identified two of the firms that allegedly sold equipment as KBP Tula and Aviaconversiya, a Moscow-based company. It said KBP supplied antitank guided missiles and Aviaconversiya provided jamming devices. Aviaconversiya director Oleg Antonov denied the claim, saying on Echo of Moscow radio that, "we have never delivered anything to Iraq." He said the allegation was "conjecture resulting from the fact that tests of high-precision armaments revealed the total loss of their efficiency against our jamming." The deputy director of Tula's instrument design office, Leonid Roshal, also denied the report, according to the news agency ITAR-Tass.

A spokesman for Russia's arms export agency, Rosoboronexport, said his organization "100 percent definitely had nothing to do with any sales and we have no information that such sales took place." Rosoboronexport is the sole state intermediary for Russian military exports and imports.

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Moscow said that Moscow's response to the allegations "so far hasn't been satisfactory... We hope that the responsible Russian agencies will take our concerns seriously."

Fox News reported in January that Iraq may have obtained as many as 400 electronic "jammers" that could throw America's smart bombs off their programmed path if the U.S. goes to war. There was "real concern at the highest levels" at the Pentagon that Baghdad may have purchased the jammers from a Russian firm, a senior defense official said then. If the smart bombs are diverted from their designated targets, they may hit non-military sites and cause civilian casualties — which could be used to Iraq's advantage. The types of bombs whose courses may be altered by these jammers are called J-Dams — for "joint direct attack munitions," guided by global satellites. These are the military's GPS-guided bombs. Each one costs about $21,000 and has a maximum range of 15 miles. J-Dams made their combat debut in Kosovo in 1999.
It's estimated that 80 percent of U.S. weapons that would be used in a war with Iraq would be directed via satellites.

The Air Force is now trying to test similar jammers to see if those used by an enemy can really work on U.S. weapons. Defense officials confirm the extensive use of GPS-guided munitions, including Tomahawks, JDAMs, and the EGBU-27 used to hit the Iraqi leadership compound on Wednesday night. These are all being used throughout the country. All of the munitions used in Baghdad have been GPS-guided.
Now we need to know what France and Germany have been providing
Posted by: Spot || 03/24/2003 09:50 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The last line is mine (my browser didn't recognize the tags for hi-lite). I think we are going to see lots of rats fleeing the sinking ship.
Posted by: Spot || 03/24/2003 8:06 Comments || Top||

#2  From what I've seen so far in Baghdad, it looks like all our stuff seems to hit what it's aimed at, so it looks like Russian GPS jamming devices aren't worth shit.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 9:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Donald Sensing recently explained that GPS jamming is nonsense. All the military GPS gadgets also include Inertial Navigation, which will still put them on target if the GPS signal fails.
http://www.donaldsensing.com/2003_03_01_archive.html#%0A200034435
Posted by: John Weidner || 03/24/2003 9:32 Comments || Top||

#4  We know they don't work, and the Ruskies know they dont work, but Saddam did not, until last Wednesday. So much for the protection amulet.
Posted by: john || 03/24/2003 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  "Good thing we got the extended warranty!"
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 11:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Wonder if Saddam paid Russia for these???? And I wonder what the premium was to get them in 2002?
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 13:02 Comments || Top||


Saddam to flood Baghdad
caution: This could be propaganda/disinformation or just plain wrong. It is from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting site.
12:54:17 PM
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has ordered his forces to break Darbandikhan dam, in northern Iraq, as soon as they see US and British forces moving into Baghdad, according to Iraqi dissidents in the southwestern Iranian city of Khorramshahr. In the event the dam is opened, most parts of Iraq would be engulfed in water and, it is feared, Iranian border areas would also face a disaster.
Posted by: Anon1 || 03/24/2003 07:33 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  click the bottom link of 'saddam breaks dam' because i can't link the title properly due to being a bit thick.
Posted by: anon1 || 03/24/2003 7:11 Comments || Top||

#2  "most parts of Iraq would be engulfed in water"

If that was true, they shouldn't even have a dam. The place could be a paradise instead of the sand pit that it is.
Posted by: Tom || 03/24/2003 9:14 Comments || Top||

#3  tom, theres a reason its called the "fertile crescent"
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 11:07 Comments || Top||

#4  The region was among the most fertile on earth due to an extensive system of canals and irrigation. When the Mongols conquored the region, the annual maintenance could not be performed and in a matter of a couple of years the desert moved in.
Posted by: Chuck || 03/24/2003 11:31 Comments || Top||

#5  chuck in fact it was already in decline before the mongols, due to increasing soil salinity/runoof problems(?) associated with thousands of years of intensive irrigation. Nonetheless the notion that the entire country is desert (despite low rainfall) is false. The Tigris and Euphrates still carry lots of freshwater, and it is still used for irrigation. Much of the south was marshland, before Saddam pursued a deliberate policy of changing hydraulic flows to destroy the marsh Arabs. Much is still farmland. I dont know the precise uses of the dams, but Toms implication that this is desert where using dams makes no sense reveals a serious misunderstanding of the local geography. I would hope that all of us who post here (myself included) continue to work on our background knowledge.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 11:42 Comments || Top||

#6  There's a vast difference between the fertile crescent and the referenced "most parts of Iraq would be engulfed in water" that I was commenting on. The article made it sound like losing one dam out of many would unleash a flood of biblical proportions. All of the irrigated portions of Iraq were and still are a very small percentage of Iraq, and much of the rest to the south is a big sand pit so unfertile that water alone won't help. I suspect that the pre-mongol "paradise" is almost as mythic as the "Hanging Gardens of Babylon." Everybody likes to hype up "the good old days."

That said, there are enough canals in Baghdad to cause us plenty of problems in the days ahead, whether they are flooded or not.
Posted by: Tom || 03/24/2003 15:43 Comments || Top||

#7  the area south-west of the Euphrates is desert - that where the 3rd ID mades its lightning advance. The 1st marine div, is apparently trying to go north from
Nasariyah, and head between the Euphrates and the Tigris (this, IIUC, is the fertile area, though even here there are swaths of desert amidst the farmland). This would bring them toward Bagdad from the South, while 3rd ID comes from the west/southwest (karbala). It is also possible a unit will be sent up the Tigris to attack from the east. Talk has been that exploding a dam would make it more difficult to cross the Tigris, which would make this operation more difficult. You are correct that the IRNA report seems highly exagerated.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 16:21 Comments || Top||

#8  If the dam is blown by the Iraqi Regime, it (the dam) will be pretty bombed oops, I mean Bummed out; it would be a "Sad Dam"
Posted by: Bodyguard || 03/25/2003 0:57 Comments || Top||


Republican Guard division attacked by helicopters near Baghdad
I'm not sure about the reliability of this source. It has a CNN source but the link on their website did not work.
U.S. Apache helicopters moved within 10 kilometres of Baghdad and attacked the armoured Medina division of the Republican Guard early Monday. The battle follows a series of tough firefights to the south. According to CNN, the helicopters attacked the Medina division, which protects Baghdad. U.S. forces encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire as they tried to take out Iraqi tanks on the ground. Many of the choppers came back damaged. Late Sunday, there were reports of a battle near Karbala and Al Hillah, where coalition troops engaged the Republican Guard. That battle would be the closest fighting yet to Baghdad. The battle near Karbala lasted three hours and ended in the early morning hours.
Posted by: Kerry || 03/24/2003 07:34 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The lesson odf Somalia:

Wait for the goddam armor.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 17:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Here's the link http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=245054&lang=e&dir=news

Sorry, Fred. I'm not succeeding in getting the link to work on the title rollover.
Posted by: Kerry || 03/24/2003 6:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Kill the bastards and come home safe!
Posted by: Ptah || 03/24/2003 6:45 Comments || Top||

#4  BTW, the high level of damage done to the Apaches, although worrisome, is significant: This very likely means that the vast majority of the really nasty Iraqui War material was SCAVANGED and FORWARDED to the Republican Guard for use around Baghdad. Leaving the rockets in the south made sense, since they wouldn't be useful if their range exceeds the diameter of the battlelines around Baghdad (I.e. shoot a rocket and it overshoots the enemy lines by tens of miles.) I think they dedicated their heavy transports to moving stuff appropriate to close-in battle to make sure the Republican guard is armed to the teeth.

This is good: this means they left the remainder of the country relatively disarmed of the really nasty stuff. Relatively: hand guns, machine guns, grenades, and the man-carried rockets were probably cached for later use by "surrendering" Iraqui fifth-columnists, who would pull the stuff out and attack from the rear once past the front lines. Whatcha bet the Iraqui soldiers who ran instead of surrendering were aware of this? Let's hope they took their weapons home and have them ready for Second Amendment-like use when, Viet-cong-like, the Baathists try to use terror to deprive us of the support of the freed populace.

THANK YOU TURKEY! Instead of the 4ID being in the north, they'll be in good position to sweep out the remainders as they head north.
Posted by: Ptah || 03/24/2003 7:08 Comments || Top||

#5  There's been a lot of talk about Cobras, but this is the first time (assuming it's true) I've heard any mention of Apaches. Is this the first time they've engaged the enemy in numbers? Is it because the Cobras are being coordinated with ground forces?
Posted by: matt || 03/24/2003 8:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Aren't Cobras generally attached to Marine units and the Army units use mostly Apaches, or am I over-generalizing here?
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 9:04 Comments || Top||

#7  According to the Times, this engagement was a disaster for US. It says our helicopters had to return to base and that all were damaged. It implies they were unable to engage the RG tanks, though it is not clear.
Posted by: JAB || 03/24/2003 11:15 Comments || Top||

#8  According to the Times, this engagement was a disaster for US. It says our helicopters had to return to base and that all were damaged. It implies they were unable to engage the RG tanks, though it is not clear

Consider the source.
Posted by: Parabellum || 03/24/2003 12:03 Comments || Top||

#9  does anyone have a link to todays Tariq aziz speech - i got a quick look at one of the cable channel's crawls, and it said he declared that all senior leaders were safe, except for one "martyr in al najaf" The online sites only mention that he said that senior leaders were safe - what did he mean? Is "chemical" ali dead???
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 13:43 Comments || Top||

#10  This morning around 2am I was listening to a CNN reporter in Kuwait reporting that some Apaches came under surprising fire from all directions somewhere south of Baghdad, forcing them to return. Aparently all of them returned, one Apache with one engine, another almost didn't make it.

I was thinking at that time, that they better re-think their strategy of using helicopters in front-line action, with so many RPGs and small arms fire still around on the field, or else they will take heavy losses of helicopters. Helicopters need stand-off distance. At the very least they should not send in anymore Apaches until they reduce the numbers of RPGs on the ground. Sure enough, this morning I wake up and hear of 2 missing Apaches.
I know what you're gonna say, but haven't we learned anything from Somalia???
Posted by: RW || 03/24/2003 15:25 Comments || Top||

#11  The lesson odf Somalia:

Wait for the goddam armor.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 17:25 Comments || Top||

#12  What armor? My understanding is that we do not have much armor in Iraq by GWI standards, especially given that the 4th ID is at sea and some of its gear might be sitting in Turkey.

As a civilian, looking at the map scares the hell out of me: long supply chains, 6 RG divisions vs. what must be the exhausted 3rd ID and a Marine division. I will pray for our people regardless, but am I missing something here?
Posted by: anon || 03/24/2003 17:52 Comments || Top||

#13  I guess this armor:
The coalition strategy is to establish a front line stretching eastwards from the Shia holy city of Karbala across the two main highways into the capital. The line will remain fixed while waves of air and ground-launched missiles pound the Republican Guard while the heavy artillery and tanks of V Corps rumble up for an eventual land assault. By the time that is launched the coalition aims to have 60,000 combat troops, 400 Abrams M1 and 100 Apache attack helicopters massed on the front. The three Republican Guard divisions have 500 tanks.
Posted by: anon || 03/24/2003 19:27 Comments || Top||


Saddam Addresses Nation, Promises ’Victory Is Soon’
President Saddam Hussein addressed his nation Monday, urging the Iraqi people and military to be patient with the promise that "victory is soon."
Any minute now...
"Iraq will strike the necks (of the enemy) as God has commanded you," he said in a nationally televised address. "Strike them, and strike evil so that evil will be defeated." Saddam appeared in full military uniform and seemed calmer than during his last national address Thursday following the first round of cruise missile attacks on his capital. He clearly appeared to be trying to rally his people as U.S. and British forces were waging air campaigns over the nation and advancing quickly on the ground toward the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
I think he gave this same speech in Gulf War I...
"These decisive days, oh you Iraqis are in line with what God has ordered you to do, to cut their throats," he said. "Those who are believers will be victorious. In these decisive days, the enemy tried not using missiles and fighter jets as they did before. This time, they sent their infantry troops. This time, they have come to invade and occupy your land." In words aimed at inspiring his troops, Saddam said Iraqi fighters were "causing the enemy to suffer and to lose every day." Saddam spoke of clashes at Umm Qasr, where firefighting between Iraqi and coalition forces has broken out since allies took control of the strategic southern port town Friday. He also spoke of the coalition forces having been "humiliated."
Yeah. We saw our people humiliated on teevee. We'll be wanting to talk to the people responsible when this is all over...
"As time goes by, they will lose more and they will not be able to escape lightly from their predicament," he said. "We will make it as painful as we can." But the Iraqi leader did not mention specific details or dates when talking about the U.S.-led war against his regime, nor did he mention setbacks suffered Sunday by U.S. and British forces advancing toward Baghdad in clashes that left about 10 U.S. troops dead and a dozen missing. Royal Air Force spokesman Capt. Al Lockwood told Fox News that the address could easily have been pre-recorded. The Pentagon did not issue a formal reaction, but officials told Fox News they were "skeptical" about the address and suggested it was dated, pointing to the lack of specific details of recent developments in the speech.
Will all these doubts as to his very corporeal existence, you'd think he'd include someting, anything to confirm the message was recorded in the last day or two. This goes in the evidence pile labelled "Sammy's squash" as far as I'm concerned.
The Pentagon officials said the tape would be analyzed. There has been much speculation about whether the Iraqi leader is alive and how much in command he is of his military. Fox News learned Friday that U.S. officials were in possession of photographs showing Saddam being taken out on a stretcher into an ambulance after the the initial coalition strikes against Baghdad.
Doubt they'll be conclusive, unfortunately.
Speaking of the Americans and Britons, Saddam said "these forces entered our lands and where they penetrated they became entangled, desert behind them and surrounded by Iraqi residents surrounding them and aiming their fire at them." Taunting the allies, he asked: "Have you found what the devil that besets your soul promised you in Iraq?"
Not that I've heard.
"Brown - that a devil besetting our soul?"
"Where?"
"Over there!"
"Behind this berm? No, Sir. Looks like a concealed chemical weapons bunker."

Addressing the people of Iraqi cities like Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, Saddam warned that the enemy will intensify its raids as their troops suffer casualties on the ground. "Be patient. God's victory is coming ... Be tolerant," he added. He mentioned several units and commanders, saluting them "for their heroic feats in the battlefield." He told the people of Iraq's second largest city, Basra, which has been isolated but not occupied by allied forces, to be patient because "victory is imminent." Saddam said the allies were "trying to avoid engaging our forces" — a clear reference to the U.S. strategy of avoiding having to enter provincial cities — adding that "in most cases they are using their warplanes to attack our troops without engaging them in fighting."
To my mind, we're not doing enough of that...
"Whenever they penetrated our territory, they were faced with fierce resistance from Iraqi people, tribes, party members, Saddam's Fedayeen and security forces," he said.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 07:40 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  People don't seem to be considering the possibility that the "injured Saddam" was actually one of his doubles, and the real Saddam has gone underground or into exile.

Or, at least, media people don't seem to be...
Posted by: mjh || 03/24/2003 7:22 Comments || Top||

#2  The other possibility is that Saddam is trying to confuse us into thinking that he might be dead so no one will come hunting for him.

Posted by: bernardz || 03/24/2003 8:21 Comments || Top||

#3  See
http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/03_03_23_corner-archive.asp#005746

for a thought about authenticity.

dorf
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 8:23 Comments || Top||

#4  This fresh from the BBC (excerpts):

UK doubt over Saddam broadcast

UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon says he is not yet convinced that a television broadcast by Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is genuine. Mr Hoon told a press conference in London that the recent events referred to by Saddam were not "unambiguously contemporary". He added: "We are well aware he spent many hours recently tape recording messages. Later, armed forces minister Adam Ingram said the UK believed Saddam Hussein had recorded "10 hours of pre-recorded messages".

Expect his broadcasts to get more general, less attached to "reality"...

He really does believe he's some pre-destined leader of Iraq, and has spent millions rebuilding ancient sites using bricks enscribed with his own name. He could well have taken precautions for the fight to continue should he have been be taken out early on. Of course, he could be out of the country, but they wouldn't be putting out this rubbish unless they had no ability to do otherwise.

All it would take to confirm he's alive would be mention of one event, one date. I wonder if there's a tape marked "why we're using non-conventional weapons in retaliation against the evil US/UK".
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 8:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Yeah Saddam
At least post the "Sweet 16" brackets on the wall behind you. I am sure you can pull them from www.cnn/ncaa/marchmadness.com

Posted by: Capsu78 || 03/24/2003 11:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Everybody wants to be Harry Seldon.
Posted by: Pink & Fluffy || 03/24/2003 11:42 Comments || Top||

#7  I can't believe Iraqi TV is still on the air. I assume it's so we can tell the population that the war is over (when it's over).
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 15:59 Comments || Top||


Marines killed during faked surrender
Edited for length
AN NASIRIYAH, Iraq — As they waited in a convoy Monday to cross the Euphrates River, the Marines were tense, fingers on the trigger. Two bloody battles a day earlier near An Nasiriyah, 230 miles from Baghdad, had deepened their sense of just how treacherous the drive to the Iraqi capital could be. Some of the Americans had been killed by Iraqis pretending to surrender.
They did this last time, too. The lefties denigrate the concept of honor among military men, but it has its uses. One of those uses is that adhering to the rules of war — one of them involving honoring white flags — you don't set up a situation where subsequent surrenders are rejected...
The convoy of hundreds of vehicles — including tanks, TOW missiles and armored personnel carriers — was backed up along the road leading to a pontoon bridge, and Marines with scarves around their heads lay in the sand on either side of the line of traffic, pointing their M-16s toward the desert. Anyone who approached faced close scrutiny. The point man for one set of vehicles, a young Marine with a quiet Southern drawl, seemed typical of the mood. As he spoke, his gaze was fixed straight ahead, his finger on the trigger of his rifle, ready for whatever might lie across the sand. His eyes looked tired. He had had about an hour of sleep a night over the previous few days as the convoy pressed ahead. "It's going to be a long day, I think," he said. Asked if he had drawn any fire, he said "Not yet. When we reach Baghdad, I think." Like other Marines interviewed Monday, he refused to give his name. Such was the mood.
"Piss off. I'm a Marine. That's what counts."
Another Marine, from the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base in California, was in the 1991 Gulf War, and noted the change in mood this time. "When you're at war in someone's homeland, it's a different story," he said. "Last time" — in Kuwait — "everyone was happy to see us. We were liberating the country. So we did it, we won, everyone was happy and we went home." But here, there is constant anxiety about disguised Iraqi soldiers waiting to attack, and constant wondering about just who is the enemy. "We saw some black berets hanging up in a tree, and we went to investigate and we saw all these uniforms hanging there. I figure half these guys you see walking around are soldiers. They've discarded their uniforms," the Marine said. "They're out there, they're watching us and they're planning small counter-attacks."
Posted by: Kerry || 03/24/2003 07:45 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here's the link for this article. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,81921,00.html
Posted by: Kerry || 03/24/2003 5:55 Comments || Top||

#2  This must be a clever attempt of the republican guard members, killing US soldiers while pretending surrender will slow down the advance even more and it will make it harder for the Iraqi soldiers to surrender also.
Posted by: Murat || 03/24/2003 7:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I wouldn't use the word "clever", Murat. This is nothing new. But it will result in many more deaths, primarily of regular Iraqis troops trying to surrender and get the hell out of an unwinnable situation. Is that clever, or sick?
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 8:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Heh..."Clever"

As has been floating around the blogosphere:
"The most humane soldiers in the world are US soldiers, The deadliest soldiers in the world are pissed off US soldiers"

"Killing" is the wrong word. "Unlawful executions" is the proper word.

These are the desperate tactics of a dying regime...
Posted by: mjh || 03/24/2003 8:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, in terms of guerilla warfare it is clever, the republican guards achieve by this that regular Iraqi soldiers won't surrender that easily and US soldiers will take more time to asure / secure themselves.
Posted by: Murat || 03/24/2003 8:45 Comments || Top||

#6  "Clever" and "despicable" are not interchangeable terms. If "despicable" works, "clever" doesn't apply.
Posted by: VAMark || 03/24/2003 8:59 Comments || Top||

#7  Iraqi behavior seems to be trying to emulate Japanese techniques.

I wonder if they've considered the logical extension.
Posted by: Dishman || 03/24/2003 9:12 Comments || Top||

#8  I have to agree with Murat, here, moral considerations apart.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 9:19 Comments || Top||

#9  Murat,

Barring any moral judgment, you are correct that it is a clever guerrilla warfare tactic.

It is not my place to say, as I am not facing such Iraqi tactics, but I hope this approach by the fedayeen does not cause us to violate the Geneva treaty.

Maybe a solution is to have surrendering Iraqis strip down and lay prostrate on the sand with arms and legs spread. If they move without being instructed to move, then they are shot.

Of course, that could be a violation of the Geneva convention, too...


Posted by: mjh || 03/24/2003 9:24 Comments || Top||

#10  How hard it may sound these are still small scale tricks, real guerrilla warfare hasn’t shown yet. Nobody can imagine until you have seen it with own eyes, I have seen pregnant woman strapped with explosives blowing herself up killing dozens of soldiers who wanted to be gentle and help. Guerrilla warfare is much more nasty than what the Iraqis have shown till now. War with moral does not exist.
Posted by: Murat || 03/24/2003 9:44 Comments || Top||

#11  Besides where is the moral of the war anyway when it is revealed that even the southern Shia's don't welcome "liberators"
Posted by: Murat || 03/24/2003 10:00 Comments || Top||

#12  I'll tell you what, Murat. For awhile we won't be "liberators". We'll be "conquerers" instead and destroy the Iraqi army. We'll be "liberators" and take care of civilian issues later. This seemed to work well in Japan and Germany a few years back.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 10:11 Comments || Top||

#13  "Besides where is the moral of the war anyway when it is revealed that even the southern Shia's don't welcome "liberators"."

Is this why Sammy's been too busy to make live broadcasts lately - he's been posting on Rantburg under a pseudonym?
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 10:22 Comments || Top||

#14  We'll be liberators of the Kurds, right Murat? After all, they've been oppressed and subjugated for a long time....even in Iraq.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2003 11:05 Comments || Top||

#15  What we found at Umm al Qasr

' One U.S. intelligence officer said he thinks the Ba'ath Party had told townspeople to give up leaflets they had collected or be killed.

"They went around collecting them so the people in the town wouldn't see them, wouldn't have them, wouldn't be able to read them," the officer told CNN.'

I'd certainly like to see celebrating Shiites, but its not like there arent reasons (like the above) why we havent seen them yet.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 11:31 Comments || Top||

#16  from a National Post (canada) embedded reporter with US Marines in SOuth-central Iraq.

"For many kilometres, civilians and soldiers were lined up, waving and blowing kisses at the passing vehicles holding U.S. Marines. Many begged for food. Each U.S. vehicle had been given two boxes of ready-to-eat rations suitable for Muslims. Some people came back for seconds, hiding the food they had already collected."
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 12:56 Comments || Top||

#17  Funny thing about liberation, Murat, they don't want to be liberated, but they're asking,
"Where's mine?"

Where's my water, my food, my schools, my humanitarian aid?

And par the course, the American taxpayer forks over for another 60 years and gets the shaft.

We really need to be looking at our UN and foreign aid budgets.

And Murat, you provide useful info and interesting counterbalance, but don't blame US for Ergodan thinking we only had "Plan A" which included Turkey.

And more of our troops will die, thanks to that policy. And "the world's* which is what they want anyway.

Most of us in the US are under no illusions. And those who are listening to the Baghdad Broadcasting Corp via NPR are getting an earful.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 13:13 Comments || Top||

#18  heres something interesting - MSNBC/slate reported did a piece from Bagdada - headline is that locals hate us - although only evidence is from armed Iraqi looking for downed pilot in tigris (not exactly a representative sample, eh?) but in th midst of that is hidden this gem

"Explosions are rocking my computer as I write. For the first time, small-arms fire can be heard throughout the city. Anti-aircraft emplacements are set up around the perimeter of our hotel. It?s not a good sign. Yesterday those 500 meters from us were destroyed, completely destroyed, by American missiles."


Small arms fire!?!?! With coalition troops 50 miles away, and stuck taking on Republican guards? What can this mean??? Could it be connected to shutting of Tigris river bridges, that, IIUC, lead to mainly Shiite Saddam City slums? It sounds like SOMETHING is going on in Bagdad - I wonder what it is.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 13:14 Comments || Top||

#19  My dad was with the 1st MarDiv in the Pacific WWII. Surrendering Japanese tried to take out yanks with hand grenades or other device when surrendering. So it came down to a couple of options: hose them and don't ask questions, or make them strip to prevent carrying hidden surprises. They forced us to be brutal. Most of the time Dad hosed down the caves and pillboxes with his amphib mounted flamethrower. Fake surrenders and ambushes were not pretty and it hardened our guys pretty fast, and more stayed alive after that.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/24/2003 13:33 Comments || Top||

#20  this could really work in Saddams favor: consider this; all the fake surrenders at some point will force US troops to take less prisoners for their own safety, once word gets down to the iraqui army that we are not taking as many prisoners, they will have but one option- fight to the death- exactly what he wants and we don't. This should happen around the time the big battle for baghdad begins. Maybe I am giving them too much credit for thinking this through like that.
Posted by: scott || 03/24/2003 19:40 Comments || Top||


Two UK soldiers missing in Iraq (and other Brit news in short)
Two British soldiers are missing in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence has said. Their vehicles were attacked in the south of the country on Sunday and efforts are being made to find the men. Elsewhere British troops are coming under sniper and small arms fire as they try to secure footholds in southern Iraq. There has been no details about which unit the missing soldiers are from or where they may be. An MoD spokesman said they were being deliberately vague about the suspected location of the men for safety and operational reasons. The soldiers are the first British service personnel to go missing in action. An MoD spokesman later said the soldiers' next of kin had been informed of the situation.

British troops have been establishing footholds on the outskirts of Basra in the south of Iraq. But resistance from Iraqi forces has continued - including 3 Para, of the 16th Air Assault coming under fire in the Rumeila oil fields, according to the BBC's Hilary Andersson. BBC correspondent Tim Franks, reporting from the Iraqi border, said all British units were reporting "niggling, sniping attacks". "These are coming from what are characterised as regime zealots and militia using guns and rocket-propelled grenades."

Group Captain Al Lockwood, the British forces spokesman in the Gulf, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there remained "minor pockets of resistance", but UK troops were not being hampered by them. He said: "We're encountering them, if necessary we're going round them. They're not impeding our advance at all, and as necessary we will go back and deal with them. We're making progress, we're on our timeline."

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said the war on Iraq was going to plan "despite the tragedies that have occurred". But speaking on British Forces Broadcasting - which broadcasts to troops - he warned of tough times ahead. Mr Blair also joined the condemnation of Iraq's display of captured US soldiers on television. He said it helped to demonstrate what sort of man Saddam Hussein was, insisting: "Parading people in that way is contrary to the Geneva Convention."

Tanks from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards saw their first action on Sunday, 24 hours after crossing the border from Kuwait on Friday and heading north to join the rest of the Desert Rats surrounding Basra. They were involved in a series of battles with Iraqi resistance on the outskirts of the city. Their Challenger 2 tanks destroyed five Russian built T55 tanks close to Basra International Airport.

Nearer to the Iraq-Kuwait border, a three-day scouting trip by men from the 59 and 131 Independent Commando Squadrons, Royal Engineers, led to the erection of a strategic bridge outside the port town of Umm Qasr. The soldiers spent two nights sleeping in their nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) suits to keep warm.

The 15th US Marine Expeditionary Unit, known as 15th MEU, are to be replaced in Umm Qasr on Monday by 42 Commando of the Royal Marine Commandos. Coalition forces intend to get humanitarian aid on shore as quickly as possible via the two ports.

It has also been confirmed that three British soldiers have been injured while fighting Iraqi forces on the nearby Al Faw oil peninsula. The troops who have been injured on the Al-Faw peninsula are believed to have suffered burns during an explosion in a building, but sources could not say how the explosion occurred.
Footage of this was shown on TV via night vision cameras. Looked like phosphorous, two guys were slightly burned, one was pretty well aflame.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 04:36 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Heh, they did look determined, didn't they?!
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 13:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I continue to eagerly follow brit progress in southren Iraq. Basra is proving nastier than expected, but UK troops seem to be handling it well.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 8:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Bulldog. I saw the video on that attack. Most intense firefight I've seen yet in this war. Looks like your boys are doing just fine, as we knew they would. We're proud of them.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 10:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Bulldog - The clip of one firefight I saw reminded me why it's good to have the UK shoulder-to-shoulder with us.
Posted by: Matt || 03/24/2003 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Heh, they did look determined, didn't they?!
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 13:06 Comments || Top||

#6  The SA80 rocks. But M16 still better :)
Posted by: RW || 03/24/2003 18:25 Comments || Top||


US missile strikes Syrian passenger bus
Holy maloney!
A US missile has hit a Syrian passenger bus near the Iraqi border, killing five people and injuring 10 others. The bus was carrying Syrians fleeing the war in Iraq. A spokeswoman for the US Central Command says Allied forces do not target civilians, and that their targeting is done very carefully, using precision-guided missiles, to select military targets. The wounded have been taken to a Syrian hospital on the border. Syria, which strongly opposes the US-led war in Iraq, has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution to the crisis.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 07:46 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are we sure it was a US missile? The Iraqi missiles that went into Iran were misidentified as ours for a day or two.
Posted by: VAMark || 03/24/2003 9:02 Comments || Top||

#2  The bus was carrying Syrians fleeing the war in Iraq.

So which side of the border were they on? That's not clear in this article. Not that I'll lose any sleep over it if it was Syria.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 9:25 Comments || Top||

#3  The Syrians may have ot get used to this; read somewhere else that Syria was sending bus loads of vounteers to Iraq. So maybe tihs was just "practice' for when we really have to shoot at those busses.
Posted by: scott || 03/24/2003 19:49 Comments || Top||


Iraqi television shows downed US helicopter
It's a Longbow, and looks real enough to me.
Iraqi television has shown footage of what appeared to be a downed US Apache attack helicopter, intact and with its missiles still mounted. The helicopter, which bore the markings of an American armoured cavalry unit, was in a field near Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. There was no report on what happened to the pilot. It appeared the helicopter may have developed engine trouble, forcing it down. US ground troops of the 3rd Infantry Division are moving on Karbala, one of the main Shiite Muslim shrines in Iraq.
Saw the footage from Iraqi TV - looks like a controlled landing, and no obvious damage (bet they would have shown holes if there'd been any). Pilot's door was open. No sign of the crew, but the Iraqis aparently had helmets and other items, but no crew. If they were already evacuated, as hoped, is there a reason why the chopper's still sitting there intact?
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 04:07 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hope they were still doing their little "Rifle Polka" when the strike package came in to obliterate the wreck.
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 6:59 Comments || Top||

#2  If this is the same picture that has been floating around note the 1st Cav badge on the nose.

What that means is open to interpretation. Is the 1st Cav sneaking in from Jordan, or is this a glorified counterfit?
Posted by: Hiryu || 03/24/2003 9:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Keep in mind that most of the casualties in this war have come from helicopter accidents - mechanical failures, navigation errors, etc.

Sounds like a mechanical. If its a "shoot down" youd have seen the landing gear or other underside damage, and a lot more "dents" in the ground from a hard landing.

As for the helmets, those things weigh a ton, especially with all the longbow crap on them. First thing you do is ditch them, and evade from the area - its a sure bet that someone else came in to get them - I'm betting that this crew got a quick ride out by way of a Kiowa (scout copter), or on the skids of another attack bird. The Cav doesnt leave people behind like this.

As for why it hasnt been cooked down yet, its probably due to slow target turn around by the USAF.

And notice there have been no updates - you see the same videos over and over. Safe bet its already been blasted by a 500 lb bomb snakeye.

As for the "1st Cav" - not quite. Its a general "Cav" crossed sabres and cavalry pennant. All cav units tend to use them. I'd need a tighter look before I could identify the unit.
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/24/2003 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  speaking of units, is it just me, or has Debka ceased to make any sense - they seem to have mixed up Karbala and Kut, and to make reference to "3rd armored div" and "7th Mech division" - among other things
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 12:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Have they blown the wreck to hell yet? Or are they waiting for more "tourists" to come see it? And any word on the crew?
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 14:05 Comments || Top||


Iraqi Officials Emerge, Bolstered By U.S. Setbacks
After days of preparing Baghdad to brace for a last stand, President Saddam Hussein's government emerged emboldened today and asserted that its carefully laid plans to create a quagmire for U.S. forces were succeeding. In a day of spectacles that officials seemed to savor, the government repeatedly broadcast footage of what it said were American prisoners of war and at least four soldiers killed near the southern town of Nasiriyah. Hundreds of people gathered on a bridge to gawk at a search for a U.S. or British pilot rumored to have been downed over Baghdad. And, in a sign that residents are increasingly setting aside fears of war to reclaim elements of a normal life, Iraqis gathered in the streets to cheer as a cruise missile appeared to be struck by antiaircraft fire.
Someone got lucky.
For the first time in a week, senior officials made public appearances, some of them seemingly startled by reports of resistance in the predominantly Shiite Muslim south, which many in Baghdad had expected to fall almost immediately. "We have drawn them into a swamp and they will never get out of it," Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf declared, referring to U.S.-led forces.
How far away are we from Baghdad, Saeed?
The official optimism was tempered by the bleak landscape that greeted residents at daybreak. Across the horizon, billowing black smoke cast a shroud over the city as at least 20 oil pits, set alight by Iraqi forces, burned for a second day in an attempt to conceal Baghdad from air strikes. The acrid haze blotted out the sun, as the thunder of bombs rolled over the city day and night. In their most delusional clearest terms yet, Iraqi officials outlined their war strategy, exuding a boastfulness confidence that only a day earlier seemed to wane. In a series of appearances, government leaders said they expected to draw U.S. and British forces into bloody urban battles in southern Iraq, with the most aggressive defense planned for Baghdad. They appeared cheered by televised reports of resistance in the port of Umm Qasr, a small southern town that the U.S. military claimed to have taken in the early hours of the war. They also predicted that U.S. forces would experience setbacks similar to the one delivered in Nasiriyah as they neared other cities. "They will have to come to cities if they want to achieve their victory," said Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed. "They only depend on their weaponry and they try to fire from far away. If they plan to take Baghdad, they will have to pay a high cost."
Far away or up close, however you want it.
Added Vice Thug President Taha Yassin Ramadan, the most senior official to appear in public since the war began: "They are roaming in the desert, and in fact, we have had no choice but to allowed them to roam the desert. I tell you, we wish and beg that they come to Baghdad so that we will teach a lesson to this evil administration and all who cooperate with it."
We're coming, don't worry.
While regularly predicting victory, even the most delusional optimistic Iraqi officials hesitate to say their military can defeat U.S. forces, and the government appears in appropriate awe of their foes' technological prowess. They seem to envision a prolonged and bloody war of attrition, hoping to exhaust the U.S. will to fight and to rally public outrage over civilian casualties to force a negotiated solution. In an hour-long news conference, Ramadan bitterly criticized U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for withdrawing U.N. inspectors and ending the oil-for-food program that provides Iraq its scarce revenue. He contended that Annan had bowed to the wishes of the United States and Britain, looking ahead to a post-Hussein Iraq. He made an explicit bleat call to the United Nations to intervene and halt the fighting, the first time an Iraqi official has done so since the war began. "We believe the time is now right if the Security Council wants to prove its existence. To be a significant tool and instrument, it must condemn this aggression and call for a halt in this aggression," he said.
Prove its existence? Finally one of these thugs says something we can't disagree with!
Ramadan appealed to Arab governments to press for useless diplomacy. He and other officials appeared to take heart from footage of eye-rolling protests across the Arab world, and screamed at chastised Arab leaders for blocking silly chest thumping antiwar demonstrations. "Every Arab and Muslim should be a bullet in the chest of the aggressors until they leave the land of Arabs and Islam," he said.
That diplomatic pressure is most of what they're relying on. They've got to realize that their military is getting waxed, and that the casualties we're taking are mostly from unconventional warfare and ruses — a lot of stuff that only works once.
Sahhaf, the information minister, said 77 civilians had been killed in the southern city of Basra. Although there was no way to verify the number, the pan-Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera broadcast gruesome footage of corpses that was seen across the Arab world. Sahhaf said 366 were wounded in Basra, along with 147 in three other cities in Iraq — Baghdad, Diyala to the east and Samarra to the northwest.
Someone needs to point out that given the intensity of the fighting, these numbers are low, not high.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 09:08 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More good news - reports of little or no air defense in Bagdad in response to latest wave of air attacks - have we finally put an end to AD in Bagdad??
Report that Aussie special forces have attacked Command and control center, taken out elite troops.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 12:09 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm afraid those SOBs are right. The Iraqis have indeed rallied behind their butcher. This is going to be worse than Vietnam.
Posted by: Peter || 03/24/2003 3:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Worse than Vietnam? How so? Some Iraqis have rallied, the usual suspects of course. Where have they rallied? Oh- cities! How large a part did cities play in the Vietnam experience? OK, then there we have it.
Most of Iraq is desert or plains. Some nice old mountains, that's about it. You've got some lush areas between the rivers, but it hardly compares to true jungle. These rallied Iraqis are going to plot their resistance from cities or yurts out in the country, and are going to be visible the moment they move. A few blocks might have to be burned wholesale. That's what we saw starting on the news yesterday.
Precisely how is this going to be worse than Vietnam?
Posted by: therien || 03/24/2003 3:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Worse than Vietnam?...Whazza matter Pete, losing yer nerve after (only) three days?
Posted by: theSarge || 03/24/2003 3:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Taha Yassin Ramadan, the most senior official to appear in public since the war began:
Hey, thanks for pinpointing your location.

Jazeera broadcast gruesome footage of corpses..I know this plays well on The Street(TM), but I'm at a loss how this is playing well in Baghdad to inspire the troops with the Weak and Cowardly American theme.

Vietnam? This has been going on less than a week. If Iraqi's believe they can sustain this type of fighting for a year, then we'll talk. In the mean time, expect the Support-Our-Troops rallies to get bigger. Did you hear Michael Moore was resoundingly booed at the Oscars? The Oscars! Digest that one. The times they are a chang'n. Anti-war protestors aching for the "Summer of Love" reruns are as archaic as puka shells and petoli(sp?) oil ...this is more like Pearl Harbor/WWII than Vietnam.
Posted by: becky || 03/24/2003 4:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Fer all the weak sisters...lissen up! Here's a little dose of spine...read and heed.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/71625.htm

Posted by: theSarge || 03/24/2003 5:40 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm not losing my nerve, but I can only observe that the mass surrenders and the joy of being relieved from Saddam did not materialize. The allied approach has clearly failed. This campaign requires Sherman style torched earth tactics. No Iraqi town or village should remain intact. In fact, one should have a panoramic view of the country standing on a chair. Those tactics are no longer acceptable for a western army, because the public cannot stand it. That's why the barbarians ultimately win. Afghanistan was a success because we had our own barbarians doing the awful job of slaughtering whomever they saw running around.
Posted by: Peter || 03/24/2003 6:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Haven't you been watching the News, Peter? There's been plenty of footage of surrendering regulars and happy, happy liberated civvies. Fighting to the end are a relatively few fanatics who've got nothing left to lose. It's a process of being wise to their presence and blowing their s**t holes and SUVs off the planet when their ugly mugs appear. The general population does not support Saddam and his thugs, and there's no evidence they're rallying round him. The Ba'atists etc. are doing us all a favour by resisting - it leaves a population of friendlies behind when they're dismembered. Why are you sounding so defeatist?!
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 6:15 Comments || Top||

#9  It's four days into the war and the good guys are sixtyish miles from Baghdad, having met no significant organized resistance. The only folks fighting are the ones who have no chance in a post-Saddam universe, and there aren't all that many of them and they haven't managed to make any real threat to the mission. I'm missing the "quagmire" aspect here, somehow.
Posted by: jrosevear || 03/24/2003 6:28 Comments || Top||

#10  Excellent link, theSarge! Thanks!

We were never promised a rose garden by the government or the military: Only by those who shoved those words into their mouths and hope we're stupid enough to believe the victims thought those thoughts before uttering them.
Posted by: Ptah || 03/24/2003 6:56 Comments || Top||

#11  Peter--Iraq is a nation of 20 MILLION or more. If just 1% of them are fighting for Saddam, that's 200,000 yahoos we have to deal with--and we will. However, it's not going to happen overnight.

I'm sure a lot of Iraqis are just waiting to see if we're serious about kicking Saddam out this time, and justifiably so after our bait-and-switch back in '91. Once they see we're here to stay, Saddam is deposed, and they are free, they'll be more cooperative and, dare I say, grateful.
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 7:02 Comments || Top||

#12  This won't be another Vietnam because this is a different leadership. Way different. I agree with Dar, the vast majority of Iraqis (if they're smart) are waiting to cheer after its 100% sure Saddam is gone and the Americans are going to follow through.
Posted by: charlotte || 03/24/2003 8:04 Comments || Top||

#13  Peter. Scorched earth? Didn't we try that in, ummmmmm, Vietnam? How'd it work out then?
They are a week in and 60 miles from Bagdhad, if not closer. When they meet resistance, they wipe it out. There are going to be deaths, accidents, POWs, all the ugly things that happen in war but WE ARE GOING TO WIN THIS WAR.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 8:08 Comments || Top||

#14  good news and bad news

So far
Good news
1. No North Korean attack
2. No sttack on israel
3. no terr attack on Conus or UK
4.No intervention from Iran, cautious intervention by Turkey
5. No chem or bio attack - yet
6. Bridges, airfields, etc, captured intact
7. Damage to oilfields limited
8. No pouring oil into Persian Gulf
9. Patriots appear to be working
10. Rapid advance north
11. Polls show Brits behind Tony

Bad news.
1. Frag attack on 101st
2. Some friendly fire, heli crash losses
3. Continued resistance by Securitate and Brownshirts in Basra, Umm Qasr, Nassiriya
4. Um Qasr situation holding up usage of Umm Qasr port, especially for huminitarian aid

Continued uncertainties
1. Shiites in south not rising up - are they less enthusiastic for us than we thought, or still cautios in view of Securitate presence, fear we wont stay
2. Resistance in south - how serious is it - a lot of guys, or just a few taking advantage of residential areas - how do we deal with them - is this a bunch of "jenins"
3. Republican guard - are they waiting to surrender, or were communications Iraqi version of psyops?
4. What is happening in Kurdistan
5. Where is the 101st going?
6. Where are the follow-on units - any divisions on their way aside from 4th ID?
7. Political/diplo - have we really found chem weapons plants - what impact on world opinion? when will we get cheering iraqi pictures (beyond just Safwan) and what will be impact on arab "street"?
What are next steps wrt IIA (Iraqi Interim Authority)?
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 9:10 Comments || Top||

#15  Further good news
1. Few civilian casualties
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 9:28 Comments || Top||

#16  Peter, you need to watch the news with a wider lens. The "barbarians" are not "ultimately winning," they're just putting up a fight for their homeland at an early stage in the war. With your current approach and perspective, we would have abandoned WWII and Japan would never have been occupied. I must admit, though, that it pains me to see our soldiers dueling with pockets of Iraqi's that could easily be wiped out with heavier weaponry. On the other hand, everything I've seen suggests that in just a few days the Iraqi military has suffered tremendous losses from our heavier weaponry.
Posted by: Tom || 03/24/2003 9:37 Comments || Top||

#17  Liberalhawk:

1. Capture of a possible chemical weapons facility and it's alleged commanders.

Add that to your list on the good side.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 10:29 Comments || Top||

#18  tu - i have that under uncertainties - until the information is clarified - for all we know this could be an Iraqi set-up - something that looks like a CW facility, but turns out not to be, for the very purpose of embarassing the coalition. I know that sounds paranoid, but i think its wise that Centcom seems to be sitting on this one.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 11:10 Comments || Top||

#19  Uncertainties in Kurdistan likely to begin to resolve soon - Massive bombing underway between Kirkuk and Kurdish frontline. US officer officially announces US presence in Kurdistan - and he turns out to be a MARINE!!! And he says "dont assume we came by air"!!! At same time reports that 2nd Marine expeditionary unit (a division plus airpower?) was in JORDAN! Looks like they came in overland from Jordan - note taking of H2 and H3 on first day of ground campaign - since then they MAY have moved up and around Mosul into Kurdistan - no solid evidence - (just the above) but if so it would be audacious move, better even than "left hook" in GW1. Would also be consistent with lower concern over Turkish issues, move of 4th ID away from Med. (and with political strategy, less reliance on Turkey, shift toward Iraq Interim Authority) Airborne units (173rd Brigade, elements of 82nd)may be going in with Marines - or may be
held back for use elsewhere.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 11:18 Comments || Top||

#20  I sure can't buy the Vietnam analogy! In Vietnam, all options were on the table, except one: victory. Here, victory is the ONLY option.
Posted by: John Hale || 03/24/2003 11:33 Comments || Top||

#21  LiberalHawk, some more good news for your list (keep it up, it's a useful list):

1) Kurds cooperating with us
2) Ansar-al-Islam taking it in the chops
3) Doubts raised about Sammy's survival
4) Jordan appears to be helping a whole lot more than previously thought
5) Anti-war demonstrations revealing their hard-left core
6) no UN resolution tabled to condemn us
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 11:40 Comments || Top||

#22  Steve - biggest item on your list, IMHO, is number 4.

1 and 2 Id pretty much taken for granted before D-day - that the Kurds were already supporting us (although the political cooperation on the sensitive Turkey issue has been particularly good and that we could take Al-ansar down easily whenever we want to. 6 - i never expected such a res, in fact im still suprised the French havent flipped back to us yet. 5 - has there really been anything new the last few days - a break between ANSWER and moderate elements, whatever - there have been a few violent incidents, but i dont see enough evidence of coordination to change public opinion.
3. Yeah, well, after the hopes raised the first night, im not inclined to focus on that. I think hes alive but wounded, and perhaps not all that seriously (how he might have survived I dont know)In nay case the political leadership is still there - whether its being run by Uday, or Ramadan or whomever doesnt really matter. It IS good that the political leadership doesnt seem to be coordinating an effective resistance - that may be what is behind all the bridges captured intact, the non-use of CW/BW, etc. But until I see a real collapse Im not willing to count those chickens.

Not that i dont see your point - this is starting to feel like that point in the Afghan war, when the NA had not yet taken any large towns, and people (including hawks) were getting impatient about progress.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 11:53 Comments || Top||

#23  More good news - reports of little or no air defense in Bagdad in response to latest wave of air attacks - have we finally put an end to AD in Bagdad??
Report that Aussie special forces have attacked Command and control center, taken out elite troops.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/24/2003 12:09 Comments || Top||

#24  no air defense in Bagdad in response to latest wave of air attacks

Assumeing that the large explosions we here on TV are comming from the air and not the ground.
Posted by: Domingo || 03/24/2003 15:16 Comments || Top||


Troops find hidden Iraqi cruise missiles
Edited to stay on target.
British troops mopping up Iraqi opposition outside Basra have discovered cruise missiles hidden in bunkers abandoned by Saddam Hussein's disintegrating southern army. The massive arsenal includes cases of rockets, giant anti-shipping mines and other ammunition piled from floor to ceiling in dozens of bunkers at what is marked on maps as the Zubayr heliport.

Some of the boxes are clearly marked with the names of British manufacturers. One pile of boxes in a store housing rocket-propelled grenades bears the name of Wallop Industries Limited, based in Middle Wallop, Hampshire.
Always wondered where the name came from.

But the most disturbing find was two Russian-made Harith cruise missiles, each six metres (20ft) long, and nine warheads hidden in two enormous, reinforced-concrete bunkers. Another missile, as yet unidentified, was found still in its crate. The scale and possible implications of the weapons find took British forces by surprise and raised fresh questions about the extent of the Iraqi war machine and the ability of weapons inspectors to cope with the task of scouring such a vast country for prohibited ordnance.
I guess Blixie missed these too.

The discovery of the missiles — which were stamped with the year 2002 — came as British troops from the Black Watch regiment fought to secure the area around Iraqi's second city, Basra, in preparation for the capture of the city. 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 barbed wire, stands to the south-west of the town, defended by tanks. The defenders fled after coming under attack from coalition forces. Outside the perimeter fence about 40 bunkers were packed with rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition. Inside, 22 larger, fortified bunkers contained larger weaponry including the Harith missiles.

The missiles, with al-Harith 2002 stencilled in red paint on the side and covered with Cyrillic writing, were housed in 60ft-long bunkers protected by steel double doors 1ft thick. Painted grey, the missiles have two wings, each with a span of about 2ft, and three tail fins. There was no indication of the nature of the warheads fitted and experts have been called in to examine them. 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."

Corporal Iain Robertson said troops had discovered the missiles when they spotted children breaking into the heliport. "We came to see what they were looking at and found the bunkers with their doors wide open. When we went inside we came across those things." Corporal Steven Airzee added: "The initial sight was a shock. We were trying to figure out what they were. You have to wonder whether the weapons inspectors have been there because they looked pretty big."
Any comment, Blixie?

The entrance to the heliport was decorated with a picture of Saddam Hussein in military uniform. The area was surrounded by wrecked vehicles and abandoned, sandbagged fox holes, some flying white flags, and was overlooked by a network of watchtowers. Many of the buildings had already been looted by local people who took anything that could be carried by truck. There were also fears that weapons may have been taken from some of the bunkers that lay open outside the perimeter fence. Inside one, troops discovered open boxes containing rocket-propelled grenades. In the same building were a large pile of wooden weapons crates, unopened, marked Wallop Industries Limited. The boxes had red stickers warning: "Danger - do not load in passenger aircraft."
Considerate!

Lieutenant Angus Watson said soldiers had found the haul when they arrived on Saturday night. "The complex is massive and we were surprised to find a lot of the kit intact, easily enough for a whole brigade," he said. They also discovered hundreds of leaflets lying on the floor, dropped by coalition planes, urging the defenders to surrender. The leaflets, and evidence of a bombardment from the air or by artillery, appeared to have persuaded the defenders to abandon their posts without a fight.
This is an expanded version of the SkyNews article we read yesterday. There's a little more detail here, with a slightly different emphasis.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 09:29 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Articles taken from Yahoo Breaking News:
Papers in chem.plant written in English,Arabic, and Cyrilic.
Cruise missles found with Cyrilic stencils painted on them,crates containing rpg's with Wallop Industries Limited stencilled on the side.These weapons were found by Royal Marines!

Sounds like a definate link between Russia and Iraqi WMD programs.Also did a Google on Wallop(didn't click on the links)it appears to be a British weapons manufacturer.

What the hell is a British arms manufacturer doing selling weapons to Iraq?
Wonder how they feel about Royal Marines being killed with Wallop provided weapons?
Posted by: raptor || 03/24/2003 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey, this must be wrong. The Russians Deny Selling Iraq Weapons, this is from the article posted about 10 articles up.
Posted by: Jabba the Tutt || 03/24/2003 9:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Raptor, Wallop industries are based in Middle Wallop, Hertfordshire (I think), England. Seems no doubt that's genuine. Yesterday I read the crates were marked with what I assumed to be the year "80". It's not good news, but we still don't know whether these things came direct from the UK anyway. At least this might lessen the cries of "evidence fabrication" - it would be far, far better to be able to say they were French, German or Russian-made.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Don't worry, Bulldog. Before this is over, they'll find plenty of that crap too.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 10:22 Comments || Top||


Fedayeen tactics so far in Iraq
Heavily edited to just the Fedayeen story
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.
Most of those "tricks" are of the "use once" variety. The net effect will be to make it more difficult for Iraqis to surrender. That might be what they have in mind, but there will come a time when surrender will be necessary...
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.
More like, to kill the guys that don't want to get killed by the allied forces...
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.''
We expected the regular army to be a bunch of sad sacks, and they are. These guys are the party members, defending their power...
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 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.
I guess he's their inspiration...
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.
Toldja — the tactics are mostly of the "use once" variety. But they've probably got a few more still to use...
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.
If the Fedayeen are caught in civvies, or while organizing a fake surrender, then we have certain rights, don't we.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 09:16 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The article says there are 15,000 of them. Someone needs to get a scorecard handy, and start marking off the ones we kill. Let Sadsack know just how many "trusty warriors" he has left.

As for Baghdad, the best strategy is to surround the city, then begin evacuating the civilians, a street at a time. Once all the civilians are out, drop all of Sadsack's "WMD" on the city, let it sit for a couple of years, then go in and fumigate the place. Won't even be any vermin left.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 13:01 Comments || Top||

#2  As illegal combatants they have no protection under the Geneva Accords - indeed their false flag (using the white flag as a ruse to attack) marks them as being completely unstrustorthy. They can (and should be, IMHO) summarily executed, bodies thrown by the side of the road and left for the crows. This accomplishes a couple of things.

1. It stops them from being a further threat - they have already shown that they will not abide by civilized rules, so we should for security reasons eliminate them as a threat.

2. It sets a vivid example for the Fedayeen what their fate will be should they violate the Laws of War.

3. It demonstrates to the regular Iraqi army and civilians that we will act to A) prevent them from being attacked by such animals, and B) highly discourages any of them from taking similar actions.

4. It sends a very clear message to anyone that uses illegal combatants what their fate will be.
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/24/2003 0:43 Comments || Top||

#3  downside to killing them is that the Iraqis will claim we are killing prisoners, our media will show them as dead civilians.

Best to hold them until the end of the war, and turn them over to the new government for revenge.
Posted by: flash91 || 03/24/2003 0:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Best to hold them and find out who issued the orders, destroy the Iraqi government and then hold our own military tribunals.
Posted by: badanov || 03/24/2003 0:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Last night a C-130 full with wounded US soldiers landed in Turkey, why didn’t they bring the wounded back to Kuwait or Qatar? I guess the army is hiding her casualties and wounded not to demoralize the troops and the public at home.
Posted by: Murat || 03/24/2003 2:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Murat, I've just been watching live TV footage of wounded US troops being unloaded for treatment in Germany, en route back to the US. Hardly "hidden". Think up something more exciting next time if you're looking for conspiracy theories.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 3:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Bulldog, no conspiracy theories buddy, it is clear that CNN is hiding or holding back some news which appears on Al Jazeera.
Posted by: Murat || 03/24/2003 5:03 Comments || Top||

#8  The real payback comes after the war. Ex-soldiers will be strung up in the streets by people who weren't on Saddam's payroll.
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 8:45 Comments || Top||

#9  I watched the C-130 land in Germany live on CNN this morning. Keep trying, Murat.
Posted by: VAMark || 03/24/2003 10:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Fuck that. Round the bastards up, and shoot them in the fucking foreheads on national TV.

Fair is fair.
Posted by: mojo || 03/24/2003 10:22 Comments || Top||

#11  Hey, Sammy's got a modern day version of the SS. What a surprise! But the peacemongers say Bush is Hitler. I'm so confused!
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 11:02 Comments || Top||

#12  Hey, they're sticking their head up now. As much as you think that is an inconvience, it makes life a lot easier later on when you have to hunt them down. Let's understand that in the great triumph in France in '44, there were fights in the ports like Cherbourg and through Brittany while Patton was driving East. Some of the cleaning up of enemy forces in France lasted till the surrender in '45.

These Dead Enders have no life after Saddam, because if we don't do them in, the liberated Iraqis will. Just keep in mind there are going to be even more of them in the big city.
Posted by: Don || 03/24/2003 11:45 Comments || Top||

#13  The article says there are 15,000 of them. Someone needs to get a scorecard handy, and start marking off the ones we kill. Let Sadsack know just how many "trusty warriors" he has left.

As for Baghdad, the best strategy is to surround the city, then begin evacuating the civilians, a street at a time. Once all the civilians are out, drop all of Sadsack's "WMD" on the city, let it sit for a couple of years, then go in and fumigate the place. Won't even be any vermin left.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 13:01 Comments || Top||

#14  Murat, the US also flew casualties from Afghanistan to Germany. Nothing is being hidden.

Why Germany? Good hospitals. We've had 50 years to set up good military hospitals at our German bases, and flying the wounded there is cheaper than building new hospitals everywhere.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 03/24/2003 13:19 Comments || Top||

#15  I can see how were trying to hide things because I watched a live real time uncensored frontline firefight on saturday night in Umm Qasr. I dont see any other army doing that sort of thing, but them again, I dont see any other army in history moving 300 miles in 4 days with 175,000 troops.

Somebody warm up to the whaaaaa-ambulance for Murat.
Posted by: Frank Martin || 03/24/2003 17:51 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Philippines expels two more Iraqis
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she has approved the expulsion of an Iraqi diplomat and another Iraqi Embassy staffer following a U.S. request for countries to expel Baghdad's diplomats. "I have approved the expulsion of one Iraqi diplomat and one, I think, non-diplomatic personnel of the embassy," Arroyo told reporters on Monday.
"The US Air Force can drop them back into Baghdad for all we care!"
"We are only expelling those with some evidence of espionage," she said, adding that the Iraqi Embassy in Manila will not be closed and Iraqi diplomats will be dealt with case by case.
"This one gets asylum, this one gets a trial, this one gets booted ..."
Last month, Philippine officials expelled an Iraqi consul, Husham Husain, over suspicion of links with Filipino Muslim extremists. The Philippines, one of Washington's staunchest Asian allies in the global war on terrorism, has increasingly been sensitive to possible security threats, especially after it joined last week the "coalition of the willing" backing Washington's military action against Iraq. Arroyo defended the move as more lenient compared with other countries. She noted that Jordan, "which is a neighbor of Iraq and is supposed to be a friend of Iraq, already expelled its five diplomats, so we are in fact bending backward in a show of friendship to the people of Iraq."
You'd show more friendship to the people of Iraq by locking these rats up.
Her spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, said in a radio interview that while the Philippines could not disregard allegations of espionage against Iraqi diplomats, "We will not just expel diplomats without evidence. We have to be fair." The Iraqi Embassy in Manila has seven accredited diplomats. It wasn't immediately clear who was being expelled. The ambassador-designate, Ghazi Faissal Hussein, still hasn't presented his credentials. Elsewhere in the region, Thailand has expelled three low-ranking Iraqi diplomats, while majority Muslim Malaysia and Indonesia have said they will not comply with the U.S. request.
We'll remember.
Last week, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo announced 11 Iraqis have been arrested in an anti-terrorist sweep and deportation proceedings were underway. Domingo said the Iraqis have been monitored for terrorist activities for some time and claimed they were part of an "established network" linked to Hussain, the expelled Iraqi consul.
Rolling up the network.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 07:50 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


East/Subsaharan Africa
Kenya to Hand Over Al Qaeda Suspect to U.S.
Kenya said on Monday it would extradite to the United States a suspected al Qaeda member accused of involvement in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi and an attack last November on an Israeli-owned hotel. Kenyan authorities have not disclosed the identity of the suspect who National Security Minister Chris Murungaru has called "a very high ranking al Qaeda operative." "Last week, the government announced the arrest in Somalia of a key terrorist suspect thought to have participated in planning and executing the 1998 bombing in Nairobi and last year at the Kenyan coast," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "This suspect will be extradited to the USA to stand trial as did the others," said the statement, which was released after a meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka and U.S. ambassador Johnny Carson.
Thanks, we'll add him to our collection.
Kenyan police arrested the suspect, believed to be a Yemeni, in Somalia's capital Mogadishu last week after he was handed to them by Somali leaders, the head of Kenya's anti-terrorism unit, Mathew Kabetu, told Reuters. Sources in Somalia said the suspect was arrested at a hospital after being wounded in a gun battle with militiamen. They said the man had married a Somali woman and was mainly involved in repairing boats used by Somali businessmen who import electronic goods from the Middle East.
Importing at high speed in the middle of the night
However, he held several passports, including South African, Somali and Tanzanian.
Yup, that would be clue he's a bad guy.
Kenyan officials said his arrest was part of a probe into the November bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in the coastal city of Mombasa which killed 16 people and which the U.S. suspects was also masterminded by al Qaeda.
Posted by: Steve || 03/24/2003 03:01 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Johnny Carson? So THAT's where he went. When they turn the guy over are they gonna
say,"HEEEEEEERES, Johnny!"
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 16:04 Comments || Top||

#2  saw that one coming from a mile away, tu ;-)
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2003 18:37 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Al Jazeera: Hizbullah tells it fighters to ’martyr’ themselves in Iraq
The Qatar-based Arab television network Al-Jazeera reported that Hizbullah has called on all of its fighters to join the "Muslim Jihad" against the US. Hizbullah called on its fighters to martyr themselves in suicide operations in Iraq, and outside of the country, reports Israel Radio.
Next bus for Baghdad leaving soon, don't miss it.
Posted by: Steve || 03/24/2003 12:16 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Aren't these guys backed by Iran and Syria? If they do attack Americans I expect us to do a follow-up versus those two countries. Heck, we're set up for a 2 front war against Iran already.
Posted by: Lord Ben || 03/24/2003 12:37 Comments || Top||

#2  "Go kill yourself" sure must sound different in Arabic.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 13:09 Comments || Top||

#3  The sooner all these idiots "martyr" themselves, the sooner the world will be free of them. Consider Darwin: it's supposed to "promote behavior that leads to success, and end behavior that leads to failure". Once all those incensed enough and STUPID enough to martyr themselves are gone, the genes that lead to SANE behavior will assert themselves. It's slow, but it works!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 13:41 Comments || Top||

#4  That should get rid of a bunch of them...
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2003 12:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Come and get it, assholes!
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 12:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Aren't these guys backed by Iran and Syria? If they do attack Americans I expect us to do a follow-up versus those two countries. Heck, we're set up for a 2 front war against Iran already.
Posted by: Lord Ben || 03/24/2003 12:37 Comments || Top||

#7  "Go kill yourself" sure must sound different in Arabic.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/24/2003 13:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Make sure you practice a couple times before you leave Lebanon, guys!
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2003 13:16 Comments || Top||

#9  The sooner all these idiots "martyr" themselves, the sooner the world will be free of them. Consider Darwin: it's supposed to "promote behavior that leads to success, and end behavior that leads to failure". Once all those incensed enough and STUPID enough to martyr themselves are gone, the genes that lead to SANE behavior will assert themselves. It's slow, but it works!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 13:41 Comments || Top||

#10  The sooner all these idiots "martyr" themselves, the sooner the world will be free of them. Consider Darwin: it's supposed to "promote behavior that leads to success, and end behavior that leads to failure". Once all those incensed enough and STUPID enough to martyr themselves are gone, the genes that lead to SANE behavior will assert themselves. It's slow, but it works!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/24/2003 13:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Looks like the Virgins in Heaven will have to work overtime...
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 14:25 Comments || Top||

#12  Can you recycle a virgin? Sounds to me like they'll be in short supply soon.
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg || 03/24/2003 20:56 Comments || Top||

#13  Dar---Recycling a virgin is an oxymoron. Like the morons who believe that these 3-score and 12 little units wait for 'em in Paradise are a little short of brain oxygen. Heh heh
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/24/2003 22:20 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Second N.Y. Terror Suspect Pleads Guilty
A second of six Yemeni-American men accused of training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks pleaded guilty Monday to charges he supported al-Qaida. Shafal Mosed, 24, entered the plea to a charge of knowingly and unlawfully providing and attempting to provide material resources to a foreign terrorist organization, namely al-Qaida. He agreed to cooperate with investigators.Authorities indicated they would seek an eight-year prison term. Mosed was ordered held until sentencing, scheduled for July 16. In January, co-defendant Faysal Galab reached a deal with the government in which he agreed to testify against the other five men. Since then, negotiations have been underway involving all of the others, defense and prosecuting attorneys have said.
Maybe they'll all cop deals to testify against each other. Then what do you do?
Mosed, of suburban Lackawanna, a U.S.-born former college student who worked as a telemarketer, acknowledged that he bought a uniform and trained in the use of guns and a grenade launcher at al-Farooq training camp near Kandahar and performed guard duty while there from April to June 2001.
Telemarketer? He should get life just for that!
He also admitted hearing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden speak to "about 50 men who were on a suicide mission." The married father of one admitted that he knew before he went to Afghanistan that the trip was illegal and that bin Laden was associated with the camp. The six men, all American citizens of Yemeni descent, were arrested in September and charged with violating a 1996 law that prohibits giving money, weapons or other support to foreign terrorist organizations. Prosecutors have said the men were awaiting orders from bin Laden's group to carry out an attack in the United States but have acknowledged there was no evidence they posed an imminent threat.
The alleged leader of the cell, Yemeni-American Kamal Derwish, was believed killed in a CIA air strike on Nov. 3 in Yemen, U.S. officials have said.
I believe a Predator turned him and some friends into splotches with a Hellfire...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 01:18 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They don't eat pork, but boy can they squeal!
Posted by: Chicxulubavitcher Rebbe || 03/24/2003 11:45 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Al Jazeera News Webpage Knocked Offline
The Arabic satellite television channel Al Jazeera, which on Sunday broadcast controversial footage of US soldiers captured by Iraqi forces, has blamed computer hackers for crashing its online news service on Monday. The station's web site, which carried still images of the footage, was inaccessible on Monday morning. A spokeswoman for Al Jazeera told New Scientist: "We have a problem. I believe there are some hackers, some attack, but I don't know exactly."

The spokeswoman said an attack could have been prompted by the film broadcast by the station. The Iraqi military provided the footage of forced interviews with five frightened-looking US prisoners of war, as well as images of the corpses of US soldiers. The graphic pictures have caused outrage in the US and UK media. The US government accuses the Iraqi government of breaching the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war, and has pledged to pursue those responsible as war criminals.

A tactic frequently used by malicious hackers to bring down a web site is to bombard it with an avalanche of requests from multiple locations — a so-called distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack. As of 1200 GMT, the site was intermittently accessible. For more than an hour, its homepage automatically redirected visitors to a new main page further inside the site. If the site were under DDOS attack, "you wouldn't want to redirect those requests further into the site". He says it is also more common for DDOS attacks to target the numerical IP address, rather than the domain name - www.aljazeera.net in this case.

A member of the television station's internet department told New Scientist that he thought an big surge in visitors could have brought down the site. "At the moment we are tracking over a thousand such defacements, most with anti-war messages," says Jason Holloway, of Finnish security company F-Secure. "I have never seen that level of political 'hactivism' before, nor so many defacements in such a short time."

Since the start if the war in Iraq, Al-Jazeera has shown gruesome footage of military and civilian casualties in Iraq. The material has been considered too graphic to broadcast by western news media.
Posted by: ----------<<<<-- || 03/24/2003 09:19 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just hackers, huh? I was hoping a Tomahawk or MOAB took down the whole damn operation.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/24/2003 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Isn't AJ having serious financial difficulties anyway, due to hostile pressure made by pissed-off arab countries?
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 9:26 Comments || Top||

#3  The material has been considered too graphic to broadcast by western news media.

For eccentric definitions of "western". French and Greek TV, at least, were broadcasting it.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 03/24/2003 9:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Spent 1.5 hours in a barbershop on Sat. afternoon here in Chicago watching Al-Jazeera. The one report that stood out was on the attack on the al-Ansar in K-stan. Looked like our Kurdish allies were going through the victims belongings,etc. Nothing to be ashamed of. But the images were graphic, for sure, with bodies in all sorts of positions, not a lot of blood or guts, though. The mainstream media (ABC,NBC,CBS) haven't shown this or talked about it to the best of my knowledge. Why? As one of the reasons for going into Iraq was to eliminate its terrorist connection, why the spike on this matter?Drudge said last night it's all about the NYT body-count angle. Correct, Matt. Our progress is verifiable and it will happen. A cakewalk? No, but let's see where we are after next week. Remember the Times was calling Afghanistan a quagmire after one week.
Posted by: Michael || 03/24/2003 9:56 Comments || Top||

#5  al-Ansar is a terrorist organization. All their belongings would be searched for ID, passports, or any other items useful for intel?
Posted by: john || 03/24/2003 11:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey, not all of us were hacking! All it takes is lots of people e-mailing their opinions, all at once. And Al-Jizzerea doesn't publicize e-mail addresses, so you have to find lots and try them all to see if they work. And remember, a picture is worth a thousand words! Let 'em know how you really feel!
Posted by: therien || 03/24/2003 12:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Wasn't it nice of Norweigan jailbird Krekar and his minions to put so many in one area?
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/24/2003 13:20 Comments || Top||


Caucasus
Chechen Voters Approve New Constitution
Voters in Chechnya overwhelmingly approved a constitution Sunday that the Kremlin asserts will end nearly a decade of bloodshed but which will keep the separatist republic in Russia. Results from 196 of 418 electoral districts showed slightly more than 96 percent of voters there supporting the constitution, designed, Moscow says, to push the breakaway region to peace.
I'm surprised. Are you surprised?
Russia's Central Election Commission said 207,390 people in those districts voted for the constitution, while 5,810 voted against. More than 79 percent of the 540,000 eligible voters cast ballots. Voters also were asked to approve legislation setting the stage for presidential and parliamentary elections. The legislation was receiving the same overwhelming support as the constitution, the electoral body said on its Web site. The results ``guarantee the irreversibility of the peaceful political formation of the republic,'' Russia's minister for Chechen affairs, Stanislav Ilyasov said. ``The Chechen people have determined their fate themselves,'' Ilyasov said.
Somehow I don't think the rebels will agree.
But the plebiscite's approval still left many key questions unresolved, including how much autonomy Chechnya will be given or when the elections will be held. Critics argued that a new constitution won't end the war and cannot replace negotiations with terrorist rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov. Russia has rejected talks with Maskhadov.
Something to do with 500 hostages taken at a theater...
The campaign urging Chechens to vote equated support for the constitution with peace. ``It's impossible to live without hope; that's why I came here,'' said Roza Alkhazurova, who voted in a refugee camp for Chechens in neighboring Ingushetia. Polling stations were attacked in the week before the vote, but security was heavy Sunday and no major violence linked to the referendum was reported.
Maskhadov and the dogs laid low, eh?
Hrair Balian, the leader of a fact-finding team the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe sent to Chechnya, said that ``the organization and conduct of the referendum were not without shortcomings,'' the Interfax news agency reported. But he said he hoped the vote would be a starting point for further change in Chechnya. Monitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a Russian-dominated group of former Soviet republics, said the vote was fair despite what they called minor irregularities they said included the presence of armed, uniformed men at polling places, Interfax reported.
"It's a cultural thing, Mr. Monitor, we always have armed men standing around in Chechnya."
Thousands of Russian servicemen permanently stationed in Chechnya were eligible to vote and the vast majority did so, military officials said.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/24/2003 07:26 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Beer. Cheers. Finals are done, but I'm boycotting vodka. Anybody have some palinka handy?
Posted by: therien || 03/24/2003 3:18 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sticking with Spanish and Aussie wine for the time being. Lots of good stuff out there and it's waaaay cheaper than French (or Sonoma) varieties.
Posted by: jrosevear || 03/24/2003 8:55 Comments || Top||



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