OUR BREAKING NEWS: The war

[shyhem]

This indeed must be desperation of the highest order.

i suggest that u all become realist and go on with u'r lifes.U are not in Iraq to change anything and the Iraq's do not have the means to win the war unless a miracle happens and certainly watching war on tv is not good for u'r health.

 

If you're interested in good websites how about

Newseaum.org..............atleast u will see newspaper headlines around the world.

[N.O.R.F]

Iraq latest: At-a-glance

 

BBC News Online charts the latest developments in the Iraq conflict.

[All times GMT and approximate]

 

Saturday 22 March

 

1500: President Bush says the US will accept "no outcome except victory", but he acknowledges the campaign "could be longer and more difficult than some have predicted."

 

1430: Three journalists with UK commercial TV network ITN are reported missing in southern Iraq after coming under fire on their way to Basra.

 

1410: US commander of coalition forces, General Tommy Franks - giving his first public briefing since war began - promises campaign will be "unlike any other in history".

 

1340: Plumes of smoke rise above Baghdad, produced by pools of oil and fuel set alight around the city as a defensive measure by the Iraqis, the BBC's Paul Wood reports.

 

1255: The BBC's David Willis says US and UK forces are now confident they have taken control of Iraq's second city, Basra. He said hundreds of young Iraqi men applauded allied troops as they entered Basra, and that hundreds of soldiers have surrendered.

 

1230: Fresh explosions rock Baghdad.

 

1220: US military spokesman says southern Iraqi town of Nasiriya has fallen.

 

1105: Iraqi health minister says three people killed in overnight raids on Baghdad.

 

1030: UK chief of defence staff Michael Boyce says an entire Iraqi division has surrendered in the south; Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon says regular Iraqi units "appear" to have pulled out of the city of Basra.

 

1020: Three more explosions reported in the Iraqi capital.

 

0920: 'Massive' contingent of UK forces including elements of the 'Desert Rats' has crossed into Iraq, officials say.

 

0837: US Marines officer says a "major battle" is taking place on the western outskirts of southern Iraqi city of Basra.

 

0825: An Iranian military commander says two more allied rockets fell in south-west, close to Iraqi border, on Saturday.

 

0800: Iraqi military denies surrender of entire 51st Division.

 

0712: UK military spokesman says seven crew dead after mid-air collision involving two helicopters.

 

0640: Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad al-Sahhaf says 207 civilians wounded in the bombing of Baghdad overnight.

 

0556: UK military HQ in Qatar says seven crew members missing after two Royal Navy helicopters involved in collision over international waters in the Gulf at about 0130.

 

0320: About 70 missiles are reported to have pounded Iraqi Kurdish areas controlled by Ansar al-Islam, a hardline Islamist group, accused of having links to al-Qaeda.

 

0236: Air attacks on Baghdad resume at dawn, with reports of at least three missile strikes and powerful explosions rocking the city centre.

 

0219: American B52 bombers return to UK airbase.

 

0024: Iraq denies torching oil wells, saying troops had set oil-filled trenches ablaze in an effort to prevent coalition warplanes from finding their targets.

[N.O.R.F]

Baghdad :: Rageh Omaar :: 0807 GMT

 

This is what it is like being on the wrong end of the world's only superpower... Think of what it must have been like for families living near these targets, huddled indoors as their neighbourhood was torn apart.

 

Every sign here is that Saddam Hussein and his commanders have escaped attempts to assassinate them, despite persistent rumours from London and Washington

 

The main concern of ordinary Iraqis is just to survive. Even in the calm of day when the bombs are not falling the markets are deserted. Now everyone feels it is too dangerous to leave their homes, even to buy food.

[N.O.R.F]

'Dead bodies are everywhere'

March 22 2003

 

 

 

 

Herald Correspondent Lindsay Murdoch, travelling with a Marines artillery unit, reports on one of the war's first battles on the Iraq-Kuwait border.

 

 

There was little initial resistance as the United States Marines swept into southern Iraq early yesterday. One of the first encounters of the ground war was more like a massacre than a fight.

 

The Iraqi gunners fired first, soon after United States President George Bush announced the attack on Saddam Hussein was under way.

 

It was a fatal mistake.

 

The Iraqi artillery unit, preparing for the American invasion, had tested the range by firing registering shots at a likely spot where the American tanks would cross from Kuwait. US radar picked up the incoming shells and pinpointed their source.

 

Within hours, the Iraqi gunners and their Russian-made 122mm howitzers were destroyed as the Americans unleashed an artillery barrage that shook the ground and lit up the night sky with orange flashes.

 

 

"Dead bodies are everywhere," a US officer reported by radio.

 

Later in the day, the American firepower was turned on Safwan Hill, an Iraqi military observation post a couple of kilometres across the border. About six hours after US marines and their 155mm howitzer guns pulled up at the border, they opened up with a deafening barrage. Safwan Hill went up in a huge fireball and the Iraqi observation post was obliterated.

 

"I pity anybody who's in there," a marine sergeant said. "We told them to surrender."

 

The destruction of Safwan Hill was a priority for the attacking forces because it had sophisticated surveillance equipment near the main highway that runs from Kuwait up to Basra and then Baghdad. The attacking US and British forces could not attempt to cross the border unless it was destroyed.

 

Marine Cobra helicopter gunships firing Hellfire missiles swept in low from the south. Then the marine howitzers, with a range of 30 kilometres, opened a sustained barrage over the next eight hours.

 

When dawn broke on Safwan Hill, all that could be seen on top of it was a single antenna amid the smoke. The marines then moved forward, their officers saying they were determined to push on as quickly as possible for Baghdad.

 

The first air strike on Baghdad, and Mr Bush's announcement that the war was under way, appeared to catch US officers in the Kuwait desert by surprise.

 

The attack was originally planned for early today. But the US officers did not seem worried.

 

Within hours of Mr Bush's announcement, a vast army of tanks, trucks, bulldozers and heavy guns was surging through the dust of the Kuwaiti desert to positions on Iraq's border.

 

ps for those not taking this war seriously, plz keep yr comments to yrself!

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Thanks Jawaahiir. That was helpful.

 

I am just watching CNN and the network is reporting that 4 americans are killed in Central Iraq in an ambush. The Basra city invasion also seems to have been abandoned because of the resistance inside the city.

 

Some American networks were reporting earlier that Iraqi civilians were coming out greeting the invading troops, but ABC is just reporting that civilians are actually turning against the Americans, throwing stones and the situation is very tense in most cities. Some other newspapers are also reporting that the Americans are quelling any civilian uprising by force.

 

I am wondering .... if the Shiites who hate Saddam are not welcoming the Americans, what would happen when they get to Arab Sunni area.

[boycott]

If you guys interested to know more about the centcom/eucom strategy and the frontlines war here are some interesting sources, but at your risk and peril.

indead while visiting http://wwww.globalsecurity.org and

http://www.strategypage.com/messageboards/board35.asp

someone from turkey was trying to connect my pc! or am i just paranoia??

anyway there's no harm to get some information, make sure to have a good firewall b4 going there