Updates: Elements of British 7th Armored are moving into Basra ... heavy fighting. Considerable air-to-ground activity ongoing. Additional British Armored Infantry is breaking position and preparing to move. Major British push into city center may commence at local dawn.
Iraqi Republican Guards and/or Fedayeen Saddam dressed in US uniforms are "Accepting" surrenders of Iraqi troops, then executing them.
Aw, Perc, I just think it's because we've developed a habit of lying and some of us know it 'n' history shows it!
SITUATION REPORTS - March 25 2003
2034 GMT - Iraq's main Shia Muslim opposition group, the Tehran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said it can confirm a popular rebellion
among the Shia population of Basra. Earlier, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf denied in a statement to al-Jazeera television that
there was any uprising against the authorities in Basra.
I friend told me the US army have been phoning to the Iraqi in order to convince them they can trust the USA.
Tartarin
How did I know I could count on you to belittle my post on freedom of speech? It it because you are the most vociferous Bush/Cheney basher?
and here i had assumed that designation belonged to me.
Dys
Naw ---- one doesn't worry about pimples
Asked about reports that Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad have been given authority to use chemical weapons, Rumsfeld cited "scraps" of intelligence suggesting that the closer the 3rd Infantry gets to the capital, the greater the danger.
He did not offer details of the intelligence indicators because "who knows how accurate they are," he said.
Iraq denies it has any chemical or biological weapons. The Bush administration insists it has both and is trying to gain nuclear weapons. The risk of Iraq using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or providing them to terrorist networks was the central reason President Bush (news - web sites) went to war.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the commander of U.S. forces fighting the war, Gen. Tommy Franks, has plans in place should Iraq use chemical weapons. He would not elaborate.
Perception i had assumed you had passed the age of acne, perhaps a sign of regression?
This entire mess in Basrah highlights our failure to support the rebellion that Bush 41 failed to execute immediately following gulf war I. It was a rebellion that Bush I encouraged and then ignored when it happened. Does anyone of you experts know which of that presidents advisors convinced him to not get involved?
The same thing happened in Northern Iraq with the Kurds and they were not supported----little wonder they don't trust us now.
I would like to know the full story there ---- can anyone provide some sources? Maybe that's why Brent Scowcroft was so vociferous against this war----he didn't want the citizens of Basrah to speak out.
This is the one thing that I really had misgivings about after Gulf War I. They had no idea about how vicious he would be toward his own people----of course they weren't really his people --- they were Shiites---they were his enemy during the Iran/Iraq war so kill them.
Dys
Yeah ----I feel younger every day!
Dys
Yeah--I'd get a young girl friend except for one thing -----my wife doesn't think much of the idea...............
must be difficult arranging a diet around Pablum and Ensure.
Neutral corners, and don't come out until that flush on your faces fades.
Didn't Rumsfeld say, before it started, that this invasion would be quick? He was denying it all over the place this afternoon with the press, and got a little angry. Sheesh -- I could have sworn...
Tartar, You aren't trying to tell us that you believe anything Rummy says are you? c.i.
I saw a BBC report from Jordan an hour or so ago. Great demonstrations against the war. The commentator explained that these were by definition also a protest against the own government. "In Arab countries, it is not the tradition to say, 'down with the king, or the president'. Instead, you will go out to say: 'up with his rival'."
One thing struck me about the report. The correspondent noted that a huge inflow of refugees had been expected. Instead, he reported, Iraqis are going back. Every day. some 100 of the Iraqi refugees from earlier times that live in Jordan now are registering with the Iraqi embassy to enlist as soldiers, to fight the Americans back home.
Trouw, 25.03
"Even Isam now will be a volunteer for the Baath party"
Frontpage article
Quote:The US are winning on the battlefield, but the Iraqi's are scoring elsewhere. By means of well-targeted propaganda and an appeal to national pride, the regime is doing the impossible: winning the hearts of the population.
Saddams propaganda
By Asne Seierstad
BAGDAD - Isam had always been an opponent of the regime. He is somebody who would express his hate of Saddam as soon as he was sure nobody was eavesdropping. Somebody who has always longed for the end of the violent regime, whatever the cost. One day Isam even said that the Americans should better come. "Then at least we'll finally be saved from our president."
But after five days and nights of the bombing of Bagdad, and with thousands of American soldiers on Iraqi soil, Isam has changed his mind. And he's acting accordingly. He is going to register as volunteer with the local department of the Baath Party.
"They have invaded our country, have murdered women and children and bombed our palaces to bits. They think they can do whatever they want", says Isam sadly. "I cannot keep watching how they destroy my country."
But hadn't he always said that he hated Saddam Hussein? "I still do, he bears half of the guilt. But this time it's about something more important: my fatherland."
The last few days Isam has been watching TV continually. The programmes have been completely militarised. Programme presentors wear uniforms and appeals are made to fight for the fatherland. Those injured by the bombardments are inteviewed in their hospital beds, tribe leaders appeal for solidarity, soldiers show parts of helicopters that were shot down.
Alladins cafe, in the Karada neighbourhood of Bagdad, is half-full. [..] All the eyes in the cafe are turned towards the TV screen. Both before, during and after the speech [of Saddam Hussein] you can hear the thumps of bombs. Everybody looks serious and listens attentively to the speech, that shows that the president is still alive. [..]
The score after five days of war: one-nil for Saddam. At least in the hearts of the population.
