News
In this cat-and-mouse war, the sniper is king
By Gethin Chamberlain, with the Black Watch, near Basra
31 March 2003
It was the tank crew who spotted them first, four men in civilian clothing jumping out of the back of a pick-up truck carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in the heart of Zubayr.
Corporal Mark Harvey was the first of the snipers to react, dropping to his knee and fixing the man carrying the RPG in his sights, one shot, a moving target, the militia man dropping like a stone, dead before he hit the ground. A clean shot to the head.
>>
For the snipers, it was a rare moment of hand-to-hand fighting, the closest they had been to an enemy they normally only saw through the telescopic sights bound in dusty rags fixed atop their rifles, the long muzzles masked by more scraps of cloth, the better to prevent the glint of metal which would give their position away.
Eight days of lying in the dirt, crouched on rooftops, waiting to pick off the militia men who slipped from building to building, emerging out of the dark to fire their RPGs then disappear back into the mass of houses that make up this troublesome town.
The snipers had feared they would play little part in the battles to be fought in an open desert war, but as the Iraqi soldiers threw away their uniforms and ran back into the towns and the militia men became the true enemy, they came into their own.
In this cat-and-mouse war, the sniper was king.
Eight days and 17 kills.
This is a pooled despatch from Gethin Chamberlain of 'The Scotsman'.
Monday, March 31, 2003
Wow! I found this surprising. Guess they do have their uses afterall!The Command Post - A Warblog Collective Bob Arnot from MSNBC, embedded with I MEF, reports that the Marines are encountering success using their light armored vehicles (LAVs), of which, he says, the Fedayeen are terrified, referring to them as "the destroyers".
Posted on Mon, Mar. 31, 2003
U.S. Troops Risk Lives to Save Woman
CHRIS TOMLINSON
Associated Press
By the end of this day, the Army would fight street to street, capture and kill scores of Saddam Hussein's troops, blow up a ruling party headquarters and destroy heaps of ammunition and mortars - and rescue one elderly woman from a firefight.
It was a brief incursion, one of many probing attacks into territory controlled by the Republican Guard - deft strikes, seeking to determine the strength and positioning of opposing forces, while doling out punishment.
They lost no men, but it wasn't easy. From the very beginning officers in the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment described the mission as "hairy."
One town, one battalion.
"Yeah, hold a strategic bridge with one infantry company that has only two platoons, a hell of a mission," Lt. Col. Philip DeCamp, the battalion commander, said with a wry smile. He assigned a tank platoon to help the infantry unit - Attack Company, aka A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry - take the bridge and search the police station.
They rolled in the early morning, and by 7 a.m had reached Hindiyah - Arabic for "Indian," an apparent reference to Indian soldiers who once served the British in Iraq.
Iraqi forces began shooting at Americans as soon as they reached the outskirts. One rocket-propelled grenade hit a Bradley at short range, punching a two-inch deep hole into its armor. The Bradley kept rolling, undeterred.
Tanks shot every military vehicle they saw, setting them on fire. One vehicle sparked and popped as hundreds of rounds of ammunition inside burned and exploded.
Fighters in civilian clothes, checkered Arab scarves pulled over their heads and faces, clutched Kalashnikov rifles as they weaved down alleyways and around shop fronts.
"There's a guy on the left, I think he's got an RPG," Sgt. Robert Compton of Oklahoma City shouted into the intercom of the commanding officer's Bradley, looking through a periscope at what he believed was a rocket-propelled grenade.
"Where? Where?" asked Staff Sgt. Bryce Ivings, the Bradley's gunner.
"Scan left," barked Carter, the commanding officer. "Open fire!"
The 25 mm cannon shook the Bradley and the smell of gunpowder filled the passenger compartment. No one stopped to see if the man was killed or wounded.
U.S. troops soon took over the center of the town and the western bridgehead. But Iraqi forces on the eastern side of the river repeatedly fired on infantrymen as they took up positions on rooftops and behind sandbagged bunkers that the Iraqis had set up on the streets to defend the city.
While the tanks blocked key intersections, it was Attack Company's job to seize the western side of the bridge and the police station. Two tanks blocked the road running parallel to the river and another barricaded the main boulevard leading to the bridge.
The troops stopped at the river, at a bridge that would have attracted little notice if it was crossing a narrow river at home. On the west side: 10 Bradleys and four tanks. On the east side, 200 yards away: Iraqi defenders, firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Engineers inspected the bridge for explosives, while infantrymen scrambled to cover them. Soldiers reported that some Iraqi fighters were using women as human shields; others saw civilian pickups loaded with weapons and children riding alongside the fighters.
Suddenly, a dark blue car came racing over the rise of the bridge. A tank fired into the car, blowing it up at mid-span.
A U.S. officer was wounded in the leg when a bullet ricocheted through the open, rear door of his armored vehicle. He was evacuated, along with the Iraqi woman.
"Guys are shooting RPGs from across the river, in all those reeds," said Col. David Perkins, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade.
"Let's put some artillery in there," he said, pointing across the dark green river.
Soon 155 mm artillery shells were whistling through the sky, setting off huge explosions. Spotters had identified a building that the fighters were apparently using to resupply. It was hit by four artillery rounds, and the Iraqi resistance seemed to slow.
Meanwhile, an infantry platoon searched the police station. They found a small cache of weapons, dozens of portraits of Saddam and three prisoners who claimed to be army deserters and said they had not been fed in three days. Carter gave them some rations, and they were eventually released.
Across town, a tank company battled Iraqi troops guarding an ammunition depot. The tanks killed 20 men but captured 20 others, all wearing the insignia of the Republican Guard Nebuchadnezzar Brigade, based in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.
This could be significant. A senior official at U.S. Central Command, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the brigade may have moved south to bolster defenses that have been devastated by the U.S.-led forces.
At the local Baath party headquarters, Attack Company's 2nd Platoon found tons of ammunition and hundreds of weapons.
"They have more weapons and ammunition than my entire company," Carter said. Smaller weapons caches were found in other locations, marked on maps hung in the police station and interpreted by an intelligence officer fluent in Arabic.
Other maps inside the party headquarters also showed the Iraqi military positions nearby and the expected route of a U.S. attack.
Engineers rigged the building with explosives, and DeCamp fired tank rounds into the burning building to make sure everything was destroyed.
As the American ended their mission, hundreds of Iraqi civilians began to fill the streets, waving white flags over their heads. The U.S. troops returned to the desert to clean their weapons and prepare for their next mission.
"That was cool, even though they didn't have anything big that could (hurt) us," said Ivings, the gunner. "It was like we walked into their living room and said, 'Bring it on!'"
U.S. Troops Risk Lives to Save Woman
CHRIS TOMLINSON
Associated Press
By the end of this day, the Army would fight street to street, capture and kill scores of Saddam Hussein's troops, blow up a ruling party headquarters and destroy heaps of ammunition and mortars - and rescue one elderly woman from a firefight.
It was a brief incursion, one of many probing attacks into territory controlled by the Republican Guard - deft strikes, seeking to determine the strength and positioning of opposing forces, while doling out punishment.
They lost no men, but it wasn't easy. From the very beginning officers in the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment described the mission as "hairy."
One town, one battalion.
"Yeah, hold a strategic bridge with one infantry company that has only two platoons, a hell of a mission," Lt. Col. Philip DeCamp, the battalion commander, said with a wry smile. He assigned a tank platoon to help the infantry unit - Attack Company, aka A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry - take the bridge and search the police station.
They rolled in the early morning, and by 7 a.m had reached Hindiyah - Arabic for "Indian," an apparent reference to Indian soldiers who once served the British in Iraq.
Iraqi forces began shooting at Americans as soon as they reached the outskirts. One rocket-propelled grenade hit a Bradley at short range, punching a two-inch deep hole into its armor. The Bradley kept rolling, undeterred.
Tanks shot every military vehicle they saw, setting them on fire. One vehicle sparked and popped as hundreds of rounds of ammunition inside burned and exploded.
Fighters in civilian clothes, checkered Arab scarves pulled over their heads and faces, clutched Kalashnikov rifles as they weaved down alleyways and around shop fronts.
"There's a guy on the left, I think he's got an RPG," Sgt. Robert Compton of Oklahoma City shouted into the intercom of the commanding officer's Bradley, looking through a periscope at what he believed was a rocket-propelled grenade.
"Where? Where?" asked Staff Sgt. Bryce Ivings, the Bradley's gunner.
"Scan left," barked Carter, the commanding officer. "Open fire!"
The 25 mm cannon shook the Bradley and the smell of gunpowder filled the passenger compartment. No one stopped to see if the man was killed or wounded.
U.S. troops soon took over the center of the town and the western bridgehead. But Iraqi forces on the eastern side of the river repeatedly fired on infantrymen as they took up positions on rooftops and behind sandbagged bunkers that the Iraqis had set up on the streets to defend the city.
While the tanks blocked key intersections, it was Attack Company's job to seize the western side of the bridge and the police station. Two tanks blocked the road running parallel to the river and another barricaded the main boulevard leading to the bridge.
The troops stopped at the river, at a bridge that would have attracted little notice if it was crossing a narrow river at home. On the west side: 10 Bradleys and four tanks. On the east side, 200 yards away: Iraqi defenders, firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Engineers inspected the bridge for explosives, while infantrymen scrambled to cover them. Soldiers reported that some Iraqi fighters were using women as human shields; others saw civilian pickups loaded with weapons and children riding alongside the fighters.
Suddenly, a dark blue car came racing over the rise of the bridge. A tank fired into the car, blowing it up at mid-span.
A U.S. officer was wounded in the leg when a bullet ricocheted through the open, rear door of his armored vehicle. He was evacuated, along with the Iraqi woman.
"Guys are shooting RPGs from across the river, in all those reeds," said Col. David Perkins, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade.
"Let's put some artillery in there," he said, pointing across the dark green river.
Soon 155 mm artillery shells were whistling through the sky, setting off huge explosions. Spotters had identified a building that the fighters were apparently using to resupply. It was hit by four artillery rounds, and the Iraqi resistance seemed to slow.
Meanwhile, an infantry platoon searched the police station. They found a small cache of weapons, dozens of portraits of Saddam and three prisoners who claimed to be army deserters and said they had not been fed in three days. Carter gave them some rations, and they were eventually released.
Across town, a tank company battled Iraqi troops guarding an ammunition depot. The tanks killed 20 men but captured 20 others, all wearing the insignia of the Republican Guard Nebuchadnezzar Brigade, based in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.
This could be significant. A senior official at U.S. Central Command, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the brigade may have moved south to bolster defenses that have been devastated by the U.S.-led forces.
At the local Baath party headquarters, Attack Company's 2nd Platoon found tons of ammunition and hundreds of weapons.
"They have more weapons and ammunition than my entire company," Carter said. Smaller weapons caches were found in other locations, marked on maps hung in the police station and interpreted by an intelligence officer fluent in Arabic.
Other maps inside the party headquarters also showed the Iraqi military positions nearby and the expected route of a U.S. attack.
Engineers rigged the building with explosives, and DeCamp fired tank rounds into the burning building to make sure everything was destroyed.
As the American ended their mission, hundreds of Iraqi civilians began to fill the streets, waving white flags over their heads. The U.S. troops returned to the desert to clean their weapons and prepare for their next mission.
"That was cool, even though they didn't have anything big that could (hurt) us," said Ivings, the gunner. "It was like we walked into their living room and said, 'Bring it on!'"
Marines Resume Their Northward Push Toward Baghdad Marines Resume Their Northward Push Toward Baghdad
By DEXTER FILKINS
ILLA, Iraq, March 31 � The main column of American marines set to attack Iraq's capital raced northward today, rolling on the country's main highway to within 70 miles of Baghdad and drawing only minimal resistance.
The convoy, including dozens of tanks and some 14,000 combat troops, began its journey in the Iraqi desert and ended 40 miles away, along the newly formed front lines that Iraqi soldiers had retreated from just hours before.
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Night fell here to sounds of American artillery bombarding the remnants of an Iraqi force that soldiers said had been decimated by an American advance team early today. Two Iraqi missiles streaked across the afternoon sky, fired from a few miles up the road. Otherwise, the Iraqi guns were silent.
>>
We're in bad-guy country," Col. John Pomfret said, surveying this newly captured piece of Iraqi territory. "I like it."
The swift movement of the troops was made possible by the furious battle overnight, in which the marines devastated a battalion of Iraqi soldiers. An American soldier standing at the farthest edge of the American advance said that the fighting had lasted until morning and that the Iraqi soldiers had been either captured or chased away.
"The Iraqis are lying around here," Staff Sgt. Kristian Lippert said, looking into the barley fields that lined the roadway.
The Iraqis seemed to have left in a hurry. American soldiers arriving at the scene found an array of ammunition, including shoulder-fired antiaircraft rockets and a pair of surface-to-surface missiles.
The two missiles, 3 feet in diameter and 25 feet long, had been hidden aboard a freight truck in a rural neighborhood outside the city. The missiles, which appeared to be the short-range type known as Frogs, bore the recent stamps of United Nations weapons inspectors. American soldiers said the placement of the missiles in an area populated by civilians suggested that Saddam Hussein was hoping to complicate America's plans to destroy his arsenal.
>>
Indeed, a kind of electricity seemed to fill the air as the American forces moved northward. At last, Baghdad was getting closer again, and everyone seemed to feel it. Marine officers strutted about their headquarters compound, set up hours before in an abandoned building at the highway's edge. American jets streaked freely about the skies.
The horizon, too, offered its own display of American power. To the left, an Iraqi city glimmered in the distance. Then, with an airstrike, its lights faded black. To the right, a huge orange glow rose in the darkness, illuminating the night sky, until it, too, shrank to nothing. Seconds later, a pair of American jets skylarked to the south.
>>
The Marines' advance today left them somewhat farther away from Baghdad than the American Third Infantry Division, which is advancing from the southwest. As the two columns press on, their respective roles appeared to emerge: the Third Infantry Division as the main wedge, with the First Marines protecting their right flank. American officers say both divisions appear headed for significant concentrations of Iraqi soldiers soon.
>>
Thirteen days ago, the Army and the Marines plunged across the Iraqi border with great speed, covering more than 200 miles in four days. But with supply lines stretched back to Kuwait, they became vulnerable to attack, and last Tuesday a column of marines was ambushed. At Duwaniya, the Marines decided to stop.
Marine officers said they spent the last several days clearing the areas around them of irregular Iraqi forces. Maj. Hunter Hobson, one of the senior officers here, said the Marines had fought nearly 100 engagements in the last five days.
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Major Hobson and other officers said the Marines had decided to bypass the city of Duwaniya itself. Officers said American bombs had already destroyed a Baath Party office as well as a stadium in the town where many of the party loyalists were said to have gathered. Marines conducted raids around the outskirts of the city, which is thought to be a holdout for die-hards of the Hussein government.
By DEXTER FILKINS
ILLA, Iraq, March 31 � The main column of American marines set to attack Iraq's capital raced northward today, rolling on the country's main highway to within 70 miles of Baghdad and drawing only minimal resistance.
The convoy, including dozens of tanks and some 14,000 combat troops, began its journey in the Iraqi desert and ended 40 miles away, along the newly formed front lines that Iraqi soldiers had retreated from just hours before.
Advertisement
Night fell here to sounds of American artillery bombarding the remnants of an Iraqi force that soldiers said had been decimated by an American advance team early today. Two Iraqi missiles streaked across the afternoon sky, fired from a few miles up the road. Otherwise, the Iraqi guns were silent.
>>
We're in bad-guy country," Col. John Pomfret said, surveying this newly captured piece of Iraqi territory. "I like it."
The swift movement of the troops was made possible by the furious battle overnight, in which the marines devastated a battalion of Iraqi soldiers. An American soldier standing at the farthest edge of the American advance said that the fighting had lasted until morning and that the Iraqi soldiers had been either captured or chased away.
"The Iraqis are lying around here," Staff Sgt. Kristian Lippert said, looking into the barley fields that lined the roadway.
The Iraqis seemed to have left in a hurry. American soldiers arriving at the scene found an array of ammunition, including shoulder-fired antiaircraft rockets and a pair of surface-to-surface missiles.
The two missiles, 3 feet in diameter and 25 feet long, had been hidden aboard a freight truck in a rural neighborhood outside the city. The missiles, which appeared to be the short-range type known as Frogs, bore the recent stamps of United Nations weapons inspectors. American soldiers said the placement of the missiles in an area populated by civilians suggested that Saddam Hussein was hoping to complicate America's plans to destroy his arsenal.
>>
Indeed, a kind of electricity seemed to fill the air as the American forces moved northward. At last, Baghdad was getting closer again, and everyone seemed to feel it. Marine officers strutted about their headquarters compound, set up hours before in an abandoned building at the highway's edge. American jets streaked freely about the skies.
The horizon, too, offered its own display of American power. To the left, an Iraqi city glimmered in the distance. Then, with an airstrike, its lights faded black. To the right, a huge orange glow rose in the darkness, illuminating the night sky, until it, too, shrank to nothing. Seconds later, a pair of American jets skylarked to the south.
>>
The Marines' advance today left them somewhat farther away from Baghdad than the American Third Infantry Division, which is advancing from the southwest. As the two columns press on, their respective roles appeared to emerge: the Third Infantry Division as the main wedge, with the First Marines protecting their right flank. American officers say both divisions appear headed for significant concentrations of Iraqi soldiers soon.
>>
Thirteen days ago, the Army and the Marines plunged across the Iraqi border with great speed, covering more than 200 miles in four days. But with supply lines stretched back to Kuwait, they became vulnerable to attack, and last Tuesday a column of marines was ambushed. At Duwaniya, the Marines decided to stop.
Marine officers said they spent the last several days clearing the areas around them of irregular Iraqi forces. Maj. Hunter Hobson, one of the senior officers here, said the Marines had fought nearly 100 engagements in the last five days.
Advertisement
Major Hobson and other officers said the Marines had decided to bypass the city of Duwaniya itself. Officers said American bombs had already destroyed a Baath Party office as well as a stadium in the town where many of the party loyalists were said to have gathered. Marines conducted raids around the outskirts of the city, which is thought to be a holdout for die-hards of the Hussein government.
TCS: Defense - To Stop a Bullet Today, U.S. infantrymen and Marines are wearing the first truly bulletproof body armor, the so-called Interceptor system. It is also, at 16.5 pounds, the lightest weight system ever used. The Kevlar vest has detachable groin and neck guards and exceptional protection at the armpits - a frequent point of vulnerability in earlier armor vests. For increased combat protection, the vest has pockets front and rear in which the soldier can insert ceramic armor plates. These plates, much lighter than steel, also offer better protection. They can withstand a modern 7.62 mm. rifle round.
In the hellish atmosphere of an infantry firefight, safety is a highly relative thing. And although the precarious game of gaining an edge in either offense or defense will continue as long as there is warfare, today's body armor gives soldiers an extra measure of confidence and protection with minimal impairment of their mobility on the battlefield.
In the hellish atmosphere of an infantry firefight, safety is a highly relative thing. And although the precarious game of gaining an edge in either offense or defense will continue as long as there is warfare, today's body armor gives soldiers an extra measure of confidence and protection with minimal impairment of their mobility on the battlefield.
TCS: Defense - The Mighty RPG The Mighty RPG
By Ralph Kinney Bennett03/31/2003
TCS
You're going to be hearing a lot about RPGs - rocket propelled grenades - in coming days. They are the weapons of choice for small Iraqi units that are resorting to creative guerrilla tactics because employing company size or larger units in open combat with coalition forces would be foolhardy and fatal.
Just over a week ago, Iraqi troops from the Republican Guard's Medina division gave a little clinic in helicopter ambush, meeting a line of Apache Longbow copters with a well planned and executed wall of fire from machine guns, antiaircraft guns and RPGs. The Iraqis were dispersed along both sides of a street in a residential area near Baghdad, some firing from the rooftops of houses.
The Iraqis badly damaged 30 of the Apache helicopters, foiled their attack on Republican Guard armor and sent them limping back home. They also disabled two Abrams main battle tanks - an unsettling occurrence. A counterattack and air strikes by U.S. forces killed most of the estimated 100 Iraqis involved in the ambush. But it was a lesson in effective small unit action. The Iraqis appear to have torn a page or two from tactics used by Mujahideen fighters against the Soviets in Afghanistan 1979-89. And one of their principal weapons is a Soviet-made one, the RPG-7....
>>
The Mighty RPG
By Ralph Kinney Bennett 03/31/2003
E-Mail Bookmark Print Save
TCS
You're going to be hearing a lot about RPGs - rocket propelled grenades - in coming days. They are the weapons of choice for small Iraqi units that are resorting to creative guerrilla tactics because employing company size or larger units in open combat with coalition forces would be foolhardy and fatal.
Just over a week ago, Iraqi troops from the Republican Guard's Medina division gave a little clinic in helicopter ambush, meeting a line of Apache Longbow copters with a well planned and executed wall of fire from machine guns, antiaircraft guns and RPGs. The Iraqis were dispersed along both sides of a street in a residential area near Baghdad, some firing from the rooftops of houses.
The Iraqis badly damaged 30 of the Apache helicopters, foiled their attack on Republican Guard armor and sent them limping back home. They also disabled two Abrams main battle tanks - an unsettling occurrence. A counterattack and air strikes by U.S. forces killed most of the estimated 100 Iraqis involved in the ambush. But it was a lesson in effective small unit action. The Iraqis appear to have torn a page or two from tactics used by Mujahideen fighters against the Soviets in Afghanistan 1979-89. And one of their principal weapons is a Soviet-made one, the RPG-7.
The Soviets introduced the RPG-7 (for Raketniy Protivotankoviy Granatomet) back in 1961 to give its infantrymen a weapon against NATO armor. It had several antecedents inspired by at least two World War II weapons - the American Bazooka and more particularly the German Panzerfaust.
It has since become one of the most common weapons in the world, prized by insurgent forces. The Soviets made millions of them, sold them all over the world and licensed their manufacture. It was RPG-7s that were used by Somali rebels to down two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters in Mogadishu in October 1994.
More than 40 armies use them today and they are made under license in Bulgaria, China, Romania, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq. There are many other versions of RPGs made around the world, including the U.S. M-72 LAW, a throwaway weapon. Some propelled grenades can be fired from the muzzles of standard infantry rifles
The Soviet-designed weapon consists of a cheaply made but rugged shoulder-fired launcher. It looks a little like a crude submachine gun with leaf blower pipe bolted onto the back of it. This pipe, to exhaust the rocket flames, projects back over the shoulder of the person firing it. The RPG-7 fires a variety of slightly oversized grenades (high explosive, smoke, anti-personnel, armor piercing etc.). The grenade/warhead has a small solid-fuel rocket attached to it. This is loaded into the muzzle at the front of the launcher.
When the shooter pulls the trigger it strikes a percussion cap that ignites the rocket. A flash rips back through the barrel and out the rear of the launcher. There is very little recoil, but you don't want to be behind the launcher, as the rocket flames shoot back as much as 20 yards. As the warhead spurts out of the muzzle, folded fins spring out from the base at its rear, stabilizing its flight like an arrow.
RPG-7s have a practical range of about 50 or 60 yards in the hands of the average soldier. But in skilled hands a moving target can be hit at around 300 yards and 500 yards against a stationary target, like a bunker, is not unheard of. The launcher is rugged, easy to operate and weighs just a little over 15 pounds. If you've seen photos of guerrilla fighters all over the world chances are you've seen them carrying RPG-7s slung over their shoulders, usually with cone-shaped grenades loaded in the muzzles. Coalition forces have been coming across thousands of these launchers and grenades.
In the Soviet-Afghan war, Mujahideen fighters formed hunter-killer teams of about 20 men, with as many as 15 of them carrying RPGs. In close combat, where neither air strikes nor artillery could be employed by the Soviets (because of fratricide fears) the RPGs were deadly weapons. Their most effective use was in ambushing Soviet armor and helicopters
>>
The Soviets and later the Russians learned from bloody experience to deal with RPGs. They used walking "walls" of high explosive fragmentation (antipersonnel) artillery shells to clear areas. They sent screens of infantry ahead of their tanks to pick off RPG gunners. And they learned to keep vehicles and helicopters moving and in undpredictable maneuvers.
U.S. and British forces, which may have been surprised at first by the ferocity of the RPG attacks, are well trained to deal with them and are adapting. For one thing, anyone firing an RPG is in a very dangerous position. When fired an RPG gives off a large and unmistakable signature. The whoosh of rocket fire out the back kicks up dust and gravel. The round often leaves a whitish-gray trail of smoke behind it, leading directly back to the gunner. RPG gunners must move and seek cover as soon as they fire or they will be killed by counter fire from alert troops. Many a Mujahideen who paused for a moment to see the effect of his RPG round died in a hail of bullets before the Afghanis refined their tactics and learned to shoot and look later.
The RPG is still an ugly weapon in a firefight. The blast radius of one of the antitank rounds is about 4 to 5 yards. Modern body armor such as coalition troops are wearing offers a fair amount of protection but it can magnify internal injuries due to blast overpressure on those close to the exploding warhead.
Coming days should see some furious firefights as American and British troops encounter Iraqis with RPGs. In many cases, air strikes and withering suppressive fire from beyond the range of the RPGs can pretty much obviate the danger. But forewarned units taking proper countermeasures should find this venerable soldiers' weapon an annoyance but not a decisive factor in encounters as they press on toward Baghdad.
By Ralph Kinney Bennett03/31/2003
TCS
You're going to be hearing a lot about RPGs - rocket propelled grenades - in coming days. They are the weapons of choice for small Iraqi units that are resorting to creative guerrilla tactics because employing company size or larger units in open combat with coalition forces would be foolhardy and fatal.
Just over a week ago, Iraqi troops from the Republican Guard's Medina division gave a little clinic in helicopter ambush, meeting a line of Apache Longbow copters with a well planned and executed wall of fire from machine guns, antiaircraft guns and RPGs. The Iraqis were dispersed along both sides of a street in a residential area near Baghdad, some firing from the rooftops of houses.
The Iraqis badly damaged 30 of the Apache helicopters, foiled their attack on Republican Guard armor and sent them limping back home. They also disabled two Abrams main battle tanks - an unsettling occurrence. A counterattack and air strikes by U.S. forces killed most of the estimated 100 Iraqis involved in the ambush. But it was a lesson in effective small unit action. The Iraqis appear to have torn a page or two from tactics used by Mujahideen fighters against the Soviets in Afghanistan 1979-89. And one of their principal weapons is a Soviet-made one, the RPG-7....
>>
The Mighty RPG
By Ralph Kinney Bennett 03/31/2003
E-Mail Bookmark Print Save
TCS
You're going to be hearing a lot about RPGs - rocket propelled grenades - in coming days. They are the weapons of choice for small Iraqi units that are resorting to creative guerrilla tactics because employing company size or larger units in open combat with coalition forces would be foolhardy and fatal.
Just over a week ago, Iraqi troops from the Republican Guard's Medina division gave a little clinic in helicopter ambush, meeting a line of Apache Longbow copters with a well planned and executed wall of fire from machine guns, antiaircraft guns and RPGs. The Iraqis were dispersed along both sides of a street in a residential area near Baghdad, some firing from the rooftops of houses.
The Iraqis badly damaged 30 of the Apache helicopters, foiled their attack on Republican Guard armor and sent them limping back home. They also disabled two Abrams main battle tanks - an unsettling occurrence. A counterattack and air strikes by U.S. forces killed most of the estimated 100 Iraqis involved in the ambush. But it was a lesson in effective small unit action. The Iraqis appear to have torn a page or two from tactics used by Mujahideen fighters against the Soviets in Afghanistan 1979-89. And one of their principal weapons is a Soviet-made one, the RPG-7.
The Soviets introduced the RPG-7 (for Raketniy Protivotankoviy Granatomet) back in 1961 to give its infantrymen a weapon against NATO armor. It had several antecedents inspired by at least two World War II weapons - the American Bazooka and more particularly the German Panzerfaust.
It has since become one of the most common weapons in the world, prized by insurgent forces. The Soviets made millions of them, sold them all over the world and licensed their manufacture. It was RPG-7s that were used by Somali rebels to down two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters in Mogadishu in October 1994.
More than 40 armies use them today and they are made under license in Bulgaria, China, Romania, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq. There are many other versions of RPGs made around the world, including the U.S. M-72 LAW, a throwaway weapon. Some propelled grenades can be fired from the muzzles of standard infantry rifles
The Soviet-designed weapon consists of a cheaply made but rugged shoulder-fired launcher. It looks a little like a crude submachine gun with leaf blower pipe bolted onto the back of it. This pipe, to exhaust the rocket flames, projects back over the shoulder of the person firing it. The RPG-7 fires a variety of slightly oversized grenades (high explosive, smoke, anti-personnel, armor piercing etc.). The grenade/warhead has a small solid-fuel rocket attached to it. This is loaded into the muzzle at the front of the launcher.
When the shooter pulls the trigger it strikes a percussion cap that ignites the rocket. A flash rips back through the barrel and out the rear of the launcher. There is very little recoil, but you don't want to be behind the launcher, as the rocket flames shoot back as much as 20 yards. As the warhead spurts out of the muzzle, folded fins spring out from the base at its rear, stabilizing its flight like an arrow.
RPG-7s have a practical range of about 50 or 60 yards in the hands of the average soldier. But in skilled hands a moving target can be hit at around 300 yards and 500 yards against a stationary target, like a bunker, is not unheard of. The launcher is rugged, easy to operate and weighs just a little over 15 pounds. If you've seen photos of guerrilla fighters all over the world chances are you've seen them carrying RPG-7s slung over their shoulders, usually with cone-shaped grenades loaded in the muzzles. Coalition forces have been coming across thousands of these launchers and grenades.
In the Soviet-Afghan war, Mujahideen fighters formed hunter-killer teams of about 20 men, with as many as 15 of them carrying RPGs. In close combat, where neither air strikes nor artillery could be employed by the Soviets (because of fratricide fears) the RPGs were deadly weapons. Their most effective use was in ambushing Soviet armor and helicopters
>>
The Soviets and later the Russians learned from bloody experience to deal with RPGs. They used walking "walls" of high explosive fragmentation (antipersonnel) artillery shells to clear areas. They sent screens of infantry ahead of their tanks to pick off RPG gunners. And they learned to keep vehicles and helicopters moving and in undpredictable maneuvers.
U.S. and British forces, which may have been surprised at first by the ferocity of the RPG attacks, are well trained to deal with them and are adapting. For one thing, anyone firing an RPG is in a very dangerous position. When fired an RPG gives off a large and unmistakable signature. The whoosh of rocket fire out the back kicks up dust and gravel. The round often leaves a whitish-gray trail of smoke behind it, leading directly back to the gunner. RPG gunners must move and seek cover as soon as they fire or they will be killed by counter fire from alert troops. Many a Mujahideen who paused for a moment to see the effect of his RPG round died in a hail of bullets before the Afghanis refined their tactics and learned to shoot and look later.
The RPG is still an ugly weapon in a firefight. The blast radius of one of the antitank rounds is about 4 to 5 yards. Modern body armor such as coalition troops are wearing offers a fair amount of protection but it can magnify internal injuries due to blast overpressure on those close to the exploding warhead.
Coming days should see some furious firefights as American and British troops encounter Iraqis with RPGs. In many cases, air strikes and withering suppressive fire from beyond the range of the RPGs can pretty much obviate the danger. But forewarned units taking proper countermeasures should find this venerable soldiers' weapon an annoyance but not a decisive factor in encounters as they press on toward Baghdad.
An Interesting Turn of Phrase
Did Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations let something slip about Saddam's condition on "Meet the Press" yesterday?
by Jonathan V. Last
03/31/2003 2:10:00 PM
LOST IN THE CRIES of "Vietnam" and "quagmire" yesterday was this short but very interesting exchange between Tim Russert and Mohammed Al-Douri, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, on "Meet the Press":
RUSSERT: Mr. Ambassador, is Saddam Hussein dead or alive?
AL-DOURI: We start with that. I am here. I am in New York. I think that he is alive, of course, because we saw him several times on the TV.
RUSSERT: But on the TV, it could be edited or outdated footage. Why doesn't he appear holding a daily newspaper so people know for certain he is alive?
AL-DOURI: You know, anyway I think he is alive, but the question is not there because Iraq is Iraq and Saddam Hussein is the president of Iraq. Now we have to talk about the war against Iraq, against the people of Iraq, not against one person.
RUSSERT: But were Saddam Hussein or his sons injured?
AL-DOURI: I told you it is not a question of one person or two persons. . . .
What's going on here? For one thing, Al-Douri clearly hasn't spoken with either Saddam, Qusay, or Uday Hussein since the war started on March 19. But more interestingly, he remains noncommittal on whether or not Saddam is still alive. Notice how Al-Douri (who's a lawyer) lawyers his way around the question: He thinks Saddam is alive. His evidence: the handful of undated, videotaped Saddam speeches that have been released.
It's hard to think of a reason Al-Douri would be so circumspect. As a Baath party higher-up, it would seem to be in his best interest to simply assert that Saddam is alive and well no matter what.
If Al-Douri really doesn't know anything--which is entirely possible--his safest bet would be to stick with his patron, since he doesn't have any future in a post-war Iraq. If he knows that Saddam is alive, he can only help the Iraqi dictator by showing the world that he has escaped the clutches of America yet again. And if he knows that Saddam is dead, he should try to prolong the fiction of him being alive for as long as possible, knowing that if word got out, the Iraqi resistance might collapse. And who cares if we find out later that he was lying? He's not worried about maintaining credibility with Russert or the American audience.
There is one other scenario worth considering: Al-Douri's non-answer would make sense if he did know that Saddam was, for one reason or another, out of the picture, and that one of his sons was running the show. In that case, Al-Douri wouldn't want to let slip that Saddam was not in control but, at the same time, wouldn't want to appear disloyal to the new Hussein by insisting that the old tyrant was still calling the shots. It's a little thin, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Did Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations let something slip about Saddam's condition on "Meet the Press" yesterday?
by Jonathan V. Last
03/31/2003 2:10:00 PM
LOST IN THE CRIES of "Vietnam" and "quagmire" yesterday was this short but very interesting exchange between Tim Russert and Mohammed Al-Douri, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, on "Meet the Press":
RUSSERT: Mr. Ambassador, is Saddam Hussein dead or alive?
AL-DOURI: We start with that. I am here. I am in New York. I think that he is alive, of course, because we saw him several times on the TV.
RUSSERT: But on the TV, it could be edited or outdated footage. Why doesn't he appear holding a daily newspaper so people know for certain he is alive?
AL-DOURI: You know, anyway I think he is alive, but the question is not there because Iraq is Iraq and Saddam Hussein is the president of Iraq. Now we have to talk about the war against Iraq, against the people of Iraq, not against one person.
RUSSERT: But were Saddam Hussein or his sons injured?
AL-DOURI: I told you it is not a question of one person or two persons. . . .
What's going on here? For one thing, Al-Douri clearly hasn't spoken with either Saddam, Qusay, or Uday Hussein since the war started on March 19. But more interestingly, he remains noncommittal on whether or not Saddam is still alive. Notice how Al-Douri (who's a lawyer) lawyers his way around the question: He thinks Saddam is alive. His evidence: the handful of undated, videotaped Saddam speeches that have been released.
It's hard to think of a reason Al-Douri would be so circumspect. As a Baath party higher-up, it would seem to be in his best interest to simply assert that Saddam is alive and well no matter what.
If Al-Douri really doesn't know anything--which is entirely possible--his safest bet would be to stick with his patron, since he doesn't have any future in a post-war Iraq. If he knows that Saddam is alive, he can only help the Iraqi dictator by showing the world that he has escaped the clutches of America yet again. And if he knows that Saddam is dead, he should try to prolong the fiction of him being alive for as long as possible, knowing that if word got out, the Iraqi resistance might collapse. And who cares if we find out later that he was lying? He's not worried about maintaining credibility with Russert or the American audience.
There is one other scenario worth considering: Al-Douri's non-answer would make sense if he did know that Saddam was, for one reason or another, out of the picture, and that one of his sons was running the show. In that case, Al-Douri wouldn't want to let slip that Saddam was not in control but, at the same time, wouldn't want to appear disloyal to the new Hussein by insisting that the old tyrant was still calling the shots. It's a little thin, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Agonist/Annex: Sit Map Here is the BEST map I have seen of the war in Iraq. I suggest saving it, then viewing it from "my documents", because then you can zoom in and see the details better.
Raid Finds Al-Qaida Tie to Militants (washingtonpost.com)By DAFNA LINZER and BORZOU DARAGAHI
The Associated Press
Monday, March 31, 2003; 6:16 PM
A U.S.-led assault on a compound controlled by an Iraqi-based extremist Islamic group has turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking Ansar al-Islam to al-Qaida, coalition commanders said Monday.
The cache of documents, including computer discs and foreign passports belonging to Arab fighters from around the Middle East, could bolster the Bush administration's claims that the two groups are connected, although there was no indication any of the evidence tied Ansar to Saddam Hussein as Washington has maintained.
There were indications, however, that the group has been getting help from inside neighboring Iran....
Among a trove of evidence found inside Ansar compounds were passports and identity papers of Ansar activists indicating that up to 150 of them were foreigners, including Yemenis, Turks, Palestinians, Pakistanis, Algerians and Iranians.
Coalition forces also found a phone book containing numbers of alleged Islamic activists based in the United States and Europe as well as the number of a Kuwaiti cleric and a letter from Yemen's minister of religion. The names and numbers were not released.
"What we've discovered in Biyare is a very sophisticated operation," said Barham Salih, prime minister of the Kurdish regional government.
Seized computer disks contained evidence showing meetings between Ansar and al-Qaida activists, according to Mahdi Saeed Ali, a military commander.
It was unclear how strong Ansar remains.
The Associated Press
Monday, March 31, 2003; 6:16 PM
A U.S.-led assault on a compound controlled by an Iraqi-based extremist Islamic group has turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking Ansar al-Islam to al-Qaida, coalition commanders said Monday.
The cache of documents, including computer discs and foreign passports belonging to Arab fighters from around the Middle East, could bolster the Bush administration's claims that the two groups are connected, although there was no indication any of the evidence tied Ansar to Saddam Hussein as Washington has maintained.
There were indications, however, that the group has been getting help from inside neighboring Iran....
Among a trove of evidence found inside Ansar compounds were passports and identity papers of Ansar activists indicating that up to 150 of them were foreigners, including Yemenis, Turks, Palestinians, Pakistanis, Algerians and Iranians.
Coalition forces also found a phone book containing numbers of alleged Islamic activists based in the United States and Europe as well as the number of a Kuwaiti cleric and a letter from Yemen's minister of religion. The names and numbers were not released.
"What we've discovered in Biyare is a very sophisticated operation," said Barham Salih, prime minister of the Kurdish regional government.
Seized computer disks contained evidence showing meetings between Ansar and al-Qaida activists, according to Mahdi Saeed Ali, a military commander.
It was unclear how strong Ansar remains.
Iraqis Welcome U.S. Marines in Shatra
By Sean Maguire
SHATRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iraqis shouting "Welcome to Iraq" greeted Marines who entered the town of Shatra Monday after storming it with planes, tanks and helicopter gunships.
A foot patrol picked its way through the small southern town, 20 miles north of the city of Nassiriya, after being beckoned in by a crowd of people.
"There's no problem here. We are happy to see Americans," one young man shouted.
The welcome was a tonic for soldiers who have not always received the warm reception they expected after U.S. and British leaders told them the Iraqi people were waiting to be freed from repression under President Saddam Hussein .
"It's not every day you get to liberate people," said one delighted Marine...The ambushes have slowed the advance on Baghdad. This Marine unit retraced its steps back south down Highway 7 to Shatra after bypassing the Iraqi forces there in their rapid advance last week.
IRAQI GENERAL, FEDAYEEN FLEE
Planes dropped precision-guided bombs on four targets during the morning raid.
Tanks and armored personnel carriers then moved to the edge of the town and helicopter gunships raked the rubble-strewn target sites with heavy machinegun fire.
The targets were the local Baath party headquarters and "associated planning sites," Marine officers said.
Having entered the town, the Marines searched without success for the body of a comrade who was killed last week and whose corpse was believed to be in a hospital in the town.
They trampled over the ruins of a local headquarters of Saddam's Baath party.
Another Baath party building across the street had been set ablaze by looters who carried away sofas from inside.
Intelligence reports had suggested that Ali Hassan al-Majeed, or "Chemical Ali," the cousin whom Saddam has put in charge of the southern front, was in the town.
But Majeed, who earned his nickname for overseeing the use of poison gas against Kurdish villagers in 1988, was nowhere to be seen.
The Marines had also received intelligence reports that an Iraqi general was holed up inside the town but arrived just too late to capture him, military officials said.
"He got away just before we got here," said company commander Capt. Mike Martin. "We believe there are about 200 to 300 Baath party loyalists and Saddam Fedayeen irregulars in the town," he added.
The Fedayeen paramilitary forces had also fled.
.
By Sean Maguire
SHATRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iraqis shouting "Welcome to Iraq" greeted Marines who entered the town of Shatra Monday after storming it with planes, tanks and helicopter gunships.
A foot patrol picked its way through the small southern town, 20 miles north of the city of Nassiriya, after being beckoned in by a crowd of people.
"There's no problem here. We are happy to see Americans," one young man shouted.
The welcome was a tonic for soldiers who have not always received the warm reception they expected after U.S. and British leaders told them the Iraqi people were waiting to be freed from repression under President Saddam Hussein .
"It's not every day you get to liberate people," said one delighted Marine...The ambushes have slowed the advance on Baghdad. This Marine unit retraced its steps back south down Highway 7 to Shatra after bypassing the Iraqi forces there in their rapid advance last week.
IRAQI GENERAL, FEDAYEEN FLEE
Planes dropped precision-guided bombs on four targets during the morning raid.
Tanks and armored personnel carriers then moved to the edge of the town and helicopter gunships raked the rubble-strewn target sites with heavy machinegun fire.
The targets were the local Baath party headquarters and "associated planning sites," Marine officers said.
Having entered the town, the Marines searched without success for the body of a comrade who was killed last week and whose corpse was believed to be in a hospital in the town.
They trampled over the ruins of a local headquarters of Saddam's Baath party.
Another Baath party building across the street had been set ablaze by looters who carried away sofas from inside.
Intelligence reports had suggested that Ali Hassan al-Majeed, or "Chemical Ali," the cousin whom Saddam has put in charge of the southern front, was in the town.
But Majeed, who earned his nickname for overseeing the use of poison gas against Kurdish villagers in 1988, was nowhere to be seen.
The Marines had also received intelligence reports that an Iraqi general was holed up inside the town but arrived just too late to capture him, military officials said.
"He got away just before we got here," said company commander Capt. Mike Martin. "We believe there are about 200 to 300 Baath party loyalists and Saddam Fedayeen irregulars in the town," he added.
The Fedayeen paramilitary forces had also fled.
.
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Marines Build Ties With Iraqi locals in South
NORTH OF NASIRIYAH, Iraq -- On Saturday, the Marines found a cache of weapons in a tiny village along the road to Baghdad. This morning they returned for lunch with the locals. In a model of how the Marines say they hope their relationship with the Iraqi people can evolve, the two sides struck a deal: the Marines agreed to escort some villagers to a nearby well to get clean water and help repair damage caused by the fleeing Iraqi army. The village leaders agreed to go house to house, rounding up rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons that could be used against U.S. forces. The bargain was sealed with a feast cooked up by the townspeople, featuring rice, bread and goat cooked over an open fire.
Yummy! These are just the deals we need to make with every Iraqi village. Once the locals see that we're serious about protecting them from the Fedayeen, they'll help just like this.
"I was concerned because of what we found here," said Lt. Col. Christopher Conlin, who led Marines from the 1st battalion, 7th Marine regiment into town in a predawn raid. In recent nights, the Marines have suffered small arms attacks that many believe were launched by paramilitary forces loyal to the Iraqi government who disappear into the villages by day. Conlin said he wanted to see where these villager's loyalties lay. The Marines found a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and other weapons in a house Saturday. When they arrived at the outskirts of the farming village the day before, they had found Iraqi army helmets, uniforms and weapons scattered throughout the nearby fields. "It had to have been a pretty large force; there was lots of stuff," said Lt. Kohtara Terahira, 30, the battalion's intelligence officer. "They must have left in a hurry."
This morning, two platoons of Marines stormed into the mud brick village in amphibious assault vehicles to provide security. Conlin and two interpreters went house to house, asking where they could find the village elder, while the Marines took up positions on sand berms that lined the town's muddy main street. They were directed to a three-building compound at the end of the main street with a stable in the front yard for cows, horses and donkeys. Inside, Conlin said, he expressed his concerns through interpreters. A villager told him residents were getting sick from bad water, Conlin said. The group emerged smiling, and chatted for awhile, while leaning against the hood of a Humvee parked in the yard. The Marines were invited to stay for lunch in the family's front yard. For many, it was their first direct contact with Iraqi citizens they did not consider hostile. The Marines left boxes of humanitarian rations and promised there would be more to come. Conlin brought one young lieutenant over to apologize because his platoon had broken down a door in town during its patrol the day before.
Greg Serdynski, 22, a Navy corpsman from Gulfport, Miss., made balloons for the children out of rubber medical gloves. Both sides made jokes about removing President Saddam Hussein from power. The Marines bought cigarettes from the townspeople and handed out chewing gum. Some exchanged dollars for Iraqi dinars. Sgt. Steven Christopher, 23, of Derry, N.H., showed some of the Iraqis pictures of his family. "It was the best part of the war so far," said Christopher. "Up until now I wasn't sure they wanted us here, but they seemed really friendly. It was like the cowboys sitting down with the Indians."
Others acknowledged that one warm reception does not make them safe in the countryside. "I'm not saying I'd want my own kids to walk down the center street," said Conlin, who added that he hopes today's scene can be repeated as the Marines continue to push toward Baghdad. "I do feel more comfortable here now," he said. "I can say that."
NORTH OF NASIRIYAH, Iraq -- On Saturday, the Marines found a cache of weapons in a tiny village along the road to Baghdad. This morning they returned for lunch with the locals. In a model of how the Marines say they hope their relationship with the Iraqi people can evolve, the two sides struck a deal: the Marines agreed to escort some villagers to a nearby well to get clean water and help repair damage caused by the fleeing Iraqi army. The village leaders agreed to go house to house, rounding up rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons that could be used against U.S. forces. The bargain was sealed with a feast cooked up by the townspeople, featuring rice, bread and goat cooked over an open fire.
Yummy! These are just the deals we need to make with every Iraqi village. Once the locals see that we're serious about protecting them from the Fedayeen, they'll help just like this.
"I was concerned because of what we found here," said Lt. Col. Christopher Conlin, who led Marines from the 1st battalion, 7th Marine regiment into town in a predawn raid. In recent nights, the Marines have suffered small arms attacks that many believe were launched by paramilitary forces loyal to the Iraqi government who disappear into the villages by day. Conlin said he wanted to see where these villager's loyalties lay. The Marines found a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and other weapons in a house Saturday. When they arrived at the outskirts of the farming village the day before, they had found Iraqi army helmets, uniforms and weapons scattered throughout the nearby fields. "It had to have been a pretty large force; there was lots of stuff," said Lt. Kohtara Terahira, 30, the battalion's intelligence officer. "They must have left in a hurry."
This morning, two platoons of Marines stormed into the mud brick village in amphibious assault vehicles to provide security. Conlin and two interpreters went house to house, asking where they could find the village elder, while the Marines took up positions on sand berms that lined the town's muddy main street. They were directed to a three-building compound at the end of the main street with a stable in the front yard for cows, horses and donkeys. Inside, Conlin said, he expressed his concerns through interpreters. A villager told him residents were getting sick from bad water, Conlin said. The group emerged smiling, and chatted for awhile, while leaning against the hood of a Humvee parked in the yard. The Marines were invited to stay for lunch in the family's front yard. For many, it was their first direct contact with Iraqi citizens they did not consider hostile. The Marines left boxes of humanitarian rations and promised there would be more to come. Conlin brought one young lieutenant over to apologize because his platoon had broken down a door in town during its patrol the day before.
Greg Serdynski, 22, a Navy corpsman from Gulfport, Miss., made balloons for the children out of rubber medical gloves. Both sides made jokes about removing President Saddam Hussein from power. The Marines bought cigarettes from the townspeople and handed out chewing gum. Some exchanged dollars for Iraqi dinars. Sgt. Steven Christopher, 23, of Derry, N.H., showed some of the Iraqis pictures of his family. "It was the best part of the war so far," said Christopher. "Up until now I wasn't sure they wanted us here, but they seemed really friendly. It was like the cowboys sitting down with the Indians."
Others acknowledged that one warm reception does not make them safe in the countryside. "I'm not saying I'd want my own kids to walk down the center street," said Conlin, who added that he hopes today's scene can be repeated as the Marines continue to push toward Baghdad. "I do feel more comfortable here now," he said. "I can say that."
toledoblade.com
War on terrorism | Article published Sunday, March 30, 2003
Legendary U.S. units battle in Iraq
(THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH)
Army Maj. Robert Schaeffer is a former member of the 3rd Infantry Division.
ZOOM 1 | ZOOM 2
View pictures of the day
By GEORGE J. TANBER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
When the U.S. Army�s 7th Cavalry - the unit once led by George Armstrong Custer - goes marching into Baghdad, it won�t be on horseback. Rather, Abrams Battle Tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles will be the soldiers� travel mode.
Members of the Army�s 101st Airborne Division won�t be parachuting into the Iraqi capital, as the division did in Normandy on D-Day. Rather, they will arrive by Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters.
Sixty-one years after they fought at Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force are carrying the Stars and Stripes in a different battle, a new kind of war.
Many of the divisions, brigades, battalions, and other units comprising the 90,000 U.S. troops fighting the war inside Iraq are familiar names from other conflicts, some of them going back as far as the War of 1812 and the post-Civil War period. Their goal is the same - win the war - but methods have changed....
The 3rd Infantry, which includes the 7th Cavalry�s 3rd Squadron, is one of the most storied units in Army history, with 49 Medal of Honor winners, including the late Audie Murphy, World War II�s most decorated American soldier. Dubbed the "Rock of the Marne" for its successful defense of Paris against the Germans in World War I, the unit, first commissioned in 1917, has played an important role in every war since, including the Persian Gulf War....
Among the units leading the way in Iraq is the 7th Cavalry, one of the most recognizable names in military history. Organized in 1866 at Fort Riley, Kan., the 7th Cavalry played a prominent role in the country�s western campaigns against Native Americans. Most notable was the defeat of Lt. Colonel George Custer, who had been a dashing young cavalry general during the Civil War. He and five companies of the 7th Cavalry were defeated at Little Big Horn in 1876 by the Sioux and the Cheyenne, during which 261 soldiers died, including Custer, a native of Monroe.
In Iraq, the 7th Cavalry�s 3rd Squadron, consisting of 800 soldiers, is performing a considerably different task than it did in the days of the Wild West, when it was a key fighting unit.
"They are out in front of the division assessing what the enemy is up to," Mr. Olson said. "They can put up a good fight if they have to, but they are [primarily] scouts."
Moving side by side with the 3rd infantry as they approach Baghdad is the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, another famous outfit whose roots can be traced back to U.S. involvement at Cuba�s Guantanamo Bay in the decade after the Spanish-American War. The force�s 1st Marine Division helped lead the way at Guadalcanal, the first major American offensive of World War II, and played key roles in Korea and Vietnam.
Also moving toward Baghdad is the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which has a more current history. The 2,000-member unit was the first Marine outfit on the ground in Afghanistan last year.
Among the units providing air support for the Marines and the Army are the Army�s 101st Airborne (Air Assault) and 82nd Airborne divisions. Both were immortalized in military history for their night drop of paratroopers behind German lines in Normandy in the hours before the full D-Day invasion during World War II.
The 101st gained fame in the Gulf War with a deep air assault into Iraqi territory. Nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," the division has changed from its paratrooper days.
"They used to be pure airborne, where they jumped out of planes. Now they go into battle with Black Hawks and Chinooks," Mr. Olson said.
As the 101st Airborne, 7th Cavalry, 3rd Infantry, and 1st Marine units move toward Baghdad, another legendary unit is at work in northern Iraq. About 1,000 paratroopers in the Army�s 173rd Airborne Brigade parachuted in last week and secured an airfield to prepare for the arrival of coalition tanks and armored vehicles.
The 173rd, which began as an infantry brigade during World War I, became American�s first major ground combat unit in the Vietnam War in 1965. It carried out America�s only combat parachute jump of that war. The names of nearly 1,800 members of the 173rd, known as the "Sky Soldiers," are chiseled into the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.
War on terrorism | Article published Sunday, March 30, 2003
Legendary U.S. units battle in Iraq
(THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH)
Army Maj. Robert Schaeffer is a former member of the 3rd Infantry Division.
ZOOM 1 | ZOOM 2
View pictures of the day
By GEORGE J. TANBER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
When the U.S. Army�s 7th Cavalry - the unit once led by George Armstrong Custer - goes marching into Baghdad, it won�t be on horseback. Rather, Abrams Battle Tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles will be the soldiers� travel mode.
Members of the Army�s 101st Airborne Division won�t be parachuting into the Iraqi capital, as the division did in Normandy on D-Day. Rather, they will arrive by Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters.
Sixty-one years after they fought at Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force are carrying the Stars and Stripes in a different battle, a new kind of war.
Many of the divisions, brigades, battalions, and other units comprising the 90,000 U.S. troops fighting the war inside Iraq are familiar names from other conflicts, some of them going back as far as the War of 1812 and the post-Civil War period. Their goal is the same - win the war - but methods have changed....
The 3rd Infantry, which includes the 7th Cavalry�s 3rd Squadron, is one of the most storied units in Army history, with 49 Medal of Honor winners, including the late Audie Murphy, World War II�s most decorated American soldier. Dubbed the "Rock of the Marne" for its successful defense of Paris against the Germans in World War I, the unit, first commissioned in 1917, has played an important role in every war since, including the Persian Gulf War....
Among the units leading the way in Iraq is the 7th Cavalry, one of the most recognizable names in military history. Organized in 1866 at Fort Riley, Kan., the 7th Cavalry played a prominent role in the country�s western campaigns against Native Americans. Most notable was the defeat of Lt. Colonel George Custer, who had been a dashing young cavalry general during the Civil War. He and five companies of the 7th Cavalry were defeated at Little Big Horn in 1876 by the Sioux and the Cheyenne, during which 261 soldiers died, including Custer, a native of Monroe.
In Iraq, the 7th Cavalry�s 3rd Squadron, consisting of 800 soldiers, is performing a considerably different task than it did in the days of the Wild West, when it was a key fighting unit.
"They are out in front of the division assessing what the enemy is up to," Mr. Olson said. "They can put up a good fight if they have to, but they are [primarily] scouts."
Moving side by side with the 3rd infantry as they approach Baghdad is the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, another famous outfit whose roots can be traced back to U.S. involvement at Cuba�s Guantanamo Bay in the decade after the Spanish-American War. The force�s 1st Marine Division helped lead the way at Guadalcanal, the first major American offensive of World War II, and played key roles in Korea and Vietnam.
Also moving toward Baghdad is the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which has a more current history. The 2,000-member unit was the first Marine outfit on the ground in Afghanistan last year.
Among the units providing air support for the Marines and the Army are the Army�s 101st Airborne (Air Assault) and 82nd Airborne divisions. Both were immortalized in military history for their night drop of paratroopers behind German lines in Normandy in the hours before the full D-Day invasion during World War II.
The 101st gained fame in the Gulf War with a deep air assault into Iraqi territory. Nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," the division has changed from its paratrooper days.
"They used to be pure airborne, where they jumped out of planes. Now they go into battle with Black Hawks and Chinooks," Mr. Olson said.
As the 101st Airborne, 7th Cavalry, 3rd Infantry, and 1st Marine units move toward Baghdad, another legendary unit is at work in northern Iraq. About 1,000 paratroopers in the Army�s 173rd Airborne Brigade parachuted in last week and secured an airfield to prepare for the arrival of coalition tanks and armored vehicles.
The 173rd, which began as an infantry brigade during World War I, became American�s first major ground combat unit in the Vietnam War in 1965. It carried out America�s only combat parachute jump of that war. The names of nearly 1,800 members of the 173rd, known as the "Sky Soldiers," are chiseled into the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.
fresnobee.com | Local News The 3rd Infantry and the 60,000-man 1st Marine Expeditionary Force are poised to attack two and perhaps more Iraqi Republican Guard divisions in the next few days, after Air Force planes and Army helicopter gunships have pounded the Iraqis' positions a bit more, according to senior U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
At the same time, the officials said, the 101st Airborne Division will move to block other Republican Guard divisions north of Baghdad from reinforcing the two divisions that are blocking the American advance from the south.
Cargo planes flew military supplies into northern Iraq after 1,000 American airborne troops parachuted in to secure an airfield.
One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said additional personnel were being flown in, and that an early objective would be securing the northern oil fields near Kirkuk. Invading forces took control of southern Iraqi oil fields in the early hours of the ground war.
At the same time, the officials said, the 101st Airborne Division will move to block other Republican Guard divisions north of Baghdad from reinforcing the two divisions that are blocking the American advance from the south.
Cargo planes flew military supplies into northern Iraq after 1,000 American airborne troops parachuted in to secure an airfield.
One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said additional personnel were being flown in, and that an early objective would be securing the northern oil fields near Kirkuk. Invading forces took control of southern Iraqi oil fields in the early hours of the ground war.
After fits and starts, real war begins
Conflict in Iraq becomes a more traditional battle than expected
Sunday, March 30, 2003
BY JOHN HASSELL
Star-Ledger Staff
So far, the effects have not been debilitating. The Marines' 1st Expeditionary Force has been pressed into guerrilla-hunting missions that have prevented it from moving as quickly as planned against Saddam's eastern flank, and some advance troops have been forced to subsist on reduced rations. But military analysts say the shortages and stop-and-go movements have not altered the fact that coalition troops continue to move on Baghdad.
"It's inevitable that supply lines will be hit," said Patrick Garrett, a senior fellow at GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy think tank in Alexandria, Va. "They are soft targets and a natural mark for guerrillas." But, he added, "supply routes are redundant systems, and there are multiple ways to get things to the front."
Coalition forces proved that late last week when they opened the mothballed airport at Tallil, just five miles from Nasiriya. By seizing control of the facility and ridding it of booby traps, U.S. soldiers created a platform for C-130 transport planes to deliver tons of supplies far up the supply line.
In the end, Garrett said, the damage inflicted by Iraqi paramilitaries and regular troops may buy Saddam some time. But as the seizure of Tallil's air base made clear, "the coalition troops will get to Baghdad, one way or the other."
At that point, military experts said, the real war will begin -- an urban conflict in the Iraqi capital that will define victory or defeat. When that day comes, Nash predicted, no one will remember the Iraqi army's early successes in the south.
"Six months from now," he said, "you won't remember this."
More Iraqi fighters surrendering to U.S. troops
By Meg Laughlin, Knight Ridder
European edition, Monday, March 31, 2003
NEAR AN NAJAF, Iraq � As a U.S. Army Humvee made its way down a sandy route several miles south of here Sunday morning, seven Iraqis in dusty robes, trousers and sandals appeared on the side of the road.
Army Command Sergeant Major D. Woods jumped out of the vehicle, pointed his M9 pistol at the seven men and motioned them to get down. Prone with their hands locked behind their heads, the men allowed Woods to search them.
They had no weapons but carried military papers. Woods radioed the 101st Airborne to take them to a nearby POW holding camp.
Throughout the day, the same story repeated itself time and again. Over the weekend, the number of POWs at the camp increased from 100 to about 1,000 as desertions by scared and hungry Iraqis contributed to the attrition of Saddam Hussein's forces.
But the increased number of desertions also has made soldiers more alert, amid reports of ambushes by Iraqi fighters pretending to surrender.
"We are suddenly seeing a drastic escalation in Iraqi soldiers and conscripted men turning themselves in," said Capt. John Wilson of U.S. Army intelligence.
In fact, all day Sunday, the radios at Rams, a huge Army combat support base near An Najaf, broadcast incidents of Iraqi soldiers and paramilitary men asking U.S. troops to take them into custody.
An English-speaking Iraqi farmer, whom Woods knew, met him on the road and translated for the seven men:
"They say they are soldiers from different units," said the wheat farmer. "They do not want to fight and say they will be shot if they don't. They are asking for protection. They are very thirsty and hungry."
Woods' driver got a stack of vegetarian MREs (meals ready to eat) and seven 1.5 liter bottles of water out of the back of the Humvee and passed them out.
The Iraqis, in their 20s and 30s, gulped down the water and tore into the MRES, eating crackers, dry flat bread and cold, processed pasta and rice with their hands.
They were exceptionally docile � afraid to look up and quick to flatten out on the ground. Woods told the translator to tell them they wouldn't be hurt and to relax.
"I couldn't get over how accommodating and passive they were," he said later.
By noon, the POWs were in the back of a 101st Airborne truck, en route to a holding camp, an hour south of An Najaf.
By Meg Laughlin, Knight Ridder
European edition, Monday, March 31, 2003
NEAR AN NAJAF, Iraq � As a U.S. Army Humvee made its way down a sandy route several miles south of here Sunday morning, seven Iraqis in dusty robes, trousers and sandals appeared on the side of the road.
Army Command Sergeant Major D. Woods jumped out of the vehicle, pointed his M9 pistol at the seven men and motioned them to get down. Prone with their hands locked behind their heads, the men allowed Woods to search them.
They had no weapons but carried military papers. Woods radioed the 101st Airborne to take them to a nearby POW holding camp.
Throughout the day, the same story repeated itself time and again. Over the weekend, the number of POWs at the camp increased from 100 to about 1,000 as desertions by scared and hungry Iraqis contributed to the attrition of Saddam Hussein's forces.
But the increased number of desertions also has made soldiers more alert, amid reports of ambushes by Iraqi fighters pretending to surrender.
"We are suddenly seeing a drastic escalation in Iraqi soldiers and conscripted men turning themselves in," said Capt. John Wilson of U.S. Army intelligence.
In fact, all day Sunday, the radios at Rams, a huge Army combat support base near An Najaf, broadcast incidents of Iraqi soldiers and paramilitary men asking U.S. troops to take them into custody.
An English-speaking Iraqi farmer, whom Woods knew, met him on the road and translated for the seven men:
"They say they are soldiers from different units," said the wheat farmer. "They do not want to fight and say they will be shot if they don't. They are asking for protection. They are very thirsty and hungry."
Woods' driver got a stack of vegetarian MREs (meals ready to eat) and seven 1.5 liter bottles of water out of the back of the Humvee and passed them out.
The Iraqis, in their 20s and 30s, gulped down the water and tore into the MRES, eating crackers, dry flat bread and cold, processed pasta and rice with their hands.
They were exceptionally docile � afraid to look up and quick to flatten out on the ground. Woods told the translator to tell them they wouldn't be hurt and to relax.
"I couldn't get over how accommodating and passive they were," he said later.
By noon, the POWs were in the back of a 101st Airborne truck, en route to a holding camp, an hour south of An Najaf.
Yahoo! News - Myers: U.S. Controls Terror Camp in Iraq
U.S. and British forces now control the compound, which belongs to the group Ansar al-Islam, said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, describing it as a site "where Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaida had been working on poisons."
"We think that's probably (from) where the ricin that was found in London came," he told CNN's "Late Edition." "At least the operatives and maybe some of the formulas came from this site."
British police raided a London apartment in January and found traces of ricin, a powerful poison made from the beans of the castor plant. U.S. officials have said since shortly after that raid that they believed the poison and those arrested were linked to Ansar, which operated in a small enclave inside territory controlled by autonomous Kurdish factions in northern Iraq.
U.S. officials said before the war that they had evidence that Ansar had tested chemical and biological weapons on livestock and possibly on people at the site.
U.S. and British aircraft and missiles pounded the Ansar compound for days, and U.S. AC-130 gunships also attacked before coalition and Kurdish ground forces went in, Myers said. The site has many underground tunnels to search "and it may take us a week to exploit that," he said.
Myers said officials were examining laptop computers and documents found there.
Ricin is relatively easy to make from castor beans and highly deadly in small quantities. There is no treatment or antidote for the poison, which can take days to kill.
U.S. and British forces now control the compound, which belongs to the group Ansar al-Islam, said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, describing it as a site "where Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaida had been working on poisons."
"We think that's probably (from) where the ricin that was found in London came," he told CNN's "Late Edition." "At least the operatives and maybe some of the formulas came from this site."
British police raided a London apartment in January and found traces of ricin, a powerful poison made from the beans of the castor plant. U.S. officials have said since shortly after that raid that they believed the poison and those arrested were linked to Ansar, which operated in a small enclave inside territory controlled by autonomous Kurdish factions in northern Iraq.
U.S. officials said before the war that they had evidence that Ansar had tested chemical and biological weapons on livestock and possibly on people at the site.
U.S. and British aircraft and missiles pounded the Ansar compound for days, and U.S. AC-130 gunships also attacked before coalition and Kurdish ground forces went in, Myers said. The site has many underground tunnels to search "and it may take us a week to exploit that," he said.
Myers said officials were examining laptop computers and documents found there.
Ricin is relatively easy to make from castor beans and highly deadly in small quantities. There is no treatment or antidote for the poison, which can take days to kill.
NYPOST.COM Post Opinion: Oped Columnists: TRAGEDY OF THE ARABS By RALPH PETERS
The most important thing for Americans to grasp about the impotent fury of the Arab world is that it isn't really about us. It's about their own internal demons.
The absurdities broadcast and printed throughout the Arab world are symptoms of a once-great culture's moral desolation, of the comprehensiveness of Arab failure. The Arabian Nights have long since turned into the Arabian nightmare.
The inability of the Arab world to compete with the West in any field of endeavor (even their efforts at terrorism ultimately fail) has been so devastating to the Arab psychology that they are desperate for someone to blame for what they and their grotesque leaders have done to their own culture.
Without the United States - and, of course, Israel - as excuses for Arab political squalor, Arabs might have to engage in self-examination, to ask themselves, "How have we failed so badly?"
They prefer to blame others, to sleepwalk through history, and to cheer when tyrants and terrorists "avenge" them.
On one level, Arabs know that Saddam Hussein is a monster. They know he has killed more Arabs than Israel ever could do. Saddam has been the worst thing to happen to Mesopotamia since the Mongols razed Baghdad. But Arabs are so jealous and discouraged that they need to inflate even Saddam into a hero. They have no one else.
But the obstacles Arabs have erected for themselves are enormous. For all of the oil revenue that has flowed into the wealthier Arab countries, consider the overall state of the Arab world:
* It does not produce a single manufactured product of sufficient quality to sell on world markets.
* Arab productivity is the lowest in the world.
* It contains not a single world-class university.
* The once-great tradition of Arab science has degenerated into a few research programs in the fields of chemical and biological warfare.
* No Arab state is a true democracy.
* No Arab state genuinely respects human rights.
* No Arab state hosts a responsible media.
* No Arab society fully respects the rights of women or minorities.
* No Arab government has ever accepted public responsibility for its own shortcomings.
This is a self-help world. We can't force Arab states to better themselves. If Arabs prefer to dream of imaginary triumphs while engaging in fits of very real savagery, they're their own ultimate victims.
Is there any hope? Yes: Iraq.
While building the Iraq of tomorrow must be done by the Iraqis themselves, we would be foolish not to give them every reasonable assistance.
With their oil reserves, a comparatively educated population and their traditionally sophisticated (compared to other Arabs) outlook, the Iraqis are the best hope the region has of building a healthy modern state.
It isn't going to be easy, and it is going to take years, not months. But the Iraqis have the chance to begin the long-overdue transformation of Arab civilization.
For all the shouting and hand-waving in the Arab world, the truth is that Arabs have a deep inferiority complex. They're afraid they really might not be able to build a successful modern state - to say nothing of a post-modern, information-based society.
If Iraq could do even a fair job of developing a prosperous Arab democracy that respected human rights, it could be an inspiration to the rest of the states in the region - and beyond.
The most important thing for Americans to grasp about the impotent fury of the Arab world is that it isn't really about us. It's about their own internal demons.
The absurdities broadcast and printed throughout the Arab world are symptoms of a once-great culture's moral desolation, of the comprehensiveness of Arab failure. The Arabian Nights have long since turned into the Arabian nightmare.
The inability of the Arab world to compete with the West in any field of endeavor (even their efforts at terrorism ultimately fail) has been so devastating to the Arab psychology that they are desperate for someone to blame for what they and their grotesque leaders have done to their own culture.
Without the United States - and, of course, Israel - as excuses for Arab political squalor, Arabs might have to engage in self-examination, to ask themselves, "How have we failed so badly?"
They prefer to blame others, to sleepwalk through history, and to cheer when tyrants and terrorists "avenge" them.
On one level, Arabs know that Saddam Hussein is a monster. They know he has killed more Arabs than Israel ever could do. Saddam has been the worst thing to happen to Mesopotamia since the Mongols razed Baghdad. But Arabs are so jealous and discouraged that they need to inflate even Saddam into a hero. They have no one else.
But the obstacles Arabs have erected for themselves are enormous. For all of the oil revenue that has flowed into the wealthier Arab countries, consider the overall state of the Arab world:
* It does not produce a single manufactured product of sufficient quality to sell on world markets.
* Arab productivity is the lowest in the world.
* It contains not a single world-class university.
* The once-great tradition of Arab science has degenerated into a few research programs in the fields of chemical and biological warfare.
* No Arab state is a true democracy.
* No Arab state genuinely respects human rights.
* No Arab state hosts a responsible media.
* No Arab society fully respects the rights of women or minorities.
* No Arab government has ever accepted public responsibility for its own shortcomings.
This is a self-help world. We can't force Arab states to better themselves. If Arabs prefer to dream of imaginary triumphs while engaging in fits of very real savagery, they're their own ultimate victims.
Is there any hope? Yes: Iraq.
While building the Iraq of tomorrow must be done by the Iraqis themselves, we would be foolish not to give them every reasonable assistance.
With their oil reserves, a comparatively educated population and their traditionally sophisticated (compared to other Arabs) outlook, the Iraqis are the best hope the region has of building a healthy modern state.
It isn't going to be easy, and it is going to take years, not months. But the Iraqis have the chance to begin the long-overdue transformation of Arab civilization.
For all the shouting and hand-waving in the Arab world, the truth is that Arabs have a deep inferiority complex. They're afraid they really might not be able to build a successful modern state - to say nothing of a post-modern, information-based society.
If Iraq could do even a fair job of developing a prosperous Arab democracy that respected human rights, it could be an inspiration to the rest of the states in the region - and beyond.
Marines make short work of Iraqi regulars
Soldiers feel lucky they've not encountered more competent attackers
By Matthew Fisher
National Post
Bravo Company was out playing possum Sunday morning, checking one of the many roads to Baghdad, when they were jumped by Iraqi forces holed up in mud-brick houses.
As dogs slumbered and hens and chickens scurried about, the Marines got off the first shot after being surveyed by two truckloads of men in civilian garb who suddenly ducked into a building and began preparing their weapons to fight.
The Iraqis responded to the Marines' fire with light and heavy machine guns and 120mm mortars. Though pummelled by the Marines' artillery, the Iraqis kept coming back for more.
"They were just driving up to the fight in buses and taxis and jumping out," said Lieutenant John Voorhees. " One of those buses is now a terrain feature, because I promise you it is never going anywhere again."
Several of the Iraqi mortars nearly found their mark. One light armoured vehicle lost four tires and got a bullet through a gun sight. Helicopters provided reconnaisance for the Marines from the margins of the battle, which took place in a village on the outskirts of a city in north central Iraq.
"It was pretty wild for awhile," said Lieutenant George Bartimus, plucking a piece of shrapnel from the body armour around his neck.
"I don't know what it is about us 1/8Bravo Company 3/8, but the Iraqis really seem to want to fight us."
One by one the Iraqi guns were snuffed out and the Marines withdrew, leaving the tanks and Cobra attack helicopters to finish the operation.
The firefight gave the Pentagon and the Marines a foretaste of the far heavier fighting that is expected when U.S. forces begin to confront elite Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard units near Baghdad.
Those who thought before the war began 12 days ago that the Iraqis would not fight and would surrender en masse have been proven wrong. But Captain Cesar Rodriguez was not impressed by the Iraqi forces his men met in battle yesterday.
"We learned through our interpreter that these were regular army units and civilians who had been made to fight," Capt. Rodriguez said.
"There was no coordinated defence. Their mortar fire was unadjusted throughout the fight and they were using a built-up area for cover."
Soldiers feel lucky they've not encountered more competent attackers
By Matthew Fisher
National Post
Bravo Company was out playing possum Sunday morning, checking one of the many roads to Baghdad, when they were jumped by Iraqi forces holed up in mud-brick houses.
As dogs slumbered and hens and chickens scurried about, the Marines got off the first shot after being surveyed by two truckloads of men in civilian garb who suddenly ducked into a building and began preparing their weapons to fight.
The Iraqis responded to the Marines' fire with light and heavy machine guns and 120mm mortars. Though pummelled by the Marines' artillery, the Iraqis kept coming back for more.
"They were just driving up to the fight in buses and taxis and jumping out," said Lieutenant John Voorhees. " One of those buses is now a terrain feature, because I promise you it is never going anywhere again."
Several of the Iraqi mortars nearly found their mark. One light armoured vehicle lost four tires and got a bullet through a gun sight. Helicopters provided reconnaisance for the Marines from the margins of the battle, which took place in a village on the outskirts of a city in north central Iraq.
"It was pretty wild for awhile," said Lieutenant George Bartimus, plucking a piece of shrapnel from the body armour around his neck.
"I don't know what it is about us 1/8Bravo Company 3/8, but the Iraqis really seem to want to fight us."
One by one the Iraqi guns were snuffed out and the Marines withdrew, leaving the tanks and Cobra attack helicopters to finish the operation.
The firefight gave the Pentagon and the Marines a foretaste of the far heavier fighting that is expected when U.S. forces begin to confront elite Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard units near Baghdad.
Those who thought before the war began 12 days ago that the Iraqis would not fight and would surrender en masse have been proven wrong. But Captain Cesar Rodriguez was not impressed by the Iraqi forces his men met in battle yesterday.
"We learned through our interpreter that these were regular army units and civilians who had been made to fight," Capt. Rodriguez said.
"There was no coordinated defence. Their mortar fire was unadjusted throughout the fight and they were using a built-up area for cover."
Yahoo! News - Troops Prepare for Possible Urban Warfare Marines Press 'Seek and Destroy' Missions:
SOUTH-CENTRAL IRAQ - Thousands of U.S. Marines pushed north toward Baghdad in "seek and destroy" missions Sunday, trying to open the route to the Iraqi capital and stop days of attacks along a stretch that has become known as "Ambush Alley."
Charging into previously unsecured areas, the Marines tried to provoke attacks in order to find Iraqi fighters and defeat them. A chaplain traveling with them handed out humanitarian packages to distrustful Iraqi civilians encountered along the way.
In Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, the 101st Airborne division encircled the city Sunday, severing inroads and preparing to go door to door to root out paramilitary supporters who have waged stiff resistance for days.
"This is our type of fight," said Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill. "This is probably the most dangerous part of combat, and that's urban. Sometimes you don't find out who the enemy is until they're shooting at you."
SOUTH-CENTRAL IRAQ - Thousands of U.S. Marines pushed north toward Baghdad in "seek and destroy" missions Sunday, trying to open the route to the Iraqi capital and stop days of attacks along a stretch that has become known as "Ambush Alley."
Charging into previously unsecured areas, the Marines tried to provoke attacks in order to find Iraqi fighters and defeat them. A chaplain traveling with them handed out humanitarian packages to distrustful Iraqi civilians encountered along the way.
In Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, the 101st Airborne division encircled the city Sunday, severing inroads and preparing to go door to door to root out paramilitary supporters who have waged stiff resistance for days.
"This is our type of fight," said Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill. "This is probably the most dangerous part of combat, and that's urban. Sometimes you don't find out who the enemy is until they're shooting at you."
story from rantburg, along with interesting comment from a reader 120,000 more US troops receive orders for Iraq war front
120,000 more US troops receive orders for Iraq war front
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the deployment of 120,000 more troops to the Iraq war battlefront, the European edition of the American military daily Stars and Stripes reported Friday. Once the soldiers arrive, more than half of the US army and Marine Corps will be stationed in Iraq. The reinforcements will not be ready for combat for at least three weeks. The new troop contingent include the first soldiers from the heavily armored Army 4th Infantry Division, parts of the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. US military leaders had to adjust their war strategy following the fierce resistance of Iraqi military forces.
Posted by Fred Pruitt 3/29/2003 16:00|| E-Mail|| Comment|| Link|| Top||
2ACR is an interesting unit. They have been built for the purpose of fighting irregulars along a long line of contact. All Humvee w/TOW, with helicopter support and integral artillery. Light to lift, easy to resupply, extremely mobile. Add to that the doctrinal emphasis on scouting, small unit engagement, mobility, infiltration, screening and counter-infiltration, and also the training in those skill sets, they are far different from "Regular Army" units. Plus there is an Elan that goes with having a continuous history that goes back farther than any other active duty unit in the US Army (continuously active since 1836). I served there in the last war - see the regimental page and read up on the history.
http://www.jrtc-polk.army.mil/2acr/index.html
This is the unit that will shock the snot out of the Feydaheen and irregulars by beating them at their own game.
Posted by: OldSpook 3/29/2003 7:55:12 PM
120,000 more US troops receive orders for Iraq war front
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the deployment of 120,000 more troops to the Iraq war battlefront, the European edition of the American military daily Stars and Stripes reported Friday. Once the soldiers arrive, more than half of the US army and Marine Corps will be stationed in Iraq. The reinforcements will not be ready for combat for at least three weeks. The new troop contingent include the first soldiers from the heavily armored Army 4th Infantry Division, parts of the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. US military leaders had to adjust their war strategy following the fierce resistance of Iraqi military forces.
Posted by Fred Pruitt 3/29/2003 16:00|| E-Mail|| Comment|| Link|| Top||
2ACR is an interesting unit. They have been built for the purpose of fighting irregulars along a long line of contact. All Humvee w/TOW, with helicopter support and integral artillery. Light to lift, easy to resupply, extremely mobile. Add to that the doctrinal emphasis on scouting, small unit engagement, mobility, infiltration, screening and counter-infiltration, and also the training in those skill sets, they are far different from "Regular Army" units. Plus there is an Elan that goes with having a continuous history that goes back farther than any other active duty unit in the US Army (continuously active since 1836). I served there in the last war - see the regimental page and read up on the history.
http://www.jrtc-polk.army.mil/2acr/index.html
This is the unit that will shock the snot out of the Feydaheen and irregulars by beating them at their own game.
Posted by: OldSpook 3/29/2003 7:55:12 PM
Saturday, March 29, 2003
NY Daily News - World and National Report - Iraqis targeted W ranch Iraqis targeted W ranch
Terror team tried to sneak into Texas through Mexico
By JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - An Iraqi terror team armed with millions of dollars tried to get smuggled into the U.S. through Mexico to Crawford, Tex. - the site of President Bush's ranch, a law enforcement source said yesterday.
The alarming attempt to infiltrate the country occurred this month, the source said.
It is not known what the Iraqis planned to do in Crawford, but Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate Bush's father, the former President George Bush, in 1993.
The unidentified Iraqis wanted to hire smugglers to sneak them into the U.S. because they "wanted to get to the Crawford ranch," according to the well-placed law enforcement source. They also asked a Mexican doctor and a lawyer named Claudio to change about $100 million in Iraqi dinars into U.S. currency - about $325 million.
Terror team tried to sneak into Texas through Mexico
By JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - An Iraqi terror team armed with millions of dollars tried to get smuggled into the U.S. through Mexico to Crawford, Tex. - the site of President Bush's ranch, a law enforcement source said yesterday.
The alarming attempt to infiltrate the country occurred this month, the source said.
It is not known what the Iraqis planned to do in Crawford, but Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate Bush's father, the former President George Bush, in 1993.
The unidentified Iraqis wanted to hire smugglers to sneak them into the U.S. because they "wanted to get to the Crawford ranch," according to the well-placed law enforcement source. They also asked a Mexican doctor and a lawyer named Claudio to change about $100 million in Iraqi dinars into U.S. currency - about $325 million.
nationalreview MAR. 29, 2003: BAD KARMA
There is more, much more, than is being reported about the suicide bombing that killed four Americans earlier today. And from a very credible source, I have heard enough to convince me I had to correct something I wrote this morning. This suicide attack does represent an evolution of this war to something far uglier than we may be prepared to deal with. The suicider was not, as the Iraqi vice president announced, an Iraqi army officer. He was a member of Hamas--or possibly a Saudi--and one of many terrorists that are embedded throughout Iraq. This is no longer a war to remove the threat of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and liberate Iraq. Yes, those still are part of our objectives. But it is--much more--a war between our conventional forces and most of the terrorist world.
For many years, Saddam paid a bounty to Palestinian terrorists or, rather, to their survivors. The going rate now is about $25,000 per bomber with bonus money for those who manage to kill more than a few Israelis. Saddam has called in the chips with Hamas, and hundreds of its members are in Iraq. The reports of Hezbollah terrorists coming down from Syria would be old news to the Iraqis. Hezbollah, al Qaeda, and many other terror organizations have been sending their thugs to Iraq for months.
The "Saddam fedayeen" are, in part, a fiction. Yes, there are mostly thugs recruited from Iraq's prisons, given a gun and a uniform and turnturned loose to terrorize the populace. But among them, and also operating independently, there are hundreds of others who are not Iraqi.
Perhaps the only good thing Saddam has done in his thirty years oppressing Iraq is to reduce the number of mullahs in Iraq to a very small group. Religious fanaticism hasn't been a feature of Iraqi society, and Saddam's government is secular. Earlier tales of bin Laden's hatred of him may be true, but in true mafia style, they can work together against the common enemy, freedom.
In preparation for this war, while we diddled with the U.N. for the past five months, Saddam has been welcoming terrorists in by the truckload. And now,
it is they who are fighting, and preventing regular Iraqi units from surrendering. They are also at the heart of the atrocities we are seeing, and will continue to see. Especially the civilian deaths that the Iraqis are trying to lay at our door.
There is more, much more, than is being reported about the suicide bombing that killed four Americans earlier today. And from a very credible source, I have heard enough to convince me I had to correct something I wrote this morning. This suicide attack does represent an evolution of this war to something far uglier than we may be prepared to deal with. The suicider was not, as the Iraqi vice president announced, an Iraqi army officer. He was a member of Hamas--or possibly a Saudi--and one of many terrorists that are embedded throughout Iraq. This is no longer a war to remove the threat of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and liberate Iraq. Yes, those still are part of our objectives. But it is--much more--a war between our conventional forces and most of the terrorist world.
For many years, Saddam paid a bounty to Palestinian terrorists or, rather, to their survivors. The going rate now is about $25,000 per bomber with bonus money for those who manage to kill more than a few Israelis. Saddam has called in the chips with Hamas, and hundreds of its members are in Iraq. The reports of Hezbollah terrorists coming down from Syria would be old news to the Iraqis. Hezbollah, al Qaeda, and many other terror organizations have been sending their thugs to Iraq for months.
The "Saddam fedayeen" are, in part, a fiction. Yes, there are mostly thugs recruited from Iraq's prisons, given a gun and a uniform and turnturned loose to terrorize the populace. But among them, and also operating independently, there are hundreds of others who are not Iraqi.
Perhaps the only good thing Saddam has done in his thirty years oppressing Iraq is to reduce the number of mullahs in Iraq to a very small group. Religious fanaticism hasn't been a feature of Iraqi society, and Saddam's government is secular. Earlier tales of bin Laden's hatred of him may be true, but in true mafia style, they can work together against the common enemy, freedom.
In preparation for this war, while we diddled with the U.N. for the past five months, Saddam has been welcoming terrorists in by the truckload. And now,
it is they who are fighting, and preventing regular Iraqi units from surrendering. They are also at the heart of the atrocities we are seeing, and will continue to see. Especially the civilian deaths that the Iraqis are trying to lay at our door.
The Command Post - A Warblog Collective 10:18 PM EST | 6:18 AM Iraq | Saddam's Bodyguard Seen - Where's Saddam?
Fox has shown recent Iraqi video showing Saddam's familiar bodyguard (normally seen standing behind him). However, the bodyguard is standing behind a different Iraqi official, and Saddam is nowhere to be seen. Intelligence sources were "stunned" to see this - they have never seen the bodyguard except in Saddam's presence.
The mystery of Saddam's fate deepens.
Fox has shown recent Iraqi video showing Saddam's familiar bodyguard (normally seen standing behind him). However, the bodyguard is standing behind a different Iraqi official, and Saddam is nowhere to be seen. Intelligence sources were "stunned" to see this - they have never seen the bodyguard except in Saddam's presence.
The mystery of Saddam's fate deepens.
USATODAY.com - Baghdad bombings continue as allied forces face 'dirty' tactics One overriding impression left on U.S. troops by the first week's combat is that the Iraqis have developed an elaborate set of "dirty" tactics to capitalize on Americans' reluctance to endanger civilian lives. According to troops here, Iraqi forces have:
Forced women and children to act as human shields in buildings occupied by Iraqi troops.
Located headquarters in schools, day care facilities and, in one case in Nasiriyah, a children's hospital. More than one Iraqi prisoner of war has told American troops they do not need to worry about bombing schools because the schools have all been turned over to Iraqi militia forces.
Lured U.S. forces into an ambush by pretending to surrender.
Positioned artillery in residential areas so that even when radar systems locate it, U.S. commanders won't pummel it.
Used ambulances with the Red Crescent symbol � the equivalent of the Red Cross � as personnel carriers, ferrying reinforcements to Iraqi positions under the noses of U.S. troops.
Worn U.S. uniforms.
Forced women and children to retrieve dead Iraqi troops and their weapons.
Forced Iraqi civilian men and regular soldiers to fight by threatening to kill them and their families if they refused.
The Iraqi troops using these tactics are, for the most part, not regular army soldiers, said Army Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division. Rather than rely on his regular soldiers, Saddam has pushed up to 30,000 of his most loyal paramilitary troops south from Baghdad into the towns and cities of southern Iraq, Blount said.
U.S. leaders had expected those troops to remain in Baghdad to protect Saddam's regime.
Forced women and children to act as human shields in buildings occupied by Iraqi troops.
Located headquarters in schools, day care facilities and, in one case in Nasiriyah, a children's hospital. More than one Iraqi prisoner of war has told American troops they do not need to worry about bombing schools because the schools have all been turned over to Iraqi militia forces.
Lured U.S. forces into an ambush by pretending to surrender.
Positioned artillery in residential areas so that even when radar systems locate it, U.S. commanders won't pummel it.
Used ambulances with the Red Crescent symbol � the equivalent of the Red Cross � as personnel carriers, ferrying reinforcements to Iraqi positions under the noses of U.S. troops.
Worn U.S. uniforms.
Forced women and children to retrieve dead Iraqi troops and their weapons.
Forced Iraqi civilian men and regular soldiers to fight by threatening to kill them and their families if they refused.
The Iraqi troops using these tactics are, for the most part, not regular army soldiers, said Army Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division. Rather than rely on his regular soldiers, Saddam has pushed up to 30,000 of his most loyal paramilitary troops south from Baghdad into the towns and cities of southern Iraq, Blount said.
U.S. leaders had expected those troops to remain in Baghdad to protect Saddam's regime.
Sunday Herald The Western press is currently fixated on the Fedayeen, and little wonder. Not only are its suicide squads, which are now claiming allied lives, the main tactic of Iraqi resistance, but this cadre of men -- who sometimes wear white jumpsuits and balaclavas, symbolising the death shroud they will wear when they martyr themselves for Saddam -- has carried out appalling atrocities against its own people. But the Fedayeen, despite the suicide squads it has now dispatched into southern Iraq, is just one of a series of Iraqi special forces, elite units and paramilitary irregulars who hold sway in Saddam's regime and are now forcing the coalition forces to redefine their combat strategy in the deserts and cities of Iraq.
Jeremy Binnie, the Middle East editor of Jane's Sentinel Security Assessments, says: 'The Iraqi regime has surrounded itself with concentric circles of military, security and paramilitary units. Each one offsets the power of the other.
Jeremy Binnie, the Middle East editor of Jane's Sentinel Security Assessments, says: 'The Iraqi regime has surrounded itself with concentric circles of military, security and paramilitary units. Each one offsets the power of the other.
Yahoo! News - Iraqi civilians feed hungry US marines
CENTRAL IRAQ (AFP) - Iraqi civilians fleeing heavy fighting have stunned and delighted hungry US marines in central Iraq (news - web sites) by giving them food, as guerrilla attacks continue to disrupt coalition supply lines to the rear.
Sergeant Kenneth Wilson said Arabic-speaking US troops made contact with two busloads of Iraqis fleeing south along Route Seven towards Rafit, one of the first friendly meetings with local people for the marines around here.
"They had slaughtered lambs and chickens and boiled eggs and potatoes for their journey out of the frontlines," Wilson said.
At one camp, the buses stopped and women passed out food to the troops, who have had to ration their army-issue packets of ready-to-eat meals due to disruptions to supply lines by fierce fighting further south.
CENTRAL IRAQ (AFP) - Iraqi civilians fleeing heavy fighting have stunned and delighted hungry US marines in central Iraq (news - web sites) by giving them food, as guerrilla attacks continue to disrupt coalition supply lines to the rear.
Sergeant Kenneth Wilson said Arabic-speaking US troops made contact with two busloads of Iraqis fleeing south along Route Seven towards Rafit, one of the first friendly meetings with local people for the marines around here.
"They had slaughtered lambs and chickens and boiled eggs and potatoes for their journey out of the frontlines," Wilson said.
At one camp, the buses stopped and women passed out food to the troops, who have had to ration their army-issue packets of ready-to-eat meals due to disruptions to supply lines by fierce fighting further south.
Buffalo News - U.S. covert teams at work Lethal agents hunting Saddam loyalists
By DANA PRIEST
Washington Post
3/29/2003
Associated Press
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said it is "certainly within the president's power" to order assassinations.
WASHINGTON - U.S. covert teams have been operating in urban areas in Iraq trying to kill members of President Saddam Hussein's inner circle, including Baath Party officials and Special Republican Guard commanders, according to U.S. and other knowledgeable officials.
The covert teams, from the CIA's paramilitary division and the military's special operations group, include snipers and demolition experts schooled in setting house and car bombs. They reportedly have killed more than a handful of individuals, according to one knowledgeable source. They have been in operation for at least a week.
The previously undisclosed operation suggests U.S. government efforts to destroy the government leadership are far more extensive than previously known, and have continued since the March 20 airstrike on a residential compound in the suburbs of Baghdad.
By DANA PRIEST
Washington Post
3/29/2003
Associated Press
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said it is "certainly within the president's power" to order assassinations.
WASHINGTON - U.S. covert teams have been operating in urban areas in Iraq trying to kill members of President Saddam Hussein's inner circle, including Baath Party officials and Special Republican Guard commanders, according to U.S. and other knowledgeable officials.
The covert teams, from the CIA's paramilitary division and the military's special operations group, include snipers and demolition experts schooled in setting house and car bombs. They reportedly have killed more than a handful of individuals, according to one knowledgeable source. They have been in operation for at least a week.
The previously undisclosed operation suggests U.S. government efforts to destroy the government leadership are far more extensive than previously known, and have continued since the March 20 airstrike on a residential compound in the suburbs of Baghdad.
Yahoo! News - U.S. Orders 4-6 Day Pause in Iraq Advance-Officers U.S. Orders 4-6 Day Pause in Iraq Advance-Officers
1 hour, 58 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
CENTRAL IRAQ (Reuters) - U.S. commanders have ordered a pause of four to six days in a northward push toward Baghdad because of supply shortages and stiff Iraqi resistance, U.S. military officers said on Saturday.
They said the "operational pause," ordered on Friday, meant that advances would be put on hold while the military tried to sort out logistics problems caused by long supply lines from neighboring Kuwait.
Food rations have been cut for at least one frontline U.S. unit and fuel use has been limited.
The U.S.-led invasion force would continue to attack Iraqi forces to the north with heavy air strikes during the pause, battering them before any attack on Baghdad, they said. The officers declined to be named.
"We have almost out-run our logistics lines,"
1 hour, 58 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
CENTRAL IRAQ (Reuters) - U.S. commanders have ordered a pause of four to six days in a northward push toward Baghdad because of supply shortages and stiff Iraqi resistance, U.S. military officers said on Saturday.
They said the "operational pause," ordered on Friday, meant that advances would be put on hold while the military tried to sort out logistics problems caused by long supply lines from neighboring Kuwait.
Food rations have been cut for at least one frontline U.S. unit and fuel use has been limited.
The U.S.-led invasion force would continue to attack Iraqi forces to the north with heavy air strikes during the pause, battering them before any attack on Baghdad, they said. The officers declined to be named.
"We have almost out-run our logistics lines,"
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Historic change seems to be at hand in Iraq, where "the Shiites are going to have more power than at any time in the history of the nation," the Bush aide said.
.
The postwar upheaval, according to Gerecht, will enable the Shiites to gain "a political and military role that their numbers and social, cultural and commercial prominence have long warranted."
.
According to CIA statistics, Shiites account for at least 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, but Sunnis, comprising less than one-third of the population, have commandeered most of the controlling positions in the ruling Ba'ath party, armed forces, industry and media.
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The prospect of seeing the Iraqi Shiites breaking the mold "makes a lot of people nervous in status quo nations in the Gulf," according to an Arab ambassador in Paris.
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Among the world's 800 million Muslims, Sunnis outnumber Shiites by 10 to 1 - and they dominate every Arab country ranging from Morocco to Egypt and Iraq.
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But the Shiite minority concentrated in the Gulf sits atop many key oil-producing regions, including southern Iraq and nearby Saudi Arabia's petroleum-rich eastern province.
.
Most importantly, Iran, while not an Arab country, is a Shiite nation run by radical clerics embodying the zealous fervor often associated with the Shiite schism in Islam from the dominant Sunni orthodoxy.
.
Because of Iran's proximity, Iraq's Shiites have often been suspected by Arab leaders of being a
.
The postwar upheaval, according to Gerecht, will enable the Shiites to gain "a political and military role that their numbers and social, cultural and commercial prominence have long warranted."
.
According to CIA statistics, Shiites account for at least 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, but Sunnis, comprising less than one-third of the population, have commandeered most of the controlling positions in the ruling Ba'ath party, armed forces, industry and media.
.
The prospect of seeing the Iraqi Shiites breaking the mold "makes a lot of people nervous in status quo nations in the Gulf," according to an Arab ambassador in Paris.
.
Among the world's 800 million Muslims, Sunnis outnumber Shiites by 10 to 1 - and they dominate every Arab country ranging from Morocco to Egypt and Iraq.
.
But the Shiite minority concentrated in the Gulf sits atop many key oil-producing regions, including southern Iraq and nearby Saudi Arabia's petroleum-rich eastern province.
.
Most importantly, Iran, while not an Arab country, is a Shiite nation run by radical clerics embodying the zealous fervor often associated with the Shiite schism in Islam from the dominant Sunni orthodoxy.
.
Because of Iran's proximity, Iraq's Shiites have often been suspected by Arab leaders of being a
Washington Post:
One day the Marines found Iraqi paramilitary forces using a hospital in Nasiriyah as a base to stage their hit-and-run missions . "We went to a hospital and a doctor started to shoot at us," said Khalid Al Anzi, 34, a Kuwaiti working as an interpreter for the Marines. "The Marines don't shoot back, they talk and they call the other people to come out."
In the end, after hours of patience surrounding the building, Marines took 170 Iraqis captive and found 200 weapons, loads of ammunition, 3,000 chemical protection suits and even a tank in the hospital compound, officers have said.
The situation left Al Anzi fighting off tears as he sat in a recovery tent today with his friend and fellow translator, Duaij Mohammed, 32, who was sliced by shrapnel. "Bad, bad, bad situation there," Al Anzi said softly. "Believe me, if you see with your own eyes, you would cry."
Woolhether saw it with his own eyes and could not believe it. Just years out of high school, the young corporal from Wisconsin was part of a unit preparing to move forward to the first bridge on the east side of Nasiriyah when suddenly it was attacked from behind. Iraqi fighters had somehow flanked them and attacked from the southeast.
"You lay there on the ground," recalled Woolhether. "You don't know where that [stuff] is coming from. Five feet to the right isn't any safer than five feet to the left."
The Iraqis sprayed their automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades until they began blowing up U.S. military vehicles parked at an abandoned gas station south of the first bridge. "All they were doing was panning left, panning right, leaving the men happy to hit something," said Gunnery Sgt. Terry Hale, 32. "If they hit something that exploded, they would keep firing at it."
One of the rocketed grenades hit close to Cpl. Willie Anderson, 23, from Bossier, La., "I saw about five people standing behind the building," he said. "They got a (expletive) RPG," he added, referring to a rocket propelled grenade. "All I could do was cover my face. It blinded me and knocked me back. That's all I remember."
With bullets and shrapnel flying, the Marines eventually called in artillery on their own position -- and then jumped over a wall to take cover from their own guns.
Hale, who broke his leg scaling the wall to avoid the U.S. artillery, served during the 1991 Persian Gulf War but said he never saw anything like Nasiriyah. The Marines, he said, found tanks dug into the ground in wait for passing U.S. convoys and small caches of weapons everywhere so the irregular fighters could simply walk up, grab prepositioned guns and open fire.
"They were waiting for us," he said. "It was unreal. It was something you don't ever want to have to go through."
One day the Marines found Iraqi paramilitary forces using a hospital in Nasiriyah as a base to stage their hit-and-run missions . "We went to a hospital and a doctor started to shoot at us," said Khalid Al Anzi, 34, a Kuwaiti working as an interpreter for the Marines. "The Marines don't shoot back, they talk and they call the other people to come out."
In the end, after hours of patience surrounding the building, Marines took 170 Iraqis captive and found 200 weapons, loads of ammunition, 3,000 chemical protection suits and even a tank in the hospital compound, officers have said.
The situation left Al Anzi fighting off tears as he sat in a recovery tent today with his friend and fellow translator, Duaij Mohammed, 32, who was sliced by shrapnel. "Bad, bad, bad situation there," Al Anzi said softly. "Believe me, if you see with your own eyes, you would cry."
Woolhether saw it with his own eyes and could not believe it. Just years out of high school, the young corporal from Wisconsin was part of a unit preparing to move forward to the first bridge on the east side of Nasiriyah when suddenly it was attacked from behind. Iraqi fighters had somehow flanked them and attacked from the southeast.
"You lay there on the ground," recalled Woolhether. "You don't know where that [stuff] is coming from. Five feet to the right isn't any safer than five feet to the left."
The Iraqis sprayed their automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades until they began blowing up U.S. military vehicles parked at an abandoned gas station south of the first bridge. "All they were doing was panning left, panning right, leaving the men happy to hit something," said Gunnery Sgt. Terry Hale, 32. "If they hit something that exploded, they would keep firing at it."
One of the rocketed grenades hit close to Cpl. Willie Anderson, 23, from Bossier, La., "I saw about five people standing behind the building," he said. "They got a (expletive) RPG," he added, referring to a rocket propelled grenade. "All I could do was cover my face. It blinded me and knocked me back. That's all I remember."
With bullets and shrapnel flying, the Marines eventually called in artillery on their own position -- and then jumped over a wall to take cover from their own guns.
Hale, who broke his leg scaling the wall to avoid the U.S. artillery, served during the 1991 Persian Gulf War but said he never saw anything like Nasiriyah. The Marines, he said, found tanks dug into the ground in wait for passing U.S. convoys and small caches of weapons everywhere so the irregular fighters could simply walk up, grab prepositioned guns and open fire.
"They were waiting for us," he said. "It was unreal. It was something you don't ever want to have to go through."
FOXNews.comProtesters Throw Stones at National Guardsman
Thursday, March 27, 2003
MONTPELIER, Vt. � A group of Vermont teen-agers threw rocks at a uniformed female Vermont National Guard sergeant last week, in the latest example of a service member facing hostility in the United States.
National Guard spokesman Capt. Jeff Roosevelt said the woman was not injured in Friday's incident, which took place in Plainfield, but said the woman had decided she would no longer wear her uniform outside of work.
Thursday, March 27, 2003
MONTPELIER, Vt. � A group of Vermont teen-agers threw rocks at a uniformed female Vermont National Guard sergeant last week, in the latest example of a service member facing hostility in the United States.
National Guard spokesman Capt. Jeff Roosevelt said the woman was not injured in Friday's incident, which took place in Plainfield, but said the woman had decided she would no longer wear her uniform outside of work.
Al-Qaeda fighting with Iraqis, British claim - War on Iraq - smh.com.au Al-Qaeda fighting with Iraqis, British claim
March 28 2003, 9:41 AM
Near Basra, Iraq: British military interrogators claim captured Iraqi soldiers have told them that al-Qaeda terrorists are fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein's forces against allied troops near Basra.
At least a dozen members of Osama bin Laden's network are in the town of Az Zubayr where they are coordinating grenade and gun attacks on coalition positions, according to the Iraqi prisoners of war.
It was believed that last night (Thursday) British forces were preparing a military strike on the base where the al-Qaeda unit was understood to be holed up.
March 28 2003, 9:41 AM
Near Basra, Iraq: British military interrogators claim captured Iraqi soldiers have told them that al-Qaeda terrorists are fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein's forces against allied troops near Basra.
At least a dozen members of Osama bin Laden's network are in the town of Az Zubayr where they are coordinating grenade and gun attacks on coalition positions, according to the Iraqi prisoners of war.
It was believed that last night (Thursday) British forces were preparing a military strike on the base where the al-Qaeda unit was understood to be holed up.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
NYPOST.COM Post Opinion: Oped Columnists: TRAPPED! By RALPH PETERS
March 26, 2003 -- PERHAPS the craziest notion bouncing around the media is that Saddam Hussein is a brilliant military strategist. He may be a champion dictator, good at slaughtering, torturing, raping and starving his own people. But his military schemes are masterpieces of incompetence.
Right now, the hand-wringers are warning that Saddam, in a stroke of genius, has deployed his Republican Guards in towns and villages, threatening us with deadly urban combat and inevitable destruction.
What Saddam actually has done is to break his last, best armored divisions into little pieces. He'll never be able to put them back together. And we'll destroy them, piece by piece.
March 26, 2003 -- PERHAPS the craziest notion bouncing around the media is that Saddam Hussein is a brilliant military strategist. He may be a champion dictator, good at slaughtering, torturing, raping and starving his own people. But his military schemes are masterpieces of incompetence.
Right now, the hand-wringers are warning that Saddam, in a stroke of genius, has deployed his Republican Guards in towns and villages, threatening us with deadly urban combat and inevitable destruction.
What Saddam actually has done is to break his last, best armored divisions into little pieces. He'll never be able to put them back together. And we'll destroy them, piece by piece.
Rantburg: Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Blogs of War FOLLOWUP: from Washington Post...
A thousand paratroopers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade jumped into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq today at a strategic airfield to open a northern front for U.S. forces. The operation is also aimed at discouraging Turkish troops on the border from crossing into Iraq in large numbers, a move that could precipitate fighting with Kurdish forces. "Americans are asking you to make the world a better place by jumping into the unknown for the benefit of others," Col. William Mayville, the brigade commander, told the paratroops before they boarded Air Force C-17 jets. "Paratroopers, our cause is just and victory is certain," Mayville added. "I want you to join me tonight on an airborne assault."
A thousand paratroopers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade jumped into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq today at a strategic airfield to open a northern front for U.S. forces. The operation is also aimed at discouraging Turkish troops on the border from crossing into Iraq in large numbers, a move that could precipitate fighting with Kurdish forces. "Americans are asking you to make the world a better place by jumping into the unknown for the benefit of others," Col. William Mayville, the brigade commander, told the paratroops before they boarded Air Force C-17 jets. "Paratroopers, our cause is just and victory is certain," Mayville added. "I want you to join me tonight on an airborne assault."
Telegraph | News | Fatal flaws in Saddam's gamble Fatal flaws in Saddam's gamble
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 27/03/2003)
Saddam Hussein's decision to send out armoured columns of the Republican Guard is an extremely high-risk strategy. He is relying heavily on the cover provided by the sandstorms to ensure that Apache attack helicopters and the 101st Airborne Division cannot join the fight.
But they should be the least of his problems. The conventional wisdom was that the Republican Guard had no choice but to remain dug in around Baghdad. If it broke out, it would be cut to pieces by the sheer weight of allied airpower.
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 27/03/2003)
Saddam Hussein's decision to send out armoured columns of the Republican Guard is an extremely high-risk strategy. He is relying heavily on the cover provided by the sandstorms to ensure that Apache attack helicopters and the 101st Airborne Division cannot join the fight.
But they should be the least of his problems. The conventional wisdom was that the Republican Guard had no choice but to remain dug in around Baghdad. If it broke out, it would be cut to pieces by the sheer weight of allied airpower.
ABCNEWS.com : Elite Iraqi Troops Likely to Take Advantage of Vicious Sandstorms and Reposition Their Tanks
The Associated Press
CENTRAL IRAQ March 26 �
U.S. Marines heading north toward Baghdad were warned Wednesday about a huge Iraqi convoy moving south, putting allied forces on a collision course with Saddam Hussein's best-trained, best-equipped and most tenacious fighters: the Republican Guard.
A military intelligence officer with the 1st Marine Expeditionary force ran from helicopter to helicopter, warning pilots that Republican Guard units in a 1,000-vehicle convoy were headed south on Highway 7, which runs southeast of Baghdad, toward the city of al-Kut.
The Iraqi troops were likely taking advantage of the vicious sandstorms that have blunted U.S. air power for several days to reposition their tanks in response to U.S. forces approaching the outskirts of the capital.
The Associated Press
CENTRAL IRAQ March 26 �
U.S. Marines heading north toward Baghdad were warned Wednesday about a huge Iraqi convoy moving south, putting allied forces on a collision course with Saddam Hussein's best-trained, best-equipped and most tenacious fighters: the Republican Guard.
A military intelligence officer with the 1st Marine Expeditionary force ran from helicopter to helicopter, warning pilots that Republican Guard units in a 1,000-vehicle convoy were headed south on Highway 7, which runs southeast of Baghdad, toward the city of al-Kut.
The Iraqi troops were likely taking advantage of the vicious sandstorms that have blunted U.S. air power for several days to reposition their tanks in response to U.S. forces approaching the outskirts of the capital.
US puts tactics before tanks with a fraction of Schwarzkopf's force
By Ben Rooney, Defence Staff
(Filed: 26/03/2003)
When American ground troops take on the "might" of the Iraqi army, the attacking force may be less than one fifth the size of the forces that General Norman Schwarzkopf used to rout the Republican Guard in 1991. But, say Pentagon planners, it will still defeat them.
General Tommy Franks, the allied commander, is planning to deploy his small force in a revolutionary new way, which, if successful, will transform the conduct of future battles.
Nevertheless, should things not go to plan, and resistance from the Republican Guard prove more tenacious than expected, the Pentagon is also ready to fight a more traditional war.
Concerns have been raised about the size of Franks's force, pointing to the fact that the 1991 liberation of Kuwait against only a part of Saddam's army took a force of more than 11 divisions, with some 2,000 tanks and around 550,000 troops.
By contrast, Gen Franks has the 230 tanks, 130 AH64 Apache helicopters, and 18,000 men of the 3rd Infantry Division, 70,000 men, 58 AH1 Super Cobra attack helicopters and about 200 tanks of I Marine Expeditionary Force, and the 270 helicopters and 15,000 men of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) division. The British 1st Armoured Division is not involved in the Battle for Baghdad.
But, say US military planners, number-crunching paints a misleading picture
By Ben Rooney, Defence Staff
(Filed: 26/03/2003)
When American ground troops take on the "might" of the Iraqi army, the attacking force may be less than one fifth the size of the forces that General Norman Schwarzkopf used to rout the Republican Guard in 1991. But, say Pentagon planners, it will still defeat them.
General Tommy Franks, the allied commander, is planning to deploy his small force in a revolutionary new way, which, if successful, will transform the conduct of future battles.
Nevertheless, should things not go to plan, and resistance from the Republican Guard prove more tenacious than expected, the Pentagon is also ready to fight a more traditional war.
Concerns have been raised about the size of Franks's force, pointing to the fact that the 1991 liberation of Kuwait against only a part of Saddam's army took a force of more than 11 divisions, with some 2,000 tanks and around 550,000 troops.
By contrast, Gen Franks has the 230 tanks, 130 AH64 Apache helicopters, and 18,000 men of the 3rd Infantry Division, 70,000 men, 58 AH1 Super Cobra attack helicopters and about 200 tanks of I Marine Expeditionary Force, and the 270 helicopters and 15,000 men of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) division. The British 1st Armoured Division is not involved in the Battle for Baghdad.
But, say US military planners, number-crunching paints a misleading picture
American planners have no intention, desire or any real capability to besiege an ancient Arab city of 5 million people, and no interest whatsoever in fighting for Baghdad block-by-block, house-by-house, as they think Saddam Hussein would prefer.
Instead, American war planners foresee a swift, violent ground attack that will rely on accurate, up-to-the-minute intelligence from the very heart of the Iraqi regime. Relying on spies, electronic sensors and other intelligence to pinpoint Saddam and other top leaders, coalition special operations forces could infiltrate the Iraqi capital from all directions.
Armor-tipped infantry columns would blast into the heart of Baghdad along several corridors and swiftly isolate key areas from the rest of the sprawling city. Company-size infantry units - Marines and light infantry from the Army's 101st and 82nd airborne divisions, supported by tanks - then would attack the areas where Saddam and others were hiding.
One expert familiar with planning such an operation said it would require lightning strikes from rooftops, sewer tunnels and "entryways" blasted into the sides of buildings by the tanks.
It probably would require three to four days to plan the operation and rehearse it, and four or five days to carry it out.
"The idea is to cut off those areas, isolate them and then, with precision maneuvers and precision strikes, take them down," the expert said, speaking only on the condition of anonymity. "You've got to focus on the head head of the snake. Look at the Israeli operations in the '73 war: You put armor attacks down specific corridors, raid the targets, then come back out."
Instead, American war planners foresee a swift, violent ground attack that will rely on accurate, up-to-the-minute intelligence from the very heart of the Iraqi regime. Relying on spies, electronic sensors and other intelligence to pinpoint Saddam and other top leaders, coalition special operations forces could infiltrate the Iraqi capital from all directions.
Armor-tipped infantry columns would blast into the heart of Baghdad along several corridors and swiftly isolate key areas from the rest of the sprawling city. Company-size infantry units - Marines and light infantry from the Army's 101st and 82nd airborne divisions, supported by tanks - then would attack the areas where Saddam and others were hiding.
One expert familiar with planning such an operation said it would require lightning strikes from rooftops, sewer tunnels and "entryways" blasted into the sides of buildings by the tanks.
It probably would require three to four days to plan the operation and rehearse it, and four or five days to carry it out.
"The idea is to cut off those areas, isolate them and then, with precision maneuvers and precision strikes, take them down," the expert said, speaking only on the condition of anonymity. "You've got to focus on the head head of the snake. Look at the Israeli operations in the '73 war: You put armor attacks down specific corridors, raid the targets, then come back out."
Ha'aretz - Article
There has never been a war with such a high level of disinformation about what exactly is happening on the battlefield as the present conflict in Iraq, according to Israeli researchers and senior military officers.
Most of those interviewed agree that, paradoxically, despite the unprecedented media coverage of the war, including the many correspondents who are embedded in fighting units, nobody knows what is really happening in Iraq. Yossi Peled, former GOC Northern Command, thinks the U.S. has shown great skill in its control of the media. "You have lots of television crews in the field, yet as someone watching TV you have no overall picture."
Military historian Prof. Martin van Creveld goes further: "Everyone is lying about everything all the time, and it is difficult to say what is happening. I've stopped listening. All the pictures shown on TV are color pieces which have no significance."
"There is a lot of disinformation," he concludes. "Every word that is spoken is suspect."
Shahak says that until now the American's have managed to conceal their true battle plan. "Do you know what the Americans have planned? I don't. They also never said (what they were planning to do). How do you topple a regime in 48 hours? In a week? Seventeen days? If we don't want to make fools of ourselves, we should wait patiently. It would just be arrogant to judge from what we see on TV."
There has never been a war with such a high level of disinformation about what exactly is happening on the battlefield as the present conflict in Iraq, according to Israeli researchers and senior military officers.
Most of those interviewed agree that, paradoxically, despite the unprecedented media coverage of the war, including the many correspondents who are embedded in fighting units, nobody knows what is really happening in Iraq. Yossi Peled, former GOC Northern Command, thinks the U.S. has shown great skill in its control of the media. "You have lots of television crews in the field, yet as someone watching TV you have no overall picture."
Military historian Prof. Martin van Creveld goes further: "Everyone is lying about everything all the time, and it is difficult to say what is happening. I've stopped listening. All the pictures shown on TV are color pieces which have no significance."
"There is a lot of disinformation," he concludes. "Every word that is spoken is suspect."
Shahak says that until now the American's have managed to conceal their true battle plan. "Do you know what the Americans have planned? I don't. They also never said (what they were planning to do). How do you topple a regime in 48 hours? In a week? Seventeen days? If we don't want to make fools of ourselves, we should wait patiently. It would just be arrogant to judge from what we see on TV."
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage Could U.S. Drive to Baghdad Mask Surprise Attack?
Wed March 26, 2003 05:24 AM ET
By Douglas Hamilton
DOHA (Reuters) - In the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. commander General Norman Schwarzkopf presented a plan of attack so obvious that it was laughed out of the Pentagon as "Hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle."
But on the night, he had the last laugh.
Having fooled the Iraqis occupying Kuwait into believing that his main force would attack their main force head on, he surreptitiously moved an army 120 miles to the northwest at night to set up a famous "left hook" surprise.
Could the United States and Britain now be telegraphing their intentions to conceal another shock for the Iraqis?...
Tony Blair spoke this week of a "critical moment" to come when the U.S. 5th Corps meets the Republican Guard Medina Division on the approaches to Baghdad.
By Wednesday morning, every U.S. television news anchor was talking about the upcoming clash, giving it top billing as if it were a world heavyweight championship fight.
It may be that the U.S.-led forces believe they possess such overwhelming might that they can dispense with any element of surprise and simply smash through the Medina roadblock at the hour of their choosing.
Or it may be a feint.
There is an eerie silence in the north and west of Iraq.
Little is being reported about the invasion's progress there, apart from Turkey's refusal to let 60,000 U.S. armored division troops across its territory, and Ankara's own enthusiasm to get its forces into Kurdish-held northern Iraq.
Apart from the capture of two desert airfields in western Iraq last Friday, not much has been heard about that theater either, but Kurdish sources say U.S. forces might well use the airstrips to launch an attack on the northern city of Mosul.
Wed March 26, 2003 05:24 AM ET
By Douglas Hamilton
DOHA (Reuters) - In the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. commander General Norman Schwarzkopf presented a plan of attack so obvious that it was laughed out of the Pentagon as "Hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle."
But on the night, he had the last laugh.
Having fooled the Iraqis occupying Kuwait into believing that his main force would attack their main force head on, he surreptitiously moved an army 120 miles to the northwest at night to set up a famous "left hook" surprise.
Could the United States and Britain now be telegraphing their intentions to conceal another shock for the Iraqis?...
Tony Blair spoke this week of a "critical moment" to come when the U.S. 5th Corps meets the Republican Guard Medina Division on the approaches to Baghdad.
By Wednesday morning, every U.S. television news anchor was talking about the upcoming clash, giving it top billing as if it were a world heavyweight championship fight.
It may be that the U.S.-led forces believe they possess such overwhelming might that they can dispense with any element of surprise and simply smash through the Medina roadblock at the hour of their choosing.
Or it may be a feint.
There is an eerie silence in the north and west of Iraq.
Little is being reported about the invasion's progress there, apart from Turkey's refusal to let 60,000 U.S. armored division troops across its territory, and Ankara's own enthusiasm to get its forces into Kurdish-held northern Iraq.
Apart from the capture of two desert airfields in western Iraq last Friday, not much has been heard about that theater either, but Kurdish sources say U.S. forces might well use the airstrips to launch an attack on the northern city of Mosul.
Monday, March 24, 2003
The Scotsman - Top Stories - Missiles find in chemical plant Missiles find in chemical plant
GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN AND PAUL GALLAGHER
EXPERTS are examining suspected Scud missiles discovered by British soldiers searching a chemical plant outside Basra.
A number of the grey-painted rockets, about 23ft long, were found in the Dirhamiyah petro-chemical plant close to Iraq�s second city.
The discovery has raised suspicions that Saddam Hussein was planning to arm the missiles with chemical warheads. British officers say it is difficult to find an innocent explanation for storing missiles in a chemical plant.
The find comes a day after soldiers with the Black Watch discovered a cache of weapons, including two Russian al-Harith anti-ship cruise missiles, at the Az Zubayr civilian heliport south of Basra.
GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN AND PAUL GALLAGHER
EXPERTS are examining suspected Scud missiles discovered by British soldiers searching a chemical plant outside Basra.
A number of the grey-painted rockets, about 23ft long, were found in the Dirhamiyah petro-chemical plant close to Iraq�s second city.
The discovery has raised suspicions that Saddam Hussein was planning to arm the missiles with chemical warheads. British officers say it is difficult to find an innocent explanation for storing missiles in a chemical plant.
The find comes a day after soldiers with the Black Watch discovered a cache of weapons, including two Russian al-Harith anti-ship cruise missiles, at the Az Zubayr civilian heliport south of Basra.
NYPOST.COM Post Opinion: Oped Columnists: WINNING BIG By RALPH PETERS WINNING BIG
By RALPH PETERS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 24, 2003 -- IN combat, the ideal leader is the man who remains calm and methodical under fire. Today's 24/7 broadcast news demands just the opposite: raised voices, an atmosphere of crisis and a rush to judgment.
After declaring victory on Friday and Saturday, a number of media outlets all but announced our defeat yesterday, treating the routine events of warfare as if they were disasters.
Nonsense.
We're winning, the Iraqis are losing, and the American people have executive seats for what may prove to be the most successful military campaign in history.
By RALPH PETERS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 24, 2003 -- IN combat, the ideal leader is the man who remains calm and methodical under fire. Today's 24/7 broadcast news demands just the opposite: raised voices, an atmosphere of crisis and a rush to judgment.
After declaring victory on Friday and Saturday, a number of media outlets all but announced our defeat yesterday, treating the routine events of warfare as if they were disasters.
Nonsense.
We're winning, the Iraqis are losing, and the American people have executive seats for what may prove to be the most successful military campaign in history.
CBS News | Saddam's Secret Weapon? | March 24, 2003�17:09:10
March 24, 2003
(AP / CBS)
The Fedayeen report directly to Saddam's eldest son, Odai, a powerful figure in Iraq with a reputation for extravagance and violence.
(CBS) Saddam Hussein's most trusted paramilitary militia, Saddam's Fedayeen, has assassinated the Iraqi leader's enemies, put down protests and ruthlessly cracked down on dissidents since its founding in 1995.
Now, with U.S.-led coalition troops advancing toward Baghdad, the Fedayeen - whose name means "those ready to sacrifice themselves for Saddam" - are showing putting up stiff resistance and trying to prevent regular army soldiers from surrendering.
March 24, 2003
(AP / CBS)
The Fedayeen report directly to Saddam's eldest son, Odai, a powerful figure in Iraq with a reputation for extravagance and violence.
(CBS) Saddam Hussein's most trusted paramilitary militia, Saddam's Fedayeen, has assassinated the Iraqi leader's enemies, put down protests and ruthlessly cracked down on dissidents since its founding in 1995.
Now, with U.S.-led coalition troops advancing toward Baghdad, the Fedayeen - whose name means "those ready to sacrifice themselves for Saddam" - are showing putting up stiff resistance and trying to prevent regular army soldiers from surrendering.
The Command Post - A Warblog Collective 08:56 PM | Lots of fighting around Basra
Strangely enough, some of it is Iraqi against Iraqi.
This Telegraph piece has lots of interesting information about fighting near Basra. The one element that was new to me was this.
But the fighting in southern Iraq has not been restricted to British and Iraqi forces.
Militia groups have been out to settle old scores after equipping themselves from raiding Iraqi arms dumps.
Near the town of Mushrif, a squadron of the Queens Dragoon Guards intervened to stop a firefight between two groups, one of which appeared to be local Ba'ath Party members.
The fighting had left one man with a gunshot injury to his head lying in a pool of blood, and another with a bullet wound in his leg, beside him an AK-47 rifle.
"We are here to protect the oil refinery," the injured man said, although his van, loaded up with canisters seemed to suggest otherwise.
Strangely enough, some of it is Iraqi against Iraqi.
This Telegraph piece has lots of interesting information about fighting near Basra. The one element that was new to me was this.
But the fighting in southern Iraq has not been restricted to British and Iraqi forces.
Militia groups have been out to settle old scores after equipping themselves from raiding Iraqi arms dumps.
Near the town of Mushrif, a squadron of the Queens Dragoon Guards intervened to stop a firefight between two groups, one of which appeared to be local Ba'ath Party members.
The fighting had left one man with a gunshot injury to his head lying in a pool of blood, and another with a bullet wound in his leg, beside him an AK-47 rifle.
"We are here to protect the oil refinery," the injured man said, although his van, loaded up with canisters seemed to suggest otherwise.
Secret weapon in US war against Iraq: the CIA | csmonitor.com Secret weapon in US war against Iraq: the CIA
Intelligence works in unprecedented concert with Pentagon in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
By Faye Bowers | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON � Less than one week into the US-led war in Iraq, it is already clear that the campaign involves an unprecedented level of involvement by the CIA.
The shift was clear from the get-go.
Intelligence works in unprecedented concert with Pentagon in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
By Faye Bowers | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON � Less than one week into the US-led war in Iraq, it is already clear that the campaign involves an unprecedented level of involvement by the CIA.
The shift was clear from the get-go.
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Al Qaeda Near Biological, Chemical Arms Production (washingtonpost.com) By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 23, 2003; Page A01
Al Qaeda leaders, long known to covet biological and chemical weapons, have reached at least the threshold of production and may already have manufactured some of them, according to a newly obtained cache of documentary evidence and interrogations recently conducted by the U.S. government.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 23, 2003; Page A01
Al Qaeda leaders, long known to covet biological and chemical weapons, have reached at least the threshold of production and may already have manufactured some of them, according to a newly obtained cache of documentary evidence and interrogations recently conducted by the U.S. government.
lgf: skiing through the revolving door of life UPDATE: LGF reader Michael points out that the UN �inspectors� have already visited An Najah in January(where US troops found a chemical factory hidden in desert)�and drove right past the hundred-acre, camouflaged chemical weapons plant surrounded by an electrified fence.
Instead they visited a cement plant in An Najah to count their mining explosives!
Instead they visited a cement plant in An Najah to count their mining explosives!
FOXNews.com
But at An Nasiriyah -- on the Euphrates River 233 miles southeast of Baghdad, near the ancient town of Ur, birthplace of the patriarch Abraham -- the allied juggernaut sustained its worst casualties so far.
And in the face of that resistance, Marines officials said they expected to sidestep An Nasiriyah rather than fight to capture it -- the same strategy they employed in Basra.
American authorities detailed two bloody battles:
-- Marines encountered Iraqi troops who appeared to be surrendering. Instead, they attacked -- the start of a "very sharp engagement," said Lt. Col. John Abizaid, deputy commander of the Central Command.
These were, Abizaid said, a combination of regular and irregular forces -- in fact, he said, it was one of the few times regular Iraqi soldiers have fought, instead of surrendering or deserting.
In the end, the Americans triumphed, knocking out eight tanks, some anti-aircraft batteries, some artillery and infantry, Abizaid said. But victory came at a cost: as many as nine dead, and an undisclosed number of wounded.
An Nasiriyah was a hotbed of rebellion against Saddam Hussein in the Shiite Muslim rebellion that followed the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The Americans may have run into Saddam loyalists based there to keep a lid on the Shiites, along with some Republican Guard units.
The battles underscored the risks of the mission in Iraq, but U.S. military leaders insisted that they would not slow the drive to Baghdad.
Officials would not say when they expected to arrive at the capital city. "We'll arrive in the vicinity of Baghdad soon, and I prefer to leave it at that," Abizaid said.
Long columns of Marines and their equipment advanced along the main road from Kuwaiti border to An Nasiriyah, where units were crossing the Euphrates.
Part of the 3rd Infantry Division had reached the area of the Shiite holy city of Najaf -- further ahead from An Nasiriyah in the approach to Baghdad -- after a 230-mile, 40-hour sprint through the desert, killing 100 machinegun-toting militiamen along the way.
When more than 30 Iraqi armored vehicles were spotted heading toward the 2nd Brigade's positions, air support was called in; A-10s and B-52s hammered the Iraqis, and the Army didn't have to fire a shot.
Allied aircraft had flown more than 6,000 sorties, softening resistance in advance of the ground war and focusing on Saddam's elite Republican Guard.
Pilots who hit Baghdad on Sunday said ground fire was lighter than expected.
"It was less than the first night," said Lt. j.g. Scott Worthington, 25, an F/A-18 Hornet pilot from Seattle, Wash., and assigned to Strike-Fighter Squadron 151. "I'd say tonight was less intense. Not nearly as much."
But at An Nasiriyah -- on the Euphrates River 233 miles southeast of Baghdad, near the ancient town of Ur, birthplace of the patriarch Abraham -- the allied juggernaut sustained its worst casualties so far.
And in the face of that resistance, Marines officials said they expected to sidestep An Nasiriyah rather than fight to capture it -- the same strategy they employed in Basra.
American authorities detailed two bloody battles:
-- Marines encountered Iraqi troops who appeared to be surrendering. Instead, they attacked -- the start of a "very sharp engagement," said Lt. Col. John Abizaid, deputy commander of the Central Command.
These were, Abizaid said, a combination of regular and irregular forces -- in fact, he said, it was one of the few times regular Iraqi soldiers have fought, instead of surrendering or deserting.
In the end, the Americans triumphed, knocking out eight tanks, some anti-aircraft batteries, some artillery and infantry, Abizaid said. But victory came at a cost: as many as nine dead, and an undisclosed number of wounded.
An Nasiriyah was a hotbed of rebellion against Saddam Hussein in the Shiite Muslim rebellion that followed the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The Americans may have run into Saddam loyalists based there to keep a lid on the Shiites, along with some Republican Guard units.
The battles underscored the risks of the mission in Iraq, but U.S. military leaders insisted that they would not slow the drive to Baghdad.
Officials would not say when they expected to arrive at the capital city. "We'll arrive in the vicinity of Baghdad soon, and I prefer to leave it at that," Abizaid said.
Long columns of Marines and their equipment advanced along the main road from Kuwaiti border to An Nasiriyah, where units were crossing the Euphrates.
Part of the 3rd Infantry Division had reached the area of the Shiite holy city of Najaf -- further ahead from An Nasiriyah in the approach to Baghdad -- after a 230-mile, 40-hour sprint through the desert, killing 100 machinegun-toting militiamen along the way.
When more than 30 Iraqi armored vehicles were spotted heading toward the 2nd Brigade's positions, air support was called in; A-10s and B-52s hammered the Iraqis, and the Army didn't have to fire a shot.
Allied aircraft had flown more than 6,000 sorties, softening resistance in advance of the ground war and focusing on Saddam's elite Republican Guard.
Pilots who hit Baghdad on Sunday said ground fire was lighter than expected.
"It was less than the first night," said Lt. j.g. Scott Worthington, 25, an F/A-18 Hornet pilot from Seattle, Wash., and assigned to Strike-Fighter Squadron 151. "I'd say tonight was less intense. Not nearly as much."
The Sun Newspaper Online - UK's biggest selling newspaper
Injured ... Saddam Hussein
EXCLUSIVE
SOS for Saddam surgeon
By DAVID WOODING
Whitehall Editor
SADDAM Hussein�s henchmen last night pleaded with Russia to find them a top surgeon to save the tyrant�s life.
They sent an SOS to Moscow as their leader lay badly wounded at a secret hideaway in Baghdad
Injured ... Saddam Hussein
EXCLUSIVE
SOS for Saddam surgeon
By DAVID WOODING
Whitehall Editor
SADDAM Hussein�s henchmen last night pleaded with Russia to find them a top surgeon to save the tyrant�s life.
They sent an SOS to Moscow as their leader lay badly wounded at a secret hideaway in Baghdad
Special Forces Arrive in Northern Iraq (washingtonpost.com) Later today, journalists watched as a convoy of three buses and three trucks carried about 100 U.S. troops into the Halabja Valley near the Iranian border, where two nights of airstrikes have targeted an Islamic extremist group associated with al Qaeda.
The airstrikes, which a Kurdish official said may have killed more than 100 of Ansar al-Islam's 700 to 900 fighters, were scheduled to continue for at least one more night before ground forces move forward, officials said. U.S. troops will take part in the ground offensive, the Kurdish official said, but declined to say in what numbers. Before today, estimates of U.S. troops in the north ranged from 60 to 130.
Most of the arriving U.S. forces are expected to steer toward the larger war against the government of Saddam Hussein, with Special Forces troops preparing the way for an airborne assault aimed at taking the strategic oil cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. This morning and again after sunset allied warplanes bombed artillery and rocket positions near Mosul, the Kurds said.
The airstrikes, which a Kurdish official said may have killed more than 100 of Ansar al-Islam's 700 to 900 fighters, were scheduled to continue for at least one more night before ground forces move forward, officials said. U.S. troops will take part in the ground offensive, the Kurdish official said, but declined to say in what numbers. Before today, estimates of U.S. troops in the north ranged from 60 to 130.
Most of the arriving U.S. forces are expected to steer toward the larger war against the government of Saddam Hussein, with Special Forces troops preparing the way for an airborne assault aimed at taking the strategic oil cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. This morning and again after sunset allied warplanes bombed artillery and rocket positions near Mosul, the Kurds said.
U.S. Makes Some Gains, Suffers Setbacks (washingtonpost.com) On the least visible front of the war, in western Iraq where no journalists are "embedded" with the U.S. special forces who parachuted in and took control of two airfields, Myers said the troops "found a huge arms cache, millions of rounds of ammunition and some documentation that needs to be exploited."
This was "some papers" that will be examined by units looking for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, he said. "We have people set up to do that very, very quickly, because it might save thousands of lives if we can find out exactly where and what they have."
This was "some papers" that will be examined by units looking for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, he said. "We have people set up to do that very, very quickly, because it might save thousands of lives if we can find out exactly where and what they have."
The Command Post - A Warblog Collective This is the best site for up to date war news period! People are posting news as soon as it happens, or they hear about it! This site is only a few days old and is now getting tens of thousands of hits a day! A Must Read!
FOXNews.com Meanwhile, State Department officials confirmed to Fox News that Russian technicians are currently in Baghdad helping Iraqis with jamming equipment -- technology that throws aircraft and missiles offcourse -- sold by Russian arms dealers. The United States has vigorously sought Russian government assistance to stop the sales but has met with "ridiculous responses," according to the officials.
Rumor has it they will be inserted behind the Republican GuardLong Sad Night With the 101st (washingtonpost.com) Another blue thread shows the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 101st, the division's only major unit currently in Iraq. Once refueling bases are established, the rest of the 16,000 Screaming Eagles can join the fight, including 72 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters that are capable of obliterating an enemy armor brigade in 20 minutes. "Part of this," one officer says, "is to make the Iraqis sweat, to wonder where the 101st is with all those Apaches they've seen pictures of."
thepeople.com - homepage - NewsUS Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that without firm evidence of Saddam's death, he had to assume Iraq's leadership was in place.
But he added: "The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing. Their ability to control their country is slipping away.
"The strike on the leadership headquarters was successful. The question is, what was in there?" The CIA has a secret sample of Saddam's DNA so they can prove it is him if a body is found. They fear he might plant a lookalike's body in the rubble.
But he added: "The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing. Their ability to control their country is slipping away.
"The strike on the leadership headquarters was successful. The question is, what was in there?" The CIA has a secret sample of Saddam's DNA so they can prove it is him if a body is found. They fear he might plant a lookalike's body in the rubble.
NATIONAL POST How rare, to ask the UN to go to war
Andrew Coyne
National Post
Monday, March 17, 2003
In the history of the United Nations, only one country has ever asked the world's permission to go to war. That country is the United States.
Andrew Coyne
National Post
Monday, March 17, 2003
In the history of the United Nations, only one country has ever asked the world's permission to go to war. That country is the United States.
Saturday, March 22, 2003
COOL TECHNOLOGY ALERT
Gregg Easterbrook has a fascinating piece about how information technology has made our forces incredibly more effective.
In 1997, the Army conducted an "Advanced Warfighting Experiment" at its full-scale war-games facility at Fort Irwin, California. The experiment assumed that cheap new data links could allow everybody, right down to the individual soldier, to know almost everything going on in a battle. The war game showed that having everybody know everything made units far more effective, reacting quickly to problems or acting quickly to exploit enemy weaknesses.
For instance, military units often travel close together--thus commanding less territory while making a more tempting target--in order to communicate. Members of close together units can see what other members are doing, use hand signals, officers can meet to confer, and so on. In the Advanced Warfighting Experiment, units were equipped with a tactical internet that dramatically improved communication and awareness of the position of nearby forces. Tacticians realized this meant units did not have to stay close together. Once widely spread, but still acting with knowledge of each other's moves, war-game forces became much more effective. Smaller units commanded more real estate.
Seeing the results of this war game, the Pentagon made a commitment to realizing data-linked tactics. The first fruits were displayed during the Afghan campaign, during which Army and Marine soldiers on the ground communicated in det
Gregg Easterbrook has a fascinating piece about how information technology has made our forces incredibly more effective.
In 1997, the Army conducted an "Advanced Warfighting Experiment" at its full-scale war-games facility at Fort Irwin, California. The experiment assumed that cheap new data links could allow everybody, right down to the individual soldier, to know almost everything going on in a battle. The war game showed that having everybody know everything made units far more effective, reacting quickly to problems or acting quickly to exploit enemy weaknesses.
For instance, military units often travel close together--thus commanding less territory while making a more tempting target--in order to communicate. Members of close together units can see what other members are doing, use hand signals, officers can meet to confer, and so on. In the Advanced Warfighting Experiment, units were equipped with a tactical internet that dramatically improved communication and awareness of the position of nearby forces. Tacticians realized this meant units did not have to stay close together. Once widely spread, but still acting with knowledge of each other's moves, war-game forces became much more effective. Smaller units commanded more real estate.
Seeing the results of this war game, the Pentagon made a commitment to realizing data-linked tactics. The first fruits were displayed during the Afghan campaign, during which Army and Marine soldiers on the ground communicated in det
Friday, March 21, 2003
Little-known pilot shaped U.S. strategy in Iraq Little-known pilot shaped U.S. strategy in Iraq
Friday, March 21, 2003
By Jack Kelly, Post-Gazette National Security Writer
The man who is perhaps most responsible for the U.S. military strategy in Iraq never wore a general's stars, and, during his lifetime, was despised by most who did.
Robert Coram wrote the book on Boyd.
Accolades from the brass, like medals awarded fallen soldiers, have arrived posthumously for John Boyd.
"John Boyd is one of the principal military geniuses of the 20th century, and hardly anyone knows his name,"...
The ruse the United States may have pulled in launching the war against Iraq with a cruise missile attack on Saddam Hussein and his high command could have come straight from Boyd's keep-'em-guessing playbook, Dugan said. According to Sky News sources, the CIA planted a false rumor with the British television network that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz had defected, hoping Aziz would go on Iraqi television to deny it. He did. The CIA tracked him back to a bunker, and the Navy and the Air Force destroyed it with cruise missiles and bombs.
"The ability to find out where this bunker was and the ability to react in minutes certainly was consistent with John Boyd's thinking," Dugan said. ...
Boyd attributed his success to thinking faster than his opponents did. Before anybody can do anything, he has to see what's going on, figure out what it means, decide what to do about it, and then do what he decided to do, Boyd noted. He coined the acronym "OODA loop" to describe the process. It stands for: Observation. Orientation. Decision. Action. If you can go through the OODA loop faster than your enemy, you'll live and he'll die.
From the Civil War through Vietnam, U.S. military strategy has been based on what strategists call the "firepower-attrition" model. Basically, you get more and bigger guns than your enemy, then blast away until you win. It works if you can get more and bigger guns, but the results are usually bloody.
Boyd didn't discount firepower. But he said deception and speed were more important. Confuse your enemy about your intentions and then press him so hard that he doesn't have time to think. If you get far enough inside your enemy's OODA loop, he'll get confused and demoralized. And if he gets demoralized enough, he may surrender without fighting....
After Boyd left active duty, he developed what came to be famously known within military circles as "The Brief," a six-hour slide show of his ideas. Few of the ideas were truly original.
His concept that the primary target should be the enemy's mind he borrowed from Sun Tzu, a Chinese sage who lived about 2,500 years ago.
His notion that initiative in combat should flow from the bottom up he took from German army experiments in World War I.
His insistence on close pursuit of the enemy to keep him off balance he took from Soviet military doctrine circa 1930.
But Boyd was a great simplifier and synthesizer....
Cheney was secretary of defense during the first Gulf war, and he has credited Boyd's influence as a major reason he changed the battle plan for the liberation of Kuwait from a frontal assault, which could have led to many American casualties, to the "left hook" that proved so successful.
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf had presented Cheney with a plan for a head-on offensive. "Not only did Cheney reject it, he used Boyd's colorful language to do so," wrote Boyd's biographer, Robert Coram....
Their first combat test came in Grenada in 1983. They passed.
"We've got two companies of Marines running all over the island, and thousands of Army troops doing nothing," an Army general was quoted as saying at the time. "What the hell is going on?"
Pentagon analyst Franklin "Chuck" Spinney, Boyd's closest associate for many years, said, "The Marines [later] used Boyd's tactics in the first Gulf war, and they worked like gangbusters."
As the Marines showed success after success with their maneuver-warfare doctrine, elements of Boyd's thinking began percolating into the Army.
Friday, March 21, 2003
By Jack Kelly, Post-Gazette National Security Writer
The man who is perhaps most responsible for the U.S. military strategy in Iraq never wore a general's stars, and, during his lifetime, was despised by most who did.
Robert Coram wrote the book on Boyd.
Accolades from the brass, like medals awarded fallen soldiers, have arrived posthumously for John Boyd.
"John Boyd is one of the principal military geniuses of the 20th century, and hardly anyone knows his name,"...
The ruse the United States may have pulled in launching the war against Iraq with a cruise missile attack on Saddam Hussein and his high command could have come straight from Boyd's keep-'em-guessing playbook, Dugan said. According to Sky News sources, the CIA planted a false rumor with the British television network that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz had defected, hoping Aziz would go on Iraqi television to deny it. He did. The CIA tracked him back to a bunker, and the Navy and the Air Force destroyed it with cruise missiles and bombs.
"The ability to find out where this bunker was and the ability to react in minutes certainly was consistent with John Boyd's thinking," Dugan said. ...
Boyd attributed his success to thinking faster than his opponents did. Before anybody can do anything, he has to see what's going on, figure out what it means, decide what to do about it, and then do what he decided to do, Boyd noted. He coined the acronym "OODA loop" to describe the process. It stands for: Observation. Orientation. Decision. Action. If you can go through the OODA loop faster than your enemy, you'll live and he'll die.
From the Civil War through Vietnam, U.S. military strategy has been based on what strategists call the "firepower-attrition" model. Basically, you get more and bigger guns than your enemy, then blast away until you win. It works if you can get more and bigger guns, but the results are usually bloody.
Boyd didn't discount firepower. But he said deception and speed were more important. Confuse your enemy about your intentions and then press him so hard that he doesn't have time to think. If you get far enough inside your enemy's OODA loop, he'll get confused and demoralized. And if he gets demoralized enough, he may surrender without fighting....
After Boyd left active duty, he developed what came to be famously known within military circles as "The Brief," a six-hour slide show of his ideas. Few of the ideas were truly original.
His concept that the primary target should be the enemy's mind he borrowed from Sun Tzu, a Chinese sage who lived about 2,500 years ago.
His notion that initiative in combat should flow from the bottom up he took from German army experiments in World War I.
His insistence on close pursuit of the enemy to keep him off balance he took from Soviet military doctrine circa 1930.
But Boyd was a great simplifier and synthesizer....
Cheney was secretary of defense during the first Gulf war, and he has credited Boyd's influence as a major reason he changed the battle plan for the liberation of Kuwait from a frontal assault, which could have led to many American casualties, to the "left hook" that proved so successful.
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf had presented Cheney with a plan for a head-on offensive. "Not only did Cheney reject it, he used Boyd's colorful language to do so," wrote Boyd's biographer, Robert Coram....
Their first combat test came in Grenada in 1983. They passed.
"We've got two companies of Marines running all over the island, and thousands of Army troops doing nothing," an Army general was quoted as saying at the time. "What the hell is going on?"
Pentagon analyst Franklin "Chuck" Spinney, Boyd's closest associate for many years, said, "The Marines [later] used Boyd's tactics in the first Gulf war, and they worked like gangbusters."
As the Marines showed success after success with their maneuver-warfare doctrine, elements of Boyd's thinking began percolating into the Army.
Thursday, March 20, 2003
I copied this from a blog IRAQ CONNECTED TO RICIN DISCOVERED IN PARIS
I know this is a deja vu for many, but a new discovery today in a train station was so pathetically reported by Reuters I need to provide the details behind the story as reported recently by terror expert Mansoor Ijaz.
Iraq continues to deny any involvement in training al Qaeda operatives, and Pakistani intelligence very effectively, and quickly, suppressed evidence of these clandestine meetings after September 11. But erasing the fingerprints cannot change the irrefutable fact that Ricin and other chemicals first found in al Qaeda's Afghan safe houses after years of covert collaborations with Iraq inside Pakistan and Afghanistan are now being repeatedly uncovered in al Qaeda affiliated terror cells throughout Europe.
Interestingly, the discoveries of Ricin in Europe come after Zarqawi visited at least one of the cells in early November last year. And not just any cell. He was allegedly transported by well-paid Albanian mercenaries [from Iraq] through southern Turkey via the Balkans into France � that's right, France � where he spent the month of Ramadan teaching Algerian radicals how to make the toxic poison for which there is no known antidote. French police interrogations have revealed that the same Algerians arrested in Paris traveled to Barcelona, where later another al Qaeda cell was rooted out.
Traces of Ricin apparently found in the Paris apartment of the Algerian cell demonstrate with great clarityhow Zarqawi's presence in Europe enabled the export and distribution of formulas and ingredients through al-Qaeda's nebulous global network to endpoints for deployment while giving Saddam plausible deniability of any involvement.
The first Paris ricin discovery was kept quiet by the French government during the UN negotiations. At that time, Ijaz tried to tell everyone of the find, and it's Iraqi source, but as usual everyone ignored yet another Iraqi terror connection. Hopefully the French learn to enjoy ricin with egg on their face.
UPDATE:
More background here on Zarqawi, and Iraq's connection to European ricin recipes.
Zarqawi, a Jordanian with expertise in chemical and biological weapons design, is reportedly the No. 3 Al Qaeda official. He has lived at an Al Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan where traces of the poison ricin were found last year.
Zarqawi has been tied to a northern Iraqi terror group backed by Hussein to oppose Kurdish rebels. At minimum, Hussein's regime provided Zarqawi with safe harbor and free passage into and out of Iraq. In the worst case, Hussein provided chemical and biological agents directly to a senior Al Qaeda leader.
British intelligence reportedly believes that Zarqawi sent recipes for making ricin from raw materials to Al Qaeda cells in London and perhaps other European cities. Algerian terrorists said to be connected to Al Qaeda and the northern Iraqi group, several of whom worked for food preparation companies, were arrested in London three weeks ago.
posted by Chris Regan at 5:09 PM
I know this is a deja vu for many, but a new discovery today in a train station was so pathetically reported by Reuters I need to provide the details behind the story as reported recently by terror expert Mansoor Ijaz.
Iraq continues to deny any involvement in training al Qaeda operatives, and Pakistani intelligence very effectively, and quickly, suppressed evidence of these clandestine meetings after September 11. But erasing the fingerprints cannot change the irrefutable fact that Ricin and other chemicals first found in al Qaeda's Afghan safe houses after years of covert collaborations with Iraq inside Pakistan and Afghanistan are now being repeatedly uncovered in al Qaeda affiliated terror cells throughout Europe.
Interestingly, the discoveries of Ricin in Europe come after Zarqawi visited at least one of the cells in early November last year. And not just any cell. He was allegedly transported by well-paid Albanian mercenaries [from Iraq] through southern Turkey via the Balkans into France � that's right, France � where he spent the month of Ramadan teaching Algerian radicals how to make the toxic poison for which there is no known antidote. French police interrogations have revealed that the same Algerians arrested in Paris traveled to Barcelona, where later another al Qaeda cell was rooted out.
Traces of Ricin apparently found in the Paris apartment of the Algerian cell demonstrate with great clarityhow Zarqawi's presence in Europe enabled the export and distribution of formulas and ingredients through al-Qaeda's nebulous global network to endpoints for deployment while giving Saddam plausible deniability of any involvement.
The first Paris ricin discovery was kept quiet by the French government during the UN negotiations. At that time, Ijaz tried to tell everyone of the find, and it's Iraqi source, but as usual everyone ignored yet another Iraqi terror connection. Hopefully the French learn to enjoy ricin with egg on their face.
UPDATE:
More background here on Zarqawi, and Iraq's connection to European ricin recipes.
Zarqawi, a Jordanian with expertise in chemical and biological weapons design, is reportedly the No. 3 Al Qaeda official. He has lived at an Al Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan where traces of the poison ricin were found last year.
Zarqawi has been tied to a northern Iraqi terror group backed by Hussein to oppose Kurdish rebels. At minimum, Hussein's regime provided Zarqawi with safe harbor and free passage into and out of Iraq. In the worst case, Hussein provided chemical and biological agents directly to a senior Al Qaeda leader.
British intelligence reportedly believes that Zarqawi sent recipes for making ricin from raw materials to Al Qaeda cells in London and perhaps other European cities. Algerian terrorists said to be connected to Al Qaeda and the northern Iraqi group, several of whom worked for food preparation companies, were arrested in London three weeks ago.
posted by Chris Regan at 5:09 PM
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
heraldtribune.com: Southwest Florida's Information Leader
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U.S. Troops Raid Afghanistan for al-Qaida
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U.S. Army soldiers sit in a military truck as it prepares to leave the Coalition Joint Task Force army base in Bagram, Afghanistan, Tuesday, March 18, 2003. About 4,000 troops stationed at the base conduct various missions in an attempt to stabilize war-ravaged Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
The Associated Press
About 1,000 U.S. troops launched a raid on villages in southeastern Afghanistan Wednesday night, hunting for members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, military officials said.
Helicopters ferried troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to the remote, mountainous area as the hunt for Osama bin Laden and his terror network intensified.
U.S. military officials in Afghanistan only confirmed the operation was underway.
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U.S. Troops Raid Afghanistan for al-Qaida
Zoom
U.S. Army soldiers sit in a military truck as it prepares to leave the Coalition Joint Task Force army base in Bagram, Afghanistan, Tuesday, March 18, 2003. About 4,000 troops stationed at the base conduct various missions in an attempt to stabilize war-ravaged Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
The Associated Press
About 1,000 U.S. troops launched a raid on villages in southeastern Afghanistan Wednesday night, hunting for members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, military officials said.
Helicopters ferried troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to the remote, mountainous area as the hunt for Osama bin Laden and his terror network intensified.
U.S. military officials in Afghanistan only confirmed the operation was underway.
Sunday, March 16, 2003
At the US Naval Institute, a fascinating strategic analysis of The New Arab Way of War, by Captain Peter Layton of the Royal Australian Air Force. (Hat tip: Montaigne�s Cat.)
The new Arab approach to conflict is an adaptation of the revolutionary warfare of the second half of the 20th century. Assassins using this new way of war now swim among the populations of the world. With cheap, unrestricted global air travel provided by Western technology, they can deploy wherever they wish; there are no front lines or safe rear areas. The assassins make effective use of liberal immigration policies that have permitted large numbers of Middle Eastern migrants to settle in the West. Small numbers of fellow travelers and sympathizers are distributed throughout Western nations, able to be activated to provide local support, protection, and knowledge for deploying assassins. Their command-and-control system relies on commercial communications systems and business application cryptography. This makes their control system strong, redundant, secure, and global and the assassins hard to detect, track, and target. They do not rely on their own technology even for weapons, instead using in situ civilian, commercial equipment for attack.
The new Arab way of war is parasitic. Local supporters acquire weapons and explosives, provide safe houses, arrange transportation, and steal or hire vehicles. Assassins fly in, carry out attacks, and fly out quickly, avoiding arrest. Relying completely on local
The new Arab approach to conflict is an adaptation of the revolutionary warfare of the second half of the 20th century. Assassins using this new way of war now swim among the populations of the world. With cheap, unrestricted global air travel provided by Western technology, they can deploy wherever they wish; there are no front lines or safe rear areas. The assassins make effective use of liberal immigration policies that have permitted large numbers of Middle Eastern migrants to settle in the West. Small numbers of fellow travelers and sympathizers are distributed throughout Western nations, able to be activated to provide local support, protection, and knowledge for deploying assassins. Their command-and-control system relies on commercial communications systems and business application cryptography. This makes their control system strong, redundant, secure, and global and the assassins hard to detect, track, and target. They do not rely on their own technology even for weapons, instead using in situ civilian, commercial equipment for attack.
The new Arab way of war is parasitic. Local supporters acquire weapons and explosives, provide safe houses, arrange transportation, and steal or hire vehicles. Assassins fly in, carry out attacks, and fly out quickly, avoiding arrest. Relying completely on local
Italy May Have Been Misled by Fake Iraq Arms Papers, U.S. Says
SHOWDOWN WITH IRAQ
Italy May Have Been Misled by Fake Iraq Arms Papers, U.S. Says
By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Phony weapons documents cited by the United States and Britain as evidence against Saddam Hussein were initially obtained by Italian intelligence authorities, who may have been duped into paying for the forgeries, U.S. officials said Friday.
The documents, which purport to show Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Niger, were exposed as fraudulent by U.N. weapons inspectors last week. The matter has embarrassed U.S. and British officials.
U.S. officials said Friday that they still do not know who forged the documents, but the disclosure that they were first obtained by Italian authorities sheds light on how they came to the attention of American intelligence.
"I don't mean to suggest that Italy created the documents. I don't think they have any reason to," one U.S. official said. "It's conceivable that some con man sold it to them."
SHOWDOWN WITH IRAQ
Italy May Have Been Misled by Fake Iraq Arms Papers, U.S. Says
By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Phony weapons documents cited by the United States and Britain as evidence against Saddam Hussein were initially obtained by Italian intelligence authorities, who may have been duped into paying for the forgeries, U.S. officials said Friday.
The documents, which purport to show Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Niger, were exposed as fraudulent by U.N. weapons inspectors last week. The matter has embarrassed U.S. and British officials.
U.S. officials said Friday that they still do not know who forged the documents, but the disclosure that they were first obtained by Italian authorities sheds light on how they came to the attention of American intelligence.
"I don't mean to suggest that Italy created the documents. I don't think they have any reason to," one U.S. official said. "It's conceivable that some con man sold it to them."
Anger on Iraq Seen as New Qaeda Recruiting Tool
By DON VAN NATTA Jr. and DESMOND BUTLER
LONDON, March 15
Officials have relied on information from the interrogations of hundreds of suspected Islamic terrorists captured in Europe in the last two years. They have provided a more detailed portrait of the people who are most susceptible to these groups' recruitment techniques.
According to some, the profiles have changed somewhat in recent months.
"Many of these people are younger than before � between 20 and 30," Judge Brugui�re said. "They are mostly converts. The threat of war in Iraq could have a tangible effect."
Mr. Brugui�re also noted that French investigators had seen a puzzling increase in the number of women, often ethnic European converts, who were playing an important role within European networks, as wives of cell members. The women have auxiliary roles, but provide immigrant radicals with cover and ease their naturalization.
Investigators also say Al Qaeda and affiliated groups have successfully sought young educated Muslim men, often within European universities. Three of the Sept. 11 suicide pilots, investigators believe, were members of a larger cell based in Hamburg, Germany, made up of young men attending local technical colleges. Officials say that recruiters continue to operate in universities because they prefer to recruit intelligent, skilled operatives.
According to Mr. von Bauer, the student recruits are more likely to convert to extreme religious views after arriving in a new environment.
He said the recruits were "alienated because they don't speak thelanguage or understand the culture."
"Then they find community in Arab clubs or societies," Mr. von Bauer said. "This often brings them to the Friday Prayers."
Mr. von Bauer said feelings of alienation also contributed to some young Muslims' anger and feelings of disenfranchisement. "Imagine how it must feel for an educated Arab to come here," he said. "They see sex everywhere, on the television, on the newsstands, and it offends them. They immediately see this as the decadence of the Western world. They feel morally superior, and this fuels their outrage."
Despite an apparent increase in potential recruits, many analysts say that the American-led campaign in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001 had shut down Al Qaeda's primary training camps and dealt an enormous blow to the network's ability to recruit and train new members. But officials believe that terrorist groups have established new bases of operation, especially in the Caucasus. "I fear that Chechnya could become the new Afghanistan," Judge Brugui�re said. "The threat is moving to the Caucasus, because the jihad system needs a battleground."
By DON VAN NATTA Jr. and DESMOND BUTLER
LONDON, March 15
Officials have relied on information from the interrogations of hundreds of suspected Islamic terrorists captured in Europe in the last two years. They have provided a more detailed portrait of the people who are most susceptible to these groups' recruitment techniques.
According to some, the profiles have changed somewhat in recent months.
"Many of these people are younger than before � between 20 and 30," Judge Brugui�re said. "They are mostly converts. The threat of war in Iraq could have a tangible effect."
Mr. Brugui�re also noted that French investigators had seen a puzzling increase in the number of women, often ethnic European converts, who were playing an important role within European networks, as wives of cell members. The women have auxiliary roles, but provide immigrant radicals with cover and ease their naturalization.
Investigators also say Al Qaeda and affiliated groups have successfully sought young educated Muslim men, often within European universities. Three of the Sept. 11 suicide pilots, investigators believe, were members of a larger cell based in Hamburg, Germany, made up of young men attending local technical colleges. Officials say that recruiters continue to operate in universities because they prefer to recruit intelligent, skilled operatives.
According to Mr. von Bauer, the student recruits are more likely to convert to extreme religious views after arriving in a new environment.
He said the recruits were "alienated because they don't speak thelanguage or understand the culture."
"Then they find community in Arab clubs or societies," Mr. von Bauer said. "This often brings them to the Friday Prayers."
Mr. von Bauer said feelings of alienation also contributed to some young Muslims' anger and feelings of disenfranchisement. "Imagine how it must feel for an educated Arab to come here," he said. "They see sex everywhere, on the television, on the newsstands, and it offends them. They immediately see this as the decadence of the Western world. They feel morally superior, and this fuels their outrage."
Despite an apparent increase in potential recruits, many analysts say that the American-led campaign in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001 had shut down Al Qaeda's primary training camps and dealt an enormous blow to the network's ability to recruit and train new members. But officials believe that terrorist groups have established new bases of operation, especially in the Caucasus. "I fear that Chechnya could become the new Afghanistan," Judge Brugui�re said. "The threat is moving to the Caucasus, because the jihad system needs a battleground."
This is a great article which, especially on page 3, gives a fantastic rundown and description of the different units being deployed, U.S. Plan Sees G.I.'s Invading Iraq as More Arrive By MICHAEL R. GORDON with ERIC SCHMITT CAMP DOHA, Kuwait, March 15 � The American-led coalition that is preparing to topple Saddam Hussein's government is planning for a complex invasion of Iraq to begin even as allied troops are still arriving in the region, senior commanders say....
The Marines
More Marching Than Usual
The command center for the largest ground force in the attack is at Camp Commando. This is not an Army headquarters. It is the headquarters for Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, who commands the First Marine Expeditionary Force.
With about 50,000 marines in Kuwait, and some 15,000 more in the region, General Conway commands a formidable force. Aside from his marines in Kuwait, he commands about 25,000 British troops here. During the gulf war, the British Army fought under the command of the United States Army, but this time they are under Marine Corps command.
Taken together, marines and the British forces outnumber American army troops in the theater.
Allied commanders talk about their missions in only general terms. But it is clear that the Marine Corps is planning to advance to Baghdad, a thrust of more than 300 miles. In December 2001, thousands of marines were flown to Afghanistan by helicopter, 400 miles from their ships off the coast of Pakistan. The advance on Baghdad would be the longest Marine land attack since 1805, when Lt. Presley O'Bannon marched 600 miles across the desert in seven weeks from Alexandria, Egypt, to Derna, Tripoli, during the war with the Barbary pirates. But going to Baghdad would be an ambitious operation for a service that has traditionally focused on storming the beaches.
"It is a long way from the sea, no question about that," General Conway said.
General Conway's force includes marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., as well as Task Force Tarawa, a special force of 6,200-strong that was assembled from troops at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Marines also have the Third Air Wing, one of the largest in history. It includes more than 50 FA-18's, more than 50 AV-8B Harrier jets and more than 50 Cobra attack helicopters. The wing is capable of conducting more than 300 attack missions a day.
Much of the Marine equipment arrived on 11 huge military cargo ships that steamed to Kuwait from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and the Mediterranean and were unloaded in just 16 days.
The Marines are also able to supplement their firepower by drawing on Army units equipped with the multiple-launch rocket system, a devastating system that disperse thousands of bomblets to destroy vehicles and kill enemy troops.
The British will also buttress the Marine attack.
The British force under the Marine command includes the First Armored Division, a hybrid unit that includes Britain's Seventh Armored Brigade, the 16th Air Assault Brigade and Third Commando unit, or Royal Marines. The British had planned to invade from Turkey, but changed their plans and sent their units to Kuwait after sensing that the Turks were hesitant to allow a northern front. The 116 Challenger-2 tanks the British are still bringing in will roughly double the Marines' armor.
Some of the British armor is still getting ready, Maj. Gen. Robin Brims, the head of the British land force, said all of the armor should be ready sometime next week. Still, top Marine commanders say the allied force has enough force on hand for its mission and is ready to go.
The Army
Adding the Pieces To a Chess Game
At Camp Virginia in Kuwait, an aide to General Wallace compared the rolling start to beginning a chess game without all the pieces on the table, then adding a knight or two after a few moves. In this case, the knights are forces from the 101st Airborne Division, which are just arriving and getting ready for combat.
Some of General Wallace's forces are poised to strike. The Third Infantry Division has been training in Kuwait for months and is ready to attack. The division is the heir to the 24th Mechanized Division, which swept into the Euphrates River Valley during the 1991 war. It has about 250 tanks and a formidable array of other weapons.
To propel the division to Baghdad and beyond, the Army has run fuel pipelines from Kuwaiti refineries to a helicopter airfield in the desert. The pipelines also link to a fuel depot near the crossing point into Iraq.
The Army forces plan to bring water purification equipment with them so that they can use water from the Euphrates and other rivers, lakes and canals in Iraq.
General Wallace also has the 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment, which has a fleet of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
But his most powerful helicopter division is still arriving: the 101st Airborne, which also played a key role in the 1991 gulf war, is still getting ready. Two of the five ships carrying the 101st's equipment have unloaded their cargo, including all 72 of the division's Apaches, despite delays caused by high winds in Kuwait last week. These and other helicopters have been reassembled and flown to northern Kuwait. Although most of the Apaches are ready, trucks and other equipment needed to field complete combat brigade teams are still arriving.
A brigade of the 82nd Airborne is stationed at Camp Champion in Kuwait. It is not commanded by V Corps, however. It is controlled by Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, the land war commander and is presumed to have a special mission suitable for its speed, mobility and other light infantry skills.
You get the idea-read the article, it's good!
The Marines
More Marching Than Usual
The command center for the largest ground force in the attack is at Camp Commando. This is not an Army headquarters. It is the headquarters for Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, who commands the First Marine Expeditionary Force.
With about 50,000 marines in Kuwait, and some 15,000 more in the region, General Conway commands a formidable force. Aside from his marines in Kuwait, he commands about 25,000 British troops here. During the gulf war, the British Army fought under the command of the United States Army, but this time they are under Marine Corps command.
Taken together, marines and the British forces outnumber American army troops in the theater.
Allied commanders talk about their missions in only general terms. But it is clear that the Marine Corps is planning to advance to Baghdad, a thrust of more than 300 miles. In December 2001, thousands of marines were flown to Afghanistan by helicopter, 400 miles from their ships off the coast of Pakistan. The advance on Baghdad would be the longest Marine land attack since 1805, when Lt. Presley O'Bannon marched 600 miles across the desert in seven weeks from Alexandria, Egypt, to Derna, Tripoli, during the war with the Barbary pirates. But going to Baghdad would be an ambitious operation for a service that has traditionally focused on storming the beaches.
"It is a long way from the sea, no question about that," General Conway said.
General Conway's force includes marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., as well as Task Force Tarawa, a special force of 6,200-strong that was assembled from troops at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Marines also have the Third Air Wing, one of the largest in history. It includes more than 50 FA-18's, more than 50 AV-8B Harrier jets and more than 50 Cobra attack helicopters. The wing is capable of conducting more than 300 attack missions a day.
Much of the Marine equipment arrived on 11 huge military cargo ships that steamed to Kuwait from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and the Mediterranean and were unloaded in just 16 days.
The Marines are also able to supplement their firepower by drawing on Army units equipped with the multiple-launch rocket system, a devastating system that disperse thousands of bomblets to destroy vehicles and kill enemy troops.
The British will also buttress the Marine attack.
The British force under the Marine command includes the First Armored Division, a hybrid unit that includes Britain's Seventh Armored Brigade, the 16th Air Assault Brigade and Third Commando unit, or Royal Marines. The British had planned to invade from Turkey, but changed their plans and sent their units to Kuwait after sensing that the Turks were hesitant to allow a northern front. The 116 Challenger-2 tanks the British are still bringing in will roughly double the Marines' armor.
Some of the British armor is still getting ready, Maj. Gen. Robin Brims, the head of the British land force, said all of the armor should be ready sometime next week. Still, top Marine commanders say the allied force has enough force on hand for its mission and is ready to go.
The Army
Adding the Pieces To a Chess Game
At Camp Virginia in Kuwait, an aide to General Wallace compared the rolling start to beginning a chess game without all the pieces on the table, then adding a knight or two after a few moves. In this case, the knights are forces from the 101st Airborne Division, which are just arriving and getting ready for combat.
Some of General Wallace's forces are poised to strike. The Third Infantry Division has been training in Kuwait for months and is ready to attack. The division is the heir to the 24th Mechanized Division, which swept into the Euphrates River Valley during the 1991 war. It has about 250 tanks and a formidable array of other weapons.
To propel the division to Baghdad and beyond, the Army has run fuel pipelines from Kuwaiti refineries to a helicopter airfield in the desert. The pipelines also link to a fuel depot near the crossing point into Iraq.
The Army forces plan to bring water purification equipment with them so that they can use water from the Euphrates and other rivers, lakes and canals in Iraq.
General Wallace also has the 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment, which has a fleet of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
But his most powerful helicopter division is still arriving: the 101st Airborne, which also played a key role in the 1991 gulf war, is still getting ready. Two of the five ships carrying the 101st's equipment have unloaded their cargo, including all 72 of the division's Apaches, despite delays caused by high winds in Kuwait last week. These and other helicopters have been reassembled and flown to northern Kuwait. Although most of the Apaches are ready, trucks and other equipment needed to field complete combat brigade teams are still arriving.
A brigade of the 82nd Airborne is stationed at Camp Champion in Kuwait. It is not commanded by V Corps, however. It is controlled by Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, the land war commander and is presumed to have a special mission suitable for its speed, mobility and other light infantry skills.
You get the idea-read the article, it's good!
Saturday, March 15, 2003
Boston Globe Online US halts pursuit of Turkish bases, warns on incursion NKARA, Turkey - The Bush administration told Turkish leaders yesterday that it had given up lobbying to use their country as a base to assault Iraq, ending months of intense effort to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers to a northern front against President Saddam Hussein.
At the same time, the administration warned Turkey not to go ahead with plans to send its own army into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, saying that such an incursion could lead to ''a war within a war'' and further damage Turkey's relations with its strongest ally.
At the same time, the administration warned Turkey not to go ahead with plans to send its own army into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, saying that such an incursion could lead to ''a war within a war'' and further damage Turkey's relations with its strongest ally.
Very informative article. Mentions that radioactive materials used the the US and Russia in things like navagation beacons could be used for dirty bombs, and there are alot of things like that deployed in remote areas. All of these must now be accounted for Guardian Unlimited - U.S., Russian Experts Test 'Dirty Bombs'
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - In New Mexico's desert and Russia's Ural Mountains, U.S. and Russian experts are experimenting with simulated ``dirty bombs'' to see how such radiation weapons and potential terrorist tools might work, officials of the two countries say.
It's a sensitive area in which some information is withheld to keep clues to bomb-building out of terrorists' hands. But American and Russian specialists attending a global conference on dirty bombs disclosed some aspects of recent testing to a reporter because, as a ranking U.S. official said, the public should know everything is being done to deal with the threat.
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - In New Mexico's desert and Russia's Ural Mountains, U.S. and Russian experts are experimenting with simulated ``dirty bombs'' to see how such radiation weapons and potential terrorist tools might work, officials of the two countries say.
It's a sensitive area in which some information is withheld to keep clues to bomb-building out of terrorists' hands. But American and Russian specialists attending a global conference on dirty bombs disclosed some aspects of recent testing to a reporter because, as a ranking U.S. official said, the public should know everything is being done to deal with the threat.
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's the FBI! CNN.com - 'Nightstalkers' track terror suspects
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI has a fleet of aircraft, some equipped with night surveillance and eavesdropping equipment, flying America's skies to track and collect intelligence from suspected terrorists.
The FBI will not provide exact figures on the planes and helicopters, but more than 80 are in the skies. There are several planes, known as "Nightstalkers," equipped with infrared devices that allow agents to track people and vehicles in the dark.
Other aircraft are outfitted with electronic surveillance equipment so agents can pursue listening devices placed in cars, in buildings and even along streets, or listen to cell phone calls. Still others fly photography missions, although officials would not describe precise capabilities.
The FBI, which has made counterterror its top priority since Sept. 11, 2001, has sharply increased its use of aircraft.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI has a fleet of aircraft, some equipped with night surveillance and eavesdropping equipment, flying America's skies to track and collect intelligence from suspected terrorists.
The FBI will not provide exact figures on the planes and helicopters, but more than 80 are in the skies. There are several planes, known as "Nightstalkers," equipped with infrared devices that allow agents to track people and vehicles in the dark.
Other aircraft are outfitted with electronic surveillance equipment so agents can pursue listening devices placed in cars, in buildings and even along streets, or listen to cell phone calls. Still others fly photography missions, although officials would not describe precise capabilities.
The FBI, which has made counterterror its top priority since Sept. 11, 2001, has sharply increased its use of aircraft.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
First Strike?
U.S. Military Concerned Saddam Hussein May Launch First Attack
By John McWethy
March 13 � U.S. officials fear that once President Bush signals the U.S. is headed to war, Saddam Hussein will strike pre-emptively, administration sources told ABCNEWS.
But if the United States takes action to stop an Iraqi first strike, especially if they try to seize and protect the oil fields, U.S. officials admit they may end up starting the war itself.
This new level of concern about Iraq is caused by an accumulation of intelligence including troubling new details that focus on three areas:
Specific new evidence indicates that Iraqi activity in the Western desert shows the strong likelihood Scud missiles are hidden there. These missiles could easily reach Israel carrying chemical or biological warheads which could draw Israel into any war.
Detailed new intelligence from the southern Iraqi oil fields shows that many of the 700 wells have now been wired with explosives. These explosives appear to be connected to a central command post, so Saddam could easily set the wells ablaze.
Near the border with Kuwait, where 135,000 U.S. troops are now stationed, recent surveillance indicates Iraqi artillery batteries have been moved dangerously close. The artillery is capable of firing shells filled with poison gas.
The United States is now considering moving against all three of these targets before any war begins in an effort to prevent Saddam from acting first, sources told ABCNEWS.
U.S. Military Concerned Saddam Hussein May Launch First Attack
By John McWethy
March 13 � U.S. officials fear that once President Bush signals the U.S. is headed to war, Saddam Hussein will strike pre-emptively, administration sources told ABCNEWS.
But if the United States takes action to stop an Iraqi first strike, especially if they try to seize and protect the oil fields, U.S. officials admit they may end up starting the war itself.
This new level of concern about Iraq is caused by an accumulation of intelligence including troubling new details that focus on three areas:
Specific new evidence indicates that Iraqi activity in the Western desert shows the strong likelihood Scud missiles are hidden there. These missiles could easily reach Israel carrying chemical or biological warheads which could draw Israel into any war.
Detailed new intelligence from the southern Iraqi oil fields shows that many of the 700 wells have now been wired with explosives. These explosives appear to be connected to a central command post, so Saddam could easily set the wells ablaze.
Near the border with Kuwait, where 135,000 U.S. troops are now stationed, recent surveillance indicates Iraqi artillery batteries have been moved dangerously close. The artillery is capable of firing shells filled with poison gas.
The United States is now considering moving against all three of these targets before any war begins in an effort to prevent Saddam from acting first, sources told ABCNEWS.
Now this is scary! Love your song, but the computer doesn't. Sorry, no contract! Ananova - Juke box jury computer program 'predicts hit songs' Each song is run through a set of signal filters that identify and measure more than a dozen musical patterns, including melody, harmonic variation, beat, tempo, rhythm, pitch, chord progression and fullness of sound.
The program's designers found that in the past five years of Billboard magazine's Top 30 chart listings, hits were concentrated into a number of small clusters sharing similar traits.
The program, called Hit Song Science, correctly forecast the success of jazz songstress Norah Jones months before she topped the US charts and won eight Grammy awards.
The program's designers found that in the past five years of Billboard magazine's Top 30 chart listings, hits were concentrated into a number of small clusters sharing similar traits.
The program, called Hit Song Science, correctly forecast the success of jazz songstress Norah Jones months before she topped the US charts and won eight Grammy awards.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
So many arguments can be made in favor of and against military action against Iraq, but I think this settles the question!Flash movie
Reason"All things are poison and nothing is without poison. It is the dose that makes a thing a poison," declared the wandering Renaissance physician-surgeon Paracelsus. Now after reviewing more than 5,000 toxicological studies, University of Massachusetts toxicologist Edward Calabrese has a possible amendment to Paracelsus' dictum: Low doses of poisons may be good for you.
Calabrese speculates that evolution has given our bodies and cells the ability to repair themselves. Low exposures to toxins stimulate these biological repair mechanisms and lead them to fix the damage caused by the toxin�and even to repair some of the normal background damage as well. In other words, exposure to low levels of toxins provides "a very modest overcompensation to a little damage."
Calabrese speculates that evolution has given our bodies and cells the ability to repair themselves. Low exposures to toxins stimulate these biological repair mechanisms and lead them to fix the damage caused by the toxin�and even to repair some of the normal background damage as well. In other words, exposure to low levels of toxins provides "a very modest overcompensation to a little damage."
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Air Force tested a new 21,000-pound bomb Tuesday, dropping the device from a military transport plane over a test site at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida just after 2 p.m., U.S. officials told CNN.
The Pentagon hopes the test will pave the way for use of the bomb -- should there be a war in Iraq -- against critical targets on the surface and underground.
MOAB, privately known in military circles as "the mother of all bombs," has been under development since late last year. The bomb carries 18,000 pounds of tritonal explosives, which have an indefinite shelf life. It replaces the Vietnam-era "Daisy Cutter," a 15,000-pound bomb with 12,600 pounds of the less-powerful GSX explosives.
The Air Force may release video of the final test, in hopes of placing additional pressure on the Iraqi military.
The Pentagon hopes the test will pave the way for use of the bomb -- should there be a war in Iraq -- against critical targets on the surface and underground.
MOAB, privately known in military circles as "the mother of all bombs," has been under development since late last year. The bomb carries 18,000 pounds of tritonal explosives, which have an indefinite shelf life. It replaces the Vietnam-era "Daisy Cutter," a 15,000-pound bomb with 12,600 pounds of the less-powerful GSX explosives.
The Air Force may release video of the final test, in hopes of placing additional pressure on the Iraqi military.
Monday, March 10, 2003
101st Airborne�s helicopters arrive
The wind died, the skies faired and just before dawn on Saturday morning the weather-delayed USNS Dahl berthed with the last critical U.S. Army weapons needed to attack Iraq. By noon the first of 72 helicopters belonging to the 101st Airborne Division had been hoisted from the hold and moved to a dockside parking lot. Army mechanics in white hard hats swarmed over the initial Apache attack helicopter, stripping away shrink-wrap protective plastic and reattaching rotor blades that were removed two weeks ago before the voyage from Jacksonville, Florida. The helicopters will fly from the port to camps in the Kuwaiti outback over the next two days, to be joined by 96 others from the USNS Bob Hope, which is expected this morning.
With the majority of its helicopters ready to launch deep strikes hundreds of miles into Iraqi territory, the 101st will be ready for war, according to senior officers.
The division is the final major component of a U.S. ground attack force that includes the 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, complemented by Special Forces, an enormous air armada, British troops and other units.
The 101st is the Army's only "air assault" division, with a capacity to move a brigade of roughly 4,500 combat soldiers 100 miles by helicopter in six hours - even as the Apaches strike deeper yet. "If we do what we think we're going to do, there will never have been a military campaign t
The wind died, the skies faired and just before dawn on Saturday morning the weather-delayed USNS Dahl berthed with the last critical U.S. Army weapons needed to attack Iraq. By noon the first of 72 helicopters belonging to the 101st Airborne Division had been hoisted from the hold and moved to a dockside parking lot. Army mechanics in white hard hats swarmed over the initial Apache attack helicopter, stripping away shrink-wrap protective plastic and reattaching rotor blades that were removed two weeks ago before the voyage from Jacksonville, Florida. The helicopters will fly from the port to camps in the Kuwaiti outback over the next two days, to be joined by 96 others from the USNS Bob Hope, which is expected this morning.
With the majority of its helicopters ready to launch deep strikes hundreds of miles into Iraqi territory, the 101st will be ready for war, according to senior officers.
The division is the final major component of a U.S. ground attack force that includes the 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, complemented by Special Forces, an enormous air armada, British troops and other units.
The 101st is the Army's only "air assault" division, with a capacity to move a brigade of roughly 4,500 combat soldiers 100 miles by helicopter in six hours - even as the Apaches strike deeper yet. "If we do what we think we're going to do, there will never have been a military campaign t
Ananova - Saddam Hussein statues destroyed
Three statues of Saddam Hussein have been destroyed in Kirkuk, the oil-rich city in the north of the country.
The destruction of the statues is considered by local residents as the beginning of an internal uprising against Hussein.
In 1991, a similar uprising was initiated in southern Iraq when statues of the Iraqi president, spread throughout the country, were secretly destroyed
Three statues of Saddam Hussein have been destroyed in Kirkuk, the oil-rich city in the north of the country.
The destruction of the statues is considered by local residents as the beginning of an internal uprising against Hussein.
In 1991, a similar uprising was initiated in southern Iraq when statues of the Iraqi president, spread throughout the country, were secretly destroyed
More about the Iraqi drone. A smoking gun? Times Online The British and US ambassadors plan to demand that Hans Blix reveals more details of a huge undeclared Iraqi unmanned aircraft, the discovery of which he failed to mention in his oral report to Security Council foreign ministers on Friday. Its existence was only disclosed in a declassified 173-page document circulated by the inspectors at the end of the meeting � an apparent attempt by Dr Blix to hide the revelation to avoid triggering a war.
The discovery of the drone, which has a wingspan of 7.45 metres, will make it much easier for waverers on the Security Council to accept US and British arguments that Iraq has failed to meet UN demands that it disarm.
�It�s incredible,� a senior diplomat from a swing voter on the council said. �This report is going to have a clearly defined impact on the people who are wavering. It�s a biggie.�
An explicit report by Dr Blix of the discovery of an Iraqi violation would help the six swing voters � Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan � to explain a change of position to their publics.
Unlike the outlawed Al-Samoud 2 missile, which was declared as a purportedly legal weapon, the drone was not declared. It would be the first undeclared weapons programme found by the UN and is considered by British and US officials to be a �smoking gun�.
The discovery of the drone, which has a wingspan of 7.45 metres, will make it much easier for waverers on the Security Council to accept US and British arguments that Iraq has failed to meet UN demands that it disarm.
�It�s incredible,� a senior diplomat from a swing voter on the council said. �This report is going to have a clearly defined impact on the people who are wavering. It�s a biggie.�
An explicit report by Dr Blix of the discovery of an Iraqi violation would help the six swing voters � Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan � to explain a change of position to their publics.
Unlike the outlawed Al-Samoud 2 missile, which was declared as a purportedly legal weapon, the drone was not declared. It would be the first undeclared weapons programme found by the UN and is considered by British and US officials to be a �smoking gun�.
Bush puts the thumbscrews to them! Last week The Economist quoted an American diplomat who warned that if Mexico didn't vote for a U.S. resolution it could "stir up feelings" against Mexicans in the United States. He compared the situation to that of Japanese-Americans who were interned after 1941, and wondered whether Mexico "wants to stir the fires of jingoism during a war."
Incredible stuff, but easy to dismiss as long as the diplomat was unidentified. Then came President Bush's Monday interview with Copley News Service. He alluded to the possibility of reprisals if Mexico didn't vote America's way, saying, "I don't expect there to be significant retribution from the government" � emphasizing the word "government." He then went on to suggest that there might, however, be a reaction from other quarters, citing "an interesting phenomena taking place here in America about the French . . . a backlash against the French, not stirred up by anybody except the people."
And Mr. Bush then said that if Mexico or other countries oppose the United States, "there will be a certain sense of discipline."
These remarks went virtually unreported by the ever-protective U.S. media, but they created a political firestorm in Mexico. The White House has been frantically backpedaling, claiming that when Mr. Bush talked of "discipline" he wasn't making a threat. But in the context of the rest of the interview, it's clear that he was
Incredible stuff, but easy to dismiss as long as the diplomat was unidentified. Then came President Bush's Monday interview with Copley News Service. He alluded to the possibility of reprisals if Mexico didn't vote America's way, saying, "I don't expect there to be significant retribution from the government" � emphasizing the word "government." He then went on to suggest that there might, however, be a reaction from other quarters, citing "an interesting phenomena taking place here in America about the French . . . a backlash against the French, not stirred up by anybody except the people."
And Mr. Bush then said that if Mexico or other countries oppose the United States, "there will be a certain sense of discipline."
These remarks went virtually unreported by the ever-protective U.S. media, but they created a political firestorm in Mexico. The White House has been frantically backpedaling, claiming that when Mr. Bush talked of "discipline" he wasn't making a threat. But in the context of the rest of the interview, it's clear that he was
Great Article! oops! Al-Qaida newly suspected in 8 cities The indictment traces a trail of money transfers to and from the United Arab Emirates, where al-Hawsawi allegedly coordinated payments for the Sept. 11 attacks. It charges that days before Sept. 11, some of the 19 hijackers who died on the four jetliners used in the operation wired tens of thousands of dollars of unused money back to al-Hawsawi.
For the first time, however, documents seized among thousands of pieces of evidence in the joint U.S.-Pakistani raid this month � including computers, hard drives and cellular telephones � revealed that al-Qaida money transfers into the United States had continued after September 2001, senior officials said on condition of anonymity.
U.S. and Pakistani officials said al-Hawsawi was not cooperating with his interrogators in an undisclosed country, but they called the documents a big break. The documents could provide �a direct link to potential terrorists,� especially to sleeper cells in the United States, one of the officials said....
�If the money trail is followed, I believe that the entire al-Qaida network around the world can be located,� Gohel said in an interview.
U.S. officials said the search for Osama bin Laden had netted only low-level al-Qaida operatives so far in Pakistan, but they told NBC News that the breakthrough arrests of Mohammed and al-Hawsawi were reason for new optimism.
For the first time, however, documents seized among thousands of pieces of evidence in the joint U.S.-Pakistani raid this month � including computers, hard drives and cellular telephones � revealed that al-Qaida money transfers into the United States had continued after September 2001, senior officials said on condition of anonymity.
U.S. and Pakistani officials said al-Hawsawi was not cooperating with his interrogators in an undisclosed country, but they called the documents a big break. The documents could provide �a direct link to potential terrorists,� especially to sleeper cells in the United States, one of the officials said....
�If the money trail is followed, I believe that the entire al-Qaida network around the world can be located,� Gohel said in an interview.
U.S. officials said the search for Osama bin Laden had netted only low-level al-Qaida operatives so far in Pakistan, but they told NBC News that the breakthrough arrests of Mohammed and al-Hawsawi were reason for new optimism.
I guess I need to start writing more creative things than "This is a good Article" before these links, eh? Top This - The French-German Iraq con game. By William�Saletan But coupling the current inspection regime with preparations for war isn't a contradiction. It's a tautology. Our war preparations are the reason Saddam is cooperating with the inspectors.
In short, the alternative to which de Villepin unfavorably compares our prospective use of force is our current use of force. If that approach is working so well, the way to extend it is to send even more troops and armor to the Persian Gulf. Yet de Villepin neglects to include that element in the French proposal for further inspections. Indeed, he excludes it. "We would not accept a resolution that would lead to war," he declared after the council debate.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer stressed a different point in his remarks to the council. "What is at stake now is the unity of the international community," said Fischer. Unilateral war should be avoided, he argued, because a multilateral solution would encourage further collective security arrangements and "strengthen the relevance of the United Nations."
Should the United States yield to the United Nations? The question makes no sense. The United States practically invented the United Nations. Franklin D. Roosevelt coined its name. The U.N. charter was drafted and debated here. We host the organization's headquarters and fund the lion's share of its budget. Other members are important, but the United Nations needs us a lot more than we need it. Fischer is asking us not to put our national interests ahead of an organization we built to advance our national interests.
In short, the alternative to which de Villepin unfavorably compares our prospective use of force is our current use of force. If that approach is working so well, the way to extend it is to send even more troops and armor to the Persian Gulf. Yet de Villepin neglects to include that element in the French proposal for further inspections. Indeed, he excludes it. "We would not accept a resolution that would lead to war," he declared after the council debate.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer stressed a different point in his remarks to the council. "What is at stake now is the unity of the international community," said Fischer. Unilateral war should be avoided, he argued, because a multilateral solution would encourage further collective security arrangements and "strengthen the relevance of the United Nations."
Should the United States yield to the United Nations? The question makes no sense. The United States practically invented the United Nations. Franklin D. Roosevelt coined its name. The U.N. charter was drafted and debated here. We host the organization's headquarters and fund the lion's share of its budget. Other members are important, but the United Nations needs us a lot more than we need it. Fischer is asking us not to put our national interests ahead of an organization we built to advance our national interests.
Who says we don't have any allies! Reuters AlertNet - Albania says troops will join war on Iraq
TIRANA, March 9 (Reuters) - Albania said on Sunday it would send troops to join any U.S.-led attack on Iraq, a largely symbolic gesture that underlines Tirana's gratitude to Washington for intervening in the 1999 Kosovo crisis.
TIRANA, March 9 (Reuters) - Albania said on Sunday it would send troops to join any U.S.-led attack on Iraq, a largely symbolic gesture that underlines Tirana's gratitude to Washington for intervening in the 1999 Kosovo crisis.
washingtonpost.com
Reform With an Islamic Slant
Saudi Pro-Democracy Movement Poses Dilemma for U.S.
By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, March 9, 2003; Page A23
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- When Saudi democracy activists circulated a petition recently calling for an elected national assembly, an independent judiciary and a crackdown on corruption, they received support from some unexpected quarters.
Most of the 104 intellectuals, former government officials and university professors who signed the document -- a rare challenge to the royal family -- were Islamic traditionalists and conservatives. Although some self-described liberals also put their names on the petition, it was largely shunned by the pro-Western Saudis cultivated by the U.S. Embassy here as the most progressive elements in the kingdom.
The fledgling reform movement in Saudi Arabia, a pivotal U.S. ally that boasts a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves, illustrates a dilemma confronting the Bush administration as it advocates the spread of American-style political freedoms in the Middle East. Political analysts here say that free elections in Saudi Arabia would likely be won by Islamic fundamentalists hostile to the United States, creating the risk of an upsurge of anti-Americanism along the lines of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
"I don't think the U.S. will like the outcome of democracy here," said Abdul Hai, one of several political science professors at Riyadh's King Saud University who signed the reform petition. "But let the Islamists and the traditionalists come to power. If they fail, others will take their place."
Reform With an Islamic Slant
Saudi Pro-Democracy Movement Poses Dilemma for U.S.
By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, March 9, 2003; Page A23
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- When Saudi democracy activists circulated a petition recently calling for an elected national assembly, an independent judiciary and a crackdown on corruption, they received support from some unexpected quarters.
Most of the 104 intellectuals, former government officials and university professors who signed the document -- a rare challenge to the royal family -- were Islamic traditionalists and conservatives. Although some self-described liberals also put their names on the petition, it was largely shunned by the pro-Western Saudis cultivated by the U.S. Embassy here as the most progressive elements in the kingdom.
The fledgling reform movement in Saudi Arabia, a pivotal U.S. ally that boasts a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves, illustrates a dilemma confronting the Bush administration as it advocates the spread of American-style political freedoms in the Middle East. Political analysts here say that free elections in Saudi Arabia would likely be won by Islamic fundamentalists hostile to the United States, creating the risk of an upsurge of anti-Americanism along the lines of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
"I don't think the U.S. will like the outcome of democracy here," said Abdul Hai, one of several political science professors at Riyadh's King Saud University who signed the reform petition. "But let the Islamists and the traditionalists come to power. If they fail, others will take their place."
Very depressing article. I'm German, and now I'm starting to hate Germany! Young Germans Ask: Thanks for What? And in an outburst directed at an American visitor, another student, Susie, also 18, opened the floodgates of resentment. "The idea that we have to be grateful to the Americans � why?" she asked. "We have financed the gulf war. Why should we be grateful? Thirty thousand refugees have been bombed out in Dresden, so we have to be grateful? Why?"
Here's an interesting take on Bush's foreign policy. The author argues that once we clean up current messes, we will be in a position to withdraw into a more isolationist foreign policy. I hope this is true, and I think Bob will agree with me! Samizdata.net - Ending the pin down Prior to 9/11, Bush was considered an isolationist. There were worries about America disengaging from the rest of the world. Folks, that is exactly where the endgame of the current global strategy is leading. President Bush and his advisors are cutting the Gordian knots which tie the US into permanent global deployment.
We've got large numbers of troops pinned down in the Middle East. Steven den Beste has already shown how the conquest of Iraq removes the reason for basing large numbers of forces in the Middle East. Troops can be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait, Turkey and god knows where else. Remove Saddam and there is suddenly no need for it. True, it will take some years to get Iraq Inc up and running the way we got Japan Inc going 50 years ago, but it will happen.
We've got large numbers of troops pinned down in the Middle East. Steven den Beste has already shown how the conquest of Iraq removes the reason for basing large numbers of forces in the Middle East. Troops can be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait, Turkey and god knows where else. Remove Saddam and there is suddenly no need for it. True, it will take some years to get Iraq Inc up and running the way we got Japan Inc going 50 years ago, but it will happen.
Well, once again, not much new. My weekend was pretty boring. I had fallen behind with grading, so I spent about 11 hours grading stuff yesterday. Today I hung out, surfed the web, and took a long nap. I still have a ton of other stuff to do around the house.
I started having kids email their assignments to me at Yahoo. It has been going pretty well. Hopefully I will be able to grade things with a faster turnaround time. I can grade things as they come in, rather that wait for the end of a chapter and then drag 150 floppy disks around until I catch up with grading. The kids have a high comfort level with email, and check it frequently. They never read notes I left on their floppies, but I've sent kids emails in class saying I'm missing an assignment, had them email me the assignment, and I've checked it and emailed them back a grade in a minute or two. Helps me to find slackers and correct problems more quickly.
One thing I would like to do is email assignments to kids. What I would do is create a basic spreadsheet, for example, and then email it to the kids with instructions on how to format it and such. After they complete it, they could email it back to me.
The other thing I think I will play around with is emailing tests to the kids. I figure I can put the test on a spreadsheet, and then when they come back, I can paste a sidebar which will uses Excel functions to grade each item, and show total, percent and letter grade at the bottom, which I can then return to them. I've already experimented with it and it works. This way, not only can I grade things faster, but the kids get more feedback on which questions they got right or wrong. I hate spending time in class going over tests! I'm going to try this with one of my classes, and I'll do it with all of them if it works.
I like this email idea, because it's robust. More robust than the printers and floppies. The floppies suck, and are always breaking. The printer jams all the time. I've had assignments that were predicated on having everyone do something and print it, and the printer jams, and the kids are whining, and I spend the whole period trying to fix the printer, the the kids keep hitting Print, Print, Print, Print-so when you finally fix the printer, you sit watching Jenene's assignment print out 30 times, and the bell rings, and suddenly EVERY kid swears they did the assignment, but couldn't print it. Ugh!
This year in school, I've experimented with many different ways of doing things, which has been time consuming, but I've found some good ideas that hopefully will save me more time in the future. All I know is, I'm beat!
I started having kids email their assignments to me at Yahoo. It has been going pretty well. Hopefully I will be able to grade things with a faster turnaround time. I can grade things as they come in, rather that wait for the end of a chapter and then drag 150 floppy disks around until I catch up with grading. The kids have a high comfort level with email, and check it frequently. They never read notes I left on their floppies, but I've sent kids emails in class saying I'm missing an assignment, had them email me the assignment, and I've checked it and emailed them back a grade in a minute or two. Helps me to find slackers and correct problems more quickly.
One thing I would like to do is email assignments to kids. What I would do is create a basic spreadsheet, for example, and then email it to the kids with instructions on how to format it and such. After they complete it, they could email it back to me.
The other thing I think I will play around with is emailing tests to the kids. I figure I can put the test on a spreadsheet, and then when they come back, I can paste a sidebar which will uses Excel functions to grade each item, and show total, percent and letter grade at the bottom, which I can then return to them. I've already experimented with it and it works. This way, not only can I grade things faster, but the kids get more feedback on which questions they got right or wrong. I hate spending time in class going over tests! I'm going to try this with one of my classes, and I'll do it with all of them if it works.
I like this email idea, because it's robust. More robust than the printers and floppies. The floppies suck, and are always breaking. The printer jams all the time. I've had assignments that were predicated on having everyone do something and print it, and the printer jams, and the kids are whining, and I spend the whole period trying to fix the printer, the the kids keep hitting Print, Print, Print, Print-so when you finally fix the printer, you sit watching Jenene's assignment print out 30 times, and the bell rings, and suddenly EVERY kid swears they did the assignment, but couldn't print it. Ugh!
This year in school, I've experimented with many different ways of doing things, which has been time consuming, but I've found some good ideas that hopefully will save me more time in the future. All I know is, I'm beat!
Sunday, March 09, 2003
Some have made the allegation that Khalid Mohammed was only number 22 on the Al-Qaida terrorist list until his capture. Here is an article that disputes that:
Cointelprotool
From the beginning, Ramzi bin al-Shibh was described as a major plotter of the Sept. 11 attacks specifically, while KSM was described as having control over a broad array of operations. From the NY Daily News, Nov. 22, 2002 ("U.S. Hooks Planner Of Cole Blast"):
The Saudi-born weapons expert [bin al-Shibh] is being interrogated by the CIA, which views him as one of two Al Qaeda leaders who have been essentially running things - along with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - with Bin Laden in hiding. Mohammed allegedly helped organize the Sept. 11 attacks.
Cointelprotool
From the beginning, Ramzi bin al-Shibh was described as a major plotter of the Sept. 11 attacks specifically, while KSM was described as having control over a broad array of operations. From the NY Daily News, Nov. 22, 2002 ("U.S. Hooks Planner Of Cole Blast"):
The Saudi-born weapons expert [bin al-Shibh] is being interrogated by the CIA, which views him as one of two Al Qaeda leaders who have been essentially running things - along with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - with Bin Laden in hiding. Mohammed allegedly helped organize the Sept. 11 attacks.
Friday, March 07, 2003
Here's a good article that explains that the attacking Iraq makes sense by focusing on "the big picture" Japan was dangerous, and we were fighting against Japan too. But Germany was the bigger danger. Once the US was in the war, we applied two thirds of our strength to the European theater. Pearl Harbor was what it took to get the US into the war, but once that happened America fought to remove all the major dangers facing it no matter where they were. And in fact, the original plan was to make the Pacific a holding action, and to only go on the offensive there once Germany had been defeated.
That's the same kind of thing which is happening here. To demand that our battle for Iraq be justified in terms of Iraqi involvement in the attacks against NYC and Washington is similar to demanding that the attack on Morocco be justified in terms of Morocco's involvement in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Obviously it wasn't involved, so obviously there's no justification for the Torch landings. But that argument is based on a fallacy: it assumes that we're only permitted to respond directly to actual provocations and must leave alone other dangers we face, no matter how serious they are, until and unless they too directly attack us.
One of the problems here is that a lot of opponents of the war are trying to deny the idea that this is even a big war. So let's make something extremely clear:
We are fighting World War IV. World War IV began on September 11, 2001. And like the other three world wars, this one will be fought everywhere on the planet2
That's the same kind of thing which is happening here. To demand that our battle for Iraq be justified in terms of Iraqi involvement in the attacks against NYC and Washington is similar to demanding that the attack on Morocco be justified in terms of Morocco's involvement in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Obviously it wasn't involved, so obviously there's no justification for the Torch landings. But that argument is based on a fallacy: it assumes that we're only permitted to respond directly to actual provocations and must leave alone other dangers we face, no matter how serious they are, until and unless they too directly attack us.
One of the problems here is that a lot of opponents of the war are trying to deny the idea that this is even a big war. So let's make something extremely clear:
We are fighting World War IV. World War IV began on September 11, 2001. And like the other three world wars, this one will be fought everywhere on the planet2
Thursday, March 06, 2003
America's Shadow Warriors
This is an awesome article!
By DER SPIEGEL
They are already in Iraq, even before Bush has begun his military campaign against Saddam Hussein: the "Special Operations Group," the CIA's paramilitary organization. However, this elite group based in Langley, praised for its successful deployment in Afghanistan, must contend with the shadow of the past � the spy agency's wartime efforts have frequently turned into foreign policy disasters. ......
They sneak across the border at night. They carry lightweight assault weapons. They have enough equipment and provisions to easily survive a few days under inhospitable conditions. With the help of their laptops, they pass on what they see and hear. They use satellite telephones to request supplies, which are dropped off rather precisely on-target by mid-sized cargo aircraft.....
The storm over Baghdad has not yet begun, but America's advance guard is already underway. A small combat force has also infiltrated southern Iraq under cover of night, and is now scouting out the positions of Saddam's miserably equipped troops, troops with which he intends to stop the attackers as they penetrate into the country from Kuwait when the war begins. ........
Several puzzling mini explosions in the capital suggest that the enemy has already penetrated into Baghdad. The London-based newspaper "al-Shark al-ausat" has reported that attacks by American advance commandos are intended to test the response capabilities of Saddam's security forces......
They are highly trained loners, heavily armed with high-tech equipment, American archetypes who could just as easily be characters in a Hollywood epic....
The CIA's secret army of Rambo lookalikes, the favorite child of its 50-year-old director George Tenet, was established only five years ago. Its official name is "Special Operations Group," and because almost everything in America is condensed into an acronym, it is referred to as the SOG
This is an awesome article!
By DER SPIEGEL
They are already in Iraq, even before Bush has begun his military campaign against Saddam Hussein: the "Special Operations Group," the CIA's paramilitary organization. However, this elite group based in Langley, praised for its successful deployment in Afghanistan, must contend with the shadow of the past � the spy agency's wartime efforts have frequently turned into foreign policy disasters. ......
They sneak across the border at night. They carry lightweight assault weapons. They have enough equipment and provisions to easily survive a few days under inhospitable conditions. With the help of their laptops, they pass on what they see and hear. They use satellite telephones to request supplies, which are dropped off rather precisely on-target by mid-sized cargo aircraft.....
The storm over Baghdad has not yet begun, but America's advance guard is already underway. A small combat force has also infiltrated southern Iraq under cover of night, and is now scouting out the positions of Saddam's miserably equipped troops, troops with which he intends to stop the attackers as they penetrate into the country from Kuwait when the war begins. ........
Several puzzling mini explosions in the capital suggest that the enemy has already penetrated into Baghdad. The London-based newspaper "al-Shark al-ausat" has reported that attacks by American advance commandos are intended to test the response capabilities of Saddam's security forces......
They are highly trained loners, heavily armed with high-tech equipment, American archetypes who could just as easily be characters in a Hollywood epic....
The CIA's secret army of Rambo lookalikes, the favorite child of its 50-year-old director George Tenet, was established only five years ago. Its official name is "Special Operations Group," and because almost everything in America is condensed into an acronym, it is referred to as the SOG
Yahoo! News - Iraq Giving Own Forces Western Uniforms in Ploy -US WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) has ordered uniforms replicating those worn by U.S. and British troops and will issue them to paramilitary fighters who would attack Iraqi civilians and blame it on Western forces, the U.S. Central Command charged on Thursday.
San Bernardino County Sun Walker Lindh assault claimed
'American Taliban' reportedly beset in High Desert prison
By VINCE LOVATO, Staff Writer
VICTORVILLE - The FBI is investigating a reported attack on American Taliban John Walker Lindh by one or more white supremacists at the Federal Correctional Institution here.
"I can confirm there was an incident regarding Lindh (on) Monday night,' said FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley. "There was a report that Lindh was assaulted by another inmate but I cannot disclose any details beyond that.'
The source, who asked not to be identified, said Muslim inmates had been protecting Walker Lindh because they viewed him as a hero. But they pulled back their support because they decided he was not a radical dissident, the source said.
'American Taliban' reportedly beset in High Desert prison
By VINCE LOVATO, Staff Writer
VICTORVILLE - The FBI is investigating a reported attack on American Taliban John Walker Lindh by one or more white supremacists at the Federal Correctional Institution here.
"I can confirm there was an incident regarding Lindh (on) Monday night,' said FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley. "There was a report that Lindh was assaulted by another inmate but I cannot disclose any details beyond that.'
The source, who asked not to be identified, said Muslim inmates had been protecting Walker Lindh because they viewed him as a hero. But they pulled back their support because they decided he was not a radical dissident, the source said.
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
NYPOST.COM World News: HE'LL SPILL HIS GUTS, OR ELSE Law-enforcement sources told The Post that the CIA has had the 7- and 9-year- old sons of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in custody since September, and plans to use them as leverage to get the No. 3 man in al Qaeda to disclose Osama bin Laden's whereabouts and details of future terror operations.
Monday, March 03, 2003
Mabye we'll have better luck finding SCUD's this time. News about Military Intelligence at StrategyPage.com's How to Make War. February 9, 2003: During the 1990s, the United States took advantage of the Soviet Union's collapse to buy a lot of Soviet made military equipment. While the Russians were reluctant to part with some of their best stuff, new nations, that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, were not. In this way, the U.S. acquired 29 SCUD missiles and their launchers. All the SCUD support equipment was bought as well. U.S. Army artillery troops were trained to operate the SCUDs and then turned lose on a number of training exercises to see what it was like to operate a SCUD unit out in the field. Still smarting from the Iraqi success in hiding their SCUDs from attack during the Gulf War, the American SCUDs were carefully scrutinized as they were put through their paces. Much was discovered about how mobile the SCUD launchers were in different types of terrain. Since it takes up to 90 minutes to get a SCUD ready to fire, there were lots of simulated, and real, fueling exercises to see if this made SCUDs any easier to see from the air, or by Special Forces patrols on the ground. Aircraft flew overhead, using standard American radars and cameras to see how difficult it was to spot hidden SCUDs. It turned out that it was pretty easy to hide SCUDs. But it became a lot easier to find them after these cat and mouse exercises were over. What new SCUD detection trick were picked up in these late 1990s exercises are, of course, being kept secret. If there's another war with Iraq, we'll find out if the simulated SCUD hunt worked.
Another great article from Strategy Page! military news about Terrorism Al Qaeda's cellular organization makes it harder to shut down, but easier to infiltrate. The relatively isolated cells have to be careful how they communicate, as it is widely known that the United States is very capable when it comes to listening in to any kind of electronic communications, and tracking down people using phones and Internet. Thus it is easy for an agent to walk into a Mosque and use a plausible cover story to establish connections with an existing cell. With communications with other cells so difficult, it is usually not possible to check a new members background story thoroughly.
March 3, 2003: The March 1st arrest, in Pakistan, of al Qaeda terrorism planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, is another indication of how much al Qaeda has been penetrated after only 16 months of aggressive intelligence operations. Last year, there were several cases, that made the news, of al Qaeda members, or supporters being arrested because of American agents infiltrating the organization. Interrogations of over 3,000 terrorism suspects since September 11, 2001 has provided enough information to infiltrate terrorist organizations, or convincingly impersonate terrorist supporters.
March 3, 2003: The March 1st arrest, in Pakistan, of al Qaeda terrorism planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, is another indication of how much al Qaeda has been penetrated after only 16 months of aggressive intelligence operations. Last year, there were several cases, that made the news, of al Qaeda members, or supporters being arrested because of American agents infiltrating the organization. Interrogations of over 3,000 terrorism suspects since September 11, 2001 has provided enough information to infiltrate terrorist organizations, or convincingly impersonate terrorist supporters.
Sunday, March 02, 2003
Iraq to 'outsource' counterattacks | csmonitor.com SINGAPORE � Starting in October of last year, Iraq began preparing for war with the US by instructing agents in its embassies worldwide to organize terrorist-type attacks on American and allied targets, Filipino and US intelligence officials say.
But there is evidence that Iraq may be outsourcing. Intelligence officials are concerned that Iraq is seeking out Islamic militant groups that have little ideologically in common with Iraq's secular Baath regime, but find common cause against the US.
The Philippines government, which deported an Iraqi diplomat earlier this month, says the Iraqi embassy in Manila was building contacts with Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap-for-ransom group in the southern Philippines that US soldiers have been helping to fight for the past year.
"The Iraqis are dispatching agents around the globe and they're targeting assets of the US and its allies," says Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert and author. "It remains to be seen if they'll be successful, or fail as they did in 1991."
But there is evidence that Iraq may be outsourcing. Intelligence officials are concerned that Iraq is seeking out Islamic militant groups that have little ideologically in common with Iraq's secular Baath regime, but find common cause against the US.
The Philippines government, which deported an Iraqi diplomat earlier this month, says the Iraqi embassy in Manila was building contacts with Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap-for-ransom group in the southern Philippines that US soldiers have been helping to fight for the past year.
"The Iraqis are dispatching agents around the globe and they're targeting assets of the US and its allies," says Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert and author. "It remains to be seen if they'll be successful, or fail as they did in 1991."
A truly remarkable article! Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes In terms of speed and size, however, DNA computers surpass conventional computers. While scientists say silicon chips cannot be scaled down much further, the DNA molecule found in the nucleus of all cells can hold more information in a cubic centimeter than a trillion music CDs. A spoonful of Shapiro's "computer soup" contains 15,000 trillion computers. And its energy-efficiency is more than a million times that of a PC.
While a desktop PC is designed to perform one calculation very fast, DNA strands produce billions of potential answers simultaneously. This makes the DNA computer suitable for solving "fuzzy logic" problems that have many possible solutions rather than the either/or logic of binary computers. In the future, some speculate, there may be hybrid machines that use traditional silicon for normal processing tasks but have DNA co-processors that can take over specific tasks they would be more suitable for.
While a desktop PC is designed to perform one calculation very fast, DNA strands produce billions of potential answers simultaneously. This makes the DNA computer suitable for solving "fuzzy logic" problems that have many possible solutions rather than the either/or logic of binary computers. In the future, some speculate, there may be hybrid machines that use traditional silicon for normal processing tasks but have DNA co-processors that can take over specific tasks they would be more suitable for.
Here's a change of pace: This is London With the prospect of war in the Gulf looming, Bruce Willis proudly phoned President George Bush to tell him he was ready to don his trademark vest and volunteer for military service.
But he was shocked when an aide at the White House told him: 'Sorry, Bruce, you're too old to enlist.'
Willis said he was so sick of the antiwar attitude of his fellow actors that he offered to battle alongside US forces against Saddam.
But he was shocked when an aide at the White House told him: 'Sorry, Bruce, you're too old to enlist.'
Willis said he was so sick of the antiwar attitude of his fellow actors that he offered to battle alongside US forces against Saddam.
Your Grave Awaits You
A real battle royale at the Arab League summit meeting�Crown Prince Abdullah and Colonel Gaddafi exchanging death threats live on Arab TV! Yee hoo! Public spat mars Arab summit. (Hat tip: NC.)
The acrimonious exchange, which was broadcast live across the region, began when Colonel Gaddafi addressed the delegates.
He said Saudi Arabia's King Fahd had been ready to "strike an alliance with the devil" when American troops were deployed to protect the kingdom after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Crown Prince Abdullah interrupted, retorting: "Saudi Arabia is not an agent of colonialism".
"Who exactly brought you to power?" he asked the Libyan leader.
"You are a liar and your grave awaits you," he said, before Egyptian state television pulled the plug on the broadcast.
Delegates said Colonel Gadaffi refused to withdraw his charge and Crown Prince Abdullah stormed out of the room.
Little green footballs ran this, and the thing on Gaddafi's female bodyguards tangling with Saudi Arabian bodyguards
A real battle royale at the Arab League summit meeting�Crown Prince Abdullah and Colonel Gaddafi exchanging death threats live on Arab TV! Yee hoo! Public spat mars Arab summit. (Hat tip: NC.)
The acrimonious exchange, which was broadcast live across the region, began when Colonel Gaddafi addressed the delegates.
He said Saudi Arabia's King Fahd had been ready to "strike an alliance with the devil" when American troops were deployed to protect the kingdom after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Crown Prince Abdullah interrupted, retorting: "Saudi Arabia is not an agent of colonialism".
"Who exactly brought you to power?" he asked the Libyan leader.
"You are a liar and your grave awaits you," he said, before Egyptian state television pulled the plug on the broadcast.
Delegates said Colonel Gadaffi refused to withdraw his charge and Crown Prince Abdullah stormed out of the room.
Little green footballs ran this, and the thing on Gaddafi's female bodyguards tangling with Saudi Arabian bodyguards
Click here to see the picture of a female bodyguard, and the pic of the Saudi secret service slapping her down! lgf: brainwave samplings Col. Gaddafi's Grrl Squad
Here�s a side story from today�s Arab League freak show, that I�ve found described only in the photo captions at Yahoo. First, did you know that wacky old Moammar Gaddafi has a female bodyguard squad? Jeebus, no wonder the Saudis hate him.
Well, apparently Gaddafi�s team of grrlbots tried to rush to his defense today when Clown Prince Abdullah threatened him, and were stopped�forcibly�by Egyptian security. Here�s a photo of a burly Egyptian secret service agent strong-arming one of Gaddafi�s distaff defenders.
Come on. You almost have to like Gaddafi, don�tcha? If it weren�t for the mass-murdering thing, that is. But here is a dictator with a sense of style. He�s like a weird Islamicized version of Vincent Price in Dr. Goldfoot & the Girl Bombs.
Here�s a side story from today�s Arab League freak show, that I�ve found described only in the photo captions at Yahoo. First, did you know that wacky old Moammar Gaddafi has a female bodyguard squad? Jeebus, no wonder the Saudis hate him.
Well, apparently Gaddafi�s team of grrlbots tried to rush to his defense today when Clown Prince Abdullah threatened him, and were stopped�forcibly�by Egyptian security. Here�s a photo of a burly Egyptian secret service agent strong-arming one of Gaddafi�s distaff defenders.
Come on. You almost have to like Gaddafi, don�tcha? If it weren�t for the mass-murdering thing, that is. But here is a dictator with a sense of style. He�s like a weird Islamicized version of Vincent Price in Dr. Goldfoot & the Girl Bombs.
The Observer | Special reports | Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war Secret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members
The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq.
Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer.
The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around the world - and circulated to both senior agents in his organisation and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input.
The memo describes orders to staff at the agency, whose work is clouded in secrecy, to step up its surveillance operations 'particularly directed at... UN Security Council Members (minus US and GBR, of course)' to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence for Bush officials on the voting intentions of UN members regarding the issue of Iraq.
The leaked memorandum makes clear that the target of the heightened surveillance efforts are the delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan at the UN headquarters in New York - the so-called 'Middle Six' delegations whose votes are being fought over by the pro-war party, led by the US and Britain, and the party arguing for more time for UN inspections, led by France, China and Russia.
The memo is directed at senior NSA officials and advises them that the agency is 'mounting a surge' aimed at gleaning information not only on how delegations on the Security Council will vote on any second resolution on Iraq, but also 'policies', 'negotiating positions', 'alliances' and 'dependencies' - the 'whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises'
I got the above link from Drudge, which added this headline which casts doubt on the authenticity of the Observer scoop:
ALLEGED 'TOP SECRET' TEXT OF NSA EMAIL...
BUT WAIT: WOULD AMERICAN NSA EMPLOYEE SPELL FAVORABLE 'FAVOURABLE', RECOGNIZE 'RECOGNISE' AND EMPHASIZE 'EMPHASISE' IN BRITISH TONGUE?...
WOULD NSA REALLY TIME STAMP EMAILS '31/01/2003 0:16' IN EUROPEAN FORMAT?...
NAME IN ALLEGED EMAIL IS 'KOZU' AND OBSERVER STORY CLAIMS TO HAVE CONTACTED A 'KOZA'?...
Saturday, March 01, 2003
Pakistan Says It Has Arrested Sept 11 Mastermind ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan said it had arrested the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, on Saturday in what officials declared was a major coup in the global war on terror.
"We have finally apprehended Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf, told Reuters.
"It was the work of Pakistani intelligence agencies... It is a big achievement. He is the kingpin of al Qaeda."
"We have finally apprehended Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf, told Reuters.
"It was the work of Pakistani intelligence agencies... It is a big achievement. He is the kingpin of al Qaeda."
Well, I went and saw the Scorpions last night with Don. I am so stupid! For some reason I thought the opening band was Great White (the band involved in that fatal nightclub fire that killed 95), when actually it was Whitesnake! Dokken was the other opening act. The show was really good. The only thing I didn't like was their overuse of the highpowered white lights that they shone at the crowd. You know, the ones that look light the sun. Well, I've seen them before, but they must have used them 600 times last night. The novelty wears off quickly. All three bands did that. Mabye they just bought them or something. Or mabye the Rosemont Horizon didn't let them use pyrotechnics. Either way, that was a pain in the ass.
This is an awesome article! TIME.com: Hizballah Is Moving Up the Threat Chart Osama is still public enemy number one, but the feds are growing more concerned about Hizballah. Could the group be poised for an attack in the U.S.?
For most Americans, Osama bin Laden is the frightening face of international terrorism. But lately, Hizballah is almost as high on the feds' threat meter. "Al Qaeda has not been the only threat. Prior to September 11th, Hizballah had killed more Americans than any other terrorist group," FBI Director Robert Mueller said last year. Just three weeks ago, two alleged Hizballah soldiers were among several individuals indicted in Detroit � also in a cigarette smuggling scheme that the government said is linked to Hammoud's. Prosecutors allege that they, too, were raising money for Hizballah. And TIME has learned that the FBI is investigating the activities of hundreds of suspected Hizballah members or sympathizers in the U.S. � including several dozen �migr�s believed to be hard-core Hizballah believers. The investigation is spread over many cities including New York, Los Angeles and Boston. "You could almost pick your city and you would probably have a presence," says one knowledgeable law enforcement official. The concern is that Hizballah � among other groups � may have U.S.-based sleepers in place not only to raise money, but also to pounce with an attack when the timing is right.
For most Americans, Osama bin Laden is the frightening face of international terrorism. But lately, Hizballah is almost as high on the feds' threat meter. "Al Qaeda has not been the only threat. Prior to September 11th, Hizballah had killed more Americans than any other terrorist group," FBI Director Robert Mueller said last year. Just three weeks ago, two alleged Hizballah soldiers were among several individuals indicted in Detroit � also in a cigarette smuggling scheme that the government said is linked to Hammoud's. Prosecutors allege that they, too, were raising money for Hizballah. And TIME has learned that the FBI is investigating the activities of hundreds of suspected Hizballah members or sympathizers in the U.S. � including several dozen �migr�s believed to be hard-core Hizballah believers. The investigation is spread over many cities including New York, Los Angeles and Boston. "You could almost pick your city and you would probably have a presence," says one knowledgeable law enforcement official. The concern is that Hizballah � among other groups � may have U.S.-based sleepers in place not only to raise money, but also to pounce with an attack when the timing is right.
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