The Iraq War 2003
Latest News & Views

Al-Ayyam: Baath in Basra want to Surrender

[Mewnews, April 5] According to the London based Al-Ayyam newspaper, Baath functionaries in Basra want to surrender to coalition troops, but are afraid of possible revenge by inhabitants. They want guarantees of protection from coalition troops before surrendering. Basra is the second largest city in Iraq and has been under siege by gradually advancing British troops since the first days of the war.

Republican Guard Division Headquarters Falls

[Mewnews, April 5] US troops captured the headquarters of the Medina division of the Republican guard, about 60 KM south of Baghdad. Two tank companies and an infantry company of the 3rd Infantry Division rolled through the headquarters unopposed and quickly took over the entire base. It appeared that the Republican Guard defenses had completely collapsed.

Outside the base on a three-mile stretch of road were hundreds of bunkers and foxholes and dozens of artillery pieces, antiaircraft guns, tanks, and armored personnel carriers.

All of them had been abandoned by Iraqi troops. No troops could be seen.
The tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles used their main guns to destroy the military vehicles along the route.

When U.S. troops pulled into Suwaryah, the Republican Guard artillery pieces were sandwiched between civilian homes and business. Hundreds of young men in civilian clothes stood on the side of the road waving as U.S. troops drove by.

"Look at all the Republican Guard waving at us," Staff Sgt. Bryce Ivings of Sarasota, Fla., quipped to his company commander, Capt. Chris Carter of Watkinsville Ga.
 

US forces enter and leave Baghdad

[Mewnews, April 5] [Mewnews, April 5] US forces have left the city of Baghdad and returned to the
international airport after an exploratory probe in which they say over 1,000
Iraqis were killed in heavy fighting. Mohamed Sahaf, Iraqi Minister of
Information, claimed that Iraqi forces had retaken the airport and there were
reports of a suicide attack near the airport, but a Sky News broadcasting from
the airport, still in US hands, had heard nothing of major battles or suicide
attacks. Some tanks and some armored personnel carriers had approached the
airport, but had been driven off.

Further south, US marines were digging up what might be a cache of chemical
weapons hidden near a school about two months ago. Thus far, no WMD have been
found in Iraq. British troops near Basra found a large morgue in which remains
of numerous people who had apparently been executed some years ago were stored.

According to earlier reports At least 20 Abrams battle tanks and 10 Bradley fighting vehicles entered Baghdad through the Dawra suburb about 7 to 8 miles from the center of the sprawling capital. By 10:18 AM Baghdad time, Reuters reported that they are near the city center. Though first reports made it seem that this was a probing operation, it has apparently developed into something more.

"We now do have troops in the city of Baghdad, we've moved right up the middle..."We've seen some sporadic fighting throughout the night and we're continuing to move right up into the heart of the city," Capt. Frank Thorp told MSNBC television.

"The members of the first Marine Expeditionary Force and the V Corps continue to take the fight to the enemy. We're taking opportunities to move forward," he said.

According to other reports, special forces teams have been operating in Baghdad for the last two weeks.

 During the night, bombing continued and at about 7 AM witnesses say they heard three huge explosions.

U.S. troops have control of Saddam International Airport in the southwest corner of Baghdad, according to a commanding officer. The officer said that while they are still cleaning up, the airport is in control. Teams are readying the runways for use.

US sources said they had captured an additional 2,500 Republican Guard prisoners as resistance melted in the advance from Kut in the east and Najaf in the West.

Officials fear a humanitarian crisis in Baghdad because electricity outages have stopped the supply of running water.

Iraqis Threaten "Unconventional" warfare

[Mewnews, April 5] Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said in a news conference Friday, referring to US forces nearing Baghdad, "We will commit a non-conventional act on them, not necessarily military."

Asked if Iraq would use weapons of mass destruction, Sahaf said: "No, not at all. But we will conduct a kind of martyrdom (suicide) operations."

Chatter overheard on Iraqi military communications referred to "unconventional" acts, and US soldiers war anti-WMD suits as a precaution, despite the heat.

US: Finding Saddam Not Essential

[Mewnews, April 5] White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer said Friday that  finding Saddam dead or alive would be "helpful,"  President Bush's "definition of victory" was removing the current government from power and eliminating the country's alleged weapons of mass destruction. The US is preparing to install an interim government in areas under its control as early as next Thursday, and may try to isolate and ignore Saddam Hussein, rather than attempting a frontal assault on Baghdad. Meanwhile, troops at the airport just outside Baghdad are being reinforced.

Iraqi TV Shows Saddam

[Mewnews, April 5] Iraqi television showed President Saddam Hussein visiting residential areas of Baghdad on Friday. Saddam,  in military uniform, was mobbed by cheering, chanting Iraqis. Some of them kissed him on his cheeks and hands and he held up a small child. The television said he visited buildings bombed by U.S. warplanes.

There is no way to verify when the shots were taken, but a Saddam speech aired Friday referred to the US helicopter downed recently.

Blair: Iraq will be run by Iraqis
[Mewnews, April 4] In an open letter to the Iraqi people, British PM Tony Blair pledged Friday: 

"As soon as Saddam Hussein's regime falls, the work to build a new, free and united Iraq will begin," Blair says in the letter. "A peaceful, prosperous Iraq which will be run by and for the Iraqi people, not by America, not by Britain, not by the U.N.

"Our troops will leave as soon as they can," he said. "They will not stay a day longer than necessary."

In the letter, Blair also says revenue from Iraqi oil "will be used to build prosperity for you and your families."

The leaflet also promises that coalition troops will not withdraw and abandon Iraqis to their fate as they did in 1991, allowing Saddam to crush Shi'a and Kurd revolts that had been encouraged by allied leaflets and propaganda.

Britain is maneuvering between U.S. plans to have an American-controlled interim administration in the aftermath of the Iraq war and insistence from many European powers that the United Nations should be in charge.

In Brussels on Thursday, Secretary of State Colin Powell faced near unanimous demands from EU and NATO states to give the United Nations a key role in postwar Iraq but did not spell out how Washington would share power there.

Blair's official spokesman said the leaflet, in Arabic, would be distributed as widely as possible. It will be dashed out on print runs at a rate of 60,000 per day.

Palestinians: Bush listen very well, the Islam fighters will send you to hell."

[Mewnews, April 4] An AP report describes enthusiastic rallies held in Gaza in support of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and against the US-British led attack on Iraq. The Friday after-prayer rallies repeat the themes in last Friday's rallies, with the dissident Hamas group taking the lead, condemning US President Bush, the UN and the Arab League.

About 2,000 Hamas supporters marched in Gaza City from the Mosque to the city center,  waving Iraqi and Palestinian flags and carrying green Hamas banners.

Carrying two coffins - one with the words U.N. Security Council on it and the other with Arab League - the crowd chanted "Bush listen very well, the Islam fighters will send you to hell."

 "God willing, Baghdad will be the graveyard of the invaders," Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin told the crowd.

In other parts of Gaza, about 1,000 Palestinians marched in the Khan Younis refugee camp and another 2,000 took to the streets of Nusseirat refugee
camp to show their support for Iraq.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, about 1,500 Palestinians burned Israeli, American and British flags, as well as effigies of Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
 

Kurds, US 30 KM from Mosul

[Mewnews, April 4]- Kurdish Peshmerga fighters seized a key bridge at Khazer near the major northern Iraqi oil center of Mosul on Friday. They crossed into the village under artillery fire from retreating Iraqi troops.Kurdish and U.S. forces were less than 30 KM (18 miles) from Mosul.

The Iraqis had struggled to hold Khazer since Thursday, after US bombardments forced them out of formidable hilltop positions at Kalak on the main road between Kurdish-controlled Irbil and Iraqi-controlled Mosul, the third-largest city in Iraq..

In the past week, Iraqi forces near the Kurdish zone have faced relentless air attacks and pulled back toward the two main northern districts in Baghdad hands: the commercial hub of Mosul and the important oil center around Kirkuk.

With fewer than 2,000 ground troops in the Western-protected Kurdish zone, the United States has relied on air strikes against the lraqis. The strategy has allowed Kurdish militiamen to advance unchallenged and keeps intact the U.S. pledge to Turkey to block any independent Kurdish offensive.

Iraqi Agents in Jordan Plotted To Poison Water Supply

[MewNews April 2]  Jordanian authorities say they have arrested several Iraqi agents who allegedly planned to poison the water supply that serves American troops in the eastern desert of Jordan, as a US miliary base in Khao, near Zarka. Officials said this plot was connected to the expulsion of three Iraqi diplomats in late March.

Western diplomats also said Monday that four Iraqis were arrested last week for allegedly planning to set fire to the Grand Hyatt Amman Hotel, where many American journalists — and some American military personnel — are staying. They set a blaze, but it was extinguished by the hotel's sprinkler sysem.

The independent Qatari TV service, Al Jazeera TV, has curtailed its coverage of the Iraq war, after two of its reporters were forced to leave Baghdad, and the Iraqi government accused Al-Jazeera of being pro-American. Earlier, Al-Jazeera had attracted American ire for airing footage of US war prisoners, and an American had hacked its English Web site and substituted an American flag and a patriotic message. Al-Jazeera's English Web site was briefly visible today, but showed only reports from March 25.

Saddam Hussein April 4: Come to Jihad

[Mewnews April 4, 03] This speech by Iraqi President Saddam Husayn, was broadcast on Baghdad Iraqi Satellite Channel Television in Arabic at 18:25 Baghdad time. He was dressed in army fatigues. The reference to the shooting down of the helicopter indicates he is probably still alive and this speech must be recent.

In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate.

And ye shall fight them until there is no more uproar. [Qur'anic verse]
Oh great people, Oh men of our brave armed forces, Oh Iraqi youth, Oh mujahidin, who carry the honor and trust of the weapons of holy war; Oh glorious women in your beloved, dear Baghdad, which is glorious with its people: God's peace and blessings be upon you.

The enemy, Oh beloved ones, tries fruitlessly to confuse your steadfastness and heroic confrontation against him. Therefore, the enemy has started to cross the Armed Forces' defense lines around Baghdad, and around other Iraqi cities. He avoids any clash with these lines, or he may test them. If he finds these lines strong and unyielding, with the will of God as they really are, he avoids any clash with them. Instead, he goes around them and makes a landing here or there, as we had expected before.

In most cases, the landing or movement is on roads in small numbers of vehicles and evil soldiers. They can be resisted and destroyed by you with the weapons you have.
You probably are mindful of the brave Iraqi farmer who shot down a US Apache using an old rifle. Strike at your enemy strongly. Strike at your enemy with your strong faith wherever he comes close to you. Resist it -- Oh people of Baghdad, the steadfast and glorious city -- whenever your enemy comes close to you and dares to attack your beloved city, while relying on God, the Omnipotent Almighty. Defend your principles, nationalism, honor of men and women, and faith, as well as the honor pledged and promised.

You -- Oh dear ones, Oh people of Baghdad and people of Iraq -- are the banner of faith and glory. God willing, you will be victorious. God willing, they will be defeated, losers, and accursed.

God is great; pride be to God and victory be to Iraq. God is great. Long live our nation; long live Iraq; long live Iraq; long live Palestine. Come to Jihad.

Their dead will be in hell. Their survivors will be shrouded in disgrace. Our martyrs will be in paradise. Our survivors will be granted glory and pride. May God, the merciful and compassionate, grant you, Oh Iraqi men and glorious women, the people of Baghdad and the people of Iraq,- His glory and satisfaction.

God is great, God is great. Accursed be the criminals.

New Suicide Attack Kills Pregnant Woman & 3 Soldiers

[Mewnews, April 4] A car exploded near a coalition checkpoint in Iraq, killing three
coalition soldiers, a pregnant woman and the car's driver, U.S. Central Command
said Friday.

      In a statement, Central Command said the incident occurred Thursday evening about 18 kilometers southwest of the Haditha Dam, when a civilian vehicle approached a coalition checkpoint. The dam is northwest of Baghdad, about 130 kilometers from the Iraq-Syria border.

      "A pregnant female stepped out of the vehicle and began screaming in fear," a statement said. "At this point the civilian vehicle exploded, killing three coalition force members who were approaching the vehicle and wounding two others."

      It said the woman and the driver were also killed.

     US CENTCOM spokesperson  Jim Wilkinson said the incident showed
the Iraqi regime was using desperate measures to remain in power. Previously, U.S. officials have said a man posing as a taxi driver staged a suicide attack that killed four soldiers at an Army checkpoint.

White powder probably not WMD

[Mewnews, April 5] The white powder found by US troops is probably not a chemical weapon according to preliminary tests. A U.S. spokesman said it was probably atropine mixed with some other substance.

U.S. troops found thousands of boxes of white powder, nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents on how to engage in chemical warfare at an industrial site south of Baghdad, within the the Latifiyah Explosives and Ammunition Plant al Qa Qaa.

Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said troops found thousands of boxes, each of which held three vials of white powder, together with Arabic  documents explaining how to engage in chemical warfare.

He also said they discovered atropine, used to counter the effects of nerve agents.

The facility had been identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons site. U.N. inspectors visited the plant at least nine times, including as recently as Feb. 18. The site was bombed in the first Gulf war.