The Iraq War 2003
Latest News & Views

[Mewnews, April 6] The Iraqi government announced that travel out of Baghdad after 6 PM is prohibited. Refugees are streaming out of Baghdad en-masse, in anticipation of the US assault. About 7,000 US troops have concentrated at Baghdad Airport so far, and work continues to repair runways and allow massive landings of US aircraft. US spokespersons have given various estimates for the number of Iraqi casualties in the battle of Baghdad, today going as high as 2,000. Iraqi civilian casualties for the entire war are over 1200 according to Iraqi government estimates. Since the beginning of the war, US and British casualties total 106 according to latest announcements. Two M-1a Abrams tanks were destroyed by Iraqi forces during the fighting. Baghdad has been pounded by US jets and artillery continuously on Sunday.

Friendly Fire Kills Kurds, Special Forces

[Mewnews, April 6] A bomb dropped by a low-flying US airplane hit a convoy of Kurdish fighters and their Special Forces reinforcements, killing 10 or 12 and wounding many. The mishap was witnessed by a BBC correspondent.

British Tanks in  Center of Basra

[Mewnews, April 6] British tanks reached the cente of Basra, Iraq's second city which British and U.S. forces have been encircling since nearly the beginning of the Iraq war.

"Yes it's happened," an officer of the Irish Guard who asked not to be identified told Reuters correspondent Rosalind Russell when asked about reports by Iraqi civilians leaving the city that they had seen the tanks on Basra's central Baghdad Street.

"Yes, they're in the center. They're on Baghdad street," verified an Iraqi civilian.

Coalition forces announced they had found bodies of lieutenants of "Chemical Ali" whose house in Basra was bombed, and they were searching for his body in the wreckage.

The British were meeting light resistance from Iraqi Fedayeen.

A British military official said troops of the Irish Guard and the Royal Scots Dragoons Guard moved forward at 6 a.m. (10 p.m. EDT) with some 14 tanks and the same number of Warrior armored personnel carriers -- the largest amount of armor they had so far sent toward the city.
 

US forces enter and leave Baghdad- Heavy Bombings overnight

[Mewnews, April 6] A night of heavy bombings in Baghdad included a bomb that fell near the Palestine hotel that houses journalists. Refugees were streaming out of the city on Saturday on the only road left open going north. US forces have left the city of Baghdad and returned to the international airport after an exploratory probe in which they said over 1,000 Iraqis were killed in heavy fighting. Later reports gave lower estimates of Iraqi dead. One American soldier was killed. 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 Iraqi 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.

However, later in the day, the column returned to Baghdad airport. Reporters in central Baghdad did not report seeing any American soldiers, and it is probable that the column confined itself to the Western approaches to the city. US Military spokesmen claimed they had wiped out Iraqi defensive positions along the route, and that these could not be replaced, since the city was sealed to Iraq military movement. They said they could now move about Baghdad at will. 

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.

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.
 

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.

On Saturday there were unconfirmed reports of a suicide attack at Baghdad Airport.

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.

NEW POLLS MUSIC TO PENTAGON EARS AS US SUPPORT FOR WAR BROADENS

WASHINGTON, April 5 (AFP) - According to a poll carried out for The Washington Post and ABC news, more than nine out ten Americans believe the war is going well, while nearly half -- 47 percent -- of respondents felt it was going "very well", up 13 percentage points in a week.

Some 69 percent of respondents -- up from 53 percent when the war started -- said that going to war with Iraq was justified, even if the US-led forces fail to find any weapons of mass destruction.

At the same time, the number of people who expect the war to be long and bloody has dropped, with only 44 percent of respondents expecting the fighting to last months, down from 57 percent a week ago.

US President George W Bush's overall job approval rating now stands at 71 percent, its highest level since mid 2002, The Washington Post poll found.

Many of its findings were reflected in similar figures from a separate survey conducted by The Los Angeles Times.

"The survey found Americans experiencing the traditional rally-around-the-flag effect common when troops are first sent into battle," the paper said. "Optimism about the country's direction and support for President Bush both soared."

Among those backing the war, 60 percent said they would continue to do so even if it lasted more than a year, while 52 percent said they would not be swayed in their support even if the United States suffered more than 1,000 casualties.

Asked whether US military intervention in the region should be restricted just to Iraq, 50 percent said it should extend to Iran if the country continues in its efforts to develop nuclear weapons, while 36 percent disagreed.

Some 42 percent thought the United States should take military action against Syria, if Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's accusations that Damascus was providing military supplies to Iraq could be proven.

The poll also found the country split almost 50/50 as to whether the war will increase or diminish the threat of terrorism, a significant swing from the two-thirds of respondents who predicted more terror back in September.

Al-Zubayr: execution site; Nassiriyeh- Poisoned Water 

[Mewnews, April 6]  American troops found traces of mustard gas and cyanide in river water in Nassiriyeh. These may represent an attempt by Iraqi forces to dispose of incriminating WMD evidence, or they may be due to waste water of WMD factories.

At a site in Al-Zubayr, Hundreds of human remains were discovered Saturday by British soldiers in a makeshift morgue in southern Iraq.  The remains, including bundles of bone in strips of military uniform, were found by officers from the 3rd Regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery in an abandoned Iraqi military base on the outskirts of Al Zubayr. Pictures of the remains and of documents identifying the dead, shot in the head for the most part, were shown on Sky news.

Al Zubayr is 20 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of Iraq's second city Basra. Captain Jack Kemp, 40, said  that he discovered "approximately 200 makeshift coffins" when he led a team of soldiers into the building for a security check.

"I wouldn't like to speculate, but the bones inside are obviously years old," he told the Press Association. "It is certainly not from the recent conflict but it could be from the one before."  He said the building had been declared off-limits to all personnel "and we will treat it as a mass grave."

In a graphic description of the scene, Press Association chief reporter Vanessa Allen, who is embedded with the British army's Royal Logistic Corps, told of cardboard coffins "stacked five deep in a warehouse."

A neighboring building "contained apparent cells and catalogues of photographs of the dead, most of whom had died from gunshot wounds to the head."

"Others were mutilated beyond recognition, their faces burned and swollen in the faded black and white photographs," she reported. "Outside stood what one soldier described as 'a purpose-built shooting gallery'."

She said a tiled plinth, about a foot (30 centimeters) in height, stood in a courtyard, with the brickwork behind it riddled with bullets. Behind it was a drainage ditch.

"Inside the warehouse, one of the bags and coffins contained an identity card written in Arabic, while military webbing and boot soles were visible in others," she reported.

"Human skulls, their teeth broken and missing, looked out from other bags, bundled into the coffins."