The Iraq War 2003
Latest News & Views

[Mewnews, April 8] US forces bombed a site where Saddam, his sons Uday and Qusay and Ba'ath leaders were supposedly meeting in Baghdad late Monday. The site has variously been described as a restaurant, a residence of Saddam and a meeting place. Four huge bombs were dropped by a B-1 bomber based on time-sensitive intelligence. The bombing injured number of civilians. According to US officials, it will be several days before it is known if the assassination attempt was successful. This was the second US attempt to assassinate the Iraqi president since the war began. US has often been sharply critical in the past of Israeli assassinations of Palestinian militants.

Tanks, backed by ground attack planes and helicopters, pushed about 3 km into the  administrative nerve center, meeting scattered resistance from fighters with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.  Two Abrams tanks crossed the Tigris over the Jumhuriya bridge. Iraqi television and radio are off the air reportedly, but Information Minister Mohamed Sahaf continues to describe Iraqi victories outside the Palestine Hotel.

A US A-10 aircraft was said to be down near Baghdad.

Information Ministry, Journalist Hotel Hit - Al-Jazeera correspondent killed

[Mewnews, April 8] Foreign correspondents in Baghdad evacuated "Palestine" hotel after an explosion rocked the top of the    high-rise building in the center of Baghdad and injured three people,   AL-Jazeera television reported Tuesday. The building was hit by US forces because snipers were observed on the roof.  

As the AL-Jazeera correspondent was making a live report about the state of    battles in the city when a big explosion send shrapnel and glass flying into    the air and falling on his head. Tens of Arab and foreign correspondents were seen scrambling    into the hotel garden after the powerful blast.    

Palestine Hotel which was known as the Meridien before, is the official    press center where Iraqi government officials hold press conferences to    hundreds of foreign reporters who are stationed there.   

AL-Jazeera satellite television alson announced that its correspondent, Tareq Ayoub, in Baghdad was killed this morning and one of   its cameramen wounded by a rocket which slammed the station's office in the center of Baghdad. AL-Jazeera said Ayoub's body, was transported to a Baghdad hospital. AL-Jazeera said the rocket attack on its office in Baghdad also wounded one   of its cameramen who was seen walking to a car. Offices of Abu Dhabi television were also hit, but there were no injuries. 

US forces also bombed the Iraqi Information Ministry. Both Al-Jazeera and the Information Ministry had insisted yesterday that there were no US troops in Baghdad, even while the US was showing footage of US soldiers inside a palace of Saddam Hussein.

Al-Jazirah: No US Forces in Baghdad  

 [Mewnews, April 8]  The following is the report of the Al-Jazirah television correspondent in Baghdad, who confirmed the contention of the Iraqi Information Ministry that there are no US troops in Baghdad, as transmitted yesterday afternoon on Al-Jazeera. 

Iraqi Information Minister Muhammad Sa'id al-Sahhaf has denied that the US tanks have taken control of presidential sites or the Information Ministry in Central Baghdad.

    Our correspondent, Diyar al-Umari, visited the ministry and said that there is no sign that the US forces control the building.

    [Begin recording] [Diyar al-Umari] In the wake of a difficult night that witnessed fierce fighting between the invading forces and the Republican Guard forces, calm returned to Baghdad gradually.   There are conflicting reports and no one can confirm the veracity of the US story that US forces have made a breach in one of the combat points.   The Iraqi information minister said that these reports are part of a confused method and a military strategy that seeks to create a propaganda clamor.

    For its part, the information ministry organized a tour for foreign journalists and correspondents in spite of the resumption of the intensive air bombardment on the capital.

    We passed through many of the streets that the US army said it had occupied.   We did not notice the presence of the US forces.   On the contrary, we saw an intensive presence of Iraqi forces.

    Al-Jazirah met with the Iraqi information minister, who, as it appears, was touring the Information Ministry's departments.

    [Al-Sahhaf] Well, this is the information ministry's building and these are the streets, which, as you see, are safe.   They are all heroes.   Look at the citizens, look at the valiant fighters, and at the staunch Ba'thists.   Nothing happened here.   The report was false, and the area was secure in spite of the fierce bombardment at dawn today.   All the fighters left their flats and went to the streets, carrying their weapons.

    [Al-Umari] Many Iraqi fighters held celebrations in the street and fired shots in the air in clear defiance of the US forces.

    We mow stand in front of the Iraqi Information Ministry.   We do not see any US forces occupying the building.   Only Iraqi forces are there, and they control the key parts of streets leading to the information ministry.   [end recording] [Description of Source: Doha Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television in Arabic -- Independent Television station financed by the Qatari Government]

Reports of possible WMD Findings

[Mewnews, April 7] U.S. Marines found a weapons cache of around 20 medium-range missiles equipped with potent chemical weapons near Baghdad, according to   U.S. National Public Radio. NPR cited a report by a top official of the 1st Marine Division, saying that BM-21 missiles were equipped with sarin and mustard gas and were "ready to fire." The chemicals were not just traces. I

It said the cache was discovered by Marines with the 101st Airborne Division,
which was following up behind the Army after it seized Baghdad's international
airport. 

At least one other site was reported to house WMD. Major Ross Coffman, public affairs officer for the US army's 3rd Infantry Division, said the site was near the city of Hindiyah, about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, but would give no details.

U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar had no immediate comment on either case.

[Mewnews, April 7] At Salman Pak base near Baghdad, US forces found classroom equipment and gymnastics equipment suggesting that the base had been used for training terrorists. The soldiers also found a mock-up fuselage of a passenger airplane, that was possibly used to train hijackers. Prior to the war, defectors had described a mock fuselage like the one found, and teams of people who they believed were trained for hi-jacking. Supporters of the war had repeatedly cited these reports as proof of the connection between the Iraqi regime and the attacks on the NY World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.