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Edan
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quote:
[I remember these notions about how we would see Iraqis in the streets celebrating as theirt liberators drove by...
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Like these?
quote:
A few men and boys ventured out, putting makeshift white flags on their pickup trucks or waving white T-shirts out truck windows.
"Americans very good," Ali Khemy said. "Iraq wants to be free."
Some chanted, "Ameriki! Ameriki!"
Many others in the starving town just patted their stomachs and raised their hands, begging for food.
A man identifying himself only as Abdullah welcomed the arrival of the U.S. troops: "Saddam Hussein is no good. Saddam Hussein a butcher."
An old woman shrouded in black — one of the very few women outside — knelt toward the feet of Americans, embracing an American woman. A younger man with her pulled her away, giving her a warning sign by sliding his finger across his throat.
In 1991, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died after prematurely celebrating what they believed was their liberation from Saddam after the Gulf War. Some even pulled down a few pictures of Saddam then — only to be killed by Iraqi forces.
Gurfein playfully traded pats with a disabled man and turned down a dinner invitation from townspeople.
"Friend, friend," he told them in Arabic learned in the first Gulf War.
"We stopped in Kuwait that time," he said. "We were all ready to come up there then, and we never did."
The townspeople seemed grateful this time.
"No Saddam Hussein!" one young man in headscarf told Gurfein. "Bush!"
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Admittedly, there'll be a lot more support for Saddam as they move up north.
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Jack_www
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quote:
Originally posted by GePap
The US would never use a 21,000 pound bomb on a city center, unless it was deperate, which at this point it is not.
It is niteresting they have not turned the ligths off..my guess is their working assumption is that they can shake the lower echelons enough to ahve them give up...the previous light show was not enough, so lets give them an even bigger one to drive them to their senses, or so the theory goes.
Why aren't we in Basra yet? It is well within 24 hours travel time form the border, and in theory, we should have been let in with 0 resistence. As fo yet, no word about anyone either getting into or taking Basra...
Note how it does not seem to be in the target list. |
I dont know if you have been listening to the news but they took that city hours ago. Way before the "shock and awe" campagin.
Last edited by Jack_www on 22-03-2003 at 01:04
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Jack_www
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You guys think that massive amounts of civilians are getting killed or something. These are precession guided weapons targeted at millitary targets. Some people get worked up too much.
From reports I hear the war is going better then planed.
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Jack_www
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GePap:
I have been hearing that they got the port on the radio all day long!!!
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Jack_www
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Ok now I get were the mix up is.
US and British forces have captured the port they wanted but have not moved in on the city yet and are just outside of it. They are also dealing with a large number of surrendering troops, so I think that is what slowed them down, and the fact they are waiting for the "shock and awe" capagin to finish.
Sorry about that but the news I listen to did not make the distinction between the port and the city.
Anyways here is a news link.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,81766,00.html
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GePap
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of the Big Apple
Nov 2001
time: 23:26
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From Cnn.com
Oh, and for some reason I keep adding an Al..?
quote:
UMM QASR, Iraq (CNN) -- Allied troops have taken control of the strategically important Al Faw Peninsula, including the port town of Umm Qasr, a U.S. defense force spokesman has said.
The area is a strategic gateway to southern Iraq and its main oil pipeline terminals but also provides the only access to the Persian Gulf.
Lt. Col. Rick Long, spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said the area had been taken Friday afternoon.
UK Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said the port town of Umm Qasr will act as a major conduit for humanitarian aid.
He told the House of Commons that the port "will be vital to the economic future of southern Iraq."
U.S. Marines had taken the new port early Friday, planting an American flag, but the UK Royal Marines -- who are working in tandem in southern Iraq -- were held up in trying to take the old part, meeting stiff resistance from Iraqi fighters.
The battle for Umm Qasr had been expected to take between one to two hours but took four hours, CNN's Jason Bellini said. He is embedded with the USMC Expeditionary Unit, 15th Artillery.
The offensive had been postponed until later Friday because of the strength of the resistance, Bellini added.
Iraq suffered four fatalities while hundreds of the country's soldiers surrendered. No allied casualties were reported.
The Iraqi Interior Minister Mahmud Dhiyab al Ahmad had earlier denied the U.S. incursion into the new part and had vowed his country "will resist and we will say this will be a fight."
The Faw Peninsula was taken by British forces in a pre-dawn raid, Col. Steve Cox of the 40 Commando Royal Marines landing force said.
Cox added: "The main thing now is sorting the mess out in the daylight, make sure all the sites are protected and assess the local situation."
By the end of the operation, the commandos had taken dozens of prisoners -- many of them voluntary. CNN's Christiane Amanpour said 250 Iraqi soldiers had surrendered to U.S. troops while a further 30 had given themselves over to British forces.
Television footage showed a column of Iraqi prisoners marching with their hands behind their heads, while other video showed solitary Iraqis approaching the British commandos or in small groups waving white flags, some in civilian clothes.
The commandos searched these men and sent them down the road with hands behind their heads.
Green-cast, night scope video showed handcuffed prisoners marching in the custody of heavily armed marines. Many are being kept in a warehouse at the docks. Some could be seen sitting on the ground facing a wall.
But Iraq's Information Minister Muhammed Saaed al Sahaf, said the prisoners of war were not soldiers. (Full Story)
In the first official Iraqi response to the U.S.-led attack, al Sahaf said: "These guys are not from the Iraqi army. These are not Iraqi soldiers. They are not members of any of the Iraqi armed forces."
Some of the captured men appeared to be soldiers while others seemed to be dockworkers wearing blue uniforms with the image of an anchor, Bellini reported.
-- CNN's Jason Bellini and CNN Radio Correspondent John Bisney contributed to this report
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22-03-2003 00:02
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