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Lincoln
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From ABC news:
Raid Finds al-Qaida Tie to Iraq Militants
A U.S.-led assault on a compound controlled by an extremist Islamic group turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking the group to al-Qaida, coalition commanders said Monday.
The cache of documents at the Ansar al-Islam compound, 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.
Kurdish and Turkish intelligence officials, some speaking on condition of anonymity, said many of Ansar's 700 members have slipped out of Iraq and into Iran putting them out of reach of coalition forces.
The officials also said a U.S. missile strike on Ansar's territory on the second day of the war missed most of its leadership which crossed into Iran days earlier.
U.S. officials said the government had reports some Ansar fighters could have made it into Iran and have been shuttling back and forth with fresh supplies.
According to a high-level Kurdish intelligence official, three Ansar leaders identified as Ayoub Afghani, Abdullah Shafeye and Abu Wahel were among those who had fled into Iran. The official said the three were seen being detained by Iranian authorities Sunday.
"We asked the Iranian authorities to hand over to us any of the Afghan Arabs or Islamic militants hiding themselves inside the villages of Iran," said Boorhan Saeed, a member of the pro-U.S. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. "We asked them about it Sunday, and still don't have a response."
Last week, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned the Iranians to stop meddling in the war. Tehran denied any involvement.
Using airstrikes and ground forces, Kurdish soldiers and U.S. troops have cooperated in the past week to dislodge and crush Ansar militants in 18 villages surrounding the Iraqi city of Halabja about 160 miles northeast of Baghdad.
"We actually believe we destroyed a significant portion of the Ansar al-Islam force there," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations on the Pentagon's Joint Staff, said Monday. He said forces were investigating the finds.
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.
Officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two parties that share control of an autonomous Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, say they killed 250 Ansar members during two days of intense fighting and aerial bombardments.
"There was ferocious fighting," Saeed said. He said he chased 25 Ansar militants across the Iranian border and captured nine Ansar sympathizers belonging to a group called the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan.
The remaining Ansar fighters are thought to be in the mountains along the Iraq-Iran border, U.S. and Kurdish military officials have said.
Kurdish soldiers on Monday continued sporadic fighting in several villages around Halabja and along the Iran-Iraq border near the village of Sargat, site of a destroyed building once allegedly used by Ansar militants to produce poison.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday the Sargat compound was probably the site where militants made a biological toxin, traces of which were later found by police in London.
"We think that's probably where the ricin that was found in London came (from)" 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 castor plant beans. U.S. officials believe the poison and those arrested were linked to Ansar.
The group's leader, Mullah Krekar, is being held in Norway on charges of kidnapping and aiding terrorists.
Krekar has denied any links to Saddam or al-Qaida, but said he considers Osama bin Laden a "good Muslim."
In a recent interview with Dutch television, Krekar said his fighters would use suicide attacks if U.S. troops went after the group.
One such attack came three days into the war when an apparent car bomb killed at least five people, including an Australian cameraman, at a checkpoint near an Ansar training camp.
Associated Press Writer Dafna Linzer contributed to this report from New York.
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Ned
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of Aptos, CA
Oct 1999
time: 21:27
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BIYARE, Iraq (AP) - A U.S.-led assault on a compound controlled by an extremist Islamic group turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking the group to al-Qaida, coalition commanders said Monday.
The cache of documents at the Ansar al-Islam compound, including computer discs and foreign passports belonging to Arab fighters from around the Middle East....
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.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20.../D7Q4DR3O0.html
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Chilean President™
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Viña del Mar, CHILE
Feb 2001
time: 00:27
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(Chilean Time Zone)
Emol.com
22:33. - KUWAIT- After 15 Iraqi missiles penetrated their airspace, Kuwait announced that it will send a cabinet minister to the United Nations to request support against Baghdad's agression to the permanent members of the Security Council.
23:11. - EL CAIRO/Egypt. - Forces of the Iraqi army and British troops fight bloody battles in the city of Basora, informed the Arab network Al Jazeera. The report, mentions eyewitnesses, indicating that the confrontations is taking place in the district of Al Baaz, in the east zone of that city.
http://www.emol.com/noticias/intern...dnoticia=108562
(French Time Zone)
Le Monde
03. 45: In Baghdad, a huge explosion destroy some buildings in downtown. At the first hours of Tuesday, a huge blast was heard in Baghdad. Reuters agency indicates that the sound of the explosion took 4 minutes 
04. 35: New incident with a road stopping in A Samawa (southern of Baghdad), an Iraqi combatant, whose truck sank on an American military field, was killed.
05. 00: Six air raids in North. The combat fighters of the American aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt carried out this night six raids in the north of the country, according to a spokesman of the ship.
http://www.lemonde.fr/sequence/0,5987,3462---,00.html
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Ned
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of Aptos, CA
Oct 1999
time: 21:27
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Deserter tells of desperation
The soldier covered his face and wept.
I'm so sorry. Excuse me. I just can't stop," wept the soldier who fled Saddam Hussein's army and was taken Monday into the hands of U.S.-allied Iraqi Kurdish fighters. "Could this terrible time be over soon? Please, tell me."
"The army knows I ran away. They could come and take revenge," he said in the central police barracks in Kalak, about 20 miles northwest of the Kurdish administrative center Irbil. "My only hope is that I'm not alone. There are so many deserters and those who want to run. They cannot attack all these families with a war going on."
"We knew nothing. We were told only that America was trying to take over Iraq," Ali said. "But we are not so stupid. We know how Saddam rules the country. We know in our hearts we'd be better off without him."
"I don't see Saddam as a hero anymore," Ali said.
U.S. bombs killed at least five members of his unit. About the same number were wounded, he said. "There is no medical help," he added. "They are left to die."
"The spirit of the soldiers is very low," he said. "We were not really mad at the Americans. We just want to save our lives."
"I can say now what I always felt: Saddam led to this war," Ali said. "We don't want to fight America. We don't want to fight for Saddam. We just want an end to all this."
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Ned
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of Aptos, CA
Oct 1999
time: 21:27
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Capt. Chris Carter winced at the risks his men would have to take. Engaged in a lightning-fast raid for this Euphrates River town, they were battling for a bridge when -- through the smoke -- they saw the elderly woman. She had tried to race across the bridge when the Americans arrived, but was caught in the crossfire.
At first, peering through their rifle scopes, they thought she was dead, like the man sprawled in the dust nearby. But then, during breaks in the gunfire that whizzed over her head, she sat up and waved for help.
Carter, a 32-year-old Army Ranger, ordered his Bradley armored vehicle to pull forward while he and two men ran behind it. They took cover behind the bridge's iron beams.
Carter tossed a smoke grenade for more cover and approached the woman, who was crying and pointing toward a wound on her hip. She wore the black chador, common among older women in the countryside. The blood soaked through the fabric, streaking the pavement around her.
Medics placed the woman on a stretcher and into an ambulance; Carter stood by, providing cover with his M16A4 rifle. Then she was gone, and Monday's battle for this town of 80,000, 50 miles south of Baghdad, raged on.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,82613,00.html
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Chilean President™
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Viña del Mar, CHILE
Feb 2001
time: 00:27
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(French Time Zone)
Le Monde
6. 07: Two huge explosions in the southern periphery of Baghdad.
Two explosions shook the southern periphery of Baghdad this Tuesday, putting an end to a three hours pause in the British American bombardments of the Iraqi capital, brought back a journalist of Reuters present on the spot.
7. 01: A British soldier killed in the south of Iraq
A British soldier was killed Monday night in the south of Iraq, changing to 26 the number of British soldiers killed since the beginning of the conflict on March 20, announced Tuesday the British ministry of defense.
http://www.lemonde.fr/sequence/0,5987,3462---,00.html
(Chilean Time Zone)
Emol.com
01:03. - LONDON. The British newspaper "The Guardian" says that President Bush secretly prepares in Kuwait a government of 22 secretaries, headed by North Americans, to assume the control as the troops occupy the Iraqian territory.
http://www.emol.com/noticias/intern...dnoticia=108562
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Ned
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of Aptos, CA
Oct 1999
time: 21:27
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Here is a bit on the controversy on the interrim government:
"Decisions on the government's composition appear to be entirely in US hands, particularly those of Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defence. This has annoyed Gen Garner, who is officially in charge but who, according to sources close to the planning of the government, has had to accept the inclusion of a number of controversial Iraqis in advisory roles.
The most controversial of Mr Wolfowitz's proposed appointees is Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the opposition Iraqi National Congress, together with his close associates, including his nephew.
During his years in exile, Mr Chalabi has cultivated links with Congress to raise funds, and has become the Pentagon's darling among the Iraqi opposition. The defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is one of his strongest supporters. "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Stor...,927055,00.html
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jolair
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A US delegation arrived in Amman in its way to Baghdad for ceasefire negotiations
Abu Dhabi, Alittihad Daily, 3/26/2003 -- The UAE leading semi-official daily newspaper, Alittihad, reported today that a US government delegation has arrived in Amman, Jordan, yesterday in its way to Baghdad for negotiations with the Iraqi government about an immediate ceasefire.
A diplomatic source told Alittihad that the US government delegation included four leading members of Congress as well as Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter of the US Vice President Cheney, representing the US Department of State, where she works as an Assistant to the Deputy of the Secretary of State for Middle Eastern Affairs.
http://www.aljazeerah.us/
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Messer Niccolò
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of the Sarzaneers
Oct 2001
time: 06:27
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NEWS - DAY 13 OF THE WAR
* U.S. troops say they killed an unarmed Iraqi driver at a checkpoint outside Shatra, hours after seven Iraqi women and children died in a similar incident near Najaf
* Two explosions hit south Baghdad after night of airstrikes in central Baghdad; U.S. forces battle Republican Guard on southern approaches to Iraqi capital
* UK says British soldier killed in southern Iraq; Iraq says it inflicts "heavy casualties" on British at Abul Khasib, Basra
* Saudi Arabia urges Saddam to make a war-ending "sacrifice" and quit; Iraqi TV broadcasts a presidential denial that Saddam family members have gone abroad
* Turkish PM Gul says he does not know if U.S.'s Powell will ask for more help from Turkey when he visits tomorrow
* Iraqis fleeing Basra say they are menaced by Baath party members
QUOTES
Iraqi state television: "The rumour that the family of
President Saddam Hussein has left Iraq is a repeat of a lie that was previously voiced by the Pentagon."
Blix on possibility of Iraq using weapons of mass
destruction: "I doubt very much that they would use them because this war has gained them a certain amount of sympathy in the world, which would turn against them if they used chemical arms."
CASUALTIES
* U.S. - 51 killed, 14 missing
* Britain - 26 killed
* Iraqi military - no confirmed figures
* Iraqi civilians (Iraqi estimates) - 589 killed, 4,582 injured
MILITARY ACTION
BAGHDAD: Fresh airstrikes rock centre of Baghdad targeting presidential compound and Iraqi Olympic Committee building; warplanes pound Republican Guard positions on southern edges
SOUTHERN IRAQ: U.S. troops advance to outskirts of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad
Fighting erupts along Euphrates river front lines near
ancient Babylon; at least one American is killed at Hindiya.
U.S. Marines enter Shatra, 35 km (20 miles) north of
Nassiriya, after storming it with planes, tanks and helicopter gunships
Iraq reports heavy fighting in and around Nassiriya; says it has inflicted heavy casualties on U.S-led forces
British Royal Marines clash with paramilitaries south of
Basra
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jolair
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quote:
Originally posted by Ned
The title of the article actually read: "A Gruesome Scene on Highway 9"
The article reports that the platoon leader said he actually fired two warning shots. The thought that there were no warning shots was the captain's who was well to the rear directing the action through the radio net. He ordered warning shots, but did not see the van stop. He assumed that no warning shots were fired. |
'You didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!'
A journalist's account of the killing of a car full of Iraqi civilians by US soldiers differs widely from the official military version, says Brian Whitaker
Tuesday April 1, 2003
The invasion forces suffered another self-inflicted disaster in the battle for hearts and minds yesterday when soldiers from the US 3rd infantry division shot dead Iraqi seven women and children.
The incident occurred on Route 9, near Najaf, when a car carrying 13 women and children approached a checkpoint.
A US military spokesman says the soldiers motioned the vehicle to stop but their signals were ignored. However, according to the Washington Post, Captain Ronny Johnson, who was in charge of the checkpoint, blamed his own troops for ignoring orders to fire a warning shot.
"You just ****ing killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!", he reportedly yelled at them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/dail...,927233,00.html
It seems the problem was that the warning shot wasn't soon enough.
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spiritof1202
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quote:
Originally posted by jolair
*SNIP*
A US military spokesman says the soldiers motioned the vehicle to stop but their signals were ignored.
*SNIP*
It seems the problem was that the warning shot wasn't soon enough. |
It seems to me that the problem was that the civilian vehicle didn't stop soon enough.
If you attempt to drive fast through a military checkpoint anywhere in the world, you can expect to die.
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cronos_qc
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Québec City
Nov 2002
time: 00:27
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I dont know what to think about that, but some things are interesting. And in the past, there was many things who have been confirmed some day after.
Not the entire text.. for more click on the links
===
Russian military intel update: War in Iraq, March 31
===
The US forces resumed attacking Iraqi defenses near An-Najaf. The US group of force in this area has been reinforced with at least three reserve Marine battalions and now Americans are trying once again to capture this key town. According to the US intelligence Iraqi defenses in this area number up to 3,000 troops aided by around 1,500 volunteers and [Ba’ath] party activists. The Iraqis here are armed with around 30 T-55 and T-62 tanks, up to four artillery batteries and more than 300 various anti-tank weapons. The town is being stormed by the elements of the 1st Marine Division numbering up to 6,000 troops assisted by 80 tanks and 60 artillery systems. Additionally, aerial support is provided by up to 40 helicopters. So far the Americans were unable to push the enemy. Early today morning an American tank was destroyed near An-Najaf. At least two of its crew were killed.
Intercepted radio communications indicate that the Marines engineering units are ordered to build a pontoon crossing up the stream from An-Nasiriya and move up to three battalions of Marines and troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the left bank of the Euphrates for a future strike in the rear of the An-Nasiriya garrison. The coalition command would have been ready to bypass other defended crossings on the Euphrates if it wasn’t for one problem: the entire group of forces has only two pontoon units. Any new pontoon units will arrive not sooner than in mid-April.
Thus, during the last night the British attempted to take the town of Al-Hasib located 7 kilometers southeast of Basra. The British plan was to reach the Al-Arab River and to slice the local Iraqi defenses in half, separating Basra from the defending Iraqi forces on the Fao peninsula. Up to a battalion of the British marine infantry supported by armored vehicles entered the town of Al-Hasib from south but in less than an hour they were stopped by Iraqi fire and requested aviation and artillery support.
The official coalition losses are, to put it mildly, “falling behind” the actual figures. The 57 dead acknowledged by the coalition command reflect losses as of the morning of March 26. This information was provided to a BBC correspondent by one of the top medical officials at a field hospital in Al Kuwait during a confidential conversation. “We have standing orders to acknowledge only those fatalities that have been delivered to the hospital, identified and prepared to be sent back home. The identification process and the required standard embalming takes some time – occasionally up to several days. But only the command knows how many casualties we sustained today and you will learn about it in about three days…” [Reverse-translated from Russian] This conversation was taped by the journalist and sent to the editor via a cellular phone network.
Based on the radio intercepts and internal information networks of the US field hospitals as of this morning the coalition losses include no less than 100 killed US servicemen and at least 35 dead British soldiers. Additionally, some 22 American and 11 British soldiers are officially considered to be missing in action and the whereabouts of another 400 servicemen are being established. The number of wounded has exceeded 480 people.
Only three tanks have been hit by guided weapons which destroyed these tanks with the first hit. The rest of the tanks were destroyed with more standard weapons. Some of the most common causes [of destroyed armor] include: anti-tank guns (about 40% of all hits), man-portable rocket-propelled grenade launchers (25% of hits), and landmines (25% of hits). Effectiveness of anti-tank artillery has been particularly high. “Impacts by high-velocity projectiles do not always destroy the tank and its crew. However, in 90% of all cases the tank is disabled and the crew is forced to abandon the tank on the battlefield…” – says the report that was distributed to the commanders of the forward units for analysis.
==
http://www1.iraqwar.ru/iraq-read_ar...Id=1310&lang=en
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GRU
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Several Russian news sources:
The more or less exact figure of Iraqi PoWs captured by coalition is now clear. As Red Cross has replied to Russian journalists, it is equal to some 3000. The USA has sent to Red Cross personal data of these people. All of them were armed at the moment of capture.
I believe the Red Cross will spread this info to all world news agencies very soon.
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Freeze
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Seething
Oct 2001
time: 05:27
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U.S. Insists Military Has Enough Bombs, Missiles
Air Force Secretary James Roche sees no reason for concern about a shortage of bombs for aircraft. He said the "weapon of choice" for the Air Force in the Iraq war is a precision-guided bomb.
[I wish I could say this was an Onion story... thanks tcp]
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01-04-2003 07:56
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