War, Day 16

An interesting read though I don't know how much it is fantasy and how much reality...

Anyway this could be told about any media in this war...

http://www.aeronautics.ru/news/news002/iraqwar_ru_019.htm.

The IRAQWAR.RU analytical center was created recently by a group of journalists and military experts from Russia to provide accurate and up-to-date news and analysis of the war against Iraq. The following is the English translation of the IRAQWAR.RU report based on the Russian military intelligence (the Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU) reports.

 

The Russian site is NOT a reliable source.

It is run by a character using the pen name "Venik" who has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Russian military intelligence, and appears to be an arms dealer primarily interested in selling Russian arms and discrediting US and NATO military hardware.

The same guy reported six F-117s shot down over Yugoslavia. Enough said.

 

Mmm... he says he only translated the documents from that supposed analytical center.

I'm trying to see if that analytical centre does exist.

And Zenit also CIA, FBI and Pentagon aren't supposed to let info out but it happens unofficially (how many times US journalists refer to unnamed sources in those organizations?).

 

Zenit can you give us a correct translation then? (ja ne panimaiu pa-russki).

I tried www.iraq.ru and this is the page I got http://www.vif2.ru/index.shtml

 

Battle joined for soon to be formerly Saddam International Airport, 20km SE of the city.

Separately, AP reports Marines 4mi. outside Baghdad.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...u=/ap/20030403/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_battlefield

Many reports of little or no organized resistance outside of city evidenced by defensive positions abandoned with weapons & ammo intact. Roadsides littered with discarded army uniforms.

 

patriot missle may have downed f/a-18 hornet last night...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm.../ts_nm/iraq_usa_aircraft_dc&cid=564&ncid=1478

 

(Reuters) Report: Buses of Iraqis Fleeing Baghdad


"There are so many people on the road now that it's impossible to further conduct military operations and so our unit has stopped now and set up a hasty prisoner of war compound," said ABC correspondent Mike Cerre.


Reporting from central Iraq (news - web sites), south of Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division, Cerre said U.S. support aircraft had counted more than 60 buses filled with Iraqis fleeing Baghdad.


"What is stopping us now is the flood of deserters and civilians, on buses, trucks, taxicabs and whatever they can catch a ride on, trying to make their way south to their families or American forces to surrender" he said.

Murf

 

Reading this makes me think of reading War and Peace and the French taking Moscow.

 

It reminds me of a warm May evening smoking & drinking in a friend's dorm room watching NBC pre-empt it's prime time programming to show the fall of Saigon. It happened quickly, but not this quickly with organized resistance melting away, and invading tanks rumbling down the streets of the capitol. Panicked throngs fleeing the city, the smell of defeat in the air

 

Tolstoy? Is that you? You saw live on tv what I've only read in books. Imagine what our young soldiers must be thinking as they witness this!

 

It wasn't live, more like same day tape delayed. You've probably seen the famous video of Huey helicopters evacuating a long line of people atop the American Embasy as ARVN deserters peppered the building with small arms fire. Other video of men clinging to the landing gear of jet transports under fire rolling down the runway at Ton Son Hut (sp?) airbase. Those men were later found crushed on arrival.

 

Shi'ite Leader Urges Iraqis Not to Resist

An Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim leader in the holy city of Najaf has issued an edict urging Iraqis not to hinder U.S. invading forces, a Shi'ite group in London said Thursday.

"Until now, the Shias of Iraq and the followers of Sistani were confused on whether to take up arms against the Americans, whether to fight," he said.

The U.S. military said earlier the fatwa was issued Thursday morning and that it believed "this is a very significant turning point and another indicator that the Iraqi regime is approaching its end."

It's nice to see a fatwa be issued that doesn't call for death to all Americans.

Murf

 

Ya beat me to it. Hopefully this will mean good things for the peace as well as the war. I just hope that we don't fritter away any goodwill.

 

IRAQ: FOLLA PACIFICA AFFRONTA FORZE USA A NAJAF LA SANTA
Najaf, 3 apr. - (Adnkronos) - La 101ma divisione aviotrasportata degli Stati Uniti ha preso sotto controlla la citta' di Najaf, considerata santa per la popolazione sciita del Paese. Ma se due giorni fa, quando per la prima volta entrarono in citta', i militari americani avevano trovato molti civili in festa, stavolta una folla irata, anche se disarmata e pacifica, li ha affrontati nelle strade della citta', facendoli recedere dalla zona in cui si trova la moschea dell'Imam, la piu' importante della citta'.
(Ses/Rs/Adnkronos)
03-APR-0318:00

Italian news agency reports that an angry but peaceful crowd confronted Marines in Najaf making them retreat from the holy zones of the town.

I just saw images from Najaf that seems to confirm it (CNN).

 

Large Parts of Baghdad Lose Power

Large sections of the Iraqi capital lost power Thursday as loud explosions could be heard on the outskirts of the city.

The explosions persisted for nearly 15 minutes before the power went off — the first widespread electrical failure in the city since U.S. bombardment began two weeks ago. The reason for the loss of power was not immediately clear.

Murf

 

It's in the rider.

 

i have also heard that wire cutters do the job.

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the Iraqis did it. The 15 minutes of explosions don't sound like our style. We're more efficient than that. Without power, our troops will be bogged down much more taking care of the populace.

 

The Washington Post account of the same incident:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13955-2003Apr2.html

NAJAF, Iraq, April 2 -- An enthusiastic welcome for U.S. forces in Najaf turned jubilant today, as several thousand Iraqis braved sporadic firefights for what one Special Forces officer described as "the Macy's Day parade," applauding a U.S. patrol that pushed close to a religious shrine at the center of the city.

…

In the midst of the fighting, a U.S. patrol approached Ali's tomb attempting to contact local clerics but were met instead by a crowd. Lt. Col. Chris Hughes, a battalion commander in the 1st Brigade, said, "We waited about an hour and a half, and the hair on the back of my neck began to stand up. The crowd got bigger and bigger, so we pulled back out. But it was like the liberation of Paris."

 

Caption Needed



"What? The Capt. said go out and find anything that could be used in place of toilet paper."

 

Looting in Nasiriya now that the US Marines that took the city have moved on:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2003/reporters_log/default.stm (about halfway down)