news stories about the war...

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cheryl

Guest
If you find any interesting war news links while browsing the internet please share them in this thread. To prevent copyright infringement do not copy all of the text; instead paste an excerpt of the article and post the link.
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C

cheryl

Guest
CBS: 'Senior Officials' Think Saddam May Not Have Survived
Thu Mar 20 2003 10:33:00 ET

"I am being told by several senior officials not to take that taped speech Saddam gave last night as proof that he survived the attack," CBS NEWS reporter David Martin said on air.

http://www.drudgereport.com
 
M

my2cents

Guest
I usually go to Free Republic for my news. Many of these guys are news junkies who browse the web for stories, while watching Fox or an all-news channel at the same time. There are tons of articles posted and some of threads go into the thousands. The site claims over 100,000 registered users. Its like drinking from the firehose over there, but I always find some interesting story posted, which I never see anywhere else.
 
C

cheryl

Guest
A 'great mystery:' Was Saddam hit?

https://web.archive.org/web/20050311000317/http://www.iht.com/articles/90371.html

excerpts:

How a tip led to surprise start to war

WASHINGTON Intelligence officials had long been frustrated in their attempts to track Saddam Husseins erratic movements. Then, on Wednesday, according to senior U.S. government officials, Iraqi informants produced a lead.
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The Iraqi leader, and possibly his two sons, were said to be in a private house built over an underground bunker in southern Baghdad.
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What happened next, one senior administration official said Thursday, has created one of the great mysteries of the first day of the war did we hit anyone and if so, who did we get?
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On Thursday night, officials were still holding out hope that one of the American 2,000 pound bombs and nearly 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles, each carrying 1,000 pounds of explosives, may have struck Saddam or one of his sons, Qusay and Uday.
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It may take days, the official said, to sift through it all.
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The mystery deepened as intelligence agencies monitoring Iraqi communications detected a significant drop in intercepted conversations among the top leaders of the country. Some officials speculated that Iraqs leadership had gone underground, others believed that, as one official put it, their phones melted.
...
Around 3:30 p.m., Tenet and Rumsfeld carried the information to a meeting with Bush and his top national security officials in the Oval Office. For three hours, the group discussed the source of the information, how likely it was to be true, and the risks of the operation. They spoke to Franks and came to the decision, the official said, that Tomahawk cruise missiles alone would not destroy a bunker that intelligence showed was buried under layers of dirt and concrete.
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Assembled for the discussion about the attack was Bushs war council: were Vice President Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, national security adviser Condoleeza Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr., and General Richard Myers of the air force, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. The group concluded that it was imperative to send the friend-117s, which can carry bunker buster bombs, a much heavier payload than a cruise missile.
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As the White House meeting wore on, military planners ordered the coordinates of the Baghdad house entered into the guidance systems of cruise missiles based on eight ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf and prepared to launch friend-117A stealth bombers from their base at Al Udeid air base in Qatar.
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At 7:12 p.m., senior administration officials said, Bush gave the order to execute the strike. The decision was made three minutes before a 7:15 deadline when advisers said the attack on the Baghdad bunker could no longer be carried out. Lets go, Bush said.
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Administration officials said Thursday that while they were unsure if they had killed Saddam, they were sure they had hit a bunker of top Iraqi officials. To this moment, we dont know who it was, a senior administration official said. There was some belief it was him. But there was absolute certainty it was leadership.
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Administration officials also said they were relying on intelligence from Iraqis who had not spoken to them in the past. People are talking to us now and telling us things now that they would never have dreamed of telling us, an official said. People are sticking their necks out in all kinds of way in Iraq that they never would do before.
It seems to me that if you think you can get the top leadership, and it doesnt happen to fit your plan, it would be irresponsible not to take the chance, one senior official said. Wouldnt you have backed an effort to get Hitler in 1939?
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The Iraqi leader, and possibly his two sons, were said to be in a private house built over an underground bunker in southern Baghdad.
.
What happened next, one senior administration official said Thursday, has created one of the great mysteries of the first day of the war did we hit anyone and if so, who did we get?
.
On Thursday night, officials were still holding out hope that one of the American 2,000 pound bombs and nearly 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles, each carrying 1,000 pounds of explosives, may have struck Saddam or one of his sons, Qusay and Uday.
.
It may take days, the official said, to sift through it all.
.
The mystery deepened as intelligence agencies monitoring Iraqi communications detected a significant drop in intercepted conversations among the top leaders of the country. Some officials speculated that Iraqs leadership had gone underground, others believed that, as one official put it, their phones melted.
...
 
R

retired

Guest
https://web.archive.org/web/20030408140241/http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030321-87375993.htm

U.S. intelligence officials tell us the evidence that Iraqi artillery units are preparing to use chemical warfare shells is based on reconnaissance photographs of the shells.
The rounds were identified as chemical weapons-capable shells with slots where a vial of nerve agent or biological-weapons dust is inserted before firing.
No evidence of the actual chemical or biological agents has been spotted so far. Officials said the weapons of mass destruction vials are kept separate from the artillery shells and then brought to the units before being fired.
The artillery units with the special shells were bombed Wednesday in southern Iraq in a pre-emptive strike. Officials believe the Iraqis, if they use weapons of mass destruction, will draw on their hidden stocks of VX nerve agent, an extremely potent poison.
 
C

cheryl

Guest
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Se...21/Lucky-Break-for-Jordan/UPI-59231048275949/

excerpt:

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the (Jordanian) border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."
...
 
C

cheryl

Guest
This story will be of interest to those of you talking about the possibility of UPS changing it's logo...

Selling war: a review of the campaign

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0324/p17s02-wmcn.html


...Mr. Trout was an advertising man, a longtime creature of Madison Avenue set down beside the Potomac.

...

His outsider's perspective: Washington was losing what, over the long term, might turn out to be just as significant a conflict: the battle for public opinion both in the United States and abroad.

...

Over the next four months, Trout and his marketing colleagues cringed as President Bush began to argue the case for war against Iraq. In their view, the problem was not policy but presentation. The themes on which the administration focused, the vocabulary it used, and the spokespeople it employed all failed to accomplish its most important task: presenting a clear reason for war that would resonate worldwide.

The need to successfully "brand" the war, say experts, was particularly significant in this case, because of the long buildup before military action would be taken. No aggression or specific act of terrorism prompted action in Iraq, but rather a prolonged failure to play by the rules set forth by the United Nations.

...

"Their brand position from the beginning was that this war would be one of American prerogative," says Tracey Riese, president of T.G. Riese & Associates, a brand consultancy in New York.

Then the administration changed its course. Bush's decision last fall to bring his case to the United Nations was an aggressive effort to sell his product to an audience broadened to include leaders of foreign states. From a marketing perspective, the shift was significant and difficult to pull off.

But marketing executives can point to dozens of companies that have significantly reshaped their message to suit a new audience. The key to their success: an aggressive and focused shift in advertising and public relations.

One example: the United Parcel Service, which recently changed its slogan "Moving at the speed of business" - largely an appeal to small firms - to "Think brown," a message meant to reach everyday consumers by leveraging the company's most everyday face: its chocolate-colored trucks and uniforms.
 
C

cheryl

Guest
I thought this was an interesting Audio piece: Anti-war protestor tries to answer a simple question posed by an Iraqi. Perhaps public spokesmen should be a bit more prepared...
 
M

my2cents

Guest
Great read from the New York Post: Winning Big by Ralph Peters
 
C

charlie

Guest
With a wave of Uday's arm the manacled boxer was led into the room by Iraqi secret service. Sitting behind a dark wood desk beneath an oversized portrait of himself, Uday began his tirade. "In sport you can win or you can lose. I told you not to come home if you didn't win." His voice rising, he walked around the desk and gave the boxer a lesson. "This is how you box," he screamed as he threw a left and a right straight to the fighter's face. Blood dribbled from the athlete's nose as Uday launched another round of punches. Then, using the electric prod he was famous for carrying, Uday jolted the boxer in the chest.

Blood was streaming from a cut above the boxer's eye when Uday ordered his guards to fetch a straight razor. The boxer cried out as Uday held the razor to his throat, and as he moved the blade to the fighter's forehead, Uday laughed. He then shaved the man's eyebrows, an insult to Muslim males. "Take him downstairs and finish the job," Uday screamed.
 
A

automotivedave

Guest
a couple of things have made me wonder:
1- on all the cnn coverage about night time bombing, all the lights in bagdad are on. why? are not most people more afraid in the dark, yet we let them still have lights.
2- on the first night of bombing we said we had aircraft jamming their radio and tv signals, and we were broadcasting messages saying you would be better off surrendering and etc. now their tv stations are boadcasting pictures of the dead and those captured. why do we continue to let them broadcast?
just wondering.......
 
M

my2cents

Guest
automotivedave,

From what I gather, the power staying on and the continuing broadcasts is part of the strategy to keep Iraqi citizens calm and to prove they are not targets of coalition forces. In addition, Iraqi broadcasts are also shown on Al Jezeera to pacify the Arab world. Secondly, it also serves the purpose of keeping their infrastructure intact for the post-Saddam era.

Its debateable whether or not this is a good strategy. The broadcasts must also serve as intelligence value to coalition forces. The value of this must be greater than any risks to our troops. Why the Iraqis leave the lights on at night is beyond me. Makes those nighttime bombing raids easier to accomplish.

(Message edited by my2cents on March 24, 2003)
 
R

retired

Guest
I read a few days ago about the dolphins and sealions used to discover mines and intruders and now I read this story that Morocco offered the US monkeys to use to detonate mines.

The weekly al-Usbu' al-Siyassi reported that Morocco offered the U.S. forces a large number of monkeys, some from Morocco's Atlas Mountains and others imported, to use them for detonating land mines planted by the Iraqis.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Se...-monkeys-to-detonate-mine/UPI-14431048506179/


(Message edited by retired on March 26, 2003)
 
S

steamheat

Guest
I'm really going to miss the daily updates from the Iraqi Minister of Information.
You know the fellow. "We have them surrounded and victory is ours."
 
D

deliver_man

Guest
-- The All Time Greats --

"There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"

"My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all"

"Our initial assessment is that they will all die"

"I blame Al-Jazeera - they are marketing for the Americans!"

"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."

"surrender or be burned in their tanks."

"No I am not scared and neither should you be!"

"They're not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any
place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion ... they are
trying to sell to the others an illusion."

"Faltering forces of infidels cannot just enter a country of 26 million people and lay besiege to them! They are the ones who will find themselves under siege. Therefore, in reality whatever this miserable Rumsfeld has been saying, he was talking about his own forces. Now even the American command is under siege."

"They tried to bring a small number of tanks and personnel carriers in through al-Durah but they were surrounded and most of their infidels had their throats cut."

"We made them drink poison last night and Saddam Hussein's soldiers and his great forces gave the Americans a lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Truly."

"On this occasion, I am not going to mention the number of the infidels who were killed and the number of destroyed vehicles. The operation continues"

"I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have
started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We
will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly."

"Their infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad. Be assured, Baghdad is safe, protected."

"We defeated them yesterday. God willing, I will provide you
with more information. I swear by God, I swear by God, those
who are staying in Washington and London have thrown these
mercenaries in a crematorium."

"Please, please! The Americans are relying on what I called yesterday a desperate and stupid method."

"We blocked them inside the city. Their rear is blocked"

"Desperate Americans"

"Today we slaughtered them in the airport. They are out of Saddam International Airport. The force that was in the airport, this force was destroyed."

"Their casualties and bodies are many."

"Just look carefully, I only want you to look carefully. Do not repeat the lies of liars. Do not become like them. Once again, I blame al-Jazeera before it ascertains what takes place. Please, make sure of what you say and do not play such a role."

"Search for the truth. I tell you things and I always ask you to verify what I say. I told you yesterday that there was an attack and a retreat at Saddam's airport."

"You can go and visit those places. Nothing there, nothing at all. There are Iraqi checkpoints. Evrything is okay."

"This boa, the American columns, are being besieged between Basra and other towns north, west, south and west of Basra....Now even the American command is under siege. We are hitting it from the north, east, south and west. We chase them here and they chase us there."

"By God, I think this is rather very unlikely. This is merely a prattle. The fact is that as soon as they reach baghdad gates, we will besiege them and slaughter them....Wherever they go they will find themselves encircled."

"Listen, this explosion does not frighten us any langer. The cruise missiles do not frighten anyone. We are catchign them like fish in a river. I mean here that over the past two days we managed to shoot down 196 missiles before they hit their target."

"Blair...is accusing us of executing British soldiers. We want to tell him that we have not executed anybody. They are either killed in battle, most of them get killed because they are cowards anyway, the rest they just get captured."

"They fled. The American louts fled. Indeed, concerning the fighting waged by the heroes of the Arab Socialist Baath Party yesterday, one amazing thing really is the cowardice of the American soldiers. we had not anticipated this."

"the louts of colonialism."

"The forces of American colonialism began to drop containers that produce a sound explosion, a very huge sound. I remind you that they said that their strategy is based on shock and awe. Those failed ones manufactured a type of container that has an explosive substance, which they drop. They cause a very huge explosion in terms of sound, as if the universe was shaken. After a while, you go out and you don't find anything. You find some nails, screws, pieces of metal, but the important thing here is the sound. Those failed ones think that through the huge sound explosion, people would be shocked and consequently would collapse and be defeated. What happened? The contrary. The fighters..., the masses..., and the heroic sons of the Iraqi tribes discovered this game. They will turn it against the American louts so as to shock them. Wait for surprises, God willing, to see how the US game will fail."

"The shock has backfired on them. They are shocked because of what they have seen. No one received them with roses. They were received with bombs, shoes and bullets. Now, the game has been exposed. Awe will backfire on them. This is the boa snake. We will extend it further and cut it the appropriate way."

"It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait."

"As for the mercenaries who advanced to the perimeters of Saddam International Airport, I would like to remind you of something. I will mention something that will make the picture clear for you and help you to understand what took place at Saddam International Airport. Most of you probably saw the American movie "Wag the Dog". I hope you remember it. Some of their acts that took place at dawn yesterday and today are similar to what happened in "Wag the Dog". If we succeed in keeping them isolated on that island, and we are determined to do so, we might let them taste a second mini Dien Bien Phu tonight. The European journalists remember it well. Our estimates are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us quickly. They are completely surrounded now. This morning, the number of armoured personnel carriers that were destroyed, along with their occupants, is eight. The number of the tanks destroyed is 11."

"Tonight, we will do something unconventional against them. This means: not by the military. We will do something that I believe will become a pretty example for those mercenaries. I would not be giving out a secret when I say that action in the dark against such mercenaries is effective, not through the action of armies. I say that dropping down those mercenaries in a surprise fashion at Saddam Airport without accurate calculations is largely meant for showing things. It's a showy operation. It is a kind of surprise muscle flexing to the world to show it that the shock and awe operation is indeed successful. May they be accursed. Through this operation [shock and awe], they sent a number of their villains and mercenaries to be butchered. Again, and according to my early estimates, unless the remaining part of their soldiers surrender, the chance for their survival is very slim. The surprising thing is that after they threw their soldiers into a place where they are not aware of the real results, the villainous Americans, like Powell and the others, sat in Europe to discuss how to divide Iraq as spoils after the war [laughing]. This means what's post-war. The post-war [Iraq] will be the same current Iraq under the leadership of President Saddam Husayn."

"We will pursue them as war criminals. We will work with all the free people in the world, and they are many, who want someone to bell the cat [i.e.; to do a daring deed], and now we are belling the cat, according to the famous [Arabic] saying so as to rid the UN of those villains. After Iraq aborts the invasion that is being carried out by the American and British villains, the USA will no longer be a superpower. Its deterioration will be rapid. I say to those villains who are meeting in Europe, thinking of launching psychological war and brainwashing: wait. Do not be hasty because your disappointment will be huge. You will reap nothing from this aggressive war, which you launched on Iraq, except for disgrace and defeat. Iraq will continue to exist. Its civilization is 10,000 years old. It will not be changed by villains like the US and British villains."

"The United Nations....[is] a place for prostitution under the feet of
Americans."

"They are sick in their minds. They say they brought 65 tanks into center
of city. I say to you this talk is not true. This is part of their sick mind."

"They are superpower of villains. They are superpower of Al Capone."

"Iraqi fighters in Umm Qasr are giving the hordes of American and Brtish
mercenaries the taste of definite death. We have drawn them into a
quagmire and they will never get out of it."

About Bush and Rumsfeld: "Those only deserve to be hit with shoes."
 
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