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[Fidel]

gru, thanx

[Chemical Ollie]

Saddam issues monetary rewards to those Iraqis who can kill allied soldiers, shoot down helicopters and aircraft or capture prisoners.

Shoot down aircraft : 100 million Dinars
Shoot down helicopter: 50 million Dinars
Shoot down missile: 10 million Dinars
Kill pilot or soldier: 25 million Dinars
Capture pilot or soldier: 50 million Dinars

1 $ is roughly 2000 Dinars. I wonder how much a Dinar is worth after the war?

Link in Swedish. Source AP -> Aftonbladet

http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,279790,00.html

[PLATO]

Originally posted by GRU
LaRusso,

irak.ru collects all infos they found. They do not care if it is true or not. Besides, they do not have their own sources. So, quoting irak.ru in this thread is not a good idea.

Opposite, irakwar.ru is publishing updates coming from Russian military intel sources. Not all info at that site is coming from military, you have to check a source of article. Besides you shall consider that intelligency may intentionally spread a false info.

Do you get the point?

2Moderator: sorry it is not a discussion - it is just a small explanation regarding Russian Internet sites, which are usually unknown for foreign visitors.

Here's the Link:

Russian military intel update: the situation in Iraq

http://www.irakwar.ru/iraq-read_article.php?articleId=315

[Alex]

French, Dutch refuse US request to expel Iraq envoys. From Reuters.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by GRU
LaRusso,

irak.ru collects all infos they found. They do not care if it is true or not. Besides, they do not have their own sources. So, quoting irak.ru in this thread is not a good idea.

Opposite, irakwar.ru is publishing updates coming from Russian military intel sources. Not all info at that site is coming from military, you have to check a source of article. Besides you shall consider that intelligency may intentionally spread a false info.

Do you get the point?

2Moderator: sorry it is not a discussion - it is just a small explanation regarding Russian Internet sites, which are usually unknown for foreign visitors.

Here's the Link:

Russian military intel update: the situation in Iraq

http://www.irakwar.ru/iraq-read_article.php?articleId=315

[Shi Huangdi]

CNN.com

U.S. and British troops seize control of H-2 and H-3 airfields in western Iraq and the southern oil fields near Basra, where at least nine oil wells were torched, a senior U.S. military official told CNN.
• U.S. Marines gain control of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, according to a Reuters correspondent.
• British troops take control of Iraq's Persian Gulf coast, according to a Royal Marines commander.
• U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry rolling unopposed through the desert toward Baghdad early Friday.
• About 280 Iraqi troops surrendered to U.S. and UK forces at Umm Qasr, a British military spokesman said.

Both BBC and CNN claim only coalition battle casulty at this point.

[Eli]

US FLAG MOVED FROM PORT

A US Stars and Stripes flag has been removed from the new port town of Umm Qasr just over the Iraqi border from Kuwait.
Umm Qasr was taken after British Royal Marine Commandos troops were called in to break the fierce Iraqi resistance which pinned down American troops for two hours.


No reason was given for the decision, but Washington has consistently stressed that invading forces want to liberate Iraq, not occupy it.

The US aims to use the modern port as an entry point for humanitarian aid into Iraq.

The old port of Umm Qasr is one mile from the new port of Umm Qasr, which has yet to be captured.

British marines are co-ordinating the assault on Umm Qasr.

British military spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon said the city was not yet entirely under the control of the invading force.

As they entered Umm Qasar, the soldiers passed two blazing cars and the bodies of two men in civilian clothes lying on the road.

A third man drenched in blood sat nearby on the ground surrounded by women who flagged down a Marine medical team to come to his aid.

[Shi Huangdi]

https://www.haaretz.com

The spokesman for British forces in the Persian Gulf said coalition troops might enter Baghdad within the next "three or four days."

[Eli]

Two Die at U.S. Embassy Protest in Yemen
Associated Press Writer
March 21, 2003, 10:21 AM EST


SAN`A, Yemen -- Two people were shot dead and dozens more were injured Friday as police clashed with demonstrators trying to storm the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.

About 30,000 protesters chanted "Death to America!" as outrage over the U.S.-led attacks on Iraq spilled into the streets for a second day Friday.

The dead included a policeman and a protester.

The policeman was hit by gunfire that came from demonstrators, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

A protester also was shot, he said without elaborating, although witnesses said the protester was hit by police gunfire.

[Shi Huangdi]

Iraq welcoming our forces?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&u=/ap/20030321/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_conquered_town_2&printer=1

U.S. Marines Rip Down Saddam Portraits
52 minutes ago

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press Writer

SAFWAN, Iraq - U.S. Marines hauled down giant street portraits of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in a screeching pop of metal and bolts Friday, telling nervous residents of this southern Iraqi town that "Saddam is done."


AP Photo



Milling crowds of men and boys watched as the Marines attached ropes on the front of their Jeeps to one portrait and then backed up, peeling the Iraqi leader's black-and-white metal image off a frame. Some locals briefly joined Maj. David "Bull" Gurfein in a new cheer.


"Iraqis! Iraqis! Iraqis!" Gurfein yelled, pumping his fist in the air.


"We wanted to send a message that Saddam is done," said Gurfein, a New York native in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "People are scared to show a lot of emotion. That's why we wanted to show them this time we're here, and Saddam is done."


The Marines arrived in Safwan, just across the Kuwait border, after Cobra attack helicopters, attack jets, tanks, 155 mm howitzers and sharpshooters cleared the way along Route 80, the main road into Iraq (news - web sites).


Safwan, 375 miles south of Baghdad, is a poor, dirty, wrecked town pocked by shrapnel from the last Gulf war (news - web sites). Iraqi forces in the area sporadically fired mortars and guns for hours Thursday and Friday. Most townspeople hid, although residents brought forth a wounded little girl, her palm bleeding after the new fighting. Another man said his wife was shot in the leg by the Americans.


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!"

[Shi Huangdi]

Could someone who reads Arabic translate this website into English? I'd like to know what Al Jazeera is saying

http://www.aljazeera.net/special_coverages/waroniraq/index.htm

[PLATO]

Foxnews.com reporting:

B-52 Bombers Take Off From Britain

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,81740,00.html

[Ming]

As a reminder... don't spam this thread... don't post just your opinions...

This thread is for legitimate news stories...
Please don't post rumors... and try to include a source, a link, or the actual story.

Thank you.

[Chemical Ollie]

Iraqi forces in Uum Qasr still put up resistance, according to Swedish radio news.

[Alex]

U.S. Advance Held Up South of Baghdad
Fri March 21, 2003 10:46 AM ET

By Adrian Croft and Andrew Gray
SOUTHERN IRAQ (Reuters) - U.S. armored columns raced toward Baghdad on Friday, but one unit ran into Iraqi resistance that halted it near Nassiriya on the Euphrates river.

The startling speed of a U.S. advance from Kuwait deep into the Iraqi desert had prompted some British and American officers to predict a swift victory in the war to topple President Saddam Hussein and disarm Iraq.

But British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the war would not be won overnight and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the conflict could still be "lengthy and dangerous."

Reuters correspondent Andrew Gray, traveling with elements of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, said the unit had come under fire near Nassiriya, a main crossing point over the Euphrates 235 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Securing a Euphrates crossing quickly is a key component of the American invasion plan.

Gray saw U.S. troops return fire with rockets. U.S. officers said they expected soon "to go and join the battle."

U.S. Marines also met unexpected resistance when they attacked a key southern Iraqi port earlier in the day.

But U.S. officials said American troops had seized two strategic airfields in Iraq's western desert, part of a move to encircle Baghdad.

While Iraqi ministers vowed to "incinerate" the invaders and asserted that Saddam Hussein had survived an early missile strike, Washington said it hoped to achieve its goal of ousting the Iraqi president without bringing all its firepower to bear.

Defense analysts cautioned that TV footage of U.S. tanks thrusting across the desert might not tell the whole story.

"We have not yet seen a major engagement between large groups of troops," said Tim Ripley of the Defense Studies Center at Britain's Lancaster University. "Until you see that you just can't judge the willingness of the Iraqis to fight."

Link: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=2424002