Post Latest Iraq War News Here - Part III

[gsmoove23]

Britain and the United States have bypassed the United Nations to establish a secret team of inspectors to resume the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
It is a sign of the desperation in London and Washington to find a "smoking gun" to justify the war that the Anglo-American team has already conducted three inspections in the past two weeks.

No banned weapons have so far been found.

The decision to set up a new group of inspectors, dubbed US-movic because they are an American-led rival to Unmovic, will infuriate the UN.

Kofi Annan, the secretary general, pointedly reminded Britain and the US this week that Unmovic still has a mandate to carry out inspections.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,935304,00.html

[monkspider]

Syria must deny refuge to Sadaam loyalists or face consequences

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=2552970

Top Syrian official: US guilty of waging aggressive war on Iraqi people

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&ncid=736&e=10&u=/ap/20030412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_syria_iraq

Fall of Baghdad provokes rage, soul searching for Arab people

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/04/11/international1415EDT0709.DTL

Arabs charge that those rebuilding Iraq will be "Pro-Israel"http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=6787&TagID=2

[Kyle]

"Revealed: Russia spied on Blair for Saddam "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/13/wrus13.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/04/13/ixportaltop.html

*edit* Oops, didn't see the thread

[Mordoch]

CNN has a reporter on his own on the outskirts of Tikrit. He just entered an desserted Iraqi base and there are a substancial number of intact Tanks and APCs that have been left abandoned! It looks like there might not be much of a force still defending Tikrit after all. He's completely on his own, but he hasn't run into any Iraqi checkpoints or anything.

Update: He just stopped by another Iraqi APC on the road and ended up entering it to take a look! Its completely abandoned with everything including the ammo for the machine gun still there. There are a large number of intact vehicles with their ammo still in it nearby!

Now he's in another Iraqi base with hundreds of intact tanks and APCs just abandoned neatly next to each other.

A CNN link to a news story on this is right here.

[Drake Tungsten]

Brent Sadler is the correspondent in Tikrit. He's following a Tikrit schoolteacher into the center of the town right now...

[Drake Tungsten]

Jesus! Sadler and his crew had to blow through an armed checkpoint in Tikrit to get out and now they're in a car chase/gunfight on the road out of town. All live on CNN. Wow.

[The Mad Monk]

AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday six Americans had been recovered alive in Iraq (!!!)

"I can confirm at this time six Americans have been recovered," Captain Stewart Upton told Reuters at war headquarters in Qatar.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030413/ts_nm/iraq_usa_prisoners_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480

[The Mad Monk]

Two Malaysian Aid Workers Wounded in Iraq
2 hours, 36 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!



KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Two relief workers from Malaysia were wounded and three journalists kidnapped in an ambush by unidentified gunmen in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Malaysia's official Bernama news agency reported on Sunday.

An Iraqi man acting as an interpreter for the workers of aid agency Mercy Malaysia was killed in the incident on Saturday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030413/wl_nm/iraq_malaysia_journalists_dc_2

[The Mad Monk]

Their mission is to build, not to battle
Team set to help put Iraq back together
By DAN EGAN
degan@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: April 12, 2003
Fort Bragg, N.C. - Rachel Roe carries an M-16, but she isn't the typical foot soldier.

The 30-year-old West Allis native has a psychology degree from Harvard and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin, and she is fluent in Arabic.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/apr03/133238.asp

[Ned]

A large number of Cobra attack helicopters were engaging Iraqi forces inside Tikrit, and some 250 armored vehicles from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit had entered the north-central city as well, Matthew Fisher, a National Post of Canada reporter told CNN.

Brig. Gen. John Kelly told Fisher the Marines encountered five manned tanks earlier on the outskirts of the town and destroyed them and also engaged in a fierce firefight with an Iraqi infantry unit, killing at least 15. Fisher is embedded with Marines sent to Tikrit.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/13/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html

[Ned]

Interview on MSNBC with Iraqi opposition leader: We do not want the UN or France or Germany or Russia involved in Iraq.

Villepin in Egypt to Mubarak: The UN must control reconstruction. Any Iraqi government not formed by the UN is not legitimate.

Powell: The Iraqi people will choose their own government.

[Ned]

Mohammed Mussen al Zubaydi, opposition leader, told about 1,500 civil servants that if they were police officers or electrical plant workers they should return to their jobs.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/13/sprj.irq.civil.servants/index.html

[monkspider]

Rumsfeld: Iraqi leaders are in Syria

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&ncid=736&e=3&u=/ap/20030413/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_us_military

Al-queda vows to avenge the fall of Iraq

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32024

Washington says it's next target is Syrian-sponsored terrorist group

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,935943,00.html

[SlowwHand]

Saddam Hussein half-brother in U.S. custody
Sunday, April 13, 2003 Posted: 6:21 PM EDT (2221 GMT)

Meanwhile, a half-brother of Saddam Hussein is in U.S. custody after attempting to escape Iraq into Syria, a U.S. official said Sunday.

No other details were provided about the capture of Watban Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, who is on the U.S. list of 55 most wanted Iraqi senior leaders.

A deck of playing cards has been distributed to U.S. troops to help them recognize fugitive Iraqi leaders. Al-Tikriti's image is displayed on the deck's five of spades.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/13/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html

[SlowwHand]

uh-huh



Syria issues strongest denial yet of US allegations

Syria has issued its strongest denial yet of US accusations that it is harbouring Iraqi leaders and had given Saddam Hussein's government military assistance in the run-up to and during the war on Iraq.



“These (claims) are based on allegations that are baseless,” Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Shara told reporters at a joint news conference with his French counterpart Dominique De Villepin.


Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Shara (R) and his French counterpart Dominique De Villepin

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had said Washington would hold Damascus accountable for reported shipments of military equipment, including night vision goggles, to Iraq, describing them as “hostile acts.”



In recent days Washington has also accused Damascus of sheltering Iraqi officials fleeing their homeland.



Shara said Syria was not taking seriously what he called “threats” from the Bush administration because “they do not represent the general view in the United States.”



Syria is a staunch opponent of the US-led war against Iraq and has repeatedly warned that the conflict could plunge the region into chaos. But the sole Arab UN Security Council member supported UN resolution 1441 which established a tough new disarmament regime for Iraq last November.



“Sometimes (the Bush administration) don’t know what they want…we say to them give us evidence,” he said.



France called for an end to the war of words between the United States and Syria. But De Villepin, who met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, stopped short of backing Syria’s strong denial of the US claims as he made a lightning visit to Damascus on the second leg of his Middle East tour.



“Now is the time for a display of responsibility, not for polemics,” De Villepin told journalists when questioned about US charges at a joint news conference with Shara.



The Syrian foreign minister said Damascus’ ties with Saddam Hussein’s government were “not friendly for many years” and that Syria wanted to have good relations “with the American people.”



“We are victimised. I am telling you now because (the Bush administration) failed they are trying to pinpoint at a third country, perhaps Syria or another country,” he said.



US Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier tried to quell speculation that Washington may move away from Iraq and set sights on Iran and Syria.




De Villepin said Paris believed Damascus had a “significant role to play” in any Iraq settlement. The French foreign minister arrived in Beirut Saturday evening where he will hold talks with Lebanese officials Sunday before heading on to Saudi Arabia.



Earlier in Cairo, De Villepin called on the US-led coalition to do more to rein in the lawlessness that has gripped Iraqi cities since US forces entered the heart of the capital on Wednesday.



De Villepin urged Arabs to “keep the faith,” vowing the international community was “more than ever ready to mobilise” in support of a comprehensive peace for the region.



Meanwhile, Iraq’s UN Ambassador Mohammad Al-Douri arrived in Damascus Saturday from New York. Al-Douri, the first Iraqi official to concede Hussein’s government was defeated, had said he was leaving the United States because he did not want to represent his country under US-British occupation.

http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=2517&version=1&template_id=263&parent_id=258