General tells how cell phone foiled U. S. attack in Iraq

The Army's only retreat in the lightning-fast war to oust Saddam Hussein came after an Iraqi general in the town of Najaf cell-phoned ahead to his troops that a regiment of Apache attack helicopters was on the way.

"He used it to speed-dial a number of Iraqi defenders," Lt. Gen. William Wallace, the commander of Army V Corps in Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday via a teleconference hookup from Baghdad. "As our attack aviation approached the attack positions, they came under intense enemy fire."

Man, I can't hardly get my cell phone to work in one of our towns. This Iraqi is able to get his to work in a third world country under attack from the most powerful country in the world with jamming and electronic countermeasures going crazy day and night.

Sounds like the Iraqis have a future in telecommunications.

Baghdad to get improved telecommunications

Two logisticians of Télécoms Sans Frontières arrived yesterday at the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. TSF will open telecom centres in the Iraqi capital and, depending on the evolution of the security conditions, deploy mobile telecom teams all over the Iraqi territory. Iraq is currently cut off from the rest of the world, aiming at restoring communications for NGOs, hospitals and the population using Inmarsat mobile satellite communication systems. TSF team in Baghdad will work in partnership with the JNEPI (Joint NGO Emergency Preparedness Initiative for Iraq), a group of 5 NGOs (Save the Children, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, World Vision and Mercy Corps). The telecom centre set up with the JNEPI will be open to all organizations working for the reconstruction of the country. It will offer phone, fax, email, internet and Visio conference facilities. Télécoms sans Frontières is member of the United Nations Working Group des Nations Unies sur les on Emergency Telecommunications (WGET), partner of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and member of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), and of the Red Cross. TSF takes part in acts of United Nations by the World Health Organization (OMS) and the Office of the High Commission with the Refugees (UNHCR)

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