Baghdad Hit by Sustained Air Raid

www.reutors.com ^ | Wed March 19, 2003 11:21 PM ET | Reuters

[Smogger]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sporadic explosions continued to rock the outskirts of Baghdad on Thursday, 100 minutes after U.S. air strikes began a war to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Reuters correspondents in the city center said a dawn wave of jet aircraft attacks did not appear to have been repeated, suggesting that later blasts were caused by missiles.

U.S. officials said F-117A stealth fighters and long-range cruise missiles were used in the attack. They said it was a limited strike and Washington had not yet unleashed the huge aerial attack that is expected in coming days.

There was a lull in anti-aircraft fire in Baghdad. Reuters correspondent Hassan Hafidh said that, judging from his vantage point and the apparent sources of the explosions, anti-aircraft batteries seemed to have been targeted.

A U.S. government source said attacks were aimed at "elements of the Iraqi leadership."

[Smogger]

Just like both of the Generals earlier on Fox said the strikes will continue all day with missiles and "other assets." The read I get from the press is that they are upset that their sources didn't accurately predict the start of hostilities. They seemed determined to paint this as an isolated strike rather then the start of susteained hostilities. But they are reporting it now Fox.

[Smogger]

Fox is now reporting more explosions in the southern part of the city. No reports of hearing planes. Most likely cruise missiles. Fox is reporting this article now.

[xm177e2]

Sporadic explosions continued to rock the outskirts of Baghdad

Could that just be AAA? (Anti-Aircraft Artillery)

[Brian_Baldwin]

CNN is refusing to call the commencement of action as “liberation” – while most of the other networks are using the word, e.g. “the liberation of Iraq has begun” or “a surgical strike, but the beginning of the U.S. operation of liberation of Iraq”, etc., CNN will not use the word, instead calling it only “the US war on Iraq”, or “Strike on Iraq”, “aggression” – in particular the use of the phrase “strike on” instead of “strike against”. One can monitor the cable coverage between the stations, and even without thinking about it, it has occurred to many observers this specific nuance regarding CNN’s refusal to use the word. It has been very clear what fraternity CNN belongs to, and it isn’t America.

[section9]

Fox is now reporting more explosions in the southern part of the city. No reports of hearing planes. Most likely cruise missiles.

Tommy Franks can't bank on Saddam's death. He should go forward and sieze the bridges over the Euphrates asap. That's my humble opinion.

There's a lot of head-faking going on. You might not see a ground invasion until Saturday night!

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[noutopia]

Wham Bamm.Thanks Saddam see you again. Maybe today,maybe tonite.

[Smogger]

Could that just be AAA? (Anti-Aircraft Artillery)

They are reporting that no AAA is seen going up into the air. They also report hearing no aircraft. The two generals early on Fox seemed confident that this was start of sustained hostilities. The reporters seemed determined to call this an isolated attack, but the Generals countered that the Allies could achieve at least "tactical suprise" by attacking during the day. They seemed confident that there would be at least a thousand strikes today. The reporter seemed incredulous that the action didn't begin at night, but no suprise the retired General's appear to be correct.

[Smogger]

Reutors is now reporting artillary fire along the the Iraq/Kuwait border. Things seemed to be moving rather quickly now. If you watched the two Generals on Fox earlier they said that it would. In fact one of them said that he though Baisari (sp?) would be attacked by the end of the day. I suspect their info is better then Fox's.

[AF68]

Could that just be AAA? (Anti-Aircraft Artillery)

Nope. I was monitoring the MSNBC webcam and there were distant booming explosions recorded by the microphone for 90 minutes after the initial strike on Saddam's bunkers.

[Smogger]

U.S. Appears to Start Broadcasting on Iraqi Radio

Wed March 19, 2003 10:10 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The main frequency of Iraqi state radio appeared to be taken over by the U.S. military as U.S. planes began bombing Baghdad at dawn on Thursday. "This is the day we have been waiting for," an announcer said in Arabic shortly after the normal Iraqi broadcast went off the air suddenly, within minutes of U.S air strikes starting.

The new announcer said Saddam Hussein's administration was under attack.

[AF68]

AIR RAID SIRENS GOING OFF AGAIN!

[Smogger]

CNN, Fox: Air raid Sirens in Iraq again.

[AF68]

No raid. It's the all-clear siren.

[7MMmag]

all your channels, are belong to us!