Posted on 03/19/2004 6:42:48 PM PST by Timeout
Tonight is the one-year anniversary of the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Where are all the Sit Room regulars?! I thought it might be a good idea to resurrect the Situation Room for a "reunion". Does anyone still have a ping list?
I just walked by the TV and they were showing that camera on ACHMED's PARKING GARAGE! (Alas, no Achmed). No hammering could be heard at the time. I haven't seen any "traffic circle" shots yet, but they'll have to show them eventually.
But PRETTY CHICKEN was one of the correspondents recalling where he was that night (under his bed)!
Amen! I will never forget watching Greg Kelly driving across the desert at the beginning of the war. I couldn't believe we were watching a war LIVE!!
SoldiersGirl, Retrokitten, NamVet and others kept me in stitches during some of the most difficult times. Gosh, it seems like yesterday.
Those were amazing days. I am so grateful we had fellow Freepers to share the tough times, and the good...throughout.
null and void, thanks for giving us a place to gather daily.
TexKat, just amazing, faithful work you did posting the news links and pics, daily....keeping the threads going. Thank you!
The "wanker dictionary", lol! Carried us through days of continued - especially egregious - press quagmire-peddling the days after the troops liberated Baghdad.
Dennis Prager said tonight that a taxi driver in Baghdad, when asked by a reporter what the Iraqi citizens were doing responded, "Waiting for America."...and quietly applauded.
At 21:54, from the White House: "The war against Iraq has begun."
They blew up the one of him sitting on a horse. I wanted to see them get the one on BagCam. BTW, did anyone else notice that the one the Brits took down yesterday had a 155 mm cannon hole in its crotch. You can see daylight all the way through. Ya gotta love the British sense of humor
2506 posted on 04/07/2003 8:23 AM EDT by GreyWolf
It is unbelievably amazing that our troops have taken the airport, the palaces (2 at least), the parade grounds, most of the governmental "downtown" area, and yet...on the webcam traffic is moving, buildings (non-governmental) are standing, and life for the average Iraqi is going on (with maybe headaches from the bombing).
One of the soldiers said that they hadn't had a bath in 20 or so days, so they were going inside to use Saddam's showers.
At the same time, Baghdad Bob was holding a press conference on the roof of the Palestine Hotel (because we were bombing the crap out of the Information Ministry), telling us all that the American troops were commiting suicide at the "walls of Baghdad."
On Fox, Greg Kelly was interviewing a soldier from Georgia in front of Saddam's palace.
Greg said, "The Information minister doesn't believe you're here, what do you say?"
The soldier said, "Well, he's right across the street from here, we'll go talk to him."
It was swell.
3333 posted on 04/07/2003 12:53 PM EDT by Howlin
The tilting point was the liberation of Basra." Mark Ginsberg
They are just plain awesome...I was watching FoxNews last night...They were showing a reporter standing on Saddam's front lawn talking with our troops! We had a few guys in tanks about 50 meters away waving and smiling at the cameras...At the same time they were showing that moron minister of information spokesman saying that we were not in Baghdad...that we were committing suicide at their borders...Fox minimized him and showed our guys laughing and waving at the cameras Saddam's real estate. It really had me cracking up. I flipped over to CNN and MSNBC only to see a full screen view of that moron...They were taking excerpts of his speech and displaying them as headlines...like he was preaching to the choir. Fox on the other hand, showed a side by side view of our guys kicking ass...blowing up his statue and removing the flag frm the top of his palace.
Yet another reason to stick with them...just awesome
2588 posted on 04/07/2003 8:57 AM EDT by Capitalism2003
Mornin', Pappy. Arrrghh. Only 3 hrs sleep, but it was worth it. After an incredible night, I woke up and the first thing I saw on TV was two of our soldiers sitting in a rose garden!
What an incredible night. Greg's reports, our GIs' sense of confidence and humor, the Rackies running along the river in their underwear...and jumping IN the river, in some cases! Amazing.
Are we still in Baghdad? I see our statue is still standing. Did we get B-Bob?
When I went to bed Ollie's unit hadn't crossed the river. Have they made it?
ANd, last we knew, Richard "Mr. Chicken" Engle from ABC was hiding under his bed and relying on N.Y. to feed him the story. Has he emerged again? Biggest laugh I've had on all these threads..he was sooooo scared and had no idea we were watching him! LOL!
As the song said, "Oh what a night!".
2596 posted on 04/07/2003 8:59 AM EDT by Timeout
WOW! Busy news night! 2000+ posts all before 9 AM cst! I saw on the Fox News crawl that the tank that took out the Saddam statue was called, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue". That is so cool!!
2634 posted on 04/07/2003 9:13 AM EDT by retrokitten
We were listening to booms on the webcam around 11PM, wondering if we had some troops in Bdad. This went on for well over an hour. Loud BOOMS, small arms fire, just lots of smoke, haze and confusion. Meanwhile, there was NO traffice on the circle. No reporters on the roof. It was a ghost city. Only the birds were about.
Suddenly, in a sort of quiet way, FOX said they were cutting to Greg Kelly. The connection was bad, but we made out just enough to hear Greg say they were IN BAGHDAD and approaching Saddam's palace by the river! Whooooaaaaa! We instantly realized the Situation Room knew about this new raid before FOX did! And that means we knew about it before ANYONE did! This place ROCKS!
Ahmded came to the roof and started swinging the cam around wildly...we'd never had him do this before. He pointed it skyward and we thought he was going to remove it. Once he steadied it, we were watching one of our A-10's steaking through the skies of Baghdad....and it wasn't making a friendly call. He was strafing enemy positions in advance of the troops' advance. Huge booms and percussions could be heard all around.
Finally, Greg Kelly was able to get through and, lo and behold, he was standing on the lawn of Saddam's main palace! You've heard of most of the action after that. Fox had the exclusive...again! Greg's reports were jaw-dropping and rivetting. Baghdad Bob and Richard Engle made the usual fools of themselves. There were frenzied "parades" at our traffic circle...even the garbage trucks joined in.
All in all, a good time for those of us safely away from the action. It was awesome and audacios. And, remarkably, the Sit Room was in on the action before the world audience even knew it was happening.
A hearty "Well Done!" to General Franks and the men in his service!
2647 posted on 04/07/2003 9:17 AM EDT by Timeout (...an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this
As P. J. O'Rourke said: "Liberals like to say that America isn't the world's policeman, but when Iraq invaded Kuwait, no one called Sweden."
-Eric
3421 posted on 04/07/2003 1:34 PM EDT by E Rocc
This is what they meant by Baghdad "falling from within."
2779 posted on 04/07/2003 10:12 AM EDT by dfwgator
An excerpt:
"HUNDREDS of Iraqi men have greeted US marines in their push toward the Iraqi capital yelling "kill Saddam", as they sliced their thumbs across their throats in a universally recognised gesture."
2948 posted on 04/07/2003 11:01 AM EDT by TonyInOhio
I quickly passed by CNN yesterday and heard Judy Woodruff say: As if the Iraqi people have not been through enough we are now adding insult to injury...... I could not get away fast enough. I will not go there again.
2964 posted on 04/07/2003 11:06 AM EDT by hobson
'Mornin'! We'll do fine I think. Our Father is with us in this for sure. I've been reading comments from the "arab street" and they are a real HOOT! Those idiots have no idea how much El Jazz and the rest of their so-called 'media' lies to them. WMD confirmed found also. CUT THE WORLD OF IDIOTS OFF AT THE KNEES! Gotta love it.
Nam Vet
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Here's a fave from the period:
FReegards,
Tony
God bless our troops and their families.
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