Oil Center Falls: Kirkuk Falls to Coalition Control; U.S. Says Battle Not Over Yet
ABCNEWS ^ | Thursday, April 10, 2003
Posted on 04/10/2003 10:18:55 AM CDT by JohnHuang2
B A G H D A D, Iraq, April 10 The oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has fallen to U.S. and Kurdish forces, delivering a key victory just one day after Saddam Hussein's regime lost control of Baghdad.
Reporting from Kirkuk, where he is traveling with U.S. special operations forces, ABCNEWS' Jim Sciutto said a last Iraqi defense on a ridgeline near Kirkuk collapsed "very quickly" after days of intense fighting.
The strategic northern city which is the center of Iraq's oil industry is now free, said Sciutto. "U.S. forces were greeted by thousands of very happy Kurds celebrating in the streets, hugging, kissing some of these special forces troops," he said.
But Kirkuk was not entirely secure and gunshots could be heard across the city amid reports that some Iraqi troops were holed up in the southern part of the city, said Sciutto.
Source
Sounds like Iraq troops up there to me. Other headlines at that time read, "Bloodshed as Kirkuk Falls," "Mosul Long a Center of Saddam Support," "Northern Iraqi City of Mosul Falls," "Iraqi 5th Corps surrenders at Mosul." Iraqi military were there when we went in. Do you need more "proof?"
I submit for the following my take on the AlQ<>Hussein connection, from my limited but extensive study of the public evidence:
There is clearly enough public evidence of AlQ<>Hussein to make that guilty call. There is clearly sufficient other evidence of serious wrong doing by SH to have taken him out completely.