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U.S. May Face Elite Iraqi Troops (CBS News is Praying For Blood - MUST-READ!!!)
CBS News ^
| March 22, 2003
| Various
Posted on 03/22/2003 1:57:27 PM PST by Timesink
U.S. May Face Elite Iraqi Troops
March 22, 2003
U.S. and British forces besieged the southern city of Basra on Saturday and pounded Baghdad with impunity in the first daylight air raids of the war. But tough fighting loomed for coalition troops as they pressed deeper into Iraq.
An soldier from the U.S. Army A Company 3rd Battalion 7th Infantry Regiment watches the blur of a convoy of 3rd Infantry Division forces. (AP)
"The Americans have no conscience. What have our children done to deserve this?" Amal Hassan Kamel, wounded Iraqi civilian
Saddam Hussein talks with elite Republican Guard officers in Baghdad. (AP)
A U.S. soldier stands in front of a poster of Saddam Hussein in southern Iraq. (AP)
|
CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports the United States Army could soon clash with Iraq's elite Republican Guard at Karbala, while the Marines could encounter them at Al Kut.
Saddam's regime continued taking a hard line ? denying military setbacks and verbally attacking its enemies in a show of public resolve. Information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf lashed out at the allies.
"They are a gang of war criminals ? international bastards," he said. "They lie day and night. They are not human."
In other major developments:
- Two British Navy helicopters collided over the Persian Gulf, and seven on board were killed, including a U.S. Navy officer. A day earlier, eight British and four U.S. Marines died when their helicopter crashed south of Umm Qasr. A source at Central Command says six journalists have also been killed in action.
- Delta Force units searching possible chemical weapons sites in the country's west have found one suspect shell in checking three of 650 target areas.
- It emerged that Ali Hasan Al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam known as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged involvement in chemical weapons attacks against civilians, was the target of an allied attack. It is not known if he was wounded or killed.
- The Pentagon abandoned a plan to send heavy armored troops through Turkey into northern Iraq.
- Iran has accused U.S. and British warplanes of violating its airspace, and says a missile landed in Iran, 30 miles from Basra. A spokesman said the Pentagon is "looking into" those reports.
- In his weekly radio address, President Bush said: "The future of peace and the hopes of the Iraqi people now depend on our fighting forces in the Middle East."
- The latest CBS News/New York Times poll shows Americans are feeling optimistic about the progress of the war in Iraq, but they believe President Bush hasn't been clear about all the possible consequences of military action.
- As many as 200,000 anti-war demonstrators, spanning 30 blocks, marched down Broadway in New York City, one of dozens of protests against the intensified war on Iraq.
Military officials say U.S. forces are now 150 miles into Iraq and have crossed the Euphrates River.
At a Pentagon briefing, spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said it's only a matter of time before the Iraqi regime is destroyed.
She said coalition forces are making "considerable progress," but warned that the situation in Iraq is fluid and challenges are ahead.
While coalition forces have gained the area around Basra, they have not advanced into the its heart. Controlling Iraq's second-largest city, with 1.3 million people, is strategically important but analysts said there was no military value to actually capturing the city.
Elsewhere, Marine engineers sped across the Western desert carrying boats and bridges to span rivers en route to the capital. The Army's 3rd Infantry Division defeated the Iraqi 11th Division to capture the city of Al-Nasiriya as well as two bridges that cross the Euphrates, opening the road to Baghdad.
CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod reports the 3rd Infantry's 1st Brigade took several prisoners, then came under fire. They fought back, and ended up with more captives.
More units were waiting in Kuwait. Hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, Humvees and trucks were lined up in parallel columns waiting in single-file to cross the Iraqi-Kuwait border.
A Central Command spokesman said some coalition forces have moved the same distance as the longest maneuver of the 1991 Gulf war in one quarter of the time.
The spokesman, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, said coalition forces had seized three southern oil facilities, at al Faw, Mina' al Bakr and Khawr al Amaya. They found weapons, ammunition and explosives there.
The effort to demoralize Iraqi leadership appeared to be paying off. An entire division of the Iraqi army ? the 51st Infantry Division, with 8,000 men and as many as 200 tanks ? surrendered. CBS News Correspondent Scott Pelley reports an Iraqi colonel in U.S. custody is providing significant information about Iraq's defenses.
In his first appearance of the war, the invasion commander said the invasion was succeeding in throwing Saddam Hussein's government into disarray.
"There is a certain confusion that is going on within the regime. I believe the command and control is not exactly as advertised on Iraqi television," Gen. Tommy Franks said.
In Baghdad, intermittent explosions were heard throughout the day in the first daylight air strikes of the war. At least 20 columns of dark smoke rose from points around Baghdad. Al-Jazeera television reported that the plumes were coming from fires that Iraqis had set to oil containers around the city to obscure targets.
Iraqi officials said more than 200 people have been injured in the bombing so far. One death has been confirmed.
At Al Yarmouk Hospital, one of the critically injured was Amal Hassan Kamel. She was in the hospital with her 8-year old son Wa'ad Hashim, who was injured in both legs by shrapnel.
"The Americans have no conscience," Kamel said. "What have our children done to deserve this?"
Meanwhile, the situation in northern Iraq grew more complicated. It was unclear whether Turkey had moved troops into the area.
A Turkish military official said they had, but the Turkish general staff denied the reports.
CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports fighting has erupted between Kurdish fighters and Ansar Al Islam ? the group the Bush administration alleges in linked to al Qaeda. Kurdish officials said American advisers were traveling with their forces. About six U.S. cruise missiles or bombs hit an Ansar installation.
One of the journalists who was killed, an Australian, died in a car bomb blamed on Ansar. Women and children were also killed in the blast.
The five other journalists died in southern Iraq. Two Americans and one Frenchman were killed headed to al-Nasariya in southern Iraq. Two Britons were killed after crossing the Iraq-Kuwait border.
The Pentagon identified two Marines killed in combat Friday as 2nd Lt. Therrel S. Childers, 30, of Harrison County, Miss.; and Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22, of Los Angeles.
TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 3rdid; 3rdinfantry; alkut; antiamericanmedia; boycott; boycottviacom; cbs; cbsnews; cbsviacom; ccrm; embeddedreport; karbala; lamestreammedia; liberalbias; liberalmedia; mediabias; mtv; nick; outforblood; republicanguard; seebs; seebsnews; vh1; viacom; viacommie; warlist
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To: Timesink
I fart on your beards.
Bend over and kiss it good-bye Iraq.
41
posted on
03/22/2003 3:54:57 PM PST
by
lodwick
( Live free or die)
To: Timesink
Imagine these "Elite Troops" hunkered down waiting to be attacked by colums of tanks, mobile artillery and 20,000 other elite troops. If you withdraw you will be shot and your family killed. If you fire your artillery it will be immediately destroyed. When it is dark they can see you but you are blind. They have food and water and shoes, you do not.
The attackers have complete air superiority with weapons like hypobaric bombs, gun ships and guided bombs you have no way to shoot them down.
Yep, I'll bet the Iraqis can hardly wait.
42
posted on
03/22/2003 3:55:14 PM PST
by
Mike Darancette
(Ding, Dong Soddom is DEAD)
To: Timesink
One of the journalists who was killed, an Australian, died in a car bomb blamed on Ansar. Women and children were also killed in the blast. Why wasn't this the headline???
43
posted on
03/22/2003 3:56:46 PM PST
by
jackbill
(waiting to be removed by administrator)
To: EGPWS
why do you listen to their dribble and take it to heart?I don't watch or listen to the dribble, haven't for years - however I do a lot of reading - such as this article.
To: Bobby777
Don't waste quality ordnance. Drop the MOABs and BLU82's right on the Republican Guard positions. Survivors then have the option of raising the white flag. You never, ever do "demonstrations" in ground comment IMHO. You kill, destroy and eliminate the enemies will and ability to fight. If we give these rats one chance to escape, we will be tolerating terrorist incidents and sneak attacks for weeks after the war ends. Only one message needs to be sent:
SURRENDER OR DIE
V
45
posted on
03/22/2003 4:40:42 PM PST
by
Beck_isright
( V ......................... use this instead of bttt... for victory)
To: fellowpatriot
I don't watch or listen to the dribble, haven't for years - however I do a lot of reading - such as this article. :)
46
posted on
03/22/2003 4:58:14 PM PST
by
EGPWS
To: Timesink
Allow this former AF pilot to educate the nimrods at CBS.
Ahem..............um, CBS twits..........we own the skies, we own the night.
Battle over before it's begun.
Tapes available in the lobby for $20.95 apiece.
To: Timesink
"There's only one pull quote. It is overtly anti-American. It's in the left column between the first two photos. (I don't blame you for missing it; it's horrid design work on CBS's part.)"Nice extrication of CBS' attempt at influencing the subsconcious. Those B@stards.
48
posted on
03/22/2003 5:25:08 PM PST
by
F16Fighter
(Democrats -- The Party of Stalin and Chiraq)
To: Straight Vermonter
To: visualops
To: Mike Darancette
Imagine these "Elite Troops" hunkered down waiting to be attacked by colums of tanks, mobile artillery and 20,000 other elite troops. If you withdraw you will be shot and your family killed. If you fire your artillery it will be immediately destroyed. When it is dark they can see you but you are blind. They have food and water and shoes, you do not. The attackers have complete air superiority with weapons like hypobaric bombs, gun ships and guided bombs you have no way to shoot them down. Yep, I'll bet the Iraqis can hardly wait. Neat summary.
51
posted on
03/22/2003 5:38:23 PM PST
by
RobbyS
To: BobP; Waco; fellowpatriot; Excuse_My_Bellicosity; Timesink
52
posted on
03/22/2003 6:21:03 PM PST
by
Madcelt
(God Bless and Keep this Republic - Peace through superior firepower!,It works!!)
To: Beck_isright
yeah, I'm just saying sometimes you can make "believers" out of them without killing them ... unfortunately, killing them also creates terrorism ... but that's kinda where we are, aren't we? ... do nothing = terrorism, talk = terrorism, attack = terrorism ... it's going to be with us a long, long time I should think (unfortunately) ...
53
posted on
03/22/2003 7:19:23 PM PST
by
Bobby777
To: Timesink
Elite Iraqi Troops
An oxymoron
54
posted on
03/22/2003 7:34:12 PM PST
by
kabar
To: Timesink
CBS was the most liberal of the liberal during Walter's time, but now Jennings is way over the top. Makes me ashamed to be an old ABCer.
To: Hillarys Gate Cult
I agree...can't have enough prayers for the troops and those in NY who are doing their duty. From what I have read and heard, NY is still the prime terrorists target. God Bless the people of NY who are carrying on.
Red
56
posted on
03/24/2003 9:31:21 AM PST
by
Conservative4Ever
(got the new computer, touch pad, keyboard learning blues)
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