BRIEFING: AT WAR WITH IRAQ
BY WORLD TRIBUNE.COM WITH MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
BY WORLD TRIBUNE.COM WITH MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Posted on 03/24/2003 7:32:55 AM PST by Happy2BMe
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BRIEFING: AT WAR WITH IRAQ
BY WORLD TRIBUNE.COM WITH MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE |
In a taped and heavily edited appearance, Saddam on Monday urged Iraqi forces to continue to fight the U.S. and British military. For the first time, the Iraqi president reviewed and praised specific combat units that battled allied forces over the last three days.
Those units included the 51st Division, which at first was reported to have surrendered to U.S. forces. On Sunday, the Iraqi division commander denied that he had surrendered.
Unlike his first appearance since the start of the war on Thursday, Saddam did not wear his glasses as he read his speech. He also appeared more relaxed than his first televised address. Only the head and shoulders of Saddam were shown in his latest television appearance.
Among the units Saddam praised was a special suicide unit established to blow themselves up in front of advancing U.S. and British forces. The Iraqi unit is said to be deployed around the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Tikrit.
"We have reports saying that the American attack on Radwanieh in Baghdad on Thursday came during an intelligence meeting headed by Qusay and in the presence of Iraqi vice presidents Taha Yassin Ramadan and Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri," Mohammed Hariri, a representative of the Iranian-backed the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said.
Saddam was said to have been in the building during the U.S. attack. But Western intelligence agencies have concluded that the president survived the attack.
The opposition sources said Qusay was hospitalized but were not certain of the extent of his injuries. The Iranian-based Shi'ite opposition has been regarded as the most active against the Saddam regime.
Senior Pentagon officials said U.S. Special Operations Forces are in control of the H-2 and H-3 areas of western Iraq. The two areas, located near the Jordanian border, were used for missile strikes against Israel in the 1991 Gulf war.
"I know what it was like when those Scuds were landing and I know where they came from," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said. "The United States now controls the area that those came from."
But Wolfowitz added: "It's a great big area and you can never be sure you've got everything."
Officials said the Iraqi diplomats were accused of espionage on British and U.S. installations and military presence. But Arab diplomatic sources said the Hashemite kingdom was under strong U.S. pressure to expel Iraqis. The sources said Washington also asked Egypt and Yemen to expel Iraqi diplomats. Both countries refused.
Officials said Jordan delayed responding to the U.S. request in fear of Iraqi economic retaliation. But last week, amid the start of the U.S.-led war against Iraq, the regime of President Saddam Hussein halted crude oil deliveries to Jordan.
Kuwaiti officials said PAC-2 batteries operated by the military fired interceptors and destroyed an incoming Iraqi missile. They said the missile had targeted the Al Salem air force base in northern Kuwait on Friday.
"A total of three Patriots were fired by Kuwaiti air defense batteries to intercept and destroy the incoming Iraqi missile," Kuwaiti military spokeman Col. Yusef Al Mulla said.
Officials said one of the PAC-2 interceptors destroyed the Iraqi missile. The missile -- the tenth fired so far toward Kuwait -- was not immediately identified.
Iraq said two such helicopters were destroyed in a battle on Monday about 80 kilometers south of Baghdad. Iraqi officials said some members of the crew have been taken captive.
U.S. Central Command said an Apache helicopter was downed on Monday near Karbala. U.S. officials said they were investigating the circumstances of the incident.
The Saddam in this video is a different Saddam than the one in last week's video.
So many Saddam's, but the real one is deader'n a shitbug.
In his speech he referred to a commander of a unit in Basra who had surrendered.
There was no mention of prisoners or current battlefield conditions.
The speech was taped as a generalization last week before March 12.
Once the Republican Guard protecting Baghdad have been eliminated, the regime will topple fast, probably by next weekend.
Commander of the 51st Division didn't surrender; a lower-level colonel PRETENDING to be the commander of the 51st Division surrendered.
Your source?
OTTO: Oh, yes! We are a thoroughly trained suicide squad.
BRIAN: Oh.
OTTO: Oh, yes! We can commit suicide within twenty seconds.
BRIAN: Twenty seconds?
OTTO: You don’t believe me?
BRIAN: Yes.
OTTO: I think you question me.
BRIAN: No, no, no.
OTTO: I can see you do not believe me.
BRIAN: No, no. I do.
OTTO: Enough! I’ll prove it to you. Squad!
That powerful division whose armor and vehicles were stuck on ships off Turkey should be introduced into the theater next week when the equipment is off-loaded in Kuwait.
They will be raring to go and the payback in the mopping-up will be devastating to those criminal special militias causing all the casualties.
OOHRAH! to that one.
Turks are gonna pay - they have already cost American lives.
Onward!
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