Didn't the New York Times tell us this morning that the inhabitants of Basra loved Saddam?
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To: TonyInOhio
Think we could drop ten thousand t-shirts saying "If you ain't a rebel, then you ain't shi'ite?"
To: TonyInOhio
Hooray for Freedom!
To: TonyInOhio
Ohmygosh, you mean a reporter got it wrong? They have no faith.
Anyone with half a mind heard why the people were keeping their silence and we've had the obvious example of our troops from Ft Bliss. Now that the coalition has the upperhand the people can match their actions with their hearts.
494 posted on
03/25/2003 10:22:55 AM PST by
tiki
To: TonyInOhio
Sky News -- BASRA: ANTI-SADDAM RIOTS
Rioting is taking place in Basra by locals opposed to Saddam Hussein, reports say.
British forces are bombing Iraqi troops who are trying to crush the uprising, the reports say.
Reporter Richard Gaisford, who is with troops just west of Basra, said British intelligence officers there told him about the civil uprising.
They told him Saddam loyalists were firing on the rioters. They said UK troops responded by dropping a bomb on the ruling Ba'ath Party HQ. Two large explosions have been heard in the city centre.
Gaisford said the officers had earlier told him intelligence from the city suggested that local people had indicated they would welcome the Allied forces but were in fear of Saddam loyalists.
"Now it seems they have had the courage to stand up to Saddam Hussein and his regime and they will be supported by British forces," Gaisford said.
Gaisford said British troops were preparing to enter the city centre when dawn breaks in Iraq.
Sky News Foreign Editor Tim Marshall said that if the reports were true, it would be a "crucial moment" in the Iraq war.
He said it could trigger more uprisings across parts of Iraq.
Marshall said the majority of the people around Basra were Shi'ite Muslims, who had been oppressed by Saddam's regime.
Saddam's ruling Ba'ath Party are predominantly made up of Sunni Muslims.
Earlier, British military sources said about 20 of Saddam Hussein's henchmen were killed and a key party official captured in a raid by British forces near Basra on Monday night.
To: TonyInOhio
Good news for the US.
Bad news for the NYT and ABC.
To: TonyInOhio
FWIW, from Debka:
Basra Shiites riot against Iraqi regime and army Tuesday afternoon. Shiite militias backed by British and American warplanes and helicopters in armed clashes with Iraqi units in city.
DEBKAfile intelligence sources: Majid Khoei, son of legendary Iraqi Ayatollah at head of 3,000-man US-backed Shiite militia is leading Basra unrest to stir up Shiite anti-Saddam uprising
To: TonyInOhio
More from Sky News
| BASRA: ANTI-SADDAM RIOTS |
 |
Rioting is taking place in Basra by locals opposed to Saddam Hussein, reports say.British forces are firing on Iraqi troops who are trying to crush the uprising, the reports add.
Reporter Richard Gaisford, who is with troops just west of Basra, said British intelligence officers told him about the civil uprising.
The Scots Dragoon Guards officers told him Saddam loyalists were firing mortar rounds at the attackers.
UK troops responded by firing artillery shells at the Iraqi positions, Gaisford said.
Two large explosions have been heard in the city centre and there are reports the ruling Ba'ath Party HQ has been hit.
Gaisford said the officers had earlier told him intelligence from the southern Iraqi city suggested that local people had indicated they would welcome the Allied forces but were in fear of Saddam loyalists.
"Now it seems they have had the courage to stand up to Saddam Hussein and his regime and they will be supported by British forces," Gaisford said.
Gaisford said British troops were preparing to enter the city centre when dawn breaks in Iraq.
Sky News Foreign Editor Tim Marshall said that if the reports were true, it would be a "crucial moment" in the Iraq war.
He said it could trigger more uprisings across parts of Iraq - which the British and American governments had hoped for.
Marshall said the majority of the people around Basra were Shi'ite Muslims, who had been oppressed by Saddam's regime.
Saddam's ruling Ba'ath Party are predominantly made up of Sunni Muslims.
Earlier, British military sources said about 20 of Saddam Hussein's henchmen were killed and a key party official captured in a raid by British forces near Basra on Monday night.
To: TonyInOhio
The Shia have apparently had enough!!! Heartening news!!!
Just a brief comment on this, This are of Iraq has suffered very greatly at the hands of Saddam's cabal. They've had no electricity, no food, no water, nothing!!!!
This action I hope will send a message to those who would seek to punish their political opponents that actions do have consequences and need to have consequences. You don't go and treat your constituents like dirt.
This kind of thing is what needs to happen to other dictatoriships like this around the world. Kudos to Rumsfeld for endorsing this action.
Regards
598 posted on
03/25/2003 11:12:57 AM PST by
E.G.C.
To: TonyInOhio
To: TonyInOhio
Here is the
thread of Iraq War Pics that Diogenesis posted! Great pictures there of Iraqis being Liberated !! Here are a couple, for example . . .
In Umm Qasr, heroes AND Iraqis remove portraits of Saddam.658 posted on
03/25/2003 12:02:20 PM PST by
MeekOneGOP
(Bu-bye Saddam! / Check out my Freeper site !: http://home.attbi.com/~freeper/wsb/index.html)
To: TonyInOhio
Shiites battling the Ba'aths reminds me of when I was a kid in West Texas.
I'd catch a tarantula and a stinging scorpion and put them in a jar to watch them fight.
I never liked the winner.
To: TonyInOhio
Great news!
To: TonyInOhio
To: All
British Troops Plan Move Into Iraq's Second Largest City
By PATRICK E. TYLER, NY Times
UWAIT, March 25 — Caught between their worry of a humanitarian disaster and stiffening resistance in Basra, Iraq's second-biggest city, the British Royal Marines said today that they had changed strategy and would now take the southern capital by force if necessary.
The marine force is now repositioning itself around Basra, artillery exchanges have taken place and the British force is getting ready to move in.
Up until now, coalition forces said they wanted to avoid urban combat in the center of Basra, where fedayeen militia forces have been operating.
The marines are carrying out "surgical and precise" operations around Basra, a spokesman said at a British military briefing today, and they are trying to avoid firing into the center of the town to limit civilian casualties.
The spokesman, Col. Chris Vernon, said groups of "pretty scared" civilians were being used as human shields by the fedayeen guerrillas, who quickly came around the groups to fire at the British and then pulled back into the city. Colonel Vernon said that Iraq had been sending forces out from Basra and that over the last 24 hours the British had knocked out 20 tanks.
The decision to fight at Basra follows an urgent plea by Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations that Basra faced "a humanitarian crisis" because of a shortage of water and electricity.
"We're obviously assessing the situation before we commence operations to take out the nonregular militia which seems to be set to opposing our taking of the objective," said Group Capt. Al Lockwood, a spokesman for British forces in the Persian Gulf.
British military officials said several days ago that they would prefer to negotiate surrenders with enemy troops rather than move into Basra itself to secure it. But the growing crisis has changed their minds.
Farther south, British and American commanders said today that they had crushed the last remaining resistance by Iraqi fighters in the port town of Umm Qasr, and that aid supplies badly needed by local people were expected to arrive within 48 hours once waterways leading to the port had been searched and cleared of mines.
Other progress was reported at Nasiriya, northwest of Basra, where United States marines finally forced their way across the Euphrates River after a fierce street battle that opened up a new line of advance northward toward Baghdad.
Two days after a first bid to cross the river and the blocking of the Saddam Canal by Iraqi irregulars, the marines laid down a two-mile corridor of armored vehicles and the convoy charged through the streets under cover of helicopter rockets and a barrage of artillery, tank and heavy machine-gun fire.
Once the trucks and other vulnerable vehicles were across, the tanks and other armor rolled out behind, leaving Iraqi fighters still operating in Nasiriya, a dusty city of more than a quarter of a million, 225 miles south of the capital.
In a briefing in Qatar today, the Pentagon said bad weather was having an impact on the battlefield, but despite that and Iraqi resistance the the military action remained on track. A spokesman, Maj. Gen. Victor E. Renaurt, also said six jamming systems used to disrupt allied satellite positioning equipment had been destroyed.
In Baghdad, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan dismissed claims that Umm Qasr had been taken, saying, "They hovered around the airport of Umm Qasr but have not entered it."
Coalition forces have asserted before that Umm Qasr had fallen, but later conceded that Iraqi gunmen were still fighting on.
Defenses on the outskirts of Baghdad, meanwhile, were pounded by waves of air attacks today in what seemed a major effort to break opposition to a coalition drive on the Iraqi capital.
By early afternoon, a sandstorm was roaring across the city, leaving a yellow pall and dramatically reducing visibility. Strong winds howled across the city, adding to the discomfort of residents.
Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain said today that he would visit the United States on Wednesday and Thursday "to discuss the humanitarian situation and the important and complex issues that have to be addressed in the post-Saddam era."
To: k2blader
A bit of related news...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - World oil prices fell back on Tuesday as British television networks said there were reports of an uprising against President Saddam Hussein in Iraq's second city of Basra.
U.S. light crude CLc1 fell 51 cents to $28.15 a barrel after a $1.75 jump on Monday. London Brent crude LCOc1 dropped $1.04 a barrel to $25.05.
Source713 posted on
03/25/2003 12:50:05 PM PST by
k2blader
(If one good thing can be said about the UN, it is that it taught me how to spell “irrelevant.”)
To: TonyInOhio
Thank God for FOX News Channel.
For some perverse reason I flipped over to CNN (1st time since the hostilities began) just in time to catch Judy Woodruff report on the Iraqis firing mortars on their own civilians with the same degree of passion that she would show when giving the score of a baseball game.
The only indignation and sense of outrage that those anti-American bastards ever seem to muster is for collateral damage or friendly fire incidents by U.S. forces.
I despise CNN. I wouldn't even bother checking PMSNBC.
Go FOX!!! Our troops network of choice.
God help the oppressed people of Basra.
716 posted on
03/25/2003 12:52:12 PM PST by
Yankee
To: TonyInOhio
Neil Cavuto just reported on FOX
"The shiites have hit the fan"
LOL!!
To: TonyInOhio
From Yahoo!
""A revolt is taking place in Basra," Mohammad Hadi, spokesman of the Iran-based Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (ASRII), told AFP."
Our friends, the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution-- talk about strange bedfellows.
To: TonyInOhio
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