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Posted on 03/30/2003 12:10:42 AM PST by Happy2BMe
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2 hours, 3 minutes ago
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By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writers
IN SOUTH-CENTRAL IRAQ - U.S. warplanes attacked Baghdad's defenders with bombs and strafing fire Sunday in a thunderous prelude to a ground assault. Iraqis inflicted a new danger on the allies — a deadly suicide attack — and threatened to kill Americans on U.S. soil.
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Anger, mourning and resolve emanated from both sides in a conflict taking a growing toll each day on the lives of combatants and civilians alike.
The international outcry grew, too. Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II warned of a "religious catastrophe" stirring hatred between Christians and Muslims; Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) also cast the war in catastrophic terms and said he would push for a negotiated solution.
But in Baghdad and Washington and along the war's many fronts, the talk was all of climactic battles to come.
"We are now fighting the most desperate units of the dictator's army," U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) said before an hourlong meeting Saturday with his war council and an intelligence briefing.
Three-quarters of the allied airstrikes are now going after Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad, Air Force Brig. Gen. Daniel Darnell told The Associated Press.
He said U.S. and British planes have attacked almost every military airfield in the country in the last week.
In a boost to coalition firepower, U.S. aircraft flew combat missions from Iraqi soil for the first time Saturday. A-10 warplanes flew out of a captured Iraqi base to conduct strikes, CNN and Air Force Times correspondents at the base reported.
From the base, which CNN said was south of Baghdad, the A-10s can roam longer over Iraqi territory to hunt for Iraqi forces or protect allies.
Some units of the invasion force went into an "operational pause" Saturday to consolidate positions, resupply forward troops and prepare for an all-out attack on Iraqi forces outside Baghdad.
U.S. warplanes launched bombing raids early Sunday near Karbala, south of Baghdad, where there are believed to be concentrations of Republican Guard forces.
Danger came to the 1st Brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in the guise of a cab driver.
A man, identified by Iraqi officials as a noncommissioned officer, drove his taxi to a U.S. checkpoint in south-central Iraq (news - web sites) and waved for help. When soldiers approached, the car exploded and four Americans died. Iraq's state television reported that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) posthumously promoted the bomber to colonel and awarded him two medals.
"It looks and feels like terrorism," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said at the Pentagon (news - web sites). "It won't change our overall rules of engagement but, to protect our soldiers, it clearly requires great care."
Overall, more than 30 U.S. soldiers or Marines have died in the war. Iraqi officials say 425 civilians have been killed but have given no figures on military casualties.
On Saturday, a U.S. Marine drowned when the Humvee he was riding in rolled over into a canal in south-central Iraq. Another Marine died late Friday night when he was hit by a Humvee during a firefight with Iraqi soldiers in the same area.
Iraq's vice president suggested the attack at the U.S. checkpoint was not the work of a freelance fanatic but rather part of a coordinated effort to beat back invaders who cannot be defeated by conventional warfare.
"I am sure that the day will come when a single martyrdom operation will kill 5,000 enemies," Taha Yassin Ramadan said. "The Iraqi people have a legal right to deal with the enemy with any means."
Explosions on Saturday night were reported on the southern fringes of Baghdad, where the Republican Guard is believed to be dug in. And smoke billowed over the darkened city early Sunday from a new round of explosions.
Anti-Saddam Kurdish militiamen moved on two fronts in northern Iraq on Saturday, joining U.S. special forces in an attack on Islamic militants and advancing unopposed closer to the government-held city of Kirkuk and its oil fields.
South of Baghdad, Marines battled Iraqi fighters in and around the Euphrates River city of Nasiriyah, at a junction of highways leading to Baghdad.
In the capital, Iraq's Information Ministry building and its satellite dishes were damaged in a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile attack before dawn.
In the city's Al-Nasr market, mourners sobbed and cried "Oh God, Oh God" at a funeral procession for some of the victims of an explosion that Iraqi officials say came from an allied bombing and killed at least 30 people.
"Why do they make mistakes like these if they have the technology?" asked Abdel-Hadi Adai, who said he lost his 27-year-old brother-in-law. "There are no military installations anywhere near here."
In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)'s official spokesman said new, unspecified intelligence indicated that U.S. and British bombing may not have been to blame for the marketplace explosion.
The spokesman, whose briefings by tradition are on condition of anonymity, stopped short of blaming Iraqi missiles for the explosion, but said Saddam Hussein had fired his commander of air defenses.
U.S. officials, asserting again that they never target civilians, said they were investigating and did not know whether a bomb or missile had gone astray.
They confirmed some cruise missiles fired from ships in the Mediterranean and Red seas had landed by mistake in Saudi Arabia and halted further launches over parts of the kingdom until they could figure out what to do. One possibility was moving ships from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf.
British forces, at the gates of Basra since midweek, darted in and out of the southern city Saturday, destroying five Iraqi tanks and two statues of Saddam Hussein.
About 1,000 Saddam loyalists are holed up in Basra, where essential supplies are running low and Iraqi fighters have kept residents from leaving.
Anti-war protests continued worldwide.
About 30,000 people held hands in a 31 mile (50 kilometer) chain in northwestern Germany.
More than 10,000 people protested in Paris' Left Bank and youths beat a couple that complained about portraits of Iraq's leader held aloft by some marchers.
In the United States, 25,000 people rallied against the war in Boston and thousands others in New York and other cities.
Sumbichin peace marchers!
BRING IT, B*TCH!
Well after all, it's for damned sure they won't be doing it on Iraqi soil much longer.
I'm sure this line caught your eye.
Has anyone got a clue as to how many Iraqi-sympathetic mosques there are in the U.S.?
It's way too late for that.
TRANSLATION: Putin wants Iraqi oil and will stop at nothing to get it.
KEY WORDS: Martyrdom, legal right, and any means.
That will tell you how many people have NOT marched, rioted, picketed, trashed businesses, looted, or protested the war.
The press NEVER talks about those 200 Plus Millions.
Oh yeah!?
Can you give us a link pls?
PBS Shame On You: A former Muslim speaks.
The O'Reilly Factor - USF's Sami Al Arian's Arrest (And What The Muslims Say About It)
Fatwa: Coming to a Country Near You--Islamic death bounties ain't hard to find
Source: FrontPageMagazine.com; Published: December 6, 2002; Author: David HarsanyiWhy we are losing the war
Source: Guardian Unlimited; Published : December 1, 2002Islam - Green Wall Of Silence - III
Source: PakToday : Published: November 25, 2002; Author: Tashbh SayyedBlack Muslims Create 'Explosive Mix' in Terror War, Says Author
Source: CNSBNEWS.com; Published: November 14, 2002; Author: Marc MoranoOf course, the great majority of Muslims are peaceful -- so what?
Source: Jewish World Review; Published: November 5, 2002; Author: DENNIS PRAGERRamadan: A Month of Peace?
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: November 4, 2002; Author:| Alan CarubaThe Seamless Garment Of Hate: The Beltway Sniper Shootings And Islam/Nation of Islam
Source: Toogood Reports; Published:| November 1, 2002; Author: Nicholas StixBarbara Stanley: American Jihadist Terrorism - Conversion And Recruitment
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: October 28, 2002; Author: Barbara StanleyJihadis in the Hood: Race, Urban Islam and the War on Terror
Source: Middle East Report; Published: Fall 2002; Author: Hisham AidiThe Radical Islamic Mind (lengthy exposé from Christian perspective)
Source:Spiritual Counterfeits Project; Published: Sept 2002; Author: Aleesha KhanNaming The Evildoers: Militant Islam Reaches America
Source: New York Times BOOK REVIEW; Published:| September 29, 2002; Author: Judith MillerDEPRIVING THE ARABS OF THEIR PREY
Source: WINSTON MID EAST ANALYSIS & Published: September 13, 2002; Author: Emanuel A. WinstonA Hatred Beyond Understanding
Source: Sierra Times; Published: September 9, 2002; Author: Alan CarubaSaving Islam from bin Laden [Christopher Hitchens]
Source:The Age (Melbourne); Published: September 5 2002; Author: Christopher HitchensMuslim leaders pledge to 'transform West': 'If Islamic state rises, we will be its army'
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: August 13, 2002; Author: Jon DoughertyWHAT went wrong with the Arab world?
Source: Economist; Published: July 10, 2002Today's Criminal Will Become Tomorrow's Islamic Terrorist
Source: CNSnews.com; Published: June 25, 2002; Author: C.T. RossiDavid Horowitz: Know The Enemy (And What He Believes)
Source: FrontPage magazine; Published: June 24, 2002; Author: David HorowitzFour Myths About Muslims
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: June 13, 2002; Author: C.T. RossiTrying To Find A `Moderate' Islam Is A Quixotic Quest
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: May 20, 2002; Author: C.T. RossiThe Islaming of Europe
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: May 20, 2002; Author: Alan CarubaWhy Islam Can't Join the Modern World
Source: FrontPageMagazine.com; Published: May 16, 2002; Author: Jamie GlazovIt's The Attitude, Stupid [re: Palestinians]
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: May 14, 2002; Author: Philip SafranReports of Moderate Islam's Existence Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: April 22, 2002; Author: C.T. RossiIt's time to snap out of Arab fantasy land {Steyn}
Source: National Post; Published: April 19 2002; Author: Mark SteynHOROWITZ: A MIDDLE EAST HISTORY PRIMER
Source: News and Opinion.com; Published; April 10, 2002; Author: David HorowitzArafat Must Go!
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: April 10, 2002; Author: Alan CarubaNetanyahu speaks before US Senators
Source: http://netanyahu.org/netspeacinse.html; Published: April 10, 2002; Author: Benjamin Netanyahu20 Suppressed Facts About Israel, Islam
Source: Koenig's International News; Published: April 9, 2002; Author: Jim BramlettThey Live to Die (Islam Martyrdom)
Source: Wall Street Journal; Published: April 7, 2002; Author: Reuel Marc GerechtMoral Fortitude Vs. Vacillation
Source: CNSNews.com ; Published: April 01, 2002; Author: Alan CarubaTerror's Homebase, All Over The Map -- Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam
Source: Wall Street Journal-- Book Review; Published: | March 29, 2002; Author: Adrian KaratnyckyIslam Vs. The World
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: December 2, 2001; Author: Alan CarubaArab World Poverty -- Whose Fault?
Source: Capitalism Magazine; Published: 11/18/01; Author: Larry ElderWill the Real Islam Please Stand Up!
Source:Van Jenerette Editorial Comment, Various Publications;
Published: October 14, 2001; Author: Van JeneretteCivilization Envy
Source: National Review Online; Published: September 28, 2001; Author: Jonah GoldbergWhat We Are Up Against: Islamic Jihad Factories
Source: New York Times Magazine; Published: July 25, 2000; Author: Jeffrey Goldberg
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