Day 16 Briefing - U.S. finds new evidence of Iraqi WMD

The World Tribune | 4 April, 2003

[Happy2BMe]

BRIEFING: AT WAR WITH IRAQ

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BY WORLD TRIBUNE.COM WITH MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE

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Day 16 — April 4, 3003
See Previous Briefings: Day 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

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U.S. finds new evidence of Iraqi WMD

ABU DHABI — The United States has found fresh evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. military commanders said coalition forces found a huge amount of nerve agent antidote and instructions on chemical warfare. They said thousands of boxes of white powder were also discovered at an industrial site south of Baghdad.

The white powder at the Latifiyah industrial facility 40 kilometers south of Baghdad is being examined, the commanders said. Latifiyah also produces munitions and explosives and was examined by the United Nations in February.

So far, U.S. officials said coalition forces have not found Iraqi WMD. They said the Latifiyah was probably connected to although not deemed a WMD facility.

"We believe this may have been an NBC [nuclear, biological, chemical] training school and not an operating facility," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, deputy chief of operations at U.S. Central Command, said.

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New name: Baghdad International Airport

ABU DHABI — The U.S. military, already in Baghdad, has begun discarding the symbols of the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The first step was the renaming of Saddam International Airport, captured on early Friday. The new name given by the United States is Baghdad International Airport.

"The airport now has a new name, Baghdad International Airport, and it is the gateway to a new Iraq," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, deputy chief of operations at U.S. Central Command, said.

Brooks and other U.S. officials said more symbols of the Saddam regime would be discarded and replaced as coalition forces move further into Baghdad. They said the United States plans to severe control by the Saddam regime of civilian services such as water and electricity even as coalition troops seek to destroy enemy targets.

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Iraq renews suicide bombings

NICOSIA — Iraq has renewed suicide bombing attacks on U.S. forces. Three U.S. soldiers were killed when an Iraqi civilian vehicle blew up near a group of American troops northwest of Baghdad on late Thursday. The blast also killed the two Iraqi suicide attackers, one of whom was a pregnant woman.

It was the first successful suicide attack in more than a week against U.S. forces. In the first strike, four U.S. soldiers were killed outside the Shi'ite city of Najaf.

"The enemy is trying to enter Baghdad," Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Sahaf said on Friday in a message he attributed to President Saddam Hussein. "Let every family be assured. We are determined to repel them and destroy them at the walls of the capital Baghdad, as we are determined to destroy their armies on every inch of Muslim Iraqi land."

A suicide attacker also tried to blow up U.S. troops during the capture of Baghdad's international airport on early Friday. Military commanders said the Iraqi attacker did not injure any U.S. soldiers.

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Tension builds on Iraqi-Turkey border

ANKARA — Tension has increased along the Iraqi-Turkish border. Kurdish representatives said Turkey's military has been pounding targets in the Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq. They said Turkey shelled the area at least three times over the last week.

Turkey has denied that its forces were shelling northern Iraq. But Turkish officials said up to 10,000 troops are in northern Iraq. Kurdish officers conducted a tour for reporters in the village of Karne, nearly two kilometers from the Turkish border. The officers did not detail casualties from the Turkish shelling.

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Republican Guards surrender

ABU DHABI — Elite Iraqi forces are surrendering in large numbers. U.S. officials at Central Command in Qatar said about 2,500 Republican Guard combatants have surrendered to coalition forces around Baghdad. The development on late Thursday marked the largest single surrender reported since the war against Iraq began.

The Iraqi soldiers were members of the Baghdad division of the Republican Guard. Officials said the Baghdad and Medina divisions have been neutralized.

Another four Republican Guard divisions are believed to have been deployed in or around Baghdad

[Happy2BMe]

Well, well Mr. Blix.

[ET(end tyranny)]

I thought they already determined that the white powder was a form of explosive.

[chainsaw]

I thought they already determined that the white powder was a form of explosive.

Why would they package explosives in three small glass vials? The report that I saw this morning said the powder was in small glass vials and there were three vials to a package. They found thousands of packages like this.