Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Saddam, sons targeted in strike
MSNBC.com ^

Posted on 04/07/2003 6:54:17 PM PDT by GulliverSwift

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 8 — A U.S. Air Force warplane dropped four enormous bombs Monday on a residential neighborhood where “extremely reliable” intelligence information indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons were staying, senior administration officials told NBC News. The sources would not rule out the possibility that Saddam could have moved before the planes struck, but they said it was highly likely that he and his sons were dead if they were still there when the bombs hit.

BASED ON an intelligence source on the ground in Baghdad, U.S. military officials were confident that Saddam and his sons, Uday and Qusay, were attending a meeting in the neighborhood, senior officials said.
Officials quickly called in Air Force jets to strike the location Monday with four GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition weapons, the 2,000-pound smart bombs known as “bunker busters.” Diplomatic officials and officials at the Pentagon told NBC News that they were highly confident that they killed everyone at the meeting.
Military officials at U.S. Central Command forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar, confirmed the airstrike but would not comment on its possible effect.

BUSY DAY FOR COALITION
If Saddam was killed, U.S. military planners would have achieved one of their prime objectives in the war. It would cap a dramatic day in which U.S. forces established a foothold in one of Saddam’s palaces in Baghdad after swooping into the city the day before.
Coalition forces moved to cut off escape routes from the capital. Meanwhile, in a city near Baghdad, the military was led to a site where suspicious chemical compounds were stored — a discovery that, if verified, could prove that Iraq had continued its banned weapons programs.
U.S. troops remained in the presidential compound on the west bank of the Tigris River, apparently determined to deliver a powerful message to residents and Saddam loyalists that his regime was broken.
They had been part of an early morning assault by more than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting vehicles from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. The attack was a power play designed to prove to Saddam and the Iraqi people that “we can come and go at our pleasure,” a U.S. military official told NBC News on condition of anonymity.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: decapitation; iraq; saddam; warlist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-103 next last
To: 1poedpatriot
THIS JUST IN: Generallissimo Francisco Franco is still dead

Or this just announced on Al Jazerra by Bagdad Bob:

This war has been cancelled due to lack of interest!

81 posted on 04/07/2003 8:52:58 PM PDT by JustPiper (Anti-War Protestors Are The Terrorist's Bodyguard!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: ErnBatavia
"Somebody who passed this stuff around to the media..."

I could not agree more! We may need to track someone else in the future that uses this! For instance, Syria's leader, N.Korea's, etc.

Pentagon, or somebody, talks entirely too much in my opinion. We should never talk about "possible wmd sites" either until confirmed. It makes us look foolish.

And what about the human intel Rita spoke about? Saddam has already killed 2 and cut another's tongue out til he bled to death after the lst night's strike!
82 posted on 04/07/2003 8:57:53 PM PDT by whadizit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Mark Hamilton
I don't see how we are going to confirm it...maybe they'll find an ear or nose 200 yards from the blast zone :)


Did anyone else get flashbacks to the sleeper?

Get that roller out, crush that nose, no cloning allowed!!!LOL
83 posted on 04/07/2003 8:58:07 PM PDT by Aric2000 (Are you on Grampa Dave's team? I am!! $5 a month is all it takes, come join!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: JustPiper
"And lemme guess..."

Usama bin Laden was there, too.
84 posted on 04/07/2003 9:00:36 PM PDT by whadizit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: Keith in Iowa
"...and someone who was supposed to be at the meeting ratted them out."

Man, if we did not get Saddam, that poor guy is history!
85 posted on 04/07/2003 9:02:29 PM PDT by whadizit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: GulliverSwift
You know--I am usually the blood thirsty kill Muslims type--but is killing civilians worth the lives of these animals-and is it a violation of the rules of war to drop weapons in a residential target-even if used as human shields. If it was a restaurant that was targeted could we not spare the busboys? Waiters? Chefs?
86 posted on 04/07/2003 9:04:23 PM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Destro
Sorry, but if Saddam walks into your neighborhood, if your smart, you'll get the heck out of dodge.

He has a BIG OLD target on his back, if I were an Iraqi, as soon as I saw him, I'd be gittin, and in a big old hurry.
87 posted on 04/07/2003 9:10:01 PM PDT by Aric2000 (Are you on Grampa Dave's team? I am!! $5 a month is all it takes, come join!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: GulliverSwift
I want to know where he has been staying!
88 posted on 04/07/2003 9:10:39 PM PDT by whadizit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aric2000; homeagain balkansvet
Listen I don't find it easy caring for Muslims or the deaths but homeagain balkansvet said my soul is on the line for my evil deeds against Muslims so I am kind of giving a thought to the Iraqis who according to our own govt are victims too.

Ok-just don't bomb restaurants even if Saddam is eating there, ok? Spare the lives of the waiters and cooks and busboys. Makes us look desperate targeting like that.

PS: There is humor mixed in with my humanity.

89 posted on 04/07/2003 9:21:58 PM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: GulliverSwift
There he is, and he's over there, and over there, and lookee, hanging from the palm tree, a piece of him there and there.......
90 posted on 04/07/2003 9:23:54 PM PDT by b4its2late (I know what's best for you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: b4its2late
You sure that those parts aren't the bus boy's? (looking out for the little people)
91 posted on 04/07/2003 9:26:28 PM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: You Dirty Rats
If you're right, then this looks like Saddam would be playing the part of the gopher in Caddyshack. If so, we'll need to send Carl the assistant greenkeeper over to flush or smoke him out.

Yeah, what is this, "whack a mole"??
92 posted on 04/07/2003 10:08:05 PM PDT by thisiskubrick (may the running liberal pig-dogs be turned into bbq toasties in the sea of fire)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Destro
As the pope once said, "kill them all, God will sort them out" or words to that effect.

No, I really don't feel this way, but it was a good quote for this thread.
93 posted on 04/07/2003 10:08:49 PM PDT by Aric2000 (Are you on Grampa Dave's team? I am!! $5 a month is all it takes, come join!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: JustPiper
"Well, since the first report was wrong, logically the second must be wrong as well."
94 posted on 04/07/2003 10:25:29 PM PDT by stands2reason
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: GulliverSwift
Personally, I still believe that Saddam Hussein and his sons were killed in the first strike.

I believe that this attack did hit a meeting of the remaining leadership, but the only way left to stop the delusional Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf and Al Jazeera from running videos of Saddam Hussein here there about town is to definitavely "kill" Saddam Hussein and his sons.

Iraq has been acting like a headless state. They have been running questionable videos of Hussein as evidence that he's alive. If the Information Minister is willing to deny that our troops are in Baghdad while our tanks are sitting on the Palace lawn, then the only way to take away the spectre of Saddam Hussein is to stage a conclusive kill.

That's what this strike is -- taking away the spectre of Saddam Hussein as a propaganda tool. Saddam Hussein died on the first day in the first strike.

-PJ

95 posted on 04/07/2003 10:30:56 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mark Hamilton
They were able to identify the remains of many of the people from the World Trade Center. It's only fitting that we will have to identify Saddam the same way.

That's if the devil didn't take him to hell in one whole piece, but then again, the devil didn't want Saddam, he didn't need the competition.
96 posted on 04/07/2003 10:55:30 PM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs (May all of Saddam's virgins look like Helen Thomas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]


God Bless America


Donate Here By Secure Server

Or mail checks to
FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794

or you can use

PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com

STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER


97 posted on 04/07/2003 11:42:50 PM PDT by Mo1 (I'm a monthly Donor .. You can be one too!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: GulliverSwift

Buildings in the al-Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad lie in ruins Monday afternoon, April 7, 2003 after a U.S. warplane dropped four bunker-busting bombs on the site where Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was believed to be meeting with his sons. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
98 posted on 04/08/2003 12:42:45 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GulliverSwift
VERY funny. I can't wait to get the news that this monster is room temperature.
99 posted on 04/08/2003 12:45:37 AM PDT by friendly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: GulliverSwift
Crossing fingers bttt . . .
100 posted on 04/08/2003 2:32:37 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (Bu-bye Saddam! / Check out my Freeper site !: http://home.attbi.com/~freeper/wsb/index.html)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-103 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson