BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!
VARMINT CONG ALERT!!!
Illuminatus Masonicus Bilderbergarian subspecies
Posted on 04/03/2003 7:38:34 PM PST by Leroy S. Mort
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Tracer fire, explosives and burning buildings lit up an otherwise blacked-out Baghdad early Friday, as a new round of explosions in the center of the city sent huge plumes of smoke into the skies.
All of Baghdad was dark, with power out for the first time in the capital since the American-led bombardments began two weeks ago.
The electricity went down across the city at about 8 p.m. Thursday as U.S.-led forces launched an attack at Saddam International Airport, nine miles southwest of downtown Baghdad.
Anti-aircraft fire could be heard near the airport, tracer rounds raced through the sky and artillery shells exploded in the air as aircraft roared overhead.
In Washington, U.S. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, declared that U.S. troops had reached Baghdad's outskirts.
Huge blasts shook the southern parts of the city in the evening, persisting for nearly 15 minutes before the power went out. Explosions were heard about an hour later in the city center, and then again after 2 a.m. Friday. Most of the blasts appeared to be on the outskirts of the city. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television reported that ``a number'' of presidential palaces were hit.
The outage threatened to disrupt water supplies and the city's sewage system, which could mean widespread disease at a time when temperatures are rising.
It was unclear why the power was out. Myers said the U.S. military did not target the city's power grid.
As Baghdad fell quiet early Friday, uniformed men set up roadblocks in the Karada neighborhood, a sight not seen inside the city previously.
Amid the explosions, Iraq television aired footage of a relaxed and smiling Saddam Hussein meeting with more than a dozen senior government and Baath Party officials, including Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan.
``We would have liked to protect the Iraqi people from evil,'' a TV announcer reported quoted Saddam as saying, ``but the nation and the people are facing danger and we must fight and be steadfast until we defeat the enemy and achieve victory.
``We must chose the means and methods that tear off the ranks of the enemy and give him no chance to take his breath.''
It was not possible to verify if the footage was taken Thursday.
Earlier, Saddam exhorted Iraqis to ``fight them with your hands,'' according to a statement read Thursday by Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.
Saddam hasn't delivered a speech live on television since March 24. When asked about the president, Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh laughed.
``I think you have seen his picture,'' he said, referring to the footage. ``He is very calm, confident.''
Iraqi officials took reporters to the airport Thursday afternoon before the U.S. attack. It was deserted, except for employees and armed guards. Three Iraqi Airways planes sat on the tarmac. The departure lounge was covered with a yellow coat of dust, left over from last week's two-day sandstorm.
Along the road to the airport from central Baghdad, a purple-hued, six-story building thought to belong to one of Iraq's security agencies was severely damaged. A complex of low buildings along the road was wrecked. It was not clear who had occupied those buildings.
The airport has seen severely limited use since the 1991 Gulf War and the subsequent no-fly zones in the north and the south enforced by the United States and Britain.
Charter flights bringing in food and medicine bought under the U.N. sanctioned oil-for-food program have landed sporadically, and domestic flights have operated only for limited periods.
Yeah, somebody will still be showing them when Saddam is down in South America with Hitler, JFK, and Elvis.
Rummy doesn't need any money and I don't think that's the motivation. The United States of America has only two "presidential palaces" - The White House and Camp David, and Camp David is far from luxurious from the photos I've seen. Part of this destruction is to show the Iraqi people the war is against Saddam and the regime, not against them. Therefore part of the decision to bomb Saddam's many palaces.
Also, Iraq for a long time refused to give UN inspectors permission to enter presidential palaces. I wonder why.
You might consider going back there.
VARMINT CONG ALERT!!!
Illuminatus Masonicus Bilderbergarian subspecies
"ILMN", I think...
:^)
AYB - As in: All Your Base.
No such ticker symbol: meaning, THEY have something to hide.
;-)
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