***Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - Day 21 - LIVE THREAD***

Multiple ^ | April 9, 2003 | Various

[Cboldt]

Morning all. I got a nice night of sleep. Good news on wake up.

Event and Link Collection : April 9, 2003

Times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

• Iraqis celebrate their liberation in the streets (AP 6:38 AM) <-- Link
  Iraqis celebrate their liberation in the streets (Reuters 6:30 AM) <-- Link
• One media self-obsession fades (being in the line of fire)
• Liberal admission that they were wrong about Iraq mission will NOT be forthcoming, time to change the subject

Good Reads

James Doran: Mourning comes to a town called Comfort <-- Read This
Steely Dan 2003 Tour and Album <-- Link

[Straight Vermonter]

Lara saying she has no sound man.

Kirk: Where is Ahmed?
Bones: He's fled Jim.

[cajungirl]

I propose we celebrate and enjoy this day. We paid for it. Our boys brought it home. Can we just ignore the dems and cnn today and just have some pure pleasure. This is indeed a beautiful moment for them and for us.

[kcvl]

U.S., Kurdish Troops Close in on Mosul

Wed April 9, 2003 06:45 AM ET
By Sebastian Alison

MOUNT MAQLOUB, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. and Kurdish forces dislodged Iraqis from a mountain used to defend the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, their biggest victory yet in the war in northern Iraq.

"That area was heavily defended by Iraqis throughout the campaign. From our perspective this is the most important gain of the northern front so far," said Hoshiyar Zebari, political adviser to Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani.

Zebari said U.S. forces, allied with local Kurdish fighters, took the Maqloub mountain, some nine miles northeast of Mosul, in the early hours of Wednesday.

"We were surprised by the lack of resistance," Zebari added.

Asked if there was any likely Iraqi resistance between the mountain and Mosul, Zebari said: "No, basically the city has fallen."

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2533880

[Consort]

Lara is having an Edward R. Murrow moment.

[Timeout]

CNN staying on the roundabout...hasn't switched to CENTCOM...

somebody moving around on the roof. That you, Richard?

[Kip Lange]

I'll take those numbers any day! :-)

[cajungirl]

altho the dems condemning anarchy and looting is funny,,next thing they will be talking about law and order!! Then the turning will have completed. Hey maybe they will want a strong police force and self defense guns and a tax cut.

[John H K]

The funny part about DU is that they're sounding law-and-order skull-crackers fretting about the looting and "anarchy" now; need to save some of this stuff the next time there's Rodney-King style urban rioting and looting in the US.

[GOPyouth]

CentCom briefing shortly. 5 minutes maybe.

[AFPhys]

... I want husky Marines ...

Sex, sex, sex... that's all you ever think of...

[Timeout]

I sure would like to know what Al-Jerkeera is reporting.

[Howlin]

It's going to be very interesting watching the liberals and the media spin this today.

[cajungirl]

It is funny!! They will blame to Looting which looks pretty benign to me on the US policies. Hey US policies encourage looting,,that is us. So far no public nudity in the happy crowds.

[Kip Lange]

The looters? No, not so far as I can see. They're having a blast cleaning out the government offices and carrying all sorts of odd things around, other than that, it doesn't look like LA race riots or anything. "Jubilant" looting, I would say.

Things might change if they loot several crates of whiskey, however. :p

[thedugal]

here here

[kcvl]

Warm reception for US Marines in Saddam City


9-April-2003

Baghdad: Thousands of US Marines moved block by block through Saddam City, a huge urban sprawl in northeast Baghdad, early on Wednesday, continuing to squeeze out Iraqi resistance in the capital.

Reuters correspondent Sean Maguire, travelling with a unit of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said troops met very little resistance, getting a largely warm reception as they swept the low-income residential district.

Saddam City is home to two to three million Iraqis, mainly from the Shi'ite Muslim majority, who have traditionally been marginalized by the Sunni ruling elite, most lately by President Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government.


The few local residents on the streets cheered and clapped the US Troops. Maguire said he did not hear a shot fired

http://www.keralanext.com/wariniraq/news.asp?id=9461

[piasa]

They don't seem to really be hurting anything or anybody, do they?

Nope- this is definitely not the LA riots or Detroit after a basketball win.

But then, no one in the crowd has discovered a Saddam lookalike trying to sneak by.

I think we should leaflet the area with notes telling everyone that France wanted Hussein to stay in power... lest anyone forget.