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Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
*** The Command Post Has Moved ***
A very good HTML version of the Geneva Conventions, including keyword searches, is available on the International Committee of the Red Cross website. The treatment of POWs is covered under the 3rd Convention, dated 12 August 1949.
Here is a fairly hinky little story asserting that the highest-ranking Iraqi army defector -- who went missing while under house arrest in Denmark last week -- was snatched by the CIA for his intelligence value to the current unpleasantness.
I've been beating around for any sort of corroboration, or even a US denial, but I don't see it.
The Bush administration has made clear it wants Israel to stay out of an Iraq war so as not to provoke Arab and Muslim countries assisting the United States. But that won't stop Israel's weaponry and arms technology from being used against Iraqis. ...
Iraqi forces might be on the receiving end of Israeli technology in several scenarios.
Here is a good Strategy Page Article on why there is so much resistance going on in previously taken towns. Scatter a few loyalists around the towns to conduct ops, and it looks like a big guerilla movement.
Maybe this will give the 4th to do when they finally arrive in Kuwait.
Posted
by Nick ( http://arrogantrants.blogspot.com/ ) |
Permalink |
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Streaming Al-Jazeera
Little Green Footballs has a link to continuous streaming video from al-Jazeera (Windows Media, broadband needed). Apparently, you don't have to wait long for the video of American POWs to show up, though I haven't seen it so far. Lots of video from Iraq, and interviews with Iraqi military.
Israeli political sources said Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet Sunday that the missile in question bore the word Taas, an Israeli company that has made electronic components sold for use in missiles in the U.S. armoury.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Sunday an Israeli missile had been found in Baghdad and accused Israel of taking part in the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.
"You know that Israel is taking part in this aggression against Iraq. It's sending missiles. We found a missile, an Israeli missile, in Baghdad," he told reporters in Cairo where was to attend a meeting of Arab foreign ministers scheduled for Monday.
Sabri offered no proof to back up the allegation.
If Israel were taking part of this war, there wouldn't be an Iraq to be Foreign Minister of, Naji Sabri.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Al-Jazeera's tapes of captured American troops
...seems to be real.
Pentagon has confrimed that al-Jazeera's tape of captured US troops seem to be real. Pentagon said if Iraqis violate Article 13 of Geneva convention the consequences will be severe.
Update: Their names:
The four were the first American prisoners known to be POWs in Iraq. The footage showed them being questioned on and divulging their names, military ID's and home towns.
They were:
* Joseph Hudson, of El Passo, Texas. When asked by his prisoners why he came to Iraq, he answered: "I am following orders." Hudson was also asked how many officers were stationed in Iraq with him, but said he did not know;
* Sergeant James Riley, 31, of New Jersey, of the 507th Maintenance Company;
* A soldier identified as Edgar, from Texas, who was wounded in the face.
Some good news: The Command Post is becoming very, very popular ... and we know Blogger has been slow at times since last night. SO, Michele and I are exploring registering a domain name and hosting the site on a non-Blogspot server as you read this. We'll keep you posted.
Thanks again for everyone's efforts.
UPDATE: Also, we've received very gracious offers for free server space, etc. It looks like we'll be all set, but thank you for this ... we're amazed at how much everyone wants to help.
From Ha’aretz: “…Two of the prisoners, including a woman, appeared to be wounded. One was lying on the floor on a rug. …
…The prisoners were questioned on air and gave their names, military identification numbers and home towns. …
…The first prisoner shown gave his name as Miller and said he was from Kansas. …
…Asked why he had come to Iraq he replied: "Because I was told to come here. I was just under orders. I was told to shoot - only if I'm shot at. I don't want to kill anybody."
On the main road running across the plain, burned-out Iraqi vehicles were still smoldering on Sunday afternoon, and charred ribs were the only recognizable part of three melted bodies in a destroyed car lying in the roadside dust.
"It wasn't even a fair fight. I don't know why they don't just surrender," said Colonel Mark Hildenbrand, commander of the 937th Engineer Group.
"When you're playing soccer at home, 3-2 is a fair score, but here it's more like 119-0," he said, adding that the Iraqi sport utility vehicles (SUVs) stood no chance against tanks.
"You can't put an SUV with a machine gun up against an M1 tank -- it's heinous for the SUV," Hildenbrand said.
Indeed.
"I feel nothing but sorrow for these people," Hildenbrand said as he toured the hideout. "This war is against one man, it's not against the Iraqi people. I just wish they would surrender so we could get it over with."
The contrast between Hildenbrand's attitude and the mindset of a regime that would put these people out as cannon fodder--not to mention murder prisoners and parade the bodies on television--is striking. It should shame anyone who claims there is a moral equivalence between the American and Iraqi regimes. It won't; but it should.
According to what shown on Israeli channel 2 the video was broadcast by Al Jazeera but the microphone in the video says Iraqi TV. So it looks like it was originally taped by the Iraqis and given to Al Jazeera to be broadcast. I think it is being broadcast all over the world by now except for the US.
According to this WaPo story, Russian companies have been selling military items such as anti-tank missiles, night-vision goggles, and satellite jamming equipment to Iraq. Reps of at least one Russian company were seen in Iraq last week instructing Iraqis on the use and maintenance of satellite jamming equipment. The US has expressed its displeasure with this activity at increasingly higher levels since last June. Yet the Russians continue to deny and ignore even when given specific info.
I don't know homw much Secretary Rumsfeld has been breifed on regarding the alleged POW video or other events, but he'e charging ahead. Wolf Blitzer is currently asking him a series of really stupid questions (no surprise there), but Rummy has explicitly said, twice since I've been watching, that the outcome in Iraq is "certain," and that the Iraqi army should just give up now. Hs'e providing carefully worded, sometimes brusque answers. But, he's not kidding.
Wolf and paula are two reaosn why CNN has become absolutely unwatchable.
Al-Jazeera is "independent" a la the BBC, but is based in and funded by ally Qatar. If they are violating the Geneva Convention and other international laws, our STATE DEPARTMENT should immediately demand Qatar to force Al-Jazeera to stop.
(sorry to rant, but...
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Is Al Jazeera Now a Target?
Secretary Rumsfeld has said that the Al Jazeera tape violates the Geneva convention. On Meet the Press this morning, Secretary Rumsfeld also said that General Franks would make the call as to when Iraqi television would be taken off the air. If Al Jazeera wants to be the propoganda arm of the Iraqi regime, does that make them a legitimate target? Is Al Jazeera the embedded media for Iraq?
As General Sherman said long ago, "war is all hell."
The Iraqi television showed Sunday afternoon first pictures of killed, hurt as well as five imprisoned taken US soldiers. According to data of the television they were killed with the fights for Nasirija in the south Iraq or taken imprisoned. A 30-jaehrige colored woman, fear was clearly written the five members of the US army, under it in the face with the questioning. The prisoners of war indicated that it to 507. Belonged to repair company. Their homeland are US Federal States Kansas, Texas and new jersey.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Heavy fighting by the Euphrates; American casualties; Iraqis using human shields
CNN reports a battle between U.S. marines and the Republican Guard near Nasiriyah near the Euphrates, after the RG attempted to ambush an American convoy.
Unsurprisingly, Iraqis seem to be using Palestinian tactics:
Earlier, soldiers on reconnaissance missions reported that they had seen members of the Iraqi Republican Guard herd Iraqi women and children to military positions for use as human shields, a U.S. military source told Rodgers, who is accompanying the 7th Cavalry's 3rd Squadron.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Defense Department spokesperson says footage "looks like Iraqi TV propaganda"
Fox News is now reporting online the following statement from an unnamed Defense Department spokesperson:
"This is the first we've seen of it -- it looks like Iraqi TV propaganda," said a U.S. Defense Department spokesperson. "What they're doing is wrong -- we're trying to get to the bottom of what we're seeing. We're investigating the tape now."
It looks as if this could go either way: it could be legitimate or it could be staged.
Through Israeli channel 2: Al Jazeera video shows 4 soldiers, man 31 y/o from New Jersey, woman 30, from Texas and another man from Texas. 2 of them are from 507 maintenance unit.
Some of them are injured.
The captured soldiers told their names, age, state, army number and unit.
FoxNews is saying military initial response is that likely it is US POWs, possibly from 507th Maintenance Company out of Ft. Bliss, TX. The executed were shot in the head. The interrogations on camera were a violation of the Geneva Convention Article 13.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Fox on American Prisoners
Fox reports U.S. military has viewed the Al Jazeera video referenced by Michele below. They buy it--looks like the real thing; "not inconsistent" with U.S. military. Violation of Geneva Convention to showcase/interrogate POWs in this manner. Not to mention executing half of them after capture.
UPDATE: Major Garrett on Fox at Pentagon: Military officials viewed video in our booth...based on assessment of military officials, they believe what they saw was in fact U.S. military personnel....a couple identified with 507th Maintenance Company. Very disturbing bc it appears several [of those dead--all or parts of the video taped in morgue] if not all were executed, shot in head--that is what appears in video....that is why one of many reasons military officials had visceral reax, very very disturbing...
Rumsfeld now live...finished, didn't add much. Haven't checked the other channels; Fox choosing at the moment to not show "grotesque" video.
Fox News is talking about the video purportedly showing the captured US POWs, which FoxNews is thus far choosing not to show. There's speculation about whether they're really Americans, but it seems likely. Also, as reported before, some may have been killed/executed. The reporters keep noting that the mistreatment and interviewing are "against the Geneva convention", which would be true, but as another military analyst said, "It's Iraq. They don't care about the Geneva convention."
As far as being a propoganda tool, it may work in the Arab countries but it will have the opposite effect in the Western countries.
This kind of thing is a part of war. All we as civilians can do at this point is pray for the POWs and do all we can to make the military success more assured and swift.
UPDATE: At least five in custody, according to Al Jazeera, including at least one woman. Two of the "POWs" are saying they're from Kansas and Texas. The Pentagon has not confirmed the capture yet.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
International Reaction: India
Also from UPI, a commentary from columnist Mani Shankar Aiyar, member of the Indian Parliament representing the Congress Party. He writes weekly for UPI.
AGARTALA, India, March 23 (UPI) -- And so, at the end of the day, we of the lesser breed count for nothing. Washington decides who lives, who dies. If we shut our mouths and follow the leader, we live. If we do not, we might still live, but on sufferance. Thus is the arrogance of power consummated. How are those of us less endowed than the world's sole superpower to cope with this superpower's new world order?...
A survey undertaken in Muslim northern Nigeria showed that 80 percent of the male children born after 9/11 were named Osama. My guess is that 80 percent of Arab children born after Saddam is martyred will be called Saddam. If that does not happen, Bush and Blair would have won the peace. If it does, those who have sowed the wind will reap the whirlwind. For the will to independence and dignity is the weapons of asymmetry.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Jordan Expels Iraqi Diplomats
Apologies if this is old news for Command Post, but I don't see it here. From UPI:
Jordan said it has expelled five Iraqi diplomats from the capital, Amman on Sunday, on "security grounds," insisting it had nothing to do with the U.S. request of some states to ask Iraqi diplomats to leave their countries.
Information Minister Mohammad Edwan said the five had "violated their diplomatic duties, so we asked them to leave."
NBC re reporting that American prisoners have been executed by the Iraqis near Al Nasiriyah. The were captured and led away alive.
They then showed around eight shot dead, in a building. Some still alive, and were interviewed.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Republican Guard Speculation
Thoughts from retired military Jed Babbin at National Review Online on why Republican Guard may fight tenaciously:
We have to remember that though the population of Iraq has been brutalized for three decades, Saddam's Republican Guards have been the privileged class. We shouldn't be surprised that they fight with some tenacity. The Republican Guards will be defeated, but first they will fight to hold their own nation much more than the fought to keep Kuwait. They may give up today, tomorrow, or next week. But they must have a different mindset than they did twelve years ago. The "elite" Republican Guards aren't in the same league as our guys, nor do they have the training or equipment that we have put in the field. But they are fighting for their nation, and that makes 2003 a different war than 1991.
The other reason they may fight is that some of them, and their immediate commanders, know they are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Either we will try them as war criminals, or the post-Saddam, free Iraqi government will do the same. The result will be the same. These men may think they have nothing to lose. They may also hold out hope that we will stop short of removing Saddam's regime as we did in 1991. In that, they are sadly mistaken. And because of that, some or all of them will pay the full price. In advance. And then we have to deal with Baghdad, and whatever awaits there.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Israelis consider lowering alert
In light of the American capture of the only airfields from which Iraq could have fired SCUDs at Israel, the Israeli government is considering lowering the nationwide alert status.
Listening to Russert's show and I'm hearing that they've got unconfirmed reports that the American POWs mentioned here may have been summarily executed.
(Um. I see WindRider beat me to this one. Can't argue with his headline.)
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Missing Aircraft or not? Not.
Fox news guy saying latest official info: No missing aircraft, other than the RAF Tornado apparently downed by Patriot due to absence of a functioning Identification Friend-or-Foe (IFF) system.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Must have been after some BIG ones...
Fox News TV reporting that U.S. Navy SEALs have found Iraqi fishing boats "packed with" "very powerful mines" -- about ten. A few days back, they found a couple of tugboats with a total of 87 mines on them. I wonder what the Geneva Convention says on this topic...
I just heard George Stephanopoulos begin an interview by saying, "It does seem like the coalition has had a lot of bad news in the last 24 hours."
Now, while it's true that we've had some bad news, it seems to me that, considering we're in the middle of a war, that we've had amazingly little bad news.
From the first, the U.S. assault force was designed to be fast and lean -- which means it is too small to simultaneously carry out both an invasion and an occupation, dropping off units in each town as it proceeds. And while the outbreak of civil strife is a concern, because of its effect on Iraqi civilians and the image it projects to the rest of the world, officials said they are determined not to allow it to distract the invasion force from its mission.
Good.
"Follow-on forces will be arriving to deal with security eventually, but we're just not going to slow down our combat force," a Defense Department official said. There has been no indication of when those reinforcements might arrive to begin peacekeeping operations.
"You can't have it both ways," said another Pentagon insider. "You have to win the war quickly -- and you can't move fast enough if you are infusing authority along the way." He echoed the view that the violence might help the U.S. military if it targets the secret police and other elements of the regime that might otherwise be able to fight the invasion.
Jobe said he reminded his forces that their job will get harder the longer it goes on, and that it could culminate in a difficult siege of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. But that hasn't stopped many of his charges from referring to their procession north as the "Baghdad 500."
Meyers soundbite just says he doesn't think any planes missing ... but, he is 'out of place' and may not have latest minute info, and that clip may have been a few minutes old.
If they're downed aircrew...where is the frikkin parachutes? Those things are a bit hard to hide quickly.
Sunday, March 23, 2003
ABC News
While we have been looking on TV for what the Iraqis are looking for abc news reported the following:
"Arab television channel Al-Jazeera has reported two pilots have been captured and a Sky reporter on the spot said an Iraqi soldier told him a US pilot had been captured and a search was continuing for the other."
Oliver North just phoned in on Fox, reported wrap up of major medevac operation, as many as 50 casualties, no words of any fatalities. Said that a lot of the injuries appeared to be burns resulting from Molotov cocktails thrown by irregular forces.
Rummy Speaks: On MTP Rumsfeld just stated that 1) he was aware of no mising paratroopers, 2) that there is possibly a plane missing, and 3) that there "could be" coalition troops in Iraqi hands. He also noted that some journalists are missing.
Excellent piece by Bob Woodward in today's WaPo: Attack Was 48 Hours Old When It 'Began'. It paints a picture of a thoughtful, flexible, and bold war planning effort.
Military analyst on FoxNews: Intel indicates that Saddam and his two sons were all in the bunker hit Wednesday night, and that Saddam was injured. They don't know for sure how badly injured, but the allied forces have seen no evidence that the top Iraqi military commanders have been in contact with the forces on the ground.
A lot of that isn't new info, but just think about the strike on Wednesday night - it was an amazing feat; it was right on the money, just (apparently) not hard enough. We almost destroyed the Iraqi military command in one blow, and we did wing it, possibly quite badly. It will be interesting to read the whole story, whenever it eventually comes out.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
U.S.: No Evidence Pilots Ejected Over Baghdad
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Sunday discounted claims by Iraq that Western pilots had been forced to abandon aircraft over Baghdad.
Full Story: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2431245
Military personels have lit bushes on fire on the river bank hoping the pilot will come out. They seem convinced there is someone there. Some of the watchers in the crowd seem to be chanting. Fox news reports that the Iraq army tried to stage a similar event yesterday for the Russian news media.
A crowd of Iraqis are celebrating something by the Tigris river. Still trying to figure out what is going on, though I suspect it's a ploy by the Iraqi police to make it look as if there is a downed coalition plane there.
According to a military analyst on Fox: Apparently what happened... the Tornado either did not have or did not have working their IFF (Identification Friend or Foe). There was an unidentifiable blip on the radar, efforts to identify it came up empty, so they brought it down.
There is white smoke coming from the banks of the Tigris. There are reports that Iraqi police set the reeds on the bank on fire themselves, but no one knows why.
If they are trying to make it appear as if a U.S. coalition plane went down there, they are not doing a very good job of it, according to Gen. Meyers.
"We on the bus felt that we were sympathetic to the views of the Iraqi civilians, even though we didn't actually know any. The group was less interested in standing up for their rights than protesting against the US and UK governments.
I was shocked when I first met a pro-war Iraqi in Baghdad - a taxi driver taking me back to my hotel late at night. I explained that I was American and said, as we shields always did, "Bush bad, war bad, Iraq good". He looked at me with an expression of incredulity.
As he realised I was serious, he slowed down and started to speak in broken English about the evils of Saddam's regime. Until then I had only heard the President spoken of with respect, but now this guy was telling me how all of Iraq's oil money went into Saddam's pocket and that if you opposed him politically he would kill your whole family."
MSNBC's Kerry Sanders is outside Al Nasiriya reporting on some Iraqi resistance. He's on the ground, alongside an American Marine. As he reported what's going on, he drew a map in the sand with his finger to describe the specifics of the battle scenario. Let those in-studio guys have their screen writers and fly-over graphical maps. Nothing is better than a finger drawing in the sand.
MSNBC and CNN are both reporting that civilian women and children are being moved into the streets of Al Nasiriya has shields. Once again, we see the tactical advantages used by the brave Iraqi armed forces.
A two-pronged “pincer” assault on the Iraqi capital appeared to be taking shape following the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers toward a showdown with Saddam Hussein’s best units, the Republican Guards, now dug in around the capital.
"Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon news conference that the Iraqis have not fired any Scuds and that U.S. forces searching airfields in the far western desert of Iraq have uncovered no missiles or launchers."
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Yet another reason for war
605 Kuwaiti POWs who have been missing for 12 years now. Plus, as I said in a previous post, one American. If we find him alive and sane, what do we tell him about the delay in his rescue?
On that sombre note, it's Midnight here in Oz, and I'm going to Kip.
Major Bob Belavaqua, Fox military consultant, when asked if he thought Saddam was alive or dead: "If he is, he's got the mother of all headaches, since that bunker buster probably cracked his melon."
Sounds like Bob's a Jim Rome fan. He's also certain that the shooting into the water scene along the banks of the Tigris was staged for the cameras.
There's an impression of middle eastern cities that I keep getting when I see the video of Baghdad on TV. I expect the mosques and temples to have unusual designs, but I'd really like to know what Saddam was thinking when he had some of these other buildings designed and constructed. The very size and shape of some of them just screams out "hit me." And, as much as I like the President, I can't imagine what life would be like if his face and figure were everywhere the was Saddam's grille is in Iraqi cities.
A Fox consultant claims that the video of Iraqi soldiers shooting and searching for something in the river in downtown Baghdad appears to be a staged even for the cameras. The coalition has not verified that any aircraft has gone down over the city.
The Turkish military issued a formal denial today of news reports that Turkish troops had entered northern Iraq late Friday in defiance of American requests that they stay away.
Iraqi Kurdish leaders also said there had not been any incursion of Turkish troops into northern Iraq since the American military strikes on Iraq began, and they warned Turkey that such a move could lead to violence between the troops and Iraqi Kurds.
Walt Rodgers is reporting the wait on incipient air strikes on what used to be an Iraqi battalion, the remnants of which will now be killed in the grove of trees where they're hiding. This fight has been going on for an hour that I know of. It evidently kicked off when the Iraqis fired at the 3-7th with RPG's, for which act of whatever-you-want-to-call-it, they paid with their lives.
All that's in the little window on the left, now, while the sound of the Harriers angling for the drop on Umm Qasr rumbles out of the larger window on the right. (This is CNN. MSNBC is running two windows from Umm Qasr: the Marines live on the berm, and tape of the M1A1 tank action, earlier.)
Now, Rodgers is reporting that the air strike in the 7th Cav A/O is now cancelled. Don't know why, but it might have something to do with the smoke pillars on the horizon behind him.
And, the Umm Qasr window maximizes for an interview with the Marines.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
Battle near Umm Qasr is finally over
The battle near Umm Qasr is finally over, after an airstrike. And as I feared, the camera wass pointing the wrong way, so the airstrike wasn't visible. These guys still have a bit tl learn about live video.
I believe that if it wasn't for a desire to minimize civilian casualties, the whole affair would have lasted about 3 minutes - the time it took for the tanks to destroy the buildings and machine-gun any non-surrendering survivors.
Airstrike went in near, rather than directly on, the centre of enemy concentration. White flags now being seen.
Enemy no longer offering resistance, and POWs are being rounded up.
From the looks of it, it's just possible that there may have been no casualties on either side. Certainly no friendlies.
Bravo Zulu (Manouver Well Executed)
But that multi-story building will never be the same again.
There may of course be others. This may have to be repeated a few times.
Fox News military analyst says our forces are being "too cautious" in part due to the embedded media, that what we're seeing is a straightforward skirmish action and that there should've been an air strike called in to end this a long time ago. Not sure if he means that the commander of the forces on camera in Umm Qasr is showing off for the camera, that our forces don't want to risk killing on TV, or what. But an interesting observation nonetheless.
This is surreal, but Fox is split-screen right now, with the feed from Umm Qasr on one the right and a press conference featuring the bloviating minister of information rambling about the heroic resistance of the heroes at Umm Qasr on the left. He's also claiming that after 4 days the allies have only moved 50 meters into Iraq (Umm Qasr is on the Kuwaiti border). Allied timing is off just a bit -- an airstrike is rumored for the holdouts in Umm Qasr, and the juxtaposition of the airstrike with the ministers words would have been... poetic.
Update: Now he's praising the fragging.
Update 2: Now he's claiming that attacks on Basra, Nasriyah, etc. have been repulsed. Five minutes ago he was claiming that coalition troops have yet to cross the border into Iraq.
"The heroic Iraqi units at Umm Qasr are giving the American and British mercenaries the taste of death."
And so on: Iraqi MinInform news conference, now, Fox News.
It's interesting to me that the translation arrived as "units", in the plural. I have been thinking that it would be odd to find a Republican Guard company operating alone.
The USMC M1A1 (I got a good look this time) tanks have withdrawn at speed, along with the convoy. Commentators are talking about an airstrike very soon.
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
PATRIOT DOWNS BRIT PLANE?
The BBC story I posted earlier has now been updated to include the rumor/report RAF aircraft 'hit by US missile', confirming(?) the reports below on TV reportage.
I'm still skeptical. Why would they fire Patriots at an airplane? What about our IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) equipment?
Channel 7 anchorman Pete Wilson had it close to right when he segued from Iraq coverage to protest coverage and said, "Of course, San Francisco manages to make this about itself."
Sure, there were plenty of people in the streets who care deeply about what happens elsewhere in the world. But as protesters' behavior got worse, it was clear it was about them.
Saturday, March 22, 2003 |
RAF Aircraft Lost in Blue-on-Blue
According to official spokesmen, it looks like a US Patriot battery shot down the RAF aircraft that's been reported missing. Systems are now being looked at to prevent a repeat. Shit happens in war - but any such error should happen at most once.
My sympathies to the families, the squadron, and also to the guys who did the firing. They must feel like shit at the moment. (I apologise for the language, but I reserve it for such occasions.)
Saturday, March 22, 2003 |
Um Qasr Mop Up (Live on TV)
Some US Marines, supported by what appears to be 2 British Challenger II Tanks (but could be US M1A2s if I've got the ID wrong) is on MNBC and other channels (see previous posts) doing some mopping-up. A convoy has just arrived, passing through the area.
Latest report: a Republican Guard Officer is civilian clothes captured earlier reports some 120 hostiles in the area. The threat is in 3 regions: a) a bunker or bunker complex which appears to have been neutralised though not occupied, b) a single well-built 3 or 4-story structure which took a few 120mm rounds plus much 40mm AGL (Auto Grenade Launcher) rounds and much other fire, and from which no fire has appeared since and c) A large factory or warehouse complex, with thin walls.
120 hostiles is no longer a mop-up, it's an engagement. Worth an airstrike or an artillery stonk, and I'm glad I'm not handling the insurance on those buildings. Hopefully, with the sight of the "reinforcements" who are actually just passers-by, white flags will start flying soon. If not, the burial detail will be busy, and a lot of Iraqi widows and orphans will be created. So let's hope they see sense, I really don't want to watch a snuff flick.
As for the Marines - they're acting with professional caution, and although in War nothing is certain, I doubt that there will be any friendly military casualties. The only ones at risk are the camera team, who are putting themselves in an exposed position, ie where they'll draw fire if anyone will.
And the Tanks - Challenger IIs - have got some of the heaviest armour of any MBT in service. Even from the side, there's little that would be a major threat, and nothing the Iraqis appear to have available. But they're not taking chances either.
Saturday, March 22, 2003 |
DRUDGE HOURS AND HOURS BEHIND:
Nothing on the DRUDGE REPORT that wasn't on the Command Post and elsewhere hours ago. The top half of the page is devoted to an Oscar party. Unbelievable.
Saturday, March 22, 2003 |
Little Umm Qasr Skirmish now a Battle
Apparently there is a full company opposing the Marines at Umm Qasr. Republican Guards officers apparently have been sent south to stiffen some local units.
Some of the local guys aren't too smart, though. Firiing at a tank with an AK is a very dumb idea that we have seen at least once.
Alan checking in ... the site looks absolutely fantastic. Michele was spot-on with her earlier compliments, as well as her reminders -- while we have had a couple of emails noting that the "voice of the site" was starting to move away from cutting-edge news and toward rants and self-links, overall the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Thanks for keeping The Command Post a constant source of the freshest news about the war out there (IMHO).
In other news, I'm playing with some ideas for how we can use the traffic of this site (and of our own blogs, should we choose) to do some good. One idea is to post links to existing charities. Another is to begin our own effort, and I've been thinking about establishing a way to collect donations toward the education of children of American soldiers killed in Iraq. Just a thought, but I've taken it so far as to speak with an attorney and CPA about the possibilities. If anyone has any thoughts or opinions on this, I'd welcome them either in the feedback or via email to avocare at comcast dot net.
Saturday, March 22, 2003 |
Lies, damn lies, and statistics
Yahoo News lists “Iraq Body Count” under their sidebar of war related news sites. This is the site run by Mark Harold, who is well known to invent statistics, and has absolutely no connection to reality. It should not be provided by Yahoo as a legitimate source of information.
