The Iraq War As Witnessed by the Correspondents and Photographers of United Press Internat

As Witnessed by he Correspondents and Photographers of nited Press International

DiTED BY Martin Walker Ti

Chii£I-

Im i:knai ional

C()kki:si'()m:)k.\t

Foreword by Margaret Thatcher

THE IRAQ WAR

w

Also by Martin Walker The National Front: The Extreme Right

in Britain

Powers of the Press: The World's Leading Newspapers The Waking Giant. Gorbachev and Perestroika Martin Walker 's Russia:

The Cold War:

A

A

Perestroika Journal

History

The President They Deserve

America Reborn: A 20th-century Narrative (published the American Century). The Caves of Perigord

in the

U.K. as Makers of

THE IRAQ WAR As Witnessed by

the Correspondents and

Photographers of United Press International

Edited by Martin Walker

Brassey's, Inc.

Washington, D.C.

Copyright

©

2004 by Brassey's.

Inc.

No

Published in the United States by Brassey's. Inc. All rights reserved.

reproduced

part of this

book may be

any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except

in

the case of brief quotations

embodied

in critical articles

in

and reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The

Iraq

War

International p.

as witnessed /

by the correspondents and photographers of United Press

edited by Martin Walker.

1st ed.

cm.

ISBN 1-57488-798-X (pbk 1.

—

Iraq War, 2003.

I.

Title: Iraq

:

War.

alk. II.

paper)

Walker, Martin, 1947-

III. Title.

DS79.76.I728 2004

956.7044'3^c22 2003016231

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper that meets the American National Stan-

dards Institute Z39-48 Standard.

Brassey's, Inc.

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First Edition

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987654321

CONTENTS Foreword

ix

Introduction

Maps Chapter

xi

XV 1

Chapter 2

The Road

to

War

War Plans

13

Chapter 3 Twenty-One Days Chapter 4 Aftermath Epilogue

Index

177

193

Appendix

211

221

List of Contributors

About the Editor

1

225

227

23

FOREWORD It

has been said that

joumaUsm

is

the first draft

of history. UPI's gripping report of the Second

Gulf War certainly qualifies for It

that accolade.

gives a full account of the diplomatic maneu-

vers leading up to the conflict and to the military

maneuvers of the

conflict itself.

It

analyzes

the various viewpoints of the U.S. government,

European

British ally, those

its

states that re-

sisted the case for intervention, United Nations

sniped

troops from behind genuine

U.S.

at

Iraqis who were liberated seemed unsure that their liberation was a permanent one and reacted nervously to the new

Those

civilians.

status quo.

gradual

And

the strategy of engineering the

surrender of cities

inevitably took time and patience. These were new kinds of warfare. We watched fa.sci-

coalition forces

describes the shifting fortunes of the battlefield

able to counterattack.

with extraordinary vividness from two very dif-

foregone conclusion

ferent vantage points

pening.

strategists

—

who drew up

namely, that of the

the battle plan

who had

of the ordinary soldiers

and

to slog

it

We

also a necessary history.

is

are inclined in retrospect to think of the

Second Gulf War as something And,

was a

coalition It

was a

like a walkover.

be sure, the victory of the U.S. -led

to

victory

in casualties

truly

won

remarkable achievement.

at

(though

an impressively low cost

we must

would turn

never forget that

not only for

enemy

imposed

its

own

and civilians but

soldiers

forces as well. Yet despite these self-

restraints,

dam Hussein

it

brought the statue of Sad-

crashing to the ground in central

Baghdad a mere

three

the

Gen.

conflict.

If

weeks

after the start of

Tommy

Franks,

War never looks like a when it is actually hap-

Gen.

a time

when

the journalistic consensus held that

way

the

admired as among the military commanders

who won

decisive victories by daring, speed and unexpectedness. From the standpoint of the military

historian,

Yet

when

the

this is

is

war was

As

campaign

that it.

actually taking place.

most of us were caught up tainty.

a

the first full account of

in a

fog of uncer-

coalition forces raced north towards

literally

Sieff

paved the

armed columns to strike dramatiBaghdad by ordering a grandiose totalitarian architecture of wide avenues ideally suited to tanks. Claude Salhani, noticing the eerie silence of Middle Eastern for U.S.

cally at the center of

leaders in the run-up to war, underscores the

failure

be

Martin

assault.

final

how Saddam had

Rumsfeld had achieved nothing else distinguished careers, they would

in their

its

war was leading to a "quagmire." Martin Walker gives a gripping eyewitness account of the Battle of Basra and of the courage and comradeship of the British soldiers he accompanied

undiplomatic truth that the

repays study. Here

accuracy

the

Richard Myers and Defense Secretary Donald

still

skill,

innovative and soon-to-be victorious strategy at

describes

for

were overstretched and vulner-

Hess, reporting from the Pentagon, lays out

covering

a family's tragedy).

they

people worried that

UPI's reporters convey these twists, turns

The

is

Some

and uncertainties of the war with

Coalition's strategy sought to avoid casualties

every soldier's death

out.

and foresight. Some examples here: Pamela

across the desert or in sieges of dusty cities.

UPI's account

how

nated but also unsure as to exactly

that

out

Basra by

power

Middle Eastern governments, and of Arab public opinion with scrupulous fairness. And once the actual fighting begins, it officials.

like

Saddam Hussein's

destroying the symbols of

crisis

was

in part a

of Arab leadership because the Arab

world had failed

to

curb

Saddam on

its

own.

Several UPI reporters within Iraq note that the Iraqis

were willing

to

welcome

their liberators

openly only when they were convinced that

Saddam Hussein

really

had been defeated.

Similar insights and observations occur on virtually every page.

We

are

still

enmeshed

in

postwar

Iraq.

For

the foreseeable future. U.S. and British soldiers

much

Baghdad, there were small but disquieting

are unlikely to have

reverses. Fedayeen terrorists in civilian clothes

the purely military tests that their masters back

difficulty in passing

VII

FOREWORD

VIII

home

give them. But the poHtical tests are

Where we are giving advice and help from outside, we should encourage the harder to pass.

governments of the region and responsive

political

to introduce

open

systems by being there

—

them when reform runs into trouble bound to do sometimes. And where we

to assist as

it

is

have direct responsibility as

in Iraq,

we should

these things happened.

congratulate UPI's

I

reporters and editors on their fine

work and,

in

Martin Walker on weaving their

particular,

threads into such a persuasive pattern. In his skillful

compilation, UPI's reports and analyses

become

history

that

shrewdly judged. This ington.

New York.

vividly

is is

how

London,

it

was

Paris,

told in

and

Wash-

Moscow and

establish the seriousness and firmness of our

Baghdad. As we cope with the rebuilding of

commitment.

Iraq and the postwar reordering of international

To return to the volume at hand, much of it was written and photographed under fire.

relations,

Almost

indispensable lessons on

all

of

it

written on the describe.

And

began

life as

first-hand reports

same days as the events they of it was written under the

UPI has given

account of

how we

such needless crises

us not only a fine

got here but also

some

how we might

avoid

in the future.

all

lash of the deadline. Yet

it

passes every

accuracy and prescience and

it

gains

surably in vividness and force because

work of men and women who were

of

Margaret Thatcher

immea-

(Lady Thatcher was prime minister of

the

Great Britain and Northern Ireland

test

it

there

is

when

from 1979

to 1990.)

INTRODUCTION In the early evening of Feb. 26, 1991, after a

three-hour battle through minefields and dug-in

T-55 tanks that secured

Iraqi

Ml Abrams

1

.600 prisoners, the

tanks of the Tiger Brigade of the

2nd Armored Division took

U.S.

the

high

ground of Mutla Ridge, almost immediately due east of

Kuwait

Spread out below them as

City.

they topped the rise

was

the junction of

two

6-

lane highways and the road north to Iraq that

was

to

be called the Highway of Death.

What

Almost, but not quite. There were enough loyal troops

dam

and tanks and guns

Hussein's regime

to maintain

power

in

Sad-

against

the

uprisings by the Kurds of the north and the Shi'ites of the south.

At the Safwan cease-fire

Commander

negotiations. U.S.

Schwarzkopf agreed

Hashim Ahmad

eral Sultan

Norman

General

Gen-

to the request of Iraqi

that the Iraqis be

allowed to use their remaining helicopters,

many

"since so

bridges and roads had been

they also saw. according to the U.S.

destroyed." In fact, the helicopters were the

Army's official histor\'. was "the largest target an armored brigade had probably ever seen. The previous night Air Force and Navy aircraft had begun destroying all vehicles spotted fleeing from Kuwait. Now the brigade added its

regime's trump card in crushing the uprisings.

firepower to the continuous

On

air strikes.

the

Highway of Death, hundreds of burning and exploding vehicles of ian automobiles,

all

were

types, including civil-

visible.

Hundreds more

raced west out of Kuwait City to unknowingly join the deadly traffic

jam. Here and there knots

of drivers. Iraqi soldiers and refugees fled into the desert because of the inferno of rockets,

aged

and tank

to escape

fire.

bombs,

These lucky ones man-

and join the ranks of the grow-

army of prisoners." The Highway of Death,

ing

Saddam Hussein

north to the Iraqi border and another 50 miles to Iraq's southern city of Basra,

was

the grave-

that

he surrender his remaining Scud missiles and

weapons of mass destruction and played catand-mouse games with the U.N. Inspectors. That, briefly, was why the Bush administration decided that Saddam Hussein's regime had to be fought all over again. Legally, it had a

Saddam Hussein had

case.

not met the condi-

tions of the original 1991 cease-fire, not least in

giving a

accounting of Kuwaitis

full

disappeared or had been

He had

made

who had

prisoners of war.

not fulfilled the terms of successive

U.N. resolutions. But there was an additional factor.

stretching 30 miles

reasserted his brutal rule, frus-

U.N. resolutions demanding

trated repeated

The

ington and

terrorist attacks

New

of 9/11 on Wash-

York had convinced the Bush

administration that the American security envi-

ronment had changed

forever.

The prospect of

Saddam Hussein had

a terrorist organization like al-Qaida obtaining

ordered to invade Kuwait the previous August.

chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons

The American

from a rogue

yard of the army that

pilots called this long, vulnera-

state like Iraq

The new U.S.

ble target the turkey shoot, the tmal destructive

ignored.

moment of

egy, published in

Iraqi

a four-day ground

forces

war

that cost the

3,200 of the 5.000 tanks with

which they had begun the war. They lost another 920 of their 1,700 BMP armored infantry

vehicles.

200 of

their

350

guns.

The

craft

had been shot down, destroyed on the

Iraqi air force

ground or had fled

its air-

into neighboring Iran for

most formidable Arab the Middle East, the Iraqi militar> had

safekeeping. force in

no longer flew:

Once

the

been defeated and almost destroyed.

September 2002, said

that

regimes of such character and with such fear-

some

capabilities

had

to be tackled, with pre-

ventive military action

if

need

be.

But only the United States had suffered that

self-

propelled guns and 2,300 of their 3,500 towed

could no longer be

national security strat-

devastating

attack

of September

countries, including traditional in

1 1

.

American

Other allies

Europe, shared neither American losses nor

America's shock, and not

new

strategy.

all

could embrace the

Already chafing over the Bush

administration's refusal to join tional

systems

like

the

new

interna-

K\olo Protocol on

IX

INTRODUCTION warming and the International Criminal Germany and other countries like Russia and China feared that the Bush administration was abandoning traditional

President George

global

Court. France,

international

American

procedure for a muscular

new

German Chancellor

unilateralism.

Gerhard Schroeder won an upset re-election victory by campaigning hard against "an

Amer-

Bush went

to the

United

Nations in September for a resolution that gave

Saddam Hussein one

chance to readmit the

last

U.N. inspectors, comply with the previous

own

olutions and cooperate in his

res-

disarma-

ment. Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were far from con-

vinced that

was a good

this

idea.

But the impor-

Prime Minister Tony

ican military adventure" against Iraq.

tant British ally.

"Any community with only one dominant power is always a danger and provokes reac-

desperately needed a U.N. mandate to help beat

French President Jacques Chirac told

tions,"

Time magazine

in February, as

France took the

lead in the intense U.N. arguments over Iraq.

why

"That's

I

favor a multipolar world, in

which Europe obviously has There was an irony security strategy.

although

States

strategy

majority in Parliament.

was based on

the

at

same time

the

the

United

dominated the world as no single nation

Roman

had since the days of the

Empire. The

it

easier to obtain temporary military

help in postwar reconstruction.

Bush accepted

the Blair-Powell argument,

but in his address to the U.N. General Assembly in

September 2002 he packaged

enforce them or

most advanced technology and most pro-

ductive agriculture.

Above

spending on

all.

it

in a

new and

way. Either the United Nations

challenging

decided to live up to

the

the

bases, overflight rights and financial and other

and industrial power,

its

and

legitimacy

international

United States was the world's greatest financial biggest exporter, with

Secretary of State

prospect of wide diplomatic support, which

made

place."

own Labor Party

in his

And

Colin Powell argued that the United Nations

brought

alarm about America's vulnerabili-

post-9/11 ties,

The

its

Bush's new national

to

back threats of rebellion

Blair,

it

its

risked

own

resolutions and

becoming

"irrelevant."

Relieved that Bush had been sufficiently "mul-

go

to

tilateralist"

to the

United Nations, the

defense more than the world's 10 next military

Security Council gave the United States the res-

powers combined. American predominance was simply beyond any militar>' challenge on land, at sea. in the air or in space. The United States was not just richer and stronger, it was a

olution

technological generation ahead of any other

the

militarv'

on the planet, possessing a degree of

unbridled power and freedom to impose

own

rules that

made

its

That was the background to the diplomatic allies,

Germany, and America's

France and

less-than-friends.

Russia and China, decided to mount

in the

one

arena where they met the United States as equals

—

Nations. realities

the Security Council of the United

A

body

of 1945,

that

reflects the

still

power

when World War II ended,

the

U.N. Security Council has 15 members. Ten delegate positions rotate

among

all

U.N. authorization of military action

the world's

encourage them

was

clearly not enough. For the French, Russ-

ian

and Chinese

—

and for much of public

opinion around the world

make

—

it

able to war.

all

have the power

veto against any resolution. tion has to get nine votes

To

— and

to cast a

pass, a resolu-

and not a single veto.

to

As

the diplomats wrangled, and the

250,000 American and 45,000 British and 3.000 Australian troops began to gather in the Persian Gulf. pilloried as

Bush and

Blair

war-mongering

saw themselves and Blair

bullies,

Labor

France, Britain and the United States

was enough

continuing with the inspections prefer-

faced a political fight for his

these "Big Five"

to

continue. For the British and Americans, this

places are permanent

for Russia. China,

if

—

Iraqi cooperation to

nations and each of the 10 has a vote. Five

—

— even

Saddam Hussein regime was still playing cat and mouse with the inspectors. and got just The inspectors went to work enough

others nervous.

challenge that America's

it wanted by a vote of 15-0. The catch was that the French said that a second resolution would be required before there could be any

life in his

own

Party.

This was extraordinary. Saddam Hussein ran what was clearly one of the most evil regimes on the planet. This was widely known. The

U.N.

Human

Rights Commission, in April 2002,

INTRODUCTION

XI

adopted a resolution strongly condemning "the

Other methods of physical torture described

systematic, widespread and extremely grave

and of international

by former victims include the use of Falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet), extin-

humanitarian law by the government of Iraq,

guishing of cigarettes on various parts of the

an all-per\ asi\ e repression and

body, extraction of fingernails and toenails

violations of

resulting

in

human

rights

oppression sustained by broad-based discrimi-

and piercing of the hands with an

nation and widespread terror."

drill.

Amnesty

International, in a special report

on

Some have been

electric

sexually abused and

others have had objects, including broken

torture in Iraq, said:

bottles, forced into their anus. In addition to

physical torture, detainees have been threat-

Torture

used systematically against

is

cal detainees in Iraqi prisons

centres.

The

scale

use

at

from

ened with rape and subjected

and detention

and severity of torture

Iraq can only result its

politi-

in

mock

execells

in

where they could hear the screams of others

the acceptance of

the highest level. There are

to

They have been placed

cution.

being tortured and have been deprived of

no

sleep.

Some have

attempts to curtail or prevent such violations

ment

for long periods of time.

or punish those responsible. This total disre-

have also been threatened with bringing

gard for a basic

human

be tortured or

ill-treated,

international

human

right, the right not to

rights

grossly violates

Electric shocks

wrists

and sus-

for long

hours.

detainee.

Some

tongue and fingers. Victims have

described to

have

been

foul

Amnesty beaten

International

with

Some

how

canes,

they

whips,

were issued

Knowing

the regime's record, and recalling

the

Kurds and

Blair administrations

would welcome

the

hoping

ing fan in the ceiling or from a horizontal

power

in a

pole often in contorted positions as electric

fight for the "Beast of

others, including their ily

own

members, being tortured

relatives or in front

fam-

of them.

This

is

that the Iraqis

British

and American

to replace

Iraqi

Saddam Hussein

in

democratic Iraq, that few would

Baghdad."

the ston. of the 2

after hard fighting,

ning

assumed

They were assured b\

troops as liberators. exiles,

victims had been forced to watch

Saddam Hussein by many in the Bush and

Shi"ites.

rotat-

Some

cards that

the 1991 uprisings against

been suspended for hours from either a

shocks were applied repeatedh on their bod-

identity

occupation as "Official Violator."

hosepipes or metal rods and how the\ ha\e

ies.

of the

front

in

of these threats have been

secret policemen, charged with these

duties,

listed their

have been used on various

parts of their bodies, including the genitals, ears, the

in a

carried out.

stripped of their clothes their

and raping her

mother,

law which pro-

Torture victims in Iraq ha\e been bUnd-

pended from

Detainees

female relative, especially the wife or the

hibits torture in all circumstances.

folded.

stayed in solitary confine-

some

demonstration

1

days that finally

of American

prowess and technology

—

resistance and a stunmilitar>'

— pro\ ed them

right.

MAPS Turke\

^XT^

r

/ivurdish

/

'^

MosuiV

\

-< J

<>

""^

/XT

^

j

\^.^

.Controlled^

\ Area A^^—^

y

^ S>Tia

Pre-War Iraqi Deployments

•

Kirkuk

\\ Vr»

Iran

\ ^^^ Qaim

*Tiknt'

-1

Wghdad

\

1 Jordaa2.___^

NajafA

\

\

\AjTiaranV.

/

^"^Phi^-..«^Xiksiri\ ah

-X

1/

.

BasraV^ k. 50 1

1

Miles

100 1

Saudi

1

1

1

1

1

50

1

1

100

Iraqi

Troop

Concentrations

1

200

Km

Arabia

\^

^

—

/Kuwait/^-/

\ ^^^

\

XIII

xiv

MAPS

Opening Engagements 21-23 March

Royal Marines Iraqi

Armored

Mechanized Units

Iraqi

Unarmored

Infantry' Units

i\/\yl

Destroyed Iraqi Units

^1/

—

*

Coalition

Attacks

MAPS

XV

xvi

MAPS

The Drive to Baghdad 23 March-4 April

Miles

:00

Km

THE IRAQ WAR

CHAPTER

1

THE ROAD TO WAR

ABOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK, The Arabian

—

March 17 (UPI) Aviation ordnancemen an AIM-9M Sidewinder air-to-air missile onto an F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) on March 17, 2003. The Gulf,

load

Sidewinder intercept

is

a short-range, heat-seeking,

missile

by 28

used

different

air-

nations,

including the United States. Kitty Hawk and her embarked Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) are conducting combat missions in support of Operations Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom. Kitty Hawk is

the Navy's only permanently forward-deployed

aircraft

and operates out

carrier

Japan. (U.S.

of

Yokosuka,

Navy photo/Todd Frantom)

The great Arab void CLAUDE SALHANI

WASHINGTON,

Feb.

(UPI)

1 1

— The

noticeable

absence from the international political scene in the

months since the Bush administration removal of Iraqi

started actively planning the

leader

Saddam Hussein has been

a strong voice

emanating from the Arab world. During time of grave

crisis,

made themselves heard

as the debate whether

to attack Iraq has gathered

are those

who

momentum. Many and cons of

articulated the pros

going to war with

this

number of voices have

a

Iraq,

from the White House,

the Pentagon, the State Department, the

and the United Nations, as well as

from

CIA Paris,

London, Berlin. Moscow and Brussels. Yet the Arab u orld seems to ha\ e gone mute. It's

quite disconcerting that as

more than

100,000 American combat troops, hundreds of fighter aircraft

and several naval

converge on the Arabian Gulf

in

battle

groups

preparation for

war, not a single Arab leader has tried to intro-

duce a comprehensive

initiative to

invasion of an Arab country

bound

to bring

avoid a U.S.

— a move

renewed havoc

to the

that

is

Middle

East for years to come.

"This will be an Arab

crisis that will

have

traumatic repercussions on the whole region,"

1

THE IRAQ Hassan Hassouna,

WAR the

Arab League representa-

Washington, told United Press Interna-

tive in tional.

said Sunday that the upcoming summit of Arab League states if it

During the 1990-91 Gulf War, when the

however,

Egypt,

happens —

—

Saddam

will not ask

to resign.

United States led a coalition to oust Iraq from

Saddam's resignation would avoid a war. don't think any Arab country would interfere

Kuwait, King Hussein of Jordan played a major

Iraq's internal affairs," Egyptian Foreign

role in trying to convince

Saddam

to avoid a

ister

Ahmad Maher

told reporters in

military confrontation with the United States.

el-Sheikh after the mini-summit.

The Jordanian monarch and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt were especially active in

country."

their efforts to avoid a war.

people

who

should decide

Of course,

Although ultimately

who

but so long as

"I in

Min-

Sharm

"It is the Iraqi

rules over their

Saddam remains in much of a

they failed, and the coalition put together by

power, the Iraqi people will not have

Bush pere went to war in Janwas some Arab effort at mediation. Today, besides some lip service from Syria and some meek efforts from the Arab League, there appears to be complete Arab inertia. It is true there have been some low-level and behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts by some Arab League members, but those would appear to be too little, too late. Hassouna told UPI a meeting of Arab foreign ministers is scheduled to convene in Cairo on Feb. 16 to discuss the

say in running their country, and they, unfortu-

President George

uary

1

99

1

at least there

,

nately, will

be the

last

ones to decide

who

rules

them. Regardless,

these

Arab leaders have produced even

needed

is

heads of

low-level gatherings of

attracted

little

attention

and

What

less political impact.

is

an immediate summit meeting of Arab could present a comprehen-

state that

sive initiative, offering a viable alternative to an

American invasion of

But

Iraq.

that is highly

meeting "could

number of reasons. First, the Arab world as a whole is leaderless. Many of the older, more astute leaders who have ruled the Arab world since the post- World War II, post-colonization era have

happen beginning of March," the Arab League

died and been replaced by their younger, and

situation.

"Out of

this

meeting something could hap-

A summit

pen," said Hassouna.

diplomat said. But by then. U.S. forces well be on their

way

to

Why then are the Arabs contrast to the Gulf

may

Baghdad.

War

so quiet this time, in that

followed Iraq's

invasion of Kuwait in 1990? "It's

it

was a

clear case of aggression.

That was the focus. This time

Whatever

the

it

is

different.

Arab leaders do will depend on weapons inspectors Hans

the report of U.N.

Blix and

Mohammad

The inspectors to the

ElBaradei."

U.N. Security Council on Feb.

Sunday

to a

Sharm el-Sheikh

that

Arab world is ruled by a new crop of leadunaccustomed to dealing with the com-

plexity of interregional intricacies.

Mubarak has been Iraqi debacle, as

his

own

14.

largely

And even

removed from

the

he remains preoccupied with

internal concerns. Saudi Arabia, the

one-time oil-rich powerhouse of Arab world disadvantaged by King Fahd's inva-

lidism and plagued by the harsh reality that

it.

Has-

too, faces internal dissent. Fifteen of the

19

mini-summit held on

Mubarak

the

back

Egyptian Red Sea resort of

the

in

With the exception of Egypt's Mubarak, the doyen of the Arab world's leaders, the rest of

politics, is

are scheduled to report

souna also pointed

far less experienced, progeny.

ers, still

a different case." explained Hassouna.

"At the time

unlikely to occur for a

hosted for Syr-

Sept.

1 1

hijackers were Saudi citizens.

Syria, the other traditional leader in the

world,

is

Arab

governed by Bashar Assad, a young

ian President Bashar

and inexperienced man who saw himself pro-

Moammar

pelled into the top job after the death of his

lier

Assad and Libyan leader Gadhafi. And then there was an ear-

month

father, Hafez, in

foreign ministers from Turkey, Iran, Syria

ophthalmologist

meeting in Istanbul, Turkey,

when

last

and Saudi Arabia met, some analysts believe, an effort to

asylum war.

try

and convince Saddam

in a friendly

to

in

seek

country and thus avoid a

2000. Bashar, by training an

who

never

had

political

charisma and ambition

vision,

lacks

the

emerge

as the

new pan-Arab

to

leader.

Jordan's charismatic King Hussein died in

1999, leaving control of the Hashemite

kingdom

ROAD TO WAR

THE to his untried son. Abdullah. in

Morocco, where King

to the throne

upon

Hassanll. also

in

The same holds

Mohamed VI

true

ascended

the death of his father.

King

1999.

These recent changes

in leadership haN e left

Middle East with a lack of experienced leaders who have any real influence beyond

their individual borders. In addition, today, is in

ill

be fierce. Sud-

Saddam Hussein. Some of the most promimanagement are at

of

nent institutions of global

the

Arab countn,

defiance of a U.N. veto, w

in

denly, the stakes are far greater than the future

no

a position to openly defy the

United States.

risk.

Start w ith the United Nations. If the FrancoRusso-German view prevails, then that means

that the

United Nations has become a body that

can veto the United States from acting it

sees to be

national interest.

its vital

ican president, and no U.S.

in

what

No Amer-

Senate, can be

expected to endorse such a limitation on American sovereignty.

The worst-case

ignore

The United

States

w ill simply

it.

much

difficult to see

It is

future for

NATO in

the face of such a direct clash between the

scenario

Franco-Germans and

the

Anglo-Americans.

That constant American support for the project of European integration, which has been a con-

MARTIN WALKER

WASHINGTON, March

5 (UPI)

is

It

now

eyeball-to-eyeball time at the United Nations.

The

British and

confident that

needed

Americans say they are quietly they now have the nine votes

in the Security

Council and are hopeful

the late 1940s, could not be expected to continue. It is

goal of "a

the

foreign ministers issued a solemn joint state-

body.

Paris that said.

"We

will not let a

proposed resolution pass that would authorize the use of force."

And

France and Russia then

equally difficult to see

how

the Euro-

pean Union can continue working toward

of a 10th. But they might be blufting. But Wednesday, the French. German and Russian

ment from

grand strategy since

sistent principle of U.S.

—

common

in the teeth

of such a

traditional

And

betw een Britain and

split

Franco-German core of

that

the British are not alone; the gov-

ernments of Spain and

and the "New-

Italy,

Europe" of the Poles and Czechs and up w

its

foreign and security policy"

Baits. line

the Americans.

ith

None

being

one another

there are other grim consequences looming. If

all

to earn, out that veto threat

— with

the profound consequences for their

Washington

relations with

Nobody wants solitary veto,

why

to

be

when

that

would

left isolated,

own

follow.

wielding a

the music stops. That

is

they reached the pact of Paris Wednesday,

sealed with the presence of

German Foreign

of them

w ants

warned they were prepared to use the veto. But they might be bluffing. The salient fact is that the French and Russians simply do not know how far they can trust

American

interests.

little

to

be part of a Europe

look like a potential challenge to

that starts to

The

EU

would

revert to

more than a customs union. But

Britain joins the United States in going to

w ar

without the backing of a second U.N. resolution,

it

dam

or

is

then an open question whether Sad-

Tony Blair falls first. There will be instant massed demonstrations in Britain and probably a wa\e of strikes. There will probably

Minister Joschka Fischer, whose country has

be a challenge to Blair's leadership

no veto but launched the great rebellion against

National Executi\e Committee of the Labor

U.S. leadership in In defying the

might be safety

in

last

year's

American

German

election.

hyperpower. there

numbers. France. Russia and

Germany can support one another and share the blame and pain much better than an isolated challenger. And pain and blame there will be. The wrath of the Bush administration, if frustrated

by such a coalition or forced

to

go

to

war

Part),

and

confidence

that in turn in

would

the

trigger a vote of

— and possibly

Parliament

in

Blair's

replacement by Chancellor of the Exchequer

Gordon Brown.

Any ating

Blair successor

would face an excruci-

dilemma. Would he keep the

troops in action

—

in the teeth

parliamentary opposition?

British

of public and

Or would he back

his

WAR

THE IRAQ

fellow Europeans in Paris and Beriin. withdraw

— and destroy

the troops

the

Anglo-American

is

dead, and from

that

NATO

point,

Washington's perspective, the

and

to look like a rival

far

EU

would

start

from friendly super-

power. The restraint that both the United States

and

EU

have displayed

in their trade disputes

would no longer be applied, and trade rivalries and tariff wars would probably destroy the World Trade Organization and plunge already weakened economies into serious recession.

Saddam Hussein.

All this for the wretched

eyeball to eyeball time, and this

It's

longer about Iraq.

and

Paris. Berlin

submission

in a

Washington. rage

at

And

It is

no

is

about the resentment in

Moscow

party.

has not only dented their national standing,

may

new

leaders favor creating the powerful

EU

months ago, Blair bestrode

European With the

the

political landscape like a colossus.

parliamentary

largest

leader, he

had

saw

policy as he

of any

majority

He

fit.

down

pushing Bush

could claim credit for

the U.N. path on Iraq.

was cooling,

about Washington's out-

it is

may and may

not do on the

starts to

sound

like

now looms

at the

bum-

precisely the

is

wing governments

Spain and Denmark.

reviled as Bush.

"People talk of the prime minister straddling

may be

the Atlantic. His footing ington, but

secure in Wash-

not any longer in Europe," for-

is

it

Europe

Pierre

Financial

Times

Wednesday. "By putting trans-Atlantic

solidar-

French

Minister

wrote

for

the

in

before European unity, he runs the grave risk

ity

Iraq dents Blair's EU ambitions

in Italy,

Now, in "'old European" countries like France, Germany and Belgium, Blair is almost as

mer

Security Council.

the British prime minister

forged a series of strong alliances with right-

Moscovici

of dividing Europe and cutting Britain off from the all

Franco-German partnership, which

much

Given the

between Blair

level of animosity

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 6 (UPI)

— The war

mier's bid to is

become

the

from the

penning the infamous

conflict has already started to settle elites like

a deadly dust.

Britain and Spain's backing for U.S. Presi-

dent George W. Bush's hard-line stance against led to a collapse in public support

for the leaders of the

two western European

London, recent opinion polls put the

opposition Conservatives on a level pegging

with Tony Blair's ruling Labor Party for the time since the center-left swept to power in largely as a result of hostility to the

prime minister's bullish stance on took to the

Iraq.

more than 3 million streets

it is

diffi-

in

last

And

in

protesters

month's antiwar

first

president.

It

German Chan-

Gerhard Schroeder forgiving Aznar for

cellor

over Europe's political

EU's

also hard to see Chirac and

against Iraq has yet to begin, but the fallout

Spain, where

after

cult to see Paris supporting the British pre-

GARETH HARDING

—

is

closer to European public opinion."

and French President Jacques Chirac,

1997

EU

European

free reign to conduct

sensing that the Franco-German relation-

bling and miscalculation, that

first

post of

president and until recendy were odds-on

favorites for the prestigious position. Just six

Sarajevo 1914. with the world plunging into

states. In

it

also halt their European ambitions. Both

ship

unthinkable crisis because of diplomatic

Baghdad has

But

Bush

And

worst-case scenario

threat that

most popular

the country's

Blair and Aznar's unswerving support for

being bullied into

at

world stage. If this

over-

world run unilaterally from

being told by the U.N. pygmies what the

lone superpower

now

taken right-wing Premier Jose Maria Aznar to

become

alliance?

At

demonstrations, the Socialists have

"letter

of eight" Euro-

pean countries backing the U.S. position on Iraq.

Another possible candidate for dent

— Danish

Prime

Minister

—

EU

presi-

Anders

may also pay the price for Fogh-Rasmussen supporting Bush if European leaders decide to set up the high-profile post next year. Although Fogh-Rasmussen, who was widely praised for wrapping up membership talks with 10 EU applicant states in December, has been careful

not to antagonize the French and Iraq,

Germans over

he was also a signatory of the Wall Street

Journal

letter.

But

it is

not just

"new European"

THE leaders

who have

opponents of war

seen their

may

EU

also have

stock

fall;

blown

their

Guy

Belgian Prime Minister

15-member club's response to 200 L attacks against the United

been tipped as a future

States, has

Verhofstadt,

the

the Sept. 11,

perhaps destroying the surrendering to

its

United Nations or

uncertain moral authority.

There are few hours remaining before Tues-

chances of leading the bloc.

who handled

ROAD TO WAR

EU president

day's crucial vote, time to be used by both sides of the debate to rally support

among

the

anguished and undecided. The mathematics of the 15 votes on the Security Council are sim-

when current incumbent Romano Prodi steps down next year. German Foreign Minister

ple.

Joshka Fischer has also hinted that he might

behind the hopeful judgment of the U.N.

EU's "top staffer."' However, given both men's stubborn opposition to military action against Baghdad, it is hard to see the likes of Blair, Aznar and

inspectors that

be interested

in

the post of the

Italian leader Silvio

Berlusconi backing their

The United

backed by

is

Britain,

Saddam Hussein

buckling

is

and they deserve more time, are France, Russia,

China,

votes

Germany and

of Pakistan,

for.

Syria. That leaves the

Mexico, Chile, Guinea,

Angola and Cameroon gained

candidacies.

States

Spain and Bulgaria. In opposition, rallying

be fought and bar-

to

Unlike the five permanent

mem-

London School

bers of the Security Council, none of these has

of Economics, says the Iraqi issue has led to a

veto powers. But they have votes that could

Simon Hix, "real

a lecturer at the

polarization"

among Europe's

current

prove to be decisive, because

European

Americans can

method of consensus-building seems to have gone out of the window for the moment," he

their side, then

crop of leaders.

"The

traditional

says, predicting "pretty acrimonious battles"

over the choice of future

Of

EU

leaders.

course, the present crisis

quickly,

may blow

over

languishing in the opinion polls could bounce

EU

leaders, like elephants,

have long

memories, and the next time they are asked choose one of

their

own

isolated, ters

and politicians who find themselves

back. But

persuaded to

to

to lead the pack, they

might find the task very tough indeed.

—

the British and

China and Russia might just be abstain. This would leave France

and three former French prime minis-

from President Jacques Chirac's own

all

political party

— have warned

that a lonely veto

on behalf of Saddam would not be

in France's

best interest. France, too, needs the cover that

other votes could provide.

Hence, French Foreign Minister Dominique

New York to Africa weekend to lobby the leaders of Guinea former French colonies where and Cameroon

de Villepin has flown from this

—

— and Angola. But

France remains influential

American and active.

Walker's World: Battle for the U.N.

if

rally a majority of nine votes to

And

weapons

to

British diplomats have also

they have

some

been

serious diplomatic

deploy to persuade the undecided

countries to see things America's way. Chile's top

economic

priority

is its

free trade

— which has

agreement with the United States

yet to be ratified by a watchful and possibly

vengeful U.S. Congress. Pakistan, where Islamic

MARTIN WALKER

fundamentalists

WASHINGTON, March 9

(UPI)

—

President

George W. Bush is starting to face the nightmare that has eventually brought down every overwhelming power in history. A coalition of the jealous the hostile,

and the frightened, the resentful and is slowly taking shape on the U.N.

would

may

well erupt in the streets,

like dearly to abstain.

of Gen. Pervez Musharraf

on U.S. aid and above

all

But the government

is

heavily dependent

needs Washington's

hand on its neighbor, India. Angola depends on the $5 billion a year it of which 63 percent go earns from oil exports restraining

—

United States. The United States and Por-

Security Council. Inspired initially by Germany,

to the

and now led by France and backed by Russia and China, this coalition seems to be forcing on

tugal (which broadly supports (he

the United States the grim choice of defying and

of Angola's imports. President Jose Eduardo

istration)

between them account

Bush admin-

for

40 percent

WAR

THE IRAQ

Dos Santos knows where nomic

his countr\"s eco-

interests He.

Many U.N. diplomats assume that Cameroon is a reliable vote for France, the former colonial power. Not so. The top three customers for

its

annual S2.3 billion

and

Italy

back

Spain

Cameroon's

oil is

pipeline through

exports are

oil

in that order.

Moreover.

Bush.

a proposed 670-mile

is

Cameroon from landlocked

Chad. That pipeline

is

stronger than he looks is

MARTIN WALKER

And

running out. and the key to

fumre prosperity

its

—

France and Spain

Italy.

Blair

being built by Exxon-

—

WASHINGTON, March 1 3 (UPI) To understand why Tony Blair's political future may not be doomed,

with the fact that British vot-

start

and traditionally they have

ers like a fighter,

backed a fighter who

The

sticks to his guns.

Mobil and ChevronTexaco. Cameroon's economic interests are also with the United

Churchill in

States.

1982 are starting to come

to Blair's aid today.

making

the case that the cur-

Guinea where

is

a police state and disaster zone,

pow er

electric

mean

cuts

the

TV

works

only one day in four. The United States

is its

same

that

instincts

1940 and Margaret Thatcher

Moreover. Blair

U.N.

rent

home

of

is

Securitv'

Council

wisdom and

as the scene of a cynical

Conte's biggest concern

And

the security threat

from neighboring Liberia. Guinea is also in loans from the World Bank and

default on

Monetan.

International

Conte

terminally

is

Fund. Even though

ill

from hver disease.

Guinea's economic and strategic interests could steer

him America's way.

Finally there

cent of

its

is

sells

exports to the United States,

80 perits

part-

ner in the North American Free Trade Association,

and whose president. Mcente Fox. once

looked to Bush as his closest international friend.

9/1

But relations have cooled since the post-

clampdown on U.S. immigration, and

1

Mexico's media are outraged as

American bullying over

Unnamed warning

what they see

at

U.S. diplomats have been quoted

that a

"no" vote could

up

"'stir

feel-

ings" against Mexicans in the United States

—

saw Japanese-Americans interned during World War II. In an onthose

like

that

the-record inten iew with Copley last

News

Ser\ ice

week. Bush warned "there will be a certain

sense of discipline" in the

way

the United

States judges unhelpful countries in the future.

The United

States

is

prepared to pla\ hard-

ball to get those nine votes at the

and break the opposing

even though

may tics

just

its

vote.

Ironically.

American

could provoke deeper resentments

more dangerous mood of Americanism for the future. far

United Nations

coalition.

pressure of muscle and menaces

win Tuesday's

countr) and

tac-

— and a

resentful

anti-

the

French power play.

make

splendid wines, the British in

general are no great fans of their neighbors across the Channel.

French President Jacques Chirac

dubbed "The Worm"

And

routinely

is

top-selling

Britain's

in

of the doubts about too

all

close a connection with Europe that ha\e held Britain

back from joining the euro currenc\ are

coming

into play.

The French. Blair told ConserDuncan-Smith Thursday,

e Part> leader Iain

\ ati\

are being "completely intransigent." Blair's official

spokesman went

further, saying the

French

had "poisoned" the diplomatic atmosphere. After months of plunging ratings that

New

Iraq.

much

not so

while accepting that they run a delightful

daih. The Sun.

Mexico, which

is

in

international legitimacy

biggest trading partner, and President Lantana is

behind Winston

rallied

left his

Labor government barely ahead of the

dispirited Conservative

opposition, the polls

have bottomed out and are beginning towards

Blair. Last

month, just

pollsters that Britain should

1 1

wage war

Iraq without the backing of a second olution. Last

week. 19 percent said

w eek. 26 percent

said the>

action, with only

And

Parliament.

a

with a

war

new

militant-

opposed.

still

A

res-

This

that.

would support

22 percent

Blair faces real problems.

members of

against

U.N.

w ould support

without the United Nations. resolution. 71 percent

to shift

percent told

quarter of his

121 of them, voted

emment over Iraq two weeks One Cabinet minister. Clare Short, having

against their go\

ago.

is

pledged to

war without

the United

attacked her leader as "reckless." resign

if

Blair goes to

Nations. Another,

former Foreign Minister

ROAD TO WAR

THE Robin Cook,

is

reliably said to be "considering

A

his position."

handful of

MPs

has talked of

starting the process of launching a leadership

is

Shadow

the

less

serious than

it

sounds. Clare

development minister, who resigned from

Short,

Cabinet over the

last

Gulf War, rep-

wing of the party and classic British euphemism,

resents the bleeding-heart is

widely

to

be "a sandwich or two short of a picnic."

felt, in

that

messy divorce

after a hideously

eventually marry a still

suffers

from

that

much younger

And

saw him

Cook

aide.

his wife's account of his drink-

ing himself regularly into a stupor and falling

asleep with an

Even

the

empty

rebels

who

politics.

If

are unearthed, Blair will be vindi-

be payback time

will

it

it

time and place October.

—

If there

the is

strikes

and

Labor Party conference and

this

in

may even

a disaster, he

—

resign before then

time with no

golden parachute into a plum European job.

The French would veto that, too. But for the moment, and not least becau.se his brave and uncompromising performance at prime minister's

question time in Parliament Wednesday,

and because he has persuaded President Bush

keep trying diplomacy for a few days longer,

to

his position

Tony

their limits.

in British

goes wrong, Blair will face

all

a firm challenge to his leadership at the proper

bottle rolling at his side.

is

stronger than

it

may

look.

Hav-

and former sports minis-

ing looked briefly into the abyss called Life

voted against his government in the

After Tony, the Labor Party thinks that might

two weeks ago,

revolt

— and

know

Banks, a populist type ter

cated

mass demonstrations, some protest

election.

This

weapons

evil

said: "It's very difficult

Labor

to get rid of a leader of the

be an even worse place to be than Iraq.

party. I've

found no widespread indication within the parliamentary Labor party or in the party around the country that there rid of Blair.

would be a move

to get

People have not come round to

thinking like that yet."

Another rebel MP, Martin

Salter, puts

it

this

who have fundamen-

way: "Even among those

problems with the government's policy

tal

towards

Iraq, there is a

the issue and for persuading issue to the United Nations.

America to put the These people talk-

ing about getting rid of Blair are the usual sus-

left

have spoken to a number on the hard

I

who

believe that

it

has been a tactical mis-

we

take to personalize the issue. Just because

don't agree with the prime minister on

mean we should

doesn't

Even

this,

it

get rid of him."

Max

would almost

his more left-wing Gordon Brown, a dour Scot

be replaced by

no credible alternative

to Blair

—

at

while hostilities threaten and British vot-

and the British press

"support our boys

in the

rally instinctively to

Gulf."

war goes well, the British troops arc welcomed as liberators and Saddam Hussein's If the

widespread belief

on both sides of the Atlantic stands alone against

most European

that

Washington

Saddam Hussein and

states are either

downright hostile

to the use of

that

lukewarm or anned

force.

The

feeling has been fostered by the high-pro-

file

antiwar stance of the French and

German

month. French President Jacques Chirac sought

last

cer-

who likes Big Government. And certainly until Brown shows himself ready for a challenge,

ers

strike against Iraq, there is a

protests that clogged the continent's capitals

finance minister

least

the

Former Daily Tele-

Hastings, writing in the latest

Spectator, warns that Blair

is

— As

United States prepares to launch a military

governments and the strength of the peace

graph editor

there

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 18 (UPI)

loyal conservatives are worried about

the results of toppling Blair.

tainly

GARETH HARDING

grudging and genuine

respect for his manifest personal convictions on

pects.

Europe backs U.S. stance on Iraq

capitalize cil's

hesitancy to a military strike, declaring.

"France's viewpoint ity

to

Tuesday on the U.N. Security Counis

shared by a large major-

of the international community."

This

may be

true of Africa. Asia

and Latin

America, but even after U.S. President (ieorge W. Bush's decision to abandon diplomacy

Monday,

the majority of

European countries

A

sur-

vey of the 27 countries that are either

EU

support Washington's hard-line stance.

8

WAR

THE IRAQ

members

or will be in the near future reveals

back

that 16

militarv" action to

disarm Saddam

Sweden following more sheepishly behind. Ireland. Finland.

Cyprus and Malta remain neu-

Hussein, seven are resolutely opposed to war

tral

and four are neutral or undecided.

So with only half a dozen or so EU. or future EU. member states categorically opposed to

Prime Minister Tony Blair and

British

his

or have not nailed their colors to the mast.

why

Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar can lay

war.

claim to being Washington's most enthusiastic

convey an image of pacifism, appeasement and anti-Americanism over the past months?

Bush from

supporters. Both have backed

the

beginning of the standoff and Sunday joined

commander

has the old Continent

First, polls

show

managed

to

European public opin-

that

war summit in the Azores islands. Portugal, which hosted the Azores meeting, and Italy have also advo-

month's mass demonstrations rammed home

cated the use of strong-arm tactics to disarm

Second. France. Germany and Belgium

the U.S.

in

chief for a

Saddam Hussein war

despite huge opposition two Mediterranean states.

in the

NATO founding member Denmark EU state to give its explicit backing

another

the U.S. military buildup in the

Middle

to

take a stance ....

It is

mocker\

of the

is

make

to

a

community's

the Netherlands

is

clouded

down

EU's 15 members

the middle over

disarm the

resentative of

Europe

as a whole.

Almost

12 countries queuing up to join the

all

the

Union over

shoulder with London and Washington.

about the United States acting "unilaterally"

of Bush and has dispatched

against Baghdad, despite militarv- backing from

ally

Turkey

form a

left-right

to protect the

NATO

Britain and Australia and the

ex-communist

states

current U.S. president

is

far

of Central and Eastern Europe, however, leaves

the type of broad coalition

no room

together in 1991. But

for doubt. Last month, the former

States being isolated and

Repubhc. Estonia. Hungar\. Latvia. Lithuania.

tionist

Romania.

Slovakia

and

Slovenia

of support for the U.S. position

who

Of course,

merely panders

EU

Bush states

to the

see Americans as from

the

from assembling Sr.

to talk about the

Soviet bloc countries of Bulgaria, the Czech

letter

more passive sup-

port of dozens of other countries.

event of an attack by Iraq.

position of the 10

signed a

to

Iraqi regime, the Brussels-based bloc is not rep-

Premier Jan-Peter Balkenende has

Patriot missiles to

Poland,

how

are

Finally, both the American and European media have been happy to repeat the old canard

to

efforts

government following Januan.

been a staunch

The

Third, although the split

NATO member

support for fellow

elec-

by the ongoing

state in the

detail.

the next four years are standing shoulder to

The position of

tions, but

Technicolor

three countries* decision to temporarily block militarv'

unacceptable to

in

last

have waged an unrelenting rear-guard cam-

Turkey.

authority."

coalition

message

East. In

"The time has come

international

this

overwhelmingly against war. and

to

the Iraqi leader. Danish Prime Minister Anderssaid:

is

paign against armed action, culminating in the

a statement released after Bush's ultimatum to

Fogh Rasmussen

ion

stitched

United

being isola-

views of those

Mars and Euro-

peans from Venus.

on Iraq, prompting an intemperate outburst from Chirac. Announcing plans to send over 200 troops to the Gulf Tuesday. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said.

"We

with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said that, in order to keep the peace,

agree

who

you have

to fight."

The Balkan states of Albania. Croatia and which are expected to join the Macedonia also back WashingEU in the coming years

—

ton's

—

muscular stance against Saddam Hussein.

Since January, European opposition to war has been led by France and Germany, with

Belgium, Austria,

Greece, Luxembourg and

It's

not just France

war

against CLAUDE SALHANI

LONDON, March 9 1

(UPI)

— While France bore

the brunt of the recent trans- Atlantic diplomatic

dispute over Iraq,

it

should be noted that Presi-

dent Jacques Chirac's opposition to war

is

ROAD TO WAR

THE much of Europe. Even Kingdom, where Prime Min-

widely mirrored across

to U.S. unilateralism

here, in the United

outside the framework of the United Nations. In

and

to

Bush's urge to act

ister

Tony Blair has proved throughout these months of intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic haggling to be President George W.

fact,

difficult

initiative, the

Bush's best friend and

without a second U.N. resolution,

ally,

public opinion

from supportive of the U.S. -led war Blair,

many

far

is

gam-

the conflict in the

Middle East

rapid success in

efforts to oust

and

sein

its

identify,

is

hoping

meet with

will

So why

weapons

his

of mass destruction.

won what one

is

British

riding strong, hav-

newspaper called a

The antiwar motion was Commons on Tuesday,

"historic vote for war."

defeated

the

in

Canada and Mexico.

America's

ire

and frustration

could be explained primarily because

It

France

— one of

the five

permanent members of

— repeatedly

ened

to use

its

resolution that

would automatically authorize

the use of force.

—

While Russia and China

also veto-wielding

permanent Security Council members

of 179, despite the biggest Labor Party rebel-

opposed recourse

became prime

lion since he

minister.

The gov-

"using

Iraq,

necessary

all

was

means,"

approved 412-149. In a passionate speech,

would resign

Blair told Parliament he

the

if

members voted against military action, forcing him to withdraw British troops lined up to battle

Saddam and

his military forces.

But already

Robin Cook, a former foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons, has resigned from the government. And on Tuesday, two more ministers John Denham and Lord Hunt resigned. However, Clare Short, the

—

—

threat-

veto power, thus blocking any

396-217, giving the prime minister a majority

ernment's motion for military action to disarm

at

vociferous?

the U.N. Security Council

For the moment, Blair ing

is

France's refusal to accept the war option so

Saddam Hus-

and neutralize,

as, too, are

United States' immediate neighbors and

largest trading partners,

bling his political career, betting on a quick,

clean war. Britain's prime minister

majority of Britons, Italians and

Spaniards are just as opposed to going to war

the

effort.

analysts believe, might be

although their governments support Bush's

to war,

—

also

unlike Chirac their

leaders were careful not to mention the possibility

of using their right to veto. Putin, for exam-

ple,

simply said he was opposed to any new res-

olutions. France,

on the other hand, showed no

such reserve. Chirac, and his energetic foreign minister

Dominique de

campaigned

Villepin,

who

actively

of African

to ensure the support

countries currently sitting on the Security

Coun-

kept reiterating that there was "no justifica-

cil,

tion for use of force."

"Opposition to war," said Chirac

in a tele-

vised address that closely followed Bush's

matum

to

ulti-

Saddam on Monday, "was showed by

who had

a majority of countries." Part of this can be

earlier threatened to quit,

changed her mind, would be "cowardly" to do so now. Cook announced his resignation in an impassioned statement to Parliament on Monday. Cook, who for the first time in his 20-year political life addressed the House from the Back

explained by the fact that France firmly sees a

saying

bigger role

international

development

secretary,

it

Benches, stated that while "France has been the receiving

end of bucketloads of commentary

in recent days,

inspections.

it

is

not France alone that wants

Germany wants more time

inspection; Russia wants tions, said

Cook.

"We

more time

for

for inspec-

delude ourselves

we

if

think that the degree of international hostility all

at

is

which ing.

it

in international politics for

sees

itself,

addition,

In

Europe,

along with Germany, lead-

most Europeans have

a

stronger desire to find a peaceful solution to the

even if it means being more Saddam and according him more

flexible with

crisis,

cally," said

Cook,

"it is

itary forces are so

plate

its

time. "Ironi-

only because Iraq's mil-

weak

that

we can contem-

invasion."

Second, Chirac believes himself political heir

— and

spiritual

son

to

be the

— of Gen.

Charles de Gaulle. As such, he believes he

the result of President Chirac."

should stand up to American unilateralist pol-

While, indeed, Chirac did seem to be spear-

icy in the

heading the antiwar, anti-Bush campaign,

it

is

important to note that Russia, Germany, Bel-

gium and other nations remain

just as

opposed

good old Gaulist

tradition.

This diplomatic squabble between France

and the United States

is

nothing more than the

continuation of a dispute started by de Gaulle

10

THE IRAQ

WAR

with Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during Worid

civilizations," said

War

cial to

II,

when de Gaulle was

and Ike commanded the doubt here that

in his

in exile in

London

There

is little

Allies.

more

quiet

moments.

It is

in a similar situation.

also worth noting that

some time

United Press International. "France's, as

this is not a dispute

between East and West."

In the final analysis, France will side with the coalition.

after the

As Bush's 48-hour ultimatum

winds down, with Saddam

still

firmly in Bagh-

war, once the dust of this dispute settles, histori-

dad and showing no signs of abdicating,

ans will most certainly point out the importance

ities will

of France's "mediating" role in

this

debate

is

proof that

In the

crisis.

"Chirac's and France's position vis-a-vis this this crisis is not a clash

of

offi-

well as Germany's position, shows that at least

Chirac must be asking himself what would the

good general do

one high-ranking French

to

words of Cook's departing comments

Parliament,

weakness

hostil-

soon replace diplomacy.

is

"To end

in

such diplomatic

a serious reverse."

\

CHAPTER

2

WASHINGTON,

March 20

(UPI)

— Secretary

Donald Rumsfeld, (left) and Cfioirman of tfie Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers brief members of the Pentagon press corps on the first day of the war with Iraq on March 20, 2003. of Defense

(Michael Kleinfeld, UPI)

What is

the war's

^^brand strategy^'? MARANO

LOU

WASHINGTON, March

1

3 (UPI)

— Every war

needs a compelling brand proposition, and the

Bush administration's default proposition is "This is about American prerogatives," a Manhattan consultant

said.

"The consumer holds the brand, not you," said Tracey Riese, an amateur military histo-

who

rian

is

president of brand strategy firm

T.G. Riese and Associates. For a war against Iraq,

many people

are not buying the brand, she

said. "It's not a question

of what you

Thinking of something snappy to

call

call the

it.

War

of 1812 would not have rallied people to the cause." The problem for the administration of James Madison was that it was unable to create a sufficiently meaningful purpose for the war in the

minds of many Americans. She advises and even company

clients that slogans, logos,

— although important manifestations of — not brand.

names The

best

the

are

the enterprise

and most successful "branding"

establishes an emotional connection between the

"product" and those In war, citizens price.

The more

who will pay

for

it,

she said.

must pay the highest possible directly

and passionately the

cause can engage them emotionally, the more loyally and ardently they will support

it.

Using

an example from the business world. Riese said the

underlying brand principle

magic and happiness. Once

understocxl. the organization to

make

it

true.

In

at

Disney

is

the brand principle

is

must be structured

Disney's case, this means

delivering the happiness that people want to buy.

13

14

WAR

THE IRAQ

A government's ability to tap into the underemotional commitment of the public

lying

outcome of the war. Riese

often determines the said.

When

a brand proposition has been strong

and compelling, generally the outcome has been successful. Riese said

Amer-

that in 1776.

high

.... Certainly,

Americans

rallied

around

the idea of protecting the liberty of Berlin at certain times in our history (1948

The brand

and 1961)."

American

strategy. "This is about

prerogatives." although an "inherently isolating

one" can nonetheless be pursued, she

ican colonists transformed the Revolution from

"Lots of

my

said.

have brand positions

clients

that

a contest between powers to a struggle for "lib-

are not necessarily compelling to a great

erty" by enlightened citizens.

The Civil War. which began as a struggle between two eco-

ber of people." Riese told United Press Interna-

nomic systems and constitutional interpretations, took on new meaning when Abraham

to operate in that

Lincoln reframed

what they

it

as a battle for the soul of a

nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that

World War

I,

all

men

are created equal."

which Riese said was "the out-

sized result of a series of petty miscalcula-

son, the leader of a late entrant, transformed

"war

When

it

make

they can

a business decision

way, or to engage more people

around a willingness to pay higher prices for deliver.

the long-range

What

You want an assessment of

and the short-range costs and

Brands

implications.

are the costs

a very

live

long time.

and benefits of an American

prerogatives strategy, say, 20 years hence?"

was "redeemed" when Woodrow Wil-

tions."

"And

tional.

num-

What about

the proposition that the United

States cannot allow itself to

become

subject to

national

nuclear blackmail, particularly in the Middle

leadership has failed to marshal a sense of

East? Riese replied that this confuses a ration-

into the

to

end

war."

all

larger purpose for war.

brand position never

its

has resonated with the public. Riese said, and

outcomes have been more equivocal.

the

ale for taking action

problems.

Riese said Korea was "fought to a stale-

— which analogous — with branding

to

is

business operating strategy

does not create a compelling rea-

It

son to "buy" for most Americans or the global

mate." The interviewer said the original war

community

aim

"Most people cannot relate to an abstract outcome such as not succumbing to nuclear blackmail." She believes it is not emotionally powerful. "The

— preventing communist conquest of South Korea — was achieved. Surely Chithe

the

make

nese inter\ention. not the failure to

compelling brand proposition,

why

if

the

found a larger purpose

in

ple will pay

There was to

pay

the

in

war

liberated.

teeth don't fall out. but

pushing the North

market

might

branded on the basis

to confront the Chinese.

"Peo-

attractive

more

for

what they value more.

a limit to the price

we were

prepared

Korea." Riese said the proposition for

in

Vietnam was so weak

sapped the nation's will to

that

fight.

it

finally

What about

freedom of the South Vietnamese? "The brand proposition that the Johnson administration realh tried to make had more to

the

Second,

model of in the

man do

it

'You

of:

and confident."

is

so your

no toothpaste on the

'branded' on that basis.

is

it

parallel,

too intel-

all. it is

reason for choosing a toothpaste

United States had

Koreans back across the 38th have been able

a

the reason

was not

the entire peninsula

Riese replied that

is

of

at large. "First

lectual an argument," she said.

They are more

will be

"

embodies the "lonely marshal" by Gar\' Cooper

the character played

1952 movie classic "High Noon." The law-

will

do for the town what the town

for itself.

would be

The

will not

basis for such a brand strategy

to be feared

and admired, e\en

if

not

beloved, Riese said. "That strategy will appeal "

namese," she answered. "A brand has to be true

number of American 'customers.' But she asked if enough such "customers" will back the war with vigor and commitment. "I think that a great number of Americans actually

Many Americans did

don't fancy that role for themselves in the

do with the containment of communism than with preserving the liberty of the South Viet-

in all its roots

and aspects.

not perceive the South Vietnamese as being as

engaged

in the struggle

on

their

own

behalf as

to a certain

world and would not in that role."

feel

proud of themselves

Riese said some people see the

the United States." (U.S. leaders did not do

"lonely marshal" position as principled and

much

heroic. Others perceive

to refute this perception,

such as publish-

ing South Vietnamese casualty figures.) "So the price for

Americans seemed

to

be very

it

as arrogant and bul-

She believes that although a relatively small number of Americans will feel proud and lying.

I

WAR affiliated with this

much

model, a

num-

larger

ber of "other constituents" will feel alienated,

and pushed around.

resentful

is:

going to do, and

Once we

prevail,

who

we going

are

"High Noon" ends with a

Cooper

what are we to

stable

to

Cypriots in favor of the plan,

the signs are

all

would have voted "yes." With the United States and European Union and the United Nations all urging a deal, Denktash could probably not have resisted the

"Gary

further pressure that could have put upon him by the Turkish government and Turkish military

—

and governable, and

be the case

demonstrations of tens of thousands of Turkish

need?"

fantasy, she said.

withdraw himself from the world. He gets to leave the town behind and we don't. He left only because the town was gets

15

that they

Riese does not doubt a military victory.

"The question

PLANS

that's not

going to

in Iraq."

The Turks applied such pressure

to settle.

in

December, but since then, distracted by the crisis over Iraq, they failed to do very much at

And the

all.

when

knows very

well

the only ones

who

wily old Denktash

—

his Turkish patrons

recognize his tinpot self-proclaimed statelet

—

him it is time to deal. The Turkish Cypriots are not the only ones

are seriously telling

Walker's World: Turkey's Decisive

who will suffer from the Denktash decision, and from Turkey's indecision. In fact, young Turkish Cypriots will

Hour

start

leaving the country

by roundabout routes

for Istanbul, to get

Greek Cypriot half of the

island,

to the

where they

can apply for Republic of Cyprus passports that

MARTIN WALKER

WASHINGTON, March 16

(UPI)

— This could

have been Turkey's proudest moment. The

and planets had come together Turkey with a golden opportunity financial, geopolitical

lems,

all in

the

them

will qualify

same

to

stars

present

to resolve

its

and great regional prob-

brief

moment of time. By

to live

and work anywhere

in

EU.

the

But Turkey's own hopes of joining the have been significantly harmed. The

EU

EU

does

not want to take in only half an island, with a

Wall-style

Berlin

border running

downtown Nicosia troops. In Europe,

that

is

Turkey

through

guarded by Turkish is

blamed

for failing

An EU spokesman

now, the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division

to deliver Denktash.

could be rolling through the wild country south

last

of Lake Van to the Iraqi border, ready to

Turkey could now be seen as occupying a piece

down and

force

roll

Saddam Hussein's wretched

week

EU

of

the

that

legal

territory with

And

troops.

its

noted

was

situation

the

that

new

forces to divide and meet a second front. Cruise

Turkish prime minister, Recev Tayyip Erdogan,

missiles and U.S. warplanes and an aerial con-

can forget about any lingering Franco-German

veyor belt of cargo

gratitude for his country's part in

aircraft

and combat

heli-

copters could be streaming through friendly

Turkish airspace.

Turkey's proud tradition of 50 years of

NATO loyalty

would have been upheld, and

Rights ruled that Abdullah Ocalan. the Kurdish

the

separatist leader

country would have maintained a special place

30,000

in

America's friendships. Moreover, some $28

billion in cash their

way

and credits would have been on

into the

empty Turkish

treasury, pro-

viding the financial cushion that the

new gov-

ernment sorely needs. At the same time, Greek

and Turkish Cypriots could be getting ready

to

vote in a referendum on the U.N. peace plan that could finally

have ended

their island's

29

years of partition. Rauf Denktash. the obdurate

Turkish Cypriot leader, rejected the plan and refused to

let

his people vote. After the

mass

hampering

American war machine. That was plain last week, when the European Court of Human the

that cost trial

who launched

and should be

ing

was

EU

life

All this

all

EU

Islamic

his death sen-

its

human

rights record,

over again.

means

EU's prosperity given

commuted

imprisonment as a way of mollify-

concerns about

furious

war

tried again.

Turkey, which had tence to

a guerilla

had not received a fair

lives,

that

Turkey's bid to join the

club, always an uphill struggle

concerns about taking

state

that

will

in

a poor.

soon have the EU's

largest population, looks increasingly forlorn.

To have simultaneouslv offended

the

L'nitcd

16

THE IRAQ

WAR away a some kind of

States and the Europeans, and thrown

for a military confrontation. If there

much needed $28

war, the main thrust (right now, the only thrust

bilhon. must be

record for incompetent statesmanship.

And

unless the Turkish Parliament grants basing

could get worse. There are ominous

it

signs that the Turkish mihtary

comphcate

the

war on

mihtary incursion of

gearing up to

is

Iraq even further with a

its

own

a ground

is

into the Kurdish

region of northern Iraq. Vast convoys of mih-

rights)

would come from Kuwait. Leading the

charge would be the Army's 3rd Infantry Divi-

The

sion (Mechanized).

Abrams

with 203

ing vehicles.

division

equipped

is

tanks and 261 Bradley fight-

would be supported by U.S.

It

and

Marines and British army forces. The Marines

Kurds fear the Turkish generals are plan-

have the equivalent of about two divisions,

tary trucks

the

have been rolhng

to the border,

PKK

Kur-

supported by 120 Abrams tanks. The British

dish guerillas to prevent Iraqi Kurdistan from

have the equivalent of a division, with 116

becoming

Challenger tanks (roughly equivalent to the

ning to wipe out the remnants of the

the nucleus of an independent Kur-

— and

dish state

Turkey's

own

thus a dangerous

for

Abrams

terms of protection and hitting

in

power) and

Kurds.

Washington Friday. Barhim

In

magnet

prime

Salih.

145 Warrior infantry fighting

vehicles.

The 101st Airborne Division does all

minister of the Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq,

not have

urged the Bush administration to ensure that the

for a

Turks stayed out, warning.

play a central role in the fighting

create

will

"It

havoc." Other Kurdish leaders are vowing to fight the

the

Turks

if

they cross the border

Turkish parliament's

cluded the presence

own

— and

decision

pre-

of U.S. troops

in the region

have controlled the potential for

that could

Turk-Kurd clashes. So far, the new Turkish government has done almost everything possible against their own national self-interest. If their army takes advantage of the Iraq war to invade the Kurds. it will be a march of self-destructive folly. It may not be too late. Premier Erdogan has called a special session of parliament Sunday that

may

— or may not —

finally give the

States permission to send both

warplanes prospects

across

look

Turkish

slim.

all

United

troops and

territory.

The tragedy

Turkey's prospects could ferent

its

is

have been so

week

of

most of

on board ships off Turkey, and

is

troops are

its

(Mechanized)

war

is

to create an

delayed by several weeks,

ground

might be

it

possible to land the division's equipment and transport

it

through Turkey to the Kurdish

Autonomous Region in time to take part in the fighting. The other heavy units that have been ordered to the Gulf are either

that they

dif-

a ground war. If there

would not

the

still

awaiting process

in the transit

arrive in time to take part in is

a

ground war, and

successful, questions will

still

if

it

be raised over

government deployed so few divisions

Saddam

Hussein.

to

Though

this

deploy-

Saddam's overthrow,

it

is

nevertheless a serious violation of the "Powell

Doctrine" of overwhelming force that served us so well in Operation Desert Storm.

On

entering Kuwait, the 3rd Infantry Divi-

sion would The corps'

— Now

first

encounter the Iraqi

11th Infantry Division

III

is

Corps.

deployed

along the border. For armor support, the divithat

Bush has given Saddam Hussein and

inner circle 48 hours to leave Iraq and

declined the offer, the stage

combat power

that

THOMAS HOULAHAN

Saddam has

armored division,

effective second front in the north. If a

ment may lead

President

in Texas. Its designa-

actually an

is

division has the

why

his

still

with 247 Abrams tanks and 217 Bradleys. The

to unseat

8 (UPI)

broke

it

tion notwithstanding, the 4th Infantry Division

is

1

if

Right now, the 4th Infantry Division's

equipment

shipment or are so early

Comparing U.S. and Iraq forces

and won't

yet,

probably wouldn't

it

out soon.

The

and so hopeful.

WASHINGTON, March

equipment

its

or two, so

is set

sion has

1

7 to 25 decrepit T-55 tanks and 50 or

so equally decrepit pieces.

Unarmored

122

mm

towed

artillery

divisions like the 11th are

more sound than they were during

the

Gulf

WAR On Feb. 24, 1991. there were 40 regular army truck-borne or foot-propelled infantry War.

divisions in the Iraqi order of battle. are 11.

With 29 fewer

Iraq

no longer forced

old it

is

men and boys

no longer has

soldiers to

fill

to

Now

there

light divisions to stock.

fill

to rely so heavily

them.

on

to rely

More

on

important,

politically unreliable

them. While 75 percent of Iraq's

population was Shiite or Kurdish, almost 90 percent of the soldiers on the the

Saddam Line

which helps explain

their lack of fighting spirit.

Kurds are now exempt from military are

in

Gulf War came from these ethnic groups,

most

service, as

Shiites. Still, these divisions are basi-

cally worthless. After the destruction of the

handful of dug-in tanks backstopping the front line

and an intense

artiller>'

barrage,

there

would almost certainly be a mass surrender. Backing the 11th Infantry Division is the 51st Mechanized Division. The 51st Mechanized has around 140 tanks and 180 armored

Though many analysts theoonly Republican Guard units would

army heavy divisions are equipped The type of infantry vehicle a heavy divi-

regular with.

sion

is

equipped with

is

an important clue to the

capabilities of that division.

more

BMPs

only go to

you see a good bet that the unit's officers and men will be a cut above their counterparts in other heavy units and will be more likely to fight well and with some dedthe better, unit

reliable units. So, if

equipped with BMPs,

it's

a

ication.

should be added that there have been

It

reports that the

been ordered

III

The accuracy of ever.

On one

Corps' two heavy units have

to positions closer to

the reports

hand,

it

is

tary

On

made

strange mili-

before.

Halfway between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad sits the Iraqi IV Corps, which consists of two virtually worthless divisions (the 14th

and the

Infantry) and one of

Infantry

rize that

Iraq's better tank divisions, the 10th

units

most if not all of the regular army's heavy would probably fight until they were

destroyed.

It

is

a

little

known

fact that

on the

second day of Desert Storm's ground war, while analysts were chuckling about the previ-

ous day"s mass surrenders, the Marines were savagely counterattacked by elements of two

infantry

division's

BMPs. Between

sions,

the

Said one

armed

rabble.

Marine: "They had guts. trying to kill me.

I

and cheered for them." probably have

armor tered

lost

to air attack

If

they hadn't been

might have stood on Iraq's

heavy

my tank

units will

around 10 percent of

their

by the time they are encoun-

by coalition ground forces, but they

will

Armored.

units

are

equipped, with

IV Corps and Baghdad's outer ring of defenses is the Republican Guard's Baghdad Motorized (truck-mounted) Division. With only a battalion of tanks and a battalion of BMPs. it doesn't have the combat

power

attack helicopters and Harrier jets.

18th

Like the 6th Armored Division to the south, the

army heavy divisions. These attacks were essentially armored versions of the "Charge of the Light Brigade" and were broken by Marine tanks, antitank missile launchers, regular

how-

abandon

essentially

the other, he has

moves

Baghdad.

uncertain,

difficult to believe that

Saddam Hussein would Basra.

is

personnel carriers.

fight,

17

PLANS

to

the

be any more than a speed

advancing American heavy

bump

unit.

to an

Like the

Republican Guard's other two motorized divi-

Baghdad Division is basically an The standard of manpower and poor, and it would probably very leadership is

disintegrate on contact.

The outer defenses of Baghdad

are

manned

by four Republican Guard Divisions and least

at

two commando brigades. Commando

brigades are used to defend areas of tactical

fight.

importance. These units fought doggedly in the

Guarding Basra would be the 6th Armored Division, which has around 180 tanks and 150

Gulf War and can be expected

to

do so again

if

an equally inaccurate antitank missile that can-

To the northwest of the city is the Hammurabi Armored Division, supported by the 26th Commando Brigade. To the northeast is the Nidah Armored Division. To the southeast is the Medina Armored Division. The.se

not penetrate American or British main battle

three armored divisions have the best tanks and

However, they are better than the armored personnel carriers (which only have heavy machine guns) that the infantry of most

infantry fighting vehicles available to the Iraqi

BMP

armored

inaccurate 73

tanks.

These

BMPs

firetraps that fire a

weak,

infantry fighting vehicles.

are thinly

mm

main-gun round and mount

called upon.

Army. To

the southwest

is

ihc

Ncbuchadnc//ar

Motorized Division, which, like the

Baghdad

18

WAR

THE IRAQ

Division,

disintegrate

edge of the

much

resistance.

As

would probably

speak

on contact. Guarding the southern

units,

too light to put up

is

Like the Baghdad Division,

itself

why

Hope

a northern front

is

the

The

at the

If,

time a southern thrust reached the outskirts of

Baghdad, half of the to the north,

intact

still

go

to

which are basically a joke.

SRG

on the other hand, the men of the

into

action

against

action. In the event of an invasion,

most

will

probably find that they have pressing business elsewhere.

These are the lineups. Now,

one could reasonably expect fierce

from the Special Republican Guard.

resistance If,

army was

Iraqi

have any

has various "People's Militia"

or both, so they probably wouldn't go into

an important factor in defense.

is

It

Bagh-

would be defended by

possibility of house-to-house fighting in is

of.

so important.

Brigade.

division-sized Special Republican Guard.

dad

to reserves, Iraq doesn't

If they were to American or British forces, they would be slaughtered. However, these units are made up of older men who have had their fill of war against Iranians, Americans

Commando

city is the 3rd

Baghdad

it

is

for the fighting to

all that

commence and

remains

for events

to take their course.

looked to the north, saw the tanks of the 4th Infantry Division and realized that the entire

army in the field had been destroyed, they would be more likely to see the handwriting on Iraqi

(Thomas Houlahan is the director of the Program of the William R. Nelson Institute at James Madison University.) Military Assessment

the wall and quit.

The

army has

Iraqi

three corps in the north,

along the border of the Kurdish Autonomous

Region. In the northern sector, the

defends Mosul. The corps

poor

is

V

Corps

made up of

three

light divisions (4th Infantry. 7th Infantry

and 16th Infantry) and the

1st

Mechanized

probably the least steady regular

Division,

army heavy

unit. It is also

supported by the

U.S. forces girding for short, furious war

Republican Guard's Adnan Mechanized Division, with

its

140 tanks and 180 BMPs. In the

center, defending Kikuk.

is

the

Corps.

I

It

PAMELA HESS

has a

—

also has three virtually

WASHINGTON, March 1 7 (UPI) Around a dozen Tomahawk cruise missile-capable ships

worthless infantry divisions, the 2nd, 8th and

and submarines have moved from the Mediter-

con-

ranean Sea into the Red Sea and are poised to

solid

fairly

heavy

unit,

Division. However,

it

the 5th

Mechanized

38th. In fact, the 38th Infantry Division

some

sidered by

is

analysts to be the worst divi-

Those three divisions are supported by one of the Republican Guard's shaky motorized

flank

the

Abed

held by the

is

two weak

The southern

Division. II

Corps. That corps has

infantry divisions (the 15th and 34th)

and a well-regarded armored division. About

Armored Division's equipped with BMPs.

half of the 3rd units are

Even

if

the

4th

their

satellite-guided

weapons on

officials confirmed Monday. number of U.S. Special Forces are in

Baghdad, Pentagon

sion in the Iraqi army.

divisions,

unleash

Infantry

infantry

Division

move

small

northern Iraq to track

down

Iraqi

Scud missiles

and chemical and biological weapons. Around 3.000 are based

in Jordan,

pending the

start

of

the war. Five aircraft carriers and dozens of

ships are in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea,

ready to launch a furious but short

air strike

with precision munitions to provoke "shock

were

unable to establish a northern front, these three corps would be unlikely to

A

south to inter-

and awe"

in the Iraqi

army and cause mass

defections.

"We're locked and loaded." a senior defense

started, but the V,

Monday. The coming war will be very different from Operation Desert Storm of 1991, when the goal was to repel Iraqi troops from its neighbor,

port to

Kuwait.

vene

in

fighting

around Baghdad. The two

Republican Guard divisions might move south,

though

would be dangerous once bombing I and II corps lack the transmove. that

official said

It

did so with 38 days of air strikes with

WAR 126,645 combat

during which satelhte-

sorties,

guided Tomahawks made their combat debut. also all,

saw

the

It

use of laser-guided bombs. In

first

the coalition dropped 96.000 tons of ord-

The United

nance.

but 7,500 tons of

was responsible for all More than 300 tons of the

States it.

ordnance involved depleted uranium munitions,

2,200 to 2,600 main battle tanks, 3,700 other

armored vehicles and 2,400 major artillery weapons. It could have as many as 850 surface-

is

expected to

three days to a

week of

air strikes and missile which as many as 3,000

launches,

during

bombs and

missiles will be fired,

at air

defense

sites

weapons sites, communications

of them

around Baghdad. Others will

and biological

chemical

suspected

target

many

missiles

surface-to-air facilities

Iraq expert analyst at the Center for Strategic

and International Studies.

force at the start of the

now on

99 1 ground war

— more people than

totaled 541,425 personnel are

1

including 45,000 Brits

and

14,600

French. Saudi Arabia dedicated 100,000 troops to the effort, according to

Pentagon documents.

Now, 149,000 U.S. troops

are in Kuwait.

More

than 100,000 military personnel are arrayed

at

other bases and on ships in the Middle East and in

Europe, ready to participate

in the strike to

remove Saddam Hussein from power and rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. The Pentagon has not revealed the number of foreign forces that will be fighting with the

United States is

if

war

is

number 1991. The

declared, but the

certain to be far lower than in

and most loyal forces

Saddam. They number around 100,000 men

and are expected

to heavily fortify

United Kingdom has about 45,000 troops

in the

Gulf region, including 25.000 troops in Kuwait, and Australia has sent around 2.000. The Persian Gulf War and 10 years of no-fly-

Baghdad.

Four special Republican Guard brigades numbering 12,000 to 25,000 are dedicated to Sad-

dam's personal and government Pentagon sources say

Republican

Guard

one of the

least

at

units

security.

may have been event

in the

of an attack on Iraq. Pentagon officials say they

have intelligence indications but no proof

"We

the entire active roster of the U.S.

Army. There were also 257,900 coalition forces,

to

Republican Guard

six

equipped with chemical munitions

quarters, including presidential palaces.

The

army includes

divisions, the best-trained

sites,

and military head-

antiaircraft

guns, according to Anthony Cordesman, an

Iraq's

with just over

start

and 3,000

to-air missile launchers

used to pierce heavy armor.

The war

19

PLANS

an

suspect

official told

do not believe

it,

but do

we have

Iraq

is

likely to launch a pre-

emptive chemical attack, as likely galvanize the

he gets

proof? No,"

United Press International. They

to

do so would

world against Saddam. "If

in a shot before

something

floodgates would open as to

starts, the

who would

sup-

port what." the official said. Iraq launched 88

Scud missiles during the

Persian Gulf War, including 39 at Israel. Iraqi

Scud

killed

28 U.S. soldiers

in

One

Saudi

Arabia, the single largest loss in Operation

Desert Storm.

A

more

casualties

number of

of 146 Americans were

total

killed in action in the in

Gulf War. There were 98 the

coalition

action, including

coalition.

soldiers

The

total

wounded

in

American, was 894. Thirty-five

Americans died

in

friendly-fire

accidents

durins the Gulf War.

zone and drive-zone strikes have significantly

eroded

the

military.

Iraqi

The

coalition

destroyed roughly 3.700 of 4.280 Iraqi battle tanks, 2,400 of 2,870

3,110

42

armored vehicles. 2.600 of

artillery pieces

Iraqi divisions,

From an army

and rendered ineffective

according to the Pentagon.

once numbered more

that

than 680,000 in 1991

,

Iraq

is

believed to have a

ground force now of roughly 400,000, with as

many

as 300.000

more

reservists

PAMELA HESS

on call-up

WASHINGTON, March 19

status.

Using black market funds from the sale of oil, Iraq has

no idea of U.S. power U.S.: Iraq has

been able

forces somewhat. Iraq

now

illegal

to rebuild

its

has an estimated

(UPI)

military has no idea whai ihc

coming war official

— The

first

will be like, a top U.S. Air

declared Wednesday.

"1

Iraqi

wave of

the

Force

do not think

20

WAR

THE IRAQ

our potential adversary has any idea what's

tem's farther outposts means almost instant

coming," said Col. Gary Crowder, division

superiority, so

chief of the plans directorate at Air

Command. "We would

Combat

not have believed

it

What's coming

10 times greater than what

is

on the

many

Gulf War: As weapons, fired

to

night of the Persian

3.000

as

precision

around Iraq

in

an

smn and overwhelm

the

targets

at

meant

intense volley

first

according to Crowder. The Persian

militar>'.

— mostly Tomahawk missiles and laser-guided bombs from — around 125 "There F-117 weapons

fighters

dreaded

numbers struck

magnitude larger

in the first

we

is

to

whelming

make

no

who

"Civilians

in the operation."

target at the

Crowder

are trying to

wrong

swift victory but

when we

tail kit

and

guidance system that guides the weapon to target using Global Positioning

System

its

data.

"Our capability is dramatically improved." Crowder said. "If you're not dropping PGMs.

war

is

a chaotic,

we

really

have

clear

little

I

think there's

going to be a wide variety of different reactions

to

people and the Iraqi military said.

"We have

every reason

be confident. We're the finest military

world. That said, off.

if

we go

we were going

Baghdad

in the

to war. all bets are

But we wouldn't be doing

thought

Crowder. Most are

"dumb" bomb

that

step across that line.

Iraqi

equipped with the low-cost satellite-guided

aware

"Quite frankly,

Crowder

arrayed around the Persian Gulf have "smart"

time.

understanding of exactly what will happen

by the

a motor,

Iraqi

uncontrollable event.

forces."

—

said.

said U.S. forces are confident of a

The difference between then and now: Where only 36 aircraft were equipped with precision-guided munitions (PGMs) in 1991. nearly all of the roughly 600 combat aircraft

with a strap-on "IQ"

most

are not targets will be killed

Crowder

They could be victims of errant bombs,

terms of

of potential mili-

Joint Direct Attack Munition, a

suggest-

simply being caught near a legitimate military

real alternative here other

to

city,

fighting, the

of battle with the highest possibil-

t>'pe

than to fight and die or to give up."

weapons, according

around the

may be heavy urban

stealthy

tary operations that the adversary quickly realizes that there is

reported

Republican Guard

of casualties, both military and civiUan.

ity

so apparent and so over-

it

at the ver\' outset

that elite Iraqi

expected to

CNN

missiles falling back to earth. Iraqi sabotage or

24 hours." Crowder

said. "I think the effects that

create

in

itself is

battlefield.

cruise

targets.

at

will be an order of

Baghdad

soldiers are fanning out

ing there

Gulf War began with between 300 and 400 precision

quickly.

primar>'

the

Wednesday

possible" 10 years ago. he said.

the Iraqis faced

Baghdad be

air

ground forces can push toward

this

if

we

to lose."

will be very selectively targeted,

with the United States using the smallest possi-

weapon on military targets to cause the least amount of damage to surrounding areas, he said. "Baghdad will not look like Dresden," he ble

said, referring to the leveled

World War

II.

German

city in

"You're not going to see that

type of conflict."

Crowder

you're probably not close to the fight."

said the military has evolved a

new

Gulf War. F-117 Nighthawks

approach to war called "effects-based target-

flew just 2 percent of the opening night sorties

ing." which allows the least amount of physical damage with the greatest impact on an enemy. Where once the military planned to destroy all

In the Persian

but took out 53 percent of the targets. said. Stealth will

coming

Crowder

be equally as important

battle but

in this

perhaps less necessary. Ten

years of no-fly-zone enforcement has seriously

degraded

Iraqi air defenses in the northern

and

targets,

to

now

the military goes to great lengths

determine which targets are

that, if

critical

nodes

taken down, hobble other targets. This

southern no-fly-zones, which together cover

allows selective targeting and frees up planes

almost half of the country.

and missiles

"It is a significantly less hostile

was on the opening night of Crowder said. In 1991. superiorit)'

it

place than

air

Iraqis' then ver>' robust air

defense system. The steady

attrition

key nodes simulta-

neously, hastening the collapse of the enemy.

The U.S. Air Force is likely to debut a new armored tank- and truck-killing weapon, the Sensor-Fuzed Weapon. This a

precision

took "vicious fighting" to gain

over the

it

the Gulf War,"

to target other

of the sys-

large 1,000-pound canister filled with 10 sub-

munitions, each with a parachute that controls

(

its

rate of descent

o\ er a tank

and helps spread the bombs

column or 30-acre

battlefield.

Each

submunition contains four copper disks with infrared sensors.

Each disk searches

for sepa-

targets and then triggers an explosion, which melts the metal and propels it toward the rate

target.

During the

flight, the

melted copper

is

and coalition forces were paign" against

in the

"opening stages"

21

Iraq.

"American and

coalition

forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to firee

its

people and to

defend the world from grave danger." Bush

The war

against

began about 90 minutes a 48-hour deadline

fmd an

tary invasion.

leader and his

was

his

after the expiration of

Bush gave to the Iraqi two sons on Monday. Saddam

told to step

In

said.

Saddam Hussein's regime

The SEW' has a triple redundant "dudding" mechanism, which should render the weapon harmless if it cannot appropriate target.

PLANS

of what he called a "'broad and coercive cam-

shaped into a perfectly aerodynamic projectile that can pierce armor.

WAR

down

or face a U.S. -led mili-

approximately

Oval

five-minute

Office address to the nation, the president cau-

w ar

tioned that the

Bush: War on Iraq has started

some

WASHINGTON, March 19 George W. Bush said

late

—

Wednesda\

Bush

"could be longer said the

.

of militar\'

against

"selected targets

The president added

that

of morality." Bush said

anempted

that U.S.

dren" as shields.

to use innocent,

.

than

were

impor-

the

leader has "no regard for con\ ention of

President

.

first strikes

tance."

rules (UPI)

predict."

Iraqi

war or

Saddam "has

men, women,

chil-

CHAPTER

3

TWENTY-ONE DAYS

Dayl

—

Thursday, March 20 ABOARD

THE USS HARRY

eastern Mediterranean,

March 20

TRUMAN,

S.

(UPI)

— An

F-1

Tomcat launches from the flight deck of the USS Harry S. Truman on Thursday, March 20, 2003, in the eastern Mediterranean.

(John

Gillis, UPI)

^XA)n improvised prelude to the

major attack

95 .

.

MARTIN WALKER As dawn broke over Baghdad, of

air raid sirens filled the air.

bursts of antiaircraft gunfire.

the shrill

sound

followed by loud

Then came bigger

explosions that shook buildings. After months of bitter debate, and the dropping of 17 million

propaganda the

leaflets

by U.S. military

aircraft,

U.S. -led attack against Iraq had begun.

President George

W. Bush

called

it

"the open-

ing stage of what will be a broad and concerted

— and.

campaign" leader

fittingly, the target

was

Iraqi

Saddam Hussein himself

After forcing the diplomatic pace

the

in

United Nations. Bush, on Monday. March

17.

had given Saddam 48 hours to leave the country or face war. Ninety minutes after that deadline

ended place

— —

and with a defiant Saddam precision

bombs began

still

falling

in

on

Baghdad.

Even British Prime Minister Tony Blair was taken by surprise by the raid when he was woken up and K^ld (he news at around 4 a.m. The Americans had jumped the gun. The allies had agreed

to launch a full military offensive

Saturday. Also, the limited raid was far from the planned "shock

and awe" operation,

ing for 3.(X)0 tons of

bombs

to be to

call-

be dropped

23

24

WAR

THE IRAQ

on Baghdad

the

in

24 hours. But U.S.

first

constantly to

an improvised prelude to the major attack, hop-

location.

ing to take ad\ antage of a chance opportunity.

American

had been alerted by one

intelligence

of its best-placed intelligence assets in Baghdad

Saddam was meeting

among

his

spend two nights

administration officials said the attack had been

Now

many

palaces and never

in succession in the

same

he confronts the realization that

someone close enough to him to have details of movements had leaked his

his normally secret

whereabouts to the enemy.

his

Observers noted that Saddam did not say he

top militar> and intelligence aides. Alerted by

was not where U.S. intelligence had placed him. Not that it mattered. The Bush administration was seen to have struck the first blow at its

that

in a

bunker with

Central Intelligence

Agency Director George

Tenet.

Bush decided

to act fast before the Iraqi

leader

mo\ed

No.

to another location.

For the Bush administration, the Iraq

had always been

and foremost about

first

Saddam and only second about

remoN'ing

arming

crisis

Iraq.

Saddam deposed, dismantling

that with

dis-

Senior officials argued in private

—

Iraq's

weapons of mass destruction the chemical and biological stockpiles and Baghdad's alleged work on developing nuclear bombs would drop easily into place. Between 30 and 40 cruise missiles were launched at the two Baghdad targets in simultaneous attacks lasting around 50 minutes. Two hours later, a pale and drawn Saddam, wearing large dark-rimmed glasses, appeared on televi-

—

1

target.

Meanwhile, 350 miles to the south, the U.S. Marines had punched wide holes on the fences and sand berms that marked the frontier zone between Kuwait and Iraq and launched the land invasion.

Dawn

broke over the

fields of southern Iraq to

smoke from torched militarv' positions

Rumaila

al

oil

plumes of billowing destroyed Iraqi

wells,

and the sight of Iraqi soldiers

surrendering by the score.

United Press International reporter Richard

Tomkins. embedded with the 5th Marines, saw the gas-oil separation plant six miles north of the

Kuuaiti border burning fiercely

o places,

set

move by

the

in tw

alight in an apparent scorched-earth

sion to deliver a rambling, defiant speech full

Saddam Hussein

of exhortations to his people

zon, at least four namral gas facilities were spew-

Addressing the United States, he

attackers. said.

the

resist

to

"Draw your swords:

I

contrast to his words, there

am

not afraid." In

was

emotion

little

he read from a note pad,

in his delivery, as

flip-

remove Saddam

raid

1730

him. the

in

armored assault vehicles.

man on

television might be a

far-fetched), the fact that its

dictator will

have scored points

media

al-Jazeera and other

to

emerge from

As

his

in

CNN.

that their leader

target of a U.S. attack.

was forced

had

a result, he

hiding place

his

speech by mentioning the

date so that his listeners

an earlier recording.

would know

Still,

was (line

tric

task

left

As

for

shock of the

attack.

easier

by a vanguard

himself, there

Saddam

is

was

known

that

To

crescendo of distant explosions from U.S.

"It's

a

good day

split into

to

several

a

air-

columns

be a Marine." one

man

yelled from his 26-ton vehicle.

a

"They put up some minor resistance, kind of show of face. I guess, and then surrendered."

the

Craft said his unit took six prisoners in the

move

inky black night while searching trenches.

first

to

earlier.

Staff Sgt. Gregor> Craft said.

an impression of his \Tilnerability.

Saddam

was made

Marines

would

—

fence and then the Iraqi border berm. The

to their objectives.

the attack

LD

from

the Kuwaiti border berm. a tank ditch, an elec-

and raced

news of

line

a narrow five-kilometer path

craft, the

to surrender,

wounds

of departure) Florida, the Marines had to

was not

it

EST)

suffered less than

threatening.

mo\e through

and the promises of better conditions when have

life

taken in conjunction

dropped on Iraq urging soldiers ousted,

It

Pushing though the border

with the clouds of leaflets that had been

Saddam was

p.m. Iocayi2:30 p.m.

destroyed the obstructions hours

quickly to stop rumors that he had been hurt.

Saddam began

as

a half-dozen casualties, and none of the

offensive with a direct

the psychological war. Iraqis learned from

been the

GMT (8:30

at

who knew

Saddam double seemed on the

in the distance.

Marine Corps maps

failed to

Washington had opened attack

smoke

had apparently

(to those

speculation that the

The facility, GOSP-3, was the prime objective of Bra\o Company, 1st Battahon, of the 5th Marine Regimental Combat ing flame and

referred to on

Team, which crossed the border Thursday night

ping over the pages.

Although the

regime. Elsewhere on the hori-

TWENTY-ONE DAYS eerily illuminated

an

by the burning remnants of vaporized by laser-guided

artillery battery

bombs from

A

number of tanks were also engaged but did not fire back. The Iraqis had abandoned them and fled. With the coming of dawn, a dribble of planes.

small

The predictable

made

capitals

tough criticism was surprising. At a meet-

day, he

groups of three and four, waving

in

1st

the sharpness of

Russian President Vladimir Putin's unusually

foxholes on the south side of the gas and

makeshift white flags as they approached

comments condemnOnly

the language differed.

ing of senior

plant

25

leaders in the predictable

predictable

ing the raids on Baghdad.

disheveled Iraqi troops began leaving their oil

— DAY

members of

warned

the

was making "a big "Russia

insists

the Kremlin ThursBush administration that it

political mistake."

He

said,

on an end as quickly as possible

Battalion troops. Before an hour had passed,

to military action."

they were coming out in larger groups. In the

French President Jacques Chirac was muted by comparison. As the point man for the antiwar

two hours of Friday morning, more than 159 Iraqis had surrendered and more were

first

continuing to approach U.S. troops, turning

themselves

in.

never mind the mementos and papers for now,"

Dave

pany's

commander of the comtold his men. "And keep

Denials,

1st Platoon,

The prisoners, ranging from teenagers to older men, appeared thankful to turn them-

Many

asked for food and water,

which they were given once taken

to positions

"Hey, look, they're forming lines them-

Lance Cpl. Gregory Moll, looking

selves," said

at the detainees.

They

""It

all

looks like they've done this

look so

dirty,

tired

and

hungry."

The

attack

ground war

Thursday night launched the

to topple

Saddam and disarm him

of suspected weapons of mass destruction.

came

comment

since the bombing started, was toned down considerably. "I hope these operations are as swift and cause as little bloodshed as possible, and that they do not

public

the rhetoric

lead to a humanitarian catastrophe." he said. in

between France

and Moscow. The Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesman. Kong Quan, said the United States

was

"violating the

ior."

He

said the

norms of international behav"relevant countries" should

"stop using force, stop military action" and return

in the rear.

before.

U.N. Security Council, many

China came somewhere

each other covered."

selves over.

the

in

thought he had overplayed his hand. But in his first

''We search 'em, search 'em for weapons,

Lt.

group

after troops spent

two days

in

It

forward

positions along the border, practicing the attack

to settling the crisis within the

To

U.N. framework.

the eerie wail of sirens. Kuwaitis

went

to

the shelters established in the basements of

public buildings,

many people

clutching gas

masks and watching nervously the broadcasts from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information on the status of the missile attacks. So far. neither chemical nor biological weapons have been detected and the missiles have, so far. done no damage, although two were reported to have

but also taking time out to listen to President

landed in the desert near the vast U.S. military

George W. Bush on the radio announce the

camps north and west of Kuwait

City,

Kuwaiti officials claimed that

two more

start

of hostilities.

That

start

was readily apparent

to

them. As

spoke, aircraft streaked over-

the president

head, heading north to Iraq. Four Marines

—

—

from Alpha Company were wounded in the pre-dawn fighting: three from a land mine or other explosive device, one from a bullet to the thigh. ing:

2nd

One Marine was Lt.

killed in the fight-

Therrel Shane Childers. 30. of

Saucier, Miss.

The wounded were tended and

at least

had been destroyed by Patriot missiles. The alarms and sirens make it clear

that

Kuwait City is a war zone, but there is no blackout and the city remains brightly lit. Kuwait civilian airport was still open to flights by Kuwaiti airlines Thursday, although most international carriers had suspended flights.

The center glows with neon and

the port

bright as day under arc lights as troops

were handed over to the British troops of the Royal Irish Regiment, who were securing the oil fields. And the Marines clambered aboard their troops' carriers and headed

dockworkers labor round the clock

north.

gallons of fuel a day to keep going.

the prisoners

and

is

as

and

to get mili-

tary supplies ashore to feed the \ast logistics

machine

that fuels the attack to the north.

Anglo-American advance needs over

The

a million

26

THE IRAQ

WAR

As midnight came on Kuwait's

first

day of

Iraq.

time that day, yet again sending children and

think

frightened mothers trailing to the shelters.

when

cut

The

down

endless stairs

the major roads remained during the alarms,

and the endless convoys of

fuel tankers

and

trucks from the port continued to haul north

from the port

and

as the big attack got under way.

Kuwaitis, with bitter personal experience of the Iraqi invasion in 1990

and the subsequent

seem over-

looting and pillage of their city,

I

think

it's

a mistake to go to war,

don't

I

worth the damage to the Iraqi people

it's

their infrastructure." she said.

ANSWER

elevators are automatically

the alarm goes. Police checkpoints on

going to war with

"I feel strongly against

war, the sirens wailed yet again for the sixth

organized walkouts and protests

Washington and other cities Thursday, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. Members of the group oppose war with Iraq because, they claim, the Arab nation does not pose a clear and present in

danger to the United Sates and

its allies.

"Iraq,

a country that has not attacked or threatened the U.S..

is

now

the subject of a state-sponsored

whelmingly supportive of the war. The tone

terrorist

was

orders cruise missile attacks in Baghdad," said

set in a

speech to his people by the emir.

Sheikh Al-Jaber al-Sabah.

which he

in

said.

"Screams coming from those of our people

assault

as

the

a statement released by the group.

Antiwar protesters frequently have accused

who were tortured, and the wails of the young and old. women and children, still echo loud in

the administration of

our ears."

Thursday,

"Arab and Islamic history have not seen oppression like that

we were exposed

to

Bush administration

waging a war for the sole

purpose of controlling the region's

read,

many

"No blood

carried

activists

oil supply.

signs

that

for oil."

by our

Arab and Islamic neighbor." the sheikh added. "The state of Kuwait is not sounding the drums of war, but rather that war drums are being sounded by a regime that does not learn from its

Iraq war protests

past experiences."

sweep Arab world

Dissent

—

White

Protests swept the CAIRO, March 20 (UPI) Arab world Thursday following the launch of the U.S. war on Iraq. In Egypt, more than 1,000 people, mainly students from the American

Thursday afternoon

University in Cairo, clashed with riot police as

WASHINGTON, March 20 demonstrators gathered

House on

in

a cold and rainy

Middle East"

the

Antiwar

front of the

to protest the start of a U.S.-Ied

Chanting. "Bush,

—

(UPI)

war against

Iraq.

we want peace. U.S. out of and "No blood for oil, U.S.

off Iraqi soil," fewer than a hundred protesters

entered

Lafayette

ANSWER,

Act

Park.

Now

The peace group War and End

to Stop

Racism, organized the demonstration. "I feel this is

an unjustified war

—

the U.S.

they tried to march on the U.S. and British

embassies. Thousands of the protesters,

who

by beating the protesters with sticks and spraying them with water in an attempt to disperse them. The angry demonstrators burned U.S.

and British flags and shouted hostile

We

as traitors.

museum worker from

Arlington. Va.

in

retaliated

comments about Arab

been going on for a long time with sanctions and bombings." said Andrea Schamau. 41, a

surrounded

them with stones

an attempt to break out of the cordon. Police

should not commit a pre-emptive strike on Iraq. should not continue a war on Iraq that has

riot police

pelted

leaders, describing

them

more then 10.000 Egyptian Muslim fundamentalist groups, demonstrated inside the camAlso

in Cairo,

students, mostly belonging to

volunteer

puses of Cairo and Kfar al-Sheikh universities

worker for ANSWER, said she felt the weapons

and the al-Azhar theological school, calling for

inspections process was halted prematurely.

an Islamic holy war against the United States.

Margot

Brandenburg,

24,

a

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS The protesters shouted that President George W. Bush was the enemy of God and urged Arab

and confronting aggression and

leaders to take immediate measures to stop

police

U.S. aggression and to close military bases in

Muslim

est

Arab

down

U.S.

all

countries. Egypt's high-

religious authority. Sheikh

would

reflect badly

organizations,

including

on

of resisting

injustice." Riot

were

the streets, but no clashes

who marched

on the U.S. Embassy. hundreds of angry demonstrators

In Libya,

took to the streets of the main

cities,

including

the capital Tripoli, calling for jihad against the

United Nations

United States and brandished placards reading,

and the Arab League. But Osama Baz,

political

adviser to President Hosni Mubarak, held the Iraqi

roamed

fully capable

international

all

the

Arab nation was

reported with the demonstrators

Ahmed

al-Tayeb. denounced the war on Iraq, which he said

"the

17

1

regime responsible for the war. noting

"No

to war.

Yes to peace" and "Get your hands

off Iraq."

A

that

meeting of the Arab League

at

its

"Cairo deployed tremendous efforts to promote

headquarters in Cairo was marred by recrimi-

a peaceful settlement, but the Iraqi response

nations between the Iraqi and Kuwaiti repre-

was late."' Mubarak

sentatives.

said in a statement

the Iraqi leadership

Wednesday

was responsible

rioration of securit)' in the Persian

mitting terrible mistakes,

Kuw ait. which

invasion of fears

among

for the dete-

Gulf by com-

door open for foreign interference

slammed

banned Scud missiles

the

law

Mohsen

Iraq's

of firing

it

into the emirate.

Khalil denied the accusation

and claimed the

came from

firing

inside

Kuwait.

in the region.

In Jordan, lawyers staged a sit-in at the

Amman

called Iraq's aggression, accusing

1990

including the

touched off security

regional countries and

Kuwait's Khaled Kleib denounced what he

that

"It is

a sad da\ for

all

Arabs when an Arab

the

country and an Arab people are subject to a mil-

Thursday, shouting slogans

itary strike that

does not take into consideration

hostile to the United States and causing the sus-

civilians." said

League Secretary-General

pension of

Moussa. "We

courts in

trials.

A member of the

Amr

are deeply angry and sorry."

lawyers syndicate. Samih

Khreiss. told United Press International that

some 500 lawyers tried to march to the Iraqi Embassy to show solidarity with Iraq, but were banned by

riot police and internal secufrom reaching it. In Morocco, schools and universities suspended classes Thursday as tens of thousands of protesting rity

forces

Voices of dissent:

Richard Reeves

students took to the streets. Riot police kept the demonstrators streets in

from marching

in the

main

In the first official reaction to the start of the

Mohamed VI Thursday

stressed the

need to preserve Iraq's sovereignty, independence and

MARANO

WASHINGTON, March 23

and Tetouan. war. King

LOU

Rabat. Casablanca, Fez, Marrakesh

territorial integrity.

The government

(UPI)

— The

US

attack on Iraq sets a bad precedent that will

make

conflict

more

likely

and the world a more

dangerous place, a presidential biographer and syndicated columnist said Sunday.

spokesman, Nabil bin Abdullah, said Morocco

"I

am

very, very

uncomfortable with the

force to settle the Iraqi crisis. "'Morocco stands

whole concept of pre-emptive war," said Richard Reeves in a phone interview. "I think it

on the side of the

will lead to things like India attacking Pakistan.

regretted and

was disappointed by Iraqi

the resort to

people to alleviate

sufferings and preserN e the unity of

its

its

country,"

China attacking Taiwan." Reeves predicted

he added.

Sudan's government strongly denounced the

war

as thousands of protesters demonstrated in

the streets of

Khartoum. President

Taha condemned

Mohammed

the U.S. attack, stressing that

power would adopt it

suits

its

that

the

interests to

any major regional

American model when

do

so.

"Australia and

Indonesia, one or the other," he said.

If the

United States claims the moral riuht (o attack a

28

THE IRAQ

WAR

country that could be a threat in five or 10 years, others will follow

example

its

in

many

parts of the world, he told United Press Inter-

them or

to use

not,

And

blackmail.

it

because of issues like nuclear

may be

the United States, too

medium powers

national.

tack as

Reeves said he is among those who believe war was unnecessary to achieve U.S. objectives, at least as those objectives were articu-

Japan

by the Bush administration. "American citizens were not threatened in any way by Iraq," he said. "As soon as the war began, even (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon said that he didn't think that Israel was

weapons would be

capricious

threatened by Iraq."

than other nuclear powers.

lated

Reeves was asked

to take a different

and

like Turkey, Brazil

determine whether they are safer

try to

with or without nuclear weapons. "Unfortunately, North Korea with nuclear treated quite differently than

without them."

Reeves was asked

if

not true that

is

it

nuclear-armed countries led by calculating or

he saw the need to pre-

if

— and

world

that the

— has

present greater dangers

dictators

why you want

one of the reasons

"It's

vent the possibility of nuclear blackmail as a

democracies," he said. "Democracies tend to be

legitimate casus belli. "People are vulnerable to

more

nuclear blackmail everywhere in the world, and

we

are

"Israel is

one of the blackmailers." he answered. is

We

for a minute with

American

guns of North Korea

soldiers under the

they [the U.S. soldiers]

if

didn't have nuclear weapons.

who one way ple

wouldn't stand

.

.

.

There are peo-

example of such

the

to

countries as Pakistan.

"Remember, Pakistan has never had

one of the blackmailers. North Korea

one of the blackmailers.

rational than dictatorships."

But he returned

peaceful change of government in it

uses nuclear weapons,

And

it

will

a

history. If

its

be against India.

India decides on a pre-emptive strategy,

if

which

one day,

will

it

it

those

is

And

nuclear

threaten us with nuclear blackmail in

weapons

or another, and we're going to have to

the blessing of American thinking in doing that.

"We

that

it

will

go

after.

it

will claim

figure out some way to deal with them. But for the moment at least, we seem to have con-

place

cluded

could be quite different from the government

—

wisely.

I

—

think

that invasion is not

are not talking about Minnesota. In a

tomorrow.

one of those ways."

Reeves was asked

if

he was referring to

Pakistan,

like

How close is We don't

Afghanistan?

North Korea.

government

"To North Korea," he replied. "We may have to face a showdown with Pakistan some-

future?

time in the future. Iran

seems it

to

have run

was generally Reeves said

meant

—

Nonproliferation

course as a policy, though

its

that

at

first,

nonproliferation

United States would have

"And many countries went And nuclear weapons have not

nuclear weapons.

along with

that.

been used since 1945. Part of

that is to the

credit of the policy, but that policy to

have broken down

in places like

Reeves said he lived 1980s, "and

you came

if

you Uved

may

know. What kind of

China going

to

don't know. Today's

have

the

in

madman

could

be tomorrow's madman."

Reeves said he disagrees with what appears

in

now seems Korea."

Pakistan in the

in places like Pakistan,

to understand that in the

modem

"We

"And

those that have

are better protected, whether they intend

can't

remake

the

Middle East

image," he said. "The West has gone

such

in

our

down

that

many times, and it never seems to lead where we want it to lead. I don't claim to know why that's the case, but it historically is the The British created the situation we case. are now trying to rectify or recreate." After World War I, Britain administered the trail

.

.

.

of the defeated Ottoman Empire that

part

world: those that have them and those that

in

to

—

places as the Middle East.

became in this

United States can control events

that the

badge of adulthood. "There are two kinds of countries

them

Pakistan to becoming

be tomorrow's Jefferson, and today's Jefferson

world, possession of nuclear weapons was the

don't," the author said.

is

government today

be the Bush administration's larger strategy

effective."

that only the

We

the

Iraq,

which had been known

as the

province of Mesopotamia, under a League of

Nations mandate.

An Anglo-Iraqi full

A

revolt broke out in 1920.

treaty

was signed

in

independence coming 10 years

1

922, with

later.

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Iraq has been called an artificial state

whose

who

forced

borders were drawn by foreigners hostile Kurds, Sunnis

and Shiites

into the

same

Saddam Hussein

window of

is

being used as a

opportunity to try to remake the

Middle East in the way we remade Europe or Japan after World War II," Reeves said. "I think a lot of people in our leadership

now

feel that

we blew an opportunity to do that after World War II. I don't think that's an accurate reading of history, but I think the people who read it that way are sincere." Reeves

author of President Kennedy: Pro-

is

of Power (1993) and President Nixon: Alone in the White House (2001 ) and has made

file

a

that although he joined in the

number of documentary

for persuading President

ell

Bush

go

to

at the

'We believe we are you will.

just to declare to the world:

We

right.

are going ahead. Join us if

Otherwise,

it's

been good

to

know

you," he told

UPI.

Fleming also said Congress has been evading

its

constitutionally

mandated responsibility

November

well before the

ing

campaign, congressional candidates

the

members of the opposing when it's Democrats

—

MARANO

elections

think

— A conser-

to him. but the

it

party

—

especially

are often afraid to

much

ment

diplomatic sphere could have been

avoided by

of the hostility and resent-

a more honest approach. Top

administration officials "had

minds a long time ago

Thomas Fleming,

for a

made up

war with

their

Iraq," said

editor of Chronicles

magazine

already

"Going

made up

to the

is

U.N. when your mind

a mistake," he said in a

is

phone

interview with United Press International. "It

looks

manipulative.

So the Russians, the

French, the Chinese are sucked into a process,

and when

it

turns out that they've got the votes

and we don't, we then say: 'Well, we don't shouldn't have entered into

it

weren't going to accept the conclusion.

was any way — don't think no matter what your stand — there

evil,

not going to war."

that's not

the big issues,

I

in

like to see a lot of

and emotional argument breaking out

America during a period of crisis, and people

should not take sides on the basis of political

He

ideology or party.

Leader

Tom

called Senate Minority

Daschle's recent criticisms of the

president "stupid."

"As

the congressional leader of a party that

had given President Bush the power it's

a

little late

was pure country

to start

is at crisis,

we

low

Fleming termed "rather

and very bad.

politics,

rhetorical level as

to

go

to war,

complaining," he said.

his

should

.

.

.

try to

"It

When

a

keep the

as possible."

own

position on the

complex" and "a hard

war

sell."

Pre-emptive wars are morally wrong and

accept the conclusion.'

"We

On

should be referendums on

Fleming said he doesn't irrational

and president of the Illinois-based Rockford Institute.

for. ...

where people stand."

Bush administration's war

policy said in the

said,

elections, the presi-

dent should have declared where he stood. Dur-

what they're elected (UPI)

He

of war and peace.

to decide matters

appear unpatriotic or disloyal. "And

vative critic of the

time

war was a foregone conclusion. "Under those circumstances, it would have been better

that

party feel obliged to give

Thomas Fleming WASHINGTON, March 22

to the

would have been forced to explain to their constituents how they would vote on the war. Congress' evasion. Fleming said, came "because when the president of the dominant party wants a war, then all the members of his

films.

Voices of dissent:

LOU

Pow-

general praise of Secretary of State Colin

United Nations, he didn't realize

political unit. "I think

Fleming said

29

1

we And if

I

violate international law, he said. Therefore, he

would have voted against the war resolution

for

good or

he had been

that

we were

though

it

Hussein.

a

will be

member good

if

of Congress, even

to get rid of

Saddam

ABOARD THE USS HARRY

TRUMAN,

S.

Mediterranean, March 21

eastern

—

(UPI)

Lt.

Mike Picciano [left] and Lt. Marc Fryman squadron VF 32 get into tfieir flight gear prior launching a night carrier

the

in

squadron

S.

Truman on Friday, March 21 Mediterranean. The

eastern

F-14 Tomcats.

flies

to

from the aircraft

strike into Iraq

USS Harry

2003,

of

(John

Gillis, UPI)

—

Friday, Day 2 March 21 "(Tlhe 'shock and awe' attack of aerial bombing exploded onto TV screens around the world ..."

MARTIN WALKER

KUWAIT

CITY,

The

first

whiffs of burning oil

wells began drifting south into Kuwait Friday as

American armored

units raced

nonh

for the

bridges across the Euphrates on the v\ay to

Baghdad. British and U.S. Marines ground on against stiffening resistance to take Iraq's main port of

was

Umm Qasr and the Rumaila oil fields.

as though

two

were under way. one steady and

It

entirely different battles fast

and daring, the other

deliberate, reflecting the dual objec-

commanders. But as well as the two strategic

tives of the allied

Baghdad and

the southern

other actions under

way

Friday. British. Aus-

heading attacks on the western near the Jordanian border.

around the

territor> to

that

allied

Infantry

in the north.

bombing

city of Kirkuk, but

allow the 4th

Turkish

Iraqi airfields

And

U.S. and British strikes were

meant

were

and U.S. Special Forces were spear-

tralian

to

targets of

oil fields, there

targets

Turkey's refusal

Division

to

open a major northern capabilities

in

use front

region

this

were limited.

On

Friday night, the "shock and

of aerial

bombing exploded onto

around the world as the

all-out

awe"

TV air

attack

screens attack

31

32

WAR

THE IRAQ

bombs on

launching 3.000 missiles and smart

and

Iraqi targets simultaneously sought to stun

cow

command

the Iraqi militar}'

shocked

into

immobility.

"While

have an opportunity

cir-

to see the precision with

which we're going about

and

this task,

targets are military targets,

and

that the

that this is not

an attack on the Iraqi people." Defense Secre-

Donald Rumsfeld

impressive

do what

into the

humane

effort,

necessar>'

is

an enormous

said. "It is

(targeting) effort to

reduce

to

threat

this

pantheon of human horror with

random slaughter of civilians. Even before Oppenheimer's scientists brought forth the

Hiroshima, the

has to be a terribly unpleasant

it

cumstance, (the residents of Baghdad) will

tary

marched

cities

of Guernica and Coventry,

Hamburg and Dresden were milestones on the march of slaughter in modem, industrialized war. Now strategic bombing has become exactly what

its

at will

original advocates once intended.

and with precision the legitimate

of war.

tics, in

fight.

Its

communications and crucial

order to break

And because

hits

enemy's leadership and

attacks an

It

command.

It

targets

Its will

the civilians

logis-

and capacity

may now

to

retreat

against our country and that region, and to

mercifully back behind the front line of combat,

eliminate a regime that has killed hundreds of

where the 20th-century mode of warfare so memorably put them, this represents a civilizing

human

thousands of

beings."

sion of Iraqi officials

what

to see

communicate with

I

Rumsfeld

tory."

Iraqi

their forces

battlefield, to

and

to control

slipping away. They're begin-

is

ning to realize.

"The confu-

...

growing. Their ability

happening on the

is

their countr)'

is

suspect, that the regime

his-

is

said.

Information

Mohammed

Minister

Saeed al-Sahhaf told reporters in Baghdad that Saddam's family house was hit but "God pro-

He

tected his family."

strongly denied that the

Umm

U.S.-British forces entered the area of Qasr, saying

had

"silly

it is

just called the

and a

Umm

and

lie"

that

he

Qasr governor, who

rebutted the U.S. claims. "It's an attack and retreat battle. It

How

would they enter Baghdad?

be their crematorv." he

will

ritories are vast

said. "Iraq's ter-

and one or two tanks could

adxance

in the military arts.

real outcome of this war may depend on how many people can be persuaded of this.

But the

The millions of people across the world who marched and demonstrated against this war Saturday and some of the largest crowds were in the core coalition cities of London and New York are unlikely to believe it. And why should they, when the pictures were so stunningly, so pyrotechnically good? The wars

— —

of

modem

advanced democracies hinge on the

complexities of public opinion.

remarkable that Tony astute political

have found to

it

Blair,

And

it

is

one of the most

salesman of our day, should

so tough to clamber his

50 percent support

way back

for this war.

Public opinion in Britain and the United

enter and be filmed.

The Iraqi army will fight them in the land of Iraq."

States,

them and will kill To those watching

organize demonstrations and political cam-

the flowering of those ter-

paigns to effect regime change in London and

blossoms of

rible

strikes

fire

in

the

mammoth

air

on Baghdad, the attack looked almost

biblical in

de\ astation. like the

its

wrath of

being visited upon the Iraqi capital. But

it

to

minimize the

207 wounded tricity

"The

civilians

—

casualt\'

list,

in a city

and water suppHes continued

lights stayed

on

in

elec-

Baghdad." said British "It

is

the

institutions of tyranny that are collapsing."

There has never been a bombing campaign like this before in histor>'.

Strategic

all,

freely

Washington, constitute only one part of the audience.

The public opinion of

the Islamic

safety valves, have only the evidence of their

to function.

Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon.

after

was

claimed

where

can.

world, where there are few such democratic

It

no reason

critics

God

was the wrath of man. directed in a new form of war, and remarkably precise in its visitation. Iraq's minister of information, who had not.

where

bombing

own

eyes and the twisted reports of their

media.

own

For example, one reporter for the TV channel, widely

Qatar-based al-Jazeera

watched throughout the Arab world, reported

from Baghdad during the bombing that the American bombers were "using weapons of mass destruction against Baghdad." Newspapers throughout the Islamic world are parroting the accusations of Baghdad's

gandists that

Bush and

war crimes against

own

propa-

Blair are guilty of

the innocent civilians of

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Baghdad

—

the very claim that

made U.N.

Outside Baghdad, the main battles were being conducted by the 230,000 American and

The

British troops based in Kuwait.

Umm

Qasr was a two-pronged

Commando

battle for

assault. British

troops and U.S. Marines launched

an amphibious assault on the

Faw

peninsula

and

ser\ ice points for

thrown up by the armored vehicles, the race for the bridges across the Euphrates River

open the way

to

Baghdad — and

armored units of the

a

new

logistics route, particularly for

Umm

tarian supplies: to clear the

humani-

ground from which

vital

Plowing through clouds of dust

fuel supplies.

surged o\erland through the Iraqi frontier to

Qasr airport. They had three main objectives. The troops were tasked to take the port intact as

to act

combat and

cargo helicopters bringing forward the

bly

from the rear and seize the

working order

into sufficient

as refueling

while British armored forces and U.S. Marines

attack the port

33

stopped off to secure Iraqi airfields and get

them back

sanctions against Iraq so unpopular.

— DAY 2

decisive

To

confrontation

the southeast,

Lt. Col.

Tim

Republican Guard.

Iraqi

home

Collins,

made

of Basra, the Royal

city

Regiment found

superstar back

to the proba-

with the heavy

and spearheading the push

toward Iraq's second Irish

would

itself led

in the

by a sudden

United Kingdom

commander of

the RIR's

short-range Iraqi missiles had been launched

1st Battalion,

against Kuwait: and to secure the hundreds of

cious British media Thursday via a "cool" pho-

wellheads of the vast Rumaila

tograph of him standing in the Kuwaiti desert

Thirty

oil field.

were on

wellheads

British

fire.

wearing Ray-Ban-type sunglasses, cropped

Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon said Friday,

hair

and allied sources in Kuwait said they believed that four small oil refineries had been fired. But the oil facilities on the Faw facilities were

the picture

taken intact, and U.S. Marines

managed

to

major objective of the mission.

Allied patrols were heading north toward Basra. Iraq's second

Shia Muslims

dam

city,

who have

occupied mainly by

long suffered

at

Sad-

Hussein's hands. British and U.S. psy-ops

by giving a

admiral to his Marines

since

Friday morning

New

York time almost 100

miles deep into Iraq and meeting ance.

Led by

little

the U.S. 7th Cavalry, the

resist-

armored

brigades and mechanized infantry of the 3rd InfanUA' Division

and

nearly

—

die together

But what Collins

was

echoed Shake-

bringing about his rightful destruction."

Collins told his assembled troops. "There are

many

regional

their souls

commanders who have

and they are stoking the

for (Iraqi leader)

Saddam

stains

fires

(Hussein).

on

of hell

He and

his

forces will be destroyed by this coalition for

what they have done. As they die they will that their deeds have brought them to this

place.

raced

told his troops

in a styie that

Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt. 'The enemy should be in no doubt that we

north

—

the

Marines and four Amer-

icans.

know

20.000 troops

done

that killed eight British

close to 10.000 vehicles

throughout the night and into the day. They

would be

in a helicopter accident

are

Euphrates bridges and toward Baghdad, was by

time.

allies

—

first to

allied

bold thrust north to the

same

World War I, and indeed would soon be

speare's

battle, the

at the

mas-

style of a U.S.

fighting as brothers-in-arms, as they had

hoping that Basra could provide the politically

The second

low-key eve-

Within a few hours the two

uniquely British,

troops and their liberators.

He completed

sive contrast to the hoo-ahl

teams were close behind the forward troops,

needed scenes of Iraqis welcoming

cigar.

brilliant,

and puffing on a small

of-battle speech to his troops that stood in

secure at least three of the giant gas-oil separation plants, a

his entrance to the vora-

Show them no pity." Wearing a big curve-bladed kukri knife from

Led by the Bradley fighting vehicles with M-1 Abrams tanks close behind and Apache helicopters scouting ahead, the advance was

Gurkha company of his battalion. some of those among him u ho might not see the end of the campaign but would be "put in their sleeping bags and sent home. There will be no time for sorrow." And

described by military sources back in Kuwait

he explained in biblical lernis his men's moral

as "a classic cavalry operation

duties in the country they

stopped only to refuel and to clean their

air

and

Collins also spoke of

oil filters.

gic

ground

the Nepali

fast."

On

— taking

strate-

the way. specialized units

conquer.

came

to liberate, not

34

THE IRAQ

know

"I

WAR

men who have

of

taken Ufe need-

capable" infantry battalion that works closely

lessly in other conflicts." he said. "I can assure

alongside two battalions of the famed

you they live with the mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders to you. then remember

Beret Parachute Regiment.

they have that right in international law and

home

ensure that one day they can go

The ones who wish

family.

aim

to their

we

to fight, well,

He spoke

of the shame to the regiment and

the nation of overenthusiasm in killing, and

warned

were entering a deeply

that they

toric land

—

and the birthplace of Abraham.

will see things that to

to

ple than the Iraqis.

even though they have noth-

their hospitality

Don't

ing.

ou n

them

treat

as refugees, for they are in

countr). Their children will be poor.

In years to

come

know

they will

that the light

of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

remem-

"if there are casualties of war. then

ber that

w hen

they

u oke up

in the

morning they

did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death.

graves.

Bur> them properly and mark

As

...

lea% e Iraq a better place for us

having been there. Our business British militar\ this,

their

for ourselves, let's bring every-

one home and

commanders

now

is

north."

rarely talk like

especially at a time of deep division about

war at home. Traditionally. commanders say things like: "Well,

the rightness of this British

chaps, this

is

it.

We jolly

heads had been

well have to pull our

reason why, for the

British

relatively small size,

all their

punches well above

military

Corps alone outnumbers the

War

in

chief Gen.

Tommy

no problem

in

assigning British forces lead

roles in the opening phase of Operation Iraqi

Freedom, or the

1st

direct British

World War

command,

II.

strength of the

Challenger 7th

2.000 U.S. Marines of

in placing

Marine Expeditionary Force under

II

the first time since

Indeed, half of the armored 1st

MEF

provided by 120

is

tanks of the British Desert Rats

Armored Brigade. Covered by artillery, the

the port of

Umm Qasr and took

It

was

a British

ments of Collins,

military: age 42.

bom

face of the British

and raised

married with four children, a

man

in Belfast,

with "a

of the gab," according to a fellow

gift

officer.

Despite a family history in the British army dating to 1857, Collins

is

thoroughly

with a toughness honed as a

endary

SAS

modem,

member of the He

(Special Air Service).

leg-

has

tumed the Northem Ireland-based Royal Irish 40 percent of them Catholics from Regiment

—

the Irish Republic

—

into a "special operations

and

after a fight.

that ordered the

the senti-

Marines

to

remove their victorious Stars and Stripes and Marine Corps flags from atop their seized objective.

Britain,

of course, has been here

Iraq's civil ser\'ice

League of Nations

the

collapse

pied by the

Umm Qasr was built by

and so were such

number 2 to

to

airfields

as

be reoccu-

allies.

In 2003, the British

have

the

and military infrastmcture.

Indeed, the old port of British,

of

as a principal builder of

Shaibah and Habbaniyah. soon

new

it

commander, echoing

tradition.

the

the tanks

U.S. Marines entered

by British

the

is

Command

Franks appears to have had

manders rarely, if ever, talked of death. and breaking that specter broke a long military But Collins

and power of

size

the entire British army, U.S. Central

mandated rulerafter Ottoman Empire, but

nia

compared

in the Gulf,

graph columnist William Deedes. whose

was of the Abysin1936. wrote Friday that British com-

its

250.000 U.S. troops. While the U.S. Marine

before, not only in 1918, as

foreign report for that paper

only

on fire by the remained intact.

Collins and the Royal Irish are part of the

socks up and get going on this one." Daily Telefirst

Staff, said

set

hundreds that

Iraqis out of

to

more decent, generous and upright peoYou will be embarrassed by

have

oil

go a long way

find a

will

seven

weight of 45.000 troops

and you

Adm. Michael

could blow them up. Friday.

no man could pay

to see

their

wells in the Basra area before the Iraqis

oil

his-

Garden of Eden, of

the site of the

the Great Flood

"You

Hours after he spoke, the RIR went into acdon with the 16 Air Assault Brigade, seizing

Boyce. chief of the Defense

to please."

Red

to the

know

they can only be

American superpower, and

stmggle to keep up technologically. In

their rush to

Kuwait, they revealed their defi-

ciencies in logistics such as boots, desert uni-

forms and even food supplies, compared

to the

laid-on showers and Burger Kings for the U.S.

Army. Smart U.S. commanders, however,

know forces.

better

than

to

underestimate

British

Franks has particularly involved the

TWENTY-ONE DAYS British in

SAS

and SBS (Special Boat Squadron)

major special operations.

— DAY 2

America's "black gold" cravings. Compared with Canada (15 percent of American

Mexico (12

imports) or

minor

percent).

percent of

for Oil?

a oil

2.4 million

barrels per day. a 50-year nadir.

During the

months of 2002. the

11

first

United States imported an average of 9.000 bpd

Sam Vaknin

from If the

oil is

merely 23

is

— about

1985 peak

its

Iraq

Furthermore, the current

supplier.

production of the United States

A War

35

looming war was

about

all

would

Iraq

oil.

Iraq. In January'

2003. with Venezuela

disarray, approximately

1

.2

million

be invaded by the European Union, or Japan,

oil

whose dependence on Middle Eastern

December 2002 and 5 15,000 bpd ber. It would seem that $200 billion

oil is far

United States. The

greater than that of the

United States would probably have taken o\ er

went

to the

in

bpd of Iraqi

Americas, up from 910.000 bpd

in

in

Novem-

— costs of war and postbellum reconstruction — would the

Venezuela, a

much larger and closer supplier own emerging tyrant to boot. At any

be better spent on America's domestic

with

industry'.

rate, the

United States refrained from occupy-

simply too insignificant to warrant such an

ing Iraq

when

exertion.

its

Why

it

the current

easily could have, in

1991.

American determination

conquer the desert countr\' and subject

it

to

There

is

another explanation, insist keen11

is

made of Iraq's known

shredded the American

States"

— not

mention

to

feet of natural gas.

its

Even

said to be the realistically

were

the

citizens of ostensible allies

—

— such

as

But

this is a tautology. If oil

resources in the region drive up the price of oil

Iraqis'?

America's reliance

is

nonexistent,

lives

Why would it consumes with its

at all? it

belligerent talk and coalition-building?

would

fritter

it

away

why

and squander

Why

the unprecedented up-

swell of goodwill that followed the atrocities in

September 2001'^ Back

According

to oil.

to

Petroleum's Statistical Review of World Energy 2002. the United States voraconsumes one of ciously and wastefully British

—

—

every four barrels extracted worldwide. imports about three-fifths of than will

1 1

years' time,

its

its

reserves depleted,

be forced to import

all

It

needs. In less

of

its

it

soaring

oil

accounts for one-quarter

of U.S. imports. Iraqi crude for less than onetenth.

A

—

—

to that the

—

this

subterranean

proven reserves of

a century. its

neigh-

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United

Arab Emirates

—

and there

is

no question

that the oil industries of these countries will far outlive their competitors'.

Genteel French

and Russian oilmen ask: Couldn't this be w hat the rapacious Americans are after? After

and American companies con-

British

all.

trolled three-quarters of Iraq's mineral wealth until

1972,

when

nationalization

denuded

them. Alas,

this

"explanation" equally

upon closer inspection. Known

— reserves

require investments in exploration,

development and soil is

drilling.

Nine-tenths of Iraq's

unexplored, including up to 100 billion

barrels of

mainly

deflates

— or imagined

in

deep oil-bearing formations located the vast western desert. Of the 73

fields discovered,

only

15 have been devel-

ojjed.

requirements.

Middle Eastern

cubic

immediate target of

more than

bors

Saudis to soon-to-be subjugated

trillion

million bpd

stash stands to last for

can military presence from increasingly hos-

risk

at

occupying forces and almost 50 percent

Add

tile

110

at 3

above the current level

exposed the tenuEgypt and Saudi Arabia status of ous and ephemeral U.S. forces in the Gulf. So. is the war about transporting Ameri-

on Middle Eastern would it want to

is

oil reserves,

pegged by the U.S. Department of Energy

sense of invulnerability. That the hijackers all

oil

112 billion barrels, or five times the United

direct rule, at least initially?

eyed analysts. Sept.

Much

to

Securing the flow of Iraqi crude

back-of-the-enveiope

calculation

reveals that Iraq quenches less than 6 percent of

Iraqi Oil Minister

Amir Rashid admitted

early 2(X)2 that only 24 Iraqi oil fields

in

were

producing. The country has almosi no deep wells, unlike Iran,

where they abound. The cost

36

of production

around $1.00

is

to

$1.50 per bar-

one-tenth the cost elsewhere. Texas boasts

rel, 1

WAR

THE IRAQ

out to attain self-enrichment through the spoils of war.

The case

million drilled wells; Iraq barely has 2,000.

The Department of Energy's

report about Iraq

for the prosecution

nered by plummeting prices, the

concludes: "Iraq generally has not had access

America has spent

to the latest, state-of-the-art oil industry tech-

merging and acquiring

nology

(i.e.,

3-D seismic surveys),

sufficient

that, cor-

is

oil

industry in

the last 10 years defensively in a frantic pace.

Amer-

22 major energy companies reported

ica's

income of $7

on revenues of

spare parts and investment in general through-

overall net

out most of the 1990s." Iraq reportedly has

$141 billion during the second quarter of

utilizing questionable engineering tech-

been

niques such as overpumping, water injection

and old technology

to maintain production.

The

quality of Iraqi oil deteriorated considerably in

the past decade.

leum

Its

its

up by one-third. the 1920s

and

its

last

their profits resulted

from domestic upstream

oil

and natural gas

production

operations.

upstream

and natural gas production opera-

oil

foreign

Tellingly,

oil

sulfur content shot

refining capacity forces U.S. firms to joint ven-

by more than 10

water cut (intrusion of water into

reservoirs) increased

Only 45 percent of

40 percent of net income, and worldwide downstream natural gas and power operations made up the rest. Stagnant domestic

average American Petro-

Institute gravity declined

percent,

year.

billion

back

Iraq's oil fields date

and 1930s and were subjected

to

to abu-

tions yielded

ture with outsiders to refine ucts.

and market prod-

Moreover, according to the energy con-

— of

sultant

John

during a Gotterdammerung, they might well be

finding

new

abandoned

than $5 per barrel, except in the Gulf, where oil

methods of

sive

extraction. Thus, if torched

altogether.

According

to

report

a

published by the

United Nations two years ago, Iraqi tion

is

poised to

fall

produc-

oil

off a cliff unless billions are

invested in addressing technical and infrastructure problems. Even chaotic Iraq billion annually on repairing oil

last

levels

would

Not

to

that oil

the

export billion,

production to pre- 1 990

cost an additional $5 billion, plus

$3 billion per year

in

feet

to

more

deep and swathes of In short:

it.

2001

American

oil

majors are looking abroad for their long-term survival; Iraq always featured high

on

their

list.

between Saddam Hussein and non-American

would be around $5 oil

sometimes 1,000

land are immersed in

in

The

facilities.

December estimated

while restoring Iraqi

— soared

This stratagem was subverted by the affair

"Costs of repairing existing (Iraqi) installations alone

Herold, replacement costs

forks out $1.2

Council of Foreign Relations and the Baker Institute

is

S.

reserves

annual operating costs."

mention the legal quagmire created by

oil

companies. American players shudder

thought of being excluded from Iraq by

and

his dynasty

minded, the

House

the

conspiracy-

apply sanctions to the country in

order to freeze

competitors

to

companies coaxed the White

oil

first to

Saddam

and thus rendered second-tier

According

participants.

at the

its

growing amity with foreign

— and, now,

to retake

by force

that

by the soon-

which was confiscated from them by law.

to-be-deposed regime with European, Indian.

Development and production contracts with Russian and French companies, signed by Sad-

the plethora of agreements signed

Turkish and Chinese

oil

behemoths.

It

would be

years before Iraqi crude hits the markets in

meaningful quantities

and then only

of bilhons of dollars have been into the ground.

after tens

literally

sunk

Not a very convincing business

plan.

Conspiracy theorists dismiss such contravening facts impatiently. While the costs, they

expound

wearily, will accrue to the

American

taxpayer, the benefits will be reaped by the oil giants, the true sponsors of President

George

W. Bush,

and his

his father, his vice president

secretary of defense. In short, the battle in Iraq

has been spun by a cabal of sinister white males

dam's regime, are that

is,

rules over

be "reviewed" — — by whoever next

likely to

scrapped altogether

Baghdad.

An

added bonus: the demise of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

A

United States

in control

can break the back of any

of the Iraqi spigot oil cartel

and hold

sway over impertinent and obdurate such as France.

How

polities

the ensuing plunge in

would help the alleged instigators of the remains unclear. Still, the oil mafia war James Paul propounded the following exercise in the Global Policy Forum this past December: prices

—

—

TWENTY-ONE DAYS "(Assume) the lion barrels

level of Iraqi reserves at

and recovery

250

bil-

50 percent

rates at

— DAY 2

did not seek to commercially leverage

37 its

tem-

When were

porary monopoly on power?

Under those

moral causes utterly divorced from realpoli-

conditions, recoverable Iraqi oil v^ould be worth

tik? Granted, there is a thin line separating

(both very conservative estimates).

altogether about $3,125 trillion.

Assuming

pro-

duction costs of $1.50 a barrel (a high-end figure), total costs

would be $188

billion, leaving

a balance of $2,937 trillion as the difference

between costs and 50-50

split

sales revenues.

Assuming a

with the government and further

investment from exploitation, order from tyranny,

field It

flourish.

That huge sum

lion.

is

by the world's

companies combined

oil

bil-

two-thirds of the $44 bil-

lion total profits earned

major

$29

in

five

2001.

If

higher assumptions are used, annual profits

might soar

to as

much

as

$50

billion per year."

The energy behemoths on both sides of the pond are not oblivious to this bonanza. The Financial Times reported a flurry of meetings in recent

Shell

days between British Petroleum and

and Downing

Street and Whitehall func-

tionaries. Senior figures in the Iraqi National

ramshackle exile

Congress opposition have been

openly consorting with American

and expressly promising

to

oil leviathans

hand postwar pro-

duction exclusively to them.

But the question

What war

in

is:

human

even history

if true,

so what?

was not partly What occupier

motivated by a desire for plunder?

deal.

should use this tormented country's natural

company

to

establish a level

and refrain from giving Iraq a raw

endowments

would run

— having disposed of Saddam — playing

and his coterie

assuming a production period of 50 years, the profits per year

from fantasy. The United

vision

States should

It

reconstruct

to

it

and make

it

should encourage good gover-

nance, including transparent procurement and international tendering

and

invite the

United

Nations to oversee Iraq's reconstruction.

It

should induce other countries of the world to

view Iraq as a preferred destination of foreign and

direct investment

trade.

If,

in the process,

reasonable profits accrue to business,

all

for

Only the global private sector can

the better.

guarantee the long-term prosperity of Iraq.

Many

judge the future conduct of the United

States on the basis of speculative scenarios

and fears

that

it

is

on the verge of attaining

global dominance by

way of

military might. This

ing

its

so.

But

to

render

to

unjustly.

judge

it

on

verdict

this

ruthlessly apply-

may

possibly be

flimsy basis alone

both

prematurely

is

and

ABOARD THE USS HARRY eastern Mediterranean,

March 22

TRUMAN,

S.

(DPI)

— An F-14

Tomcat launches fronn the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman to strike targets in Iraq, Saturday, March 22, 2003, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. (John Gillis, UP!)

—

Day 3 Saturday, March 22 "Iraqi officials have placed troops and equipment in civilian areas,

attempting to use innocent men.

and ctiildren as Americans and forces will

make

from harm."

women

shields for the dictator's army. all

know

the world to

want

I

that coalition

every effort to spare innocent civilians

— President George W. Bush

MARTIN WALKER As

the

column of

the U.S. Marines Expedi-

tionary Force raced across the Iraqi desert

Saturday day toward objectives deeper Iraqi heartland,

it

as far as the eye could see.

vehicles,

troop

in the

highway Armored attack

stretched along the

carriers

and trucks loaded

and ammunition raced past small villages. The column stopped occasionally to search buildings and people before the with supplies

Marines continued on

their journey.

As

the

Marines rolled by, they occasionally encountered road.

clumps of people walking down the They waved as the Marines went by. but

otherwise appeared almost unconcerned

invasion

the

force

in

their

Marines pulled out of a gas and

country. oil

at

The

separation

plant they captured in fighting Thursday night

and Friday, handing the facility over to the British Royal Irish Regiment. They also

among who had been in

turned over more than 300 prisoners,

them

a lieutenant colonel

at the plant. The was conducted in darkness before dawn; the moon was blot-

charge of the Iraqi defenses entire operation

the

at the plant

ted out by dust and only the eerie tires the

bombing illuminated

the field.

left

trom

Shortly after

39

40

THE IRAQ

WAR

the battle. Marines approached a ditch

inore than 30 Iraqi bodies lay.

One

where

Iraqi in his

was questioned. All he would say was. "Why did you do this?"

moments of

last

Some

life

of the Iraqis in the ditch were killed as

Mesopotamia, where the prospect of resistance increased.

As the Marines headed north toward Kut and Amara along the Shatt al-Arab route, the tanks of the 3rd Division seized the

first

key

the

Marines went through trenches routing out

crossing over the Euphrates River at Nasiriyah,

the

enemy

a

ing the

after aircraft

battery

artiller\'

swooped down, bomband infantr\' company

guarding the gas-oil plant. After the gas portion of the plant was on

aged

fire,

in the fighting or set afire

moved

battle, the

either

by the

dam-

Iraqis.

cit>'

ing

that

w eek

was

to

become famous over the com-

ambushes and from the urban area against the long and

raids

as the Iraqis launched

vulnerable U.S. supply lines. Poorly organized

and armed with

weapons

light

like

machine

dispose of unex-

guns and rocket-propelled grenades, and mov-

ploded ordnance and to check the plant for hid-

ing in 4-by-4 vehicles and pickup trucks, the

den explosive charges.

Iraqi guerillas

British engineers

in to

The Marines spent most of Saturday moving across the desert, heading deeper into the country.

At

stops,

around

troops

their \ehicles

to search

formed

tight

security

and several were detailed

houses for weapons. The chief con-

cern was that there might be occasional sniping, but

none occurred. Along the route

at vari-

ous bridges, small two-man antiaircraft guns could be seen, abandoned like

homes along sional

many

ard troops

made

w ith

impression on the

little

their

heavy armor. Some of

their desperate attacks to challenge the U.S.

holding the Nasiriyah bridges were

troops

almost suicide charges. But they were a con-

menace

stant

to the supply trucks

The commander of

Tommy

quarters in Doha, Qatar, that coalition forces

had reached Nasiriyah and swept beyond the

oil wells.

carries troops into battle,

had painted on

its tur-

own nickname: "the Porkchop Express." Anthony Sousa from Maine, commander of

War

in

one-quarter the amount of time, a per-

formance he described as "magnificent."

"We have

operations ongoing in the north,

in the west, in the south,

Baghdad," he

said.

we would

and

expect

ing

And. indeed, the outcome

rect in a countr\

w here pork

is

not eaten, he had

placed a sandbag to cover the word pork. Look-

against

baggy suit he wore to protect possible chemical or biological at the

as

in

"Our troops

Lt.

the vehicle, quipped that to be politically cor-

Gulf

farthest point of penetration in the 1991

ret its

down

Gen.

the U.S. -led war,

Franks, said Saturday from his head-

of the

The lead vehicle of the column belonged to Bravo Company. On the hood was a child's toy alligator, nicknamed Crazy. The 26-ton armored amphibious vehicle, which

ing

and tankers

on which the whole advance depended.

the way. In the distance, occa-

plumes of smoke could be seen from

burning

for\\

and around

are perform-

—

magnificently.

is

not in doubt.

There may well be tough days ahead. But the forces on the field will achieve the objectives that

have been

set out

by the governments of

this coalition."

Franks appeared with British, Australian,

to flatten

Snoop Doggy Dog. Does anyone have any tape it down?" He then broke into an

Dutch and Danish military commanders in his first news briefing since the war began early Thursday. He said military operations were

improvisational rap about crossing the Iraqi

under way across

desert.

the capital.

weapons, he

said,

"Oops,

I

kind of looked like

For most of the Marines in the regiment, is

their first taste of war.

noncommissioned Gulf War

officers,

Many

this

of the senior

however, had taken

1991 and also had served Younger Marines remained boisterous among themselves and full of bravado. But the older, experienced men retained a more sober mien and cautioned part in in

Somalia

I

in

in 1993.

against overconfidence as America's force to

topple

Saddam Hussein moved deeper

into

Iraq, including in

Baghdad,

paign was "unlike any other Iraqi forces in

and around

insisting the Iraq in histor\'."

Basra continued to

cam-

He

resist

said

U.S.

and British troops fighting on the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city. Coalition forces were avoiding heavy city fighting, Franks said. Instead, he said, forces city,

were surrounding the

tr\ing to arrange for Iraqi surrenders or

ascertain that the forces there did not pose a threat

to

their

logistics

north to Baghdad.

line

before moving

— DAY 3

TWENTY-ONE DAYS "Our

mo\e

intent is not to

through and create Rather,

we

expect that \\e will work with Basra and the

citi-

confrontations in that

militan

zens in Basra, the same wa\

wideh" reported

As

in

darkness

I

cit>.

belie\e has been

Umm Qasr." Franks said.

fell

Satiirda\

in

Baghdad and

and KirkuL tw o

oil-rich centers

on

them

soldiers set fire to se\ eral oil oil fields.

Arm\ *s

Mosul

the peripher\ of

the Kurdish encla\e. TTie United States

larK anxious to secure

the

w ere heard

the northern Iraqi cities of

particu-

is

after retreating Iraqi

w eUs

in the

southern

Meanwhile. 13 U.S. servicemen from the

101st Airborne E)i\ision were

wounded

in

a grenade attack in the tents of Camp Penns\ hania in

Kuw ait. U.S. Central Command confirmed One

ciNihan wimess told United Press Intemational that

w ere thrown

tw o grenades

w ere

o

into tw

tents in

w hat

belie\ed to be staff quarters of one of the

brigades in the di\"isioiL and that at least four sol-

wounded

were seriousK

diers

the

at

closely

guarded base, some 15 miles outside Kuwait

A U.S.

soldier

was taken

war against

Iraq

Cit>'.

into custod> as a suspect

W. Bush monitored

President George

from the

Camp Da% id

Of the many demonstrations held w orldw ide w ar Saturda\. the largest w as in

against the Iraq

New York

Cit>-.

where an estimated 200.000

people marched up Broadway. At least 14 people were arrested during the largely nonviolent

night across

region, sporadic but steads explosions

41

the

presi-

and dignified ion polls

An

protests.

marched against

war

the

even larger number

in

reported that

London, but opinsupport was

public

swinging heavily behind

Blair,

an instinctive

rallying behind the troops once the shooting started.

On

the northern front. U.S. Special Forces

and Pesh Merga fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were coordinating with

U.S.

forces against Ansar al-Islam. an Islamist group Iraq.

Ansar

al-Islam. an extremist group containing

some

in the

Kurdish enclave in northern

"Arab Afghans" who had fought alongside Osama bin Laden in the Afghan war against the Soviet Union, has been linked to the al-Qaida

movement. Thought

terrorist

than 1.000 fighters,

what Kurdish

to

number fewer

small enclave included

its

was "a

said

officials

terrorist

camp." Battle damage reconnaissance

training

photos review ed by UPI show that the .Ansar

al-

destroyed by a Toma-

war

Islam

camp was almost

council, sfjeaking with British Prime Minister

hawk

cruise missile barrage Saturday. Before

dential retreat Samrday. meeting with his

Tony

Blair and teUing

radio address that

it

the nation in his

cannot "live

at the

weekly

mercy

of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.

no outcome but

On

We w ill

accept

and

after

photos showed

For the

first

the third full day since U.S.

and British

least

17

bomb

time Samrday. as the British

troops halted outside Basra and the U.S. 3rd

Division consolidated

victory."

at

craters and destroyed buildings.

bridges

at

Nasiriyah.

its it

hold on the Euphrates

began

to look as if the

march toward Baghdad, the president began the day with an intelligence briefing and then convened his war council, which included Vice President Richard

war might not be an easy and barely contested charge to Baghdad. Americans had been told to

Cheney. Chief of Staff Andrew Card. National

war.

Security .Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Defense

voiced concern that the U.S. armed forces

Donald Rumsfeld. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers and Cen-

have been going

forces began their

Secretary

Agency Director George Tenet. Bush said .American and coalition forces would face enemies "who have no regard for the conventions of war or rules of

tral

Intelligence

Saturday.

morality.

...

Iraqi officials

and equipment

have placed troops

women and

shields for the dictator's army.

cans and

all

forces will civilians

attempting to

in civilian areas,

use innocent men.

the world to

make every

from harm."

know

I

children

as

want Amerithat coalition

effort to spare innocent

brace themselves for militar\ operations of a

speed and ferocity unprecedented

And

in

modem

while some retired militar>

men may

to war too light, without enough armored forces and ground combat power, most media analysts expected a quick

and easy

victorv'.

There have certainly been positive developments. The 3rd Infantr> Division (Mechanized) has been able to advance almost

w ith

into Iraq

little

resistance.

The

100 miles

vital

Rumaila

have been taken more or less intact. Meanwhile, the British Royal Marines have

oil fields

captured the al-Faw storage

from

site.

Its

peninsula,

a major oil

seizure prevented the

Iraqis

setting the stored oil ablaze or releasing

it

42

THE IRAQ

into the sea.

WAR

About 30 miles

Marines under British

to the west. U.S.

command

Umm

took

but at a bridge on the

cards,

Nasiriyah, one of

was

units

its

approach to

able to hold the

Qasr, Iraq's only major seaport. In the western

3rd Infantry Division's cavalry squadron for

comer of Iraq, special operations forces seized H-2 and H-3 airfields. In the last Gulf War. the

hours.

airfields

launch

and the surrounding area had been the

site

of most of the Scuds fired

The capture of

key

this

terrain has

The

fact that these ill-trained, poorly fed,

overage soldiers seemed neither shocked nor

awed sobered some

in the

Pentagon as Ameri-

at Israel.

can forces close on Baghdad and the Republi-

made Scud

can Guard. But the technological overmatch between the Abrams tank and the T-72s of the Republican Guard was almost insuperable. The

firings against Israel far less likely.

Overall, however, ground operations have

somewhat short of expectations. Before some Pentagon officials warned the media not to compare the coming war with the

gun of a T-72 tank cannot penetrate the frontal armor of an Abrams at any range. The most the

Gulf War of 1991. This offensive, they

ican tank. But the

fallen

the war,

said,

would be much more violent and much more So far. that claim has not panned out on the ground. Certainly, the bombing campaign has been much more intense. There were 288 Tomahawk missiles fired in the first Gulf War. In this one. almost twice as many have been tired already. Howe\er. with far less ground combat power than was avail-

Iraqis could

72

at

hope

do was to disable an AmerAbrams tanks could kill a T-

to

ranges up to two miles.

ruthlessly executed.

able in 1991. the coalition's ground operations

have been

far less violently prosecuted.

At

this

point in the ground phase of the last Gulf War.

Lost

— The

Marsh Arabs

had completely destroyed 15

coalition forces Iraqi divisions

Paradise

and had taken tens of thousands

Dan Whipple

of prisoners. In this war. two Iraqi divisions

have been more or say bottled up or

less neutralized,

cowed

which

into passivity.

is

No

to

Iraqi

Most of

the thousands of

American

know

divisions have been destroyed, and so far only

way toward Baghdad probably

2.000 Iraqis have been taken prisoner.

are crossing the location of the biblical

An the

officer claiming to be the

Iraqi

mander surrendered

his division outside Basra,

but he turned out to be a

more junior

commander and brought fewer oners with him. The bulk of the to fight,

commander of

Mechanized Division's com-

51st

and coalition forces

Basra ran into pockets of

stiff

battalion

soldiers

crossing the desert of southeastern Iraq on their

of Eden

— and

don't

they

Garden

the site of a present-day envi-

ronmental tragedy. As soon as the war ends and humanitarian relief begins, a band of scientists

and environmentalists

is

poised to attempt to

than 800 pris-

save a priceless ecosystem and a treasure of

51st continued

human

in

resistance

from

history.

Mesopotamia

and around

—

literally,

the

"Land Between

the (Tigris and Euphrates) Rivers"

The area

—

is

the

thought by

small units within the division. This included a

cradle of civilization.

small tank battle on the western approaches of

archaeologists to be the spot where agriculture

The

the city.

up

in

division

was nevertheless

Basra and unable

to interfere

bottled

with coali-

tion operations.

The

1

similar

1th Infantry Division

state

Nasiriyah and

in is

seems

the 3rd Infantry Division. There

50),

be

in a

was first practiced, allowing humans to abandon hazardous hunting and gathering for the more stable pursuit of farming. As far as scholars

Uth

largely of overage

had been expected

is

cause for

Infantry Division,

men

(aged 30 to

to fold like a

house of

can

Adam

tell,

it

is

the traditional land

the Fertile Crescent, as

Iraq bordering Iran it

is

known

still

not always the trackless desert waste

on

TV

where

and Eve dwelt.

The area of southern

apparently being bypassed by

concern, however. The

made up

to

and around the town of

is

and described

as recently

as

in

news

—

— was

now

seen

reports. In fact,

1991, according to the U.N.

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Environmental

Program,

marshlands

the

— DAY 3

43

of the marshes have disappeared in the

They

last two composed of three al-Hammer marsh. Central

extended over their original area of 15,000 to

years.

20,000 square kilometers (5.800 to 7,700

marsh systems marsh and al-Hawizeh marsh. According

to

images, only a small portion of

al-

square miles).

"When

the soldiers crossed the bridge at

satellite

actually are

—

Nasiriyah 15 years ago, you would have seen

Hawizeh marsh, which

straddles the Iran-Iraq

an endless sea of water, green and blue," Suzie

border, remains and

could disappear com-

Alwash, project director of the Eden Again Pro-

pletely within five years, according to

WRI's Amor

ject of the Iraq Foundation, told United Press

International.

"On TV

sea of desert.

It's

by

today,

you see an endless

heartbreaking."

species native to the area have gone extinct: a

smooth-coated

Extensive

bandicoot

Iraqi

the decline are the African darter

drying of over 90 percent of these ancient

marshes, leading to what

UNEP

has described

as "one of the world's greatest environmental disasters."

has also been a

It

Ma' dan,

the

the

human

UNEP has

studies

cor-

the Western Siberia-Caspian-Nile flyway from

director.

Klaus

a unit ready to aid Iraq

commanders permit

it.

But

the Arctic to southern Africa," "it

has put

at risk at least

Amor

66 species of

The global population of the endemic bler, the

told UPI, birds.

Iraq bab-

endemic Basra reed babbler and

the

Dalmatian pelican may have already crashed."

on the marsh region, the United

Other wildlife threatened by the war include

postwar Iraq remains unclear,

the cheetah, ferruginous duck, spotted eagle,

in

given the tensions between the United States

and

pygmy

morant and goliath heron. "Since the marshes are important as a stag-

while the U.S. State Department has supported

some

with the Iraqi populations of the

ing and wintering area for migratory birds on

with marsh restoration efforts as soon as the

Nations role

and sacred

only populations in the Mideast, along

ibis, the

disaster for

The organization's executive

coalition military

the

otter,

and the gunther. Threatened by

rat

"Marsh Arabs," who have

lived in these wetlands for centuries.

Toepfer, said

UNEP.

said wildlife experts fear three

subspecies of the

damming by Iran and, especially, dictator Saddam Hussein has led to the

it

imperial eagle and Euphrates soft shell

turtle.

Draining the marshes has been under

that international body.

UNEP's

In a written statement. Toepfer said

Post Conflict Assessment Unit, which has carried out successful environmental studies

and

since at least the

nations

have

— primarily Turkey.

dammed

the

way

1950s as the upper basin Iran

tributaries

—

and Iraq

for water

and

drawn up action plans for the Balkans and, more recently. Afghanistan and the occupied

power. But the problem reached

Palestinian territories, stands ready to assist in

forces withdrew. President George H.W. Bush

any project

urged local dissidents to rebel against Saddam

Department

comment on "The

to restore the wetlands. U.S. State

were not available

officials

the future of the

loss of the

marsh

to

restoration.

Mesopotamian marshlands

is

tions

the

after

1991

Hussein. The Marsh Arabs did. failed

crisis

Gulf War.

propor-

When

U.S.

When Bush

follow through on his promise of

to

assistance, they

were brutally crushed by the

one of the world's worst human-engineered envi-

regime and the desertification of their home-

ronmental disasters," Adlai Amor, spokesman for

land began in earnest.

World Resources

the

was

historically

what

Institute, told

UPI. "This

biblical scholars

looked

at

Marsh

1991, the Marsh Arabs today are believed to number fewer than 40,000 in their ancestral

inher-

homeland.

as the likely site of the garden of Eden."

The marshlands were the home the Ma'dan group of tribes

Arabs itors

to the

—

of a culture that stretches back more than

5.000 years toward the In

—

dawn of human

history.

addition to the millennia-old culture, the

marshlands are

critical

habitat for

According to Human Rights Watch. "Numsome 250.000 people as recently as

bering

numerous

peared,"

Many have been

or

executed.

arrested, 'disap-

Most have become

refugees abroad or are internally displaced in

The popuMarsh Arabs. \\ho

Iraq as a result of Iraqi oppression. lation and culture of the

endangered and threatened species. Yet a UNEP study released at the World Water

have resided continuously in the marshlands for more than 5.000 years, are being eradi-

Forum on March 22

cated."

in

Kyoto

said 3 percent

44

THE IRAQ

WAR

Alwash's Eden Again Project

dedicated

is

"Some former

to restoring the Mesopotamian marshes in a post-Saddam Iraq. But she said this means

pans and there

doing more than simply flooding the area

back

again.

The group has convened

a

number of

crust,'"

mto

salt

be a two-foot-thick

salt

lakes have turned

may

Alwash continued.

you put water

you're just creating a saline lake

in there,

that nothing

"If

can live

in.

And some

(lakes)

have

wetlands experts to consider the problem.

been desiccated for over a decade and may not

They have developed

react properly

a plan for "the first cou-

ple of years."" she said. "First, it

safe for

we need

to

make

humans," she told UPI. "There are

going to be ordnance and poisons and toxins that

have been introduced into the marshlands."

some

deliberately and

some because

the rivers

have served as an open sewer for the past 15 years.

when

they are rehydrated." In

addition, there will not be able,

enough water

avail-

because of upstream damming, to return

the area to

its

original state. That poses an inter-

esting philosophical question: What, exactly, constitutes the "original state" of a 5.000-year-

old culture that

stemmed from Eden?

ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

—

The Arabian Gulf, March 23 (DPI) An aviation ordnoncennan tightens the tip of precision-guided ordnance aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on March 23, 2003. The Lincoln is deployed to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Free-

dom,

the multinational coalition effort to liberate

the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraq's

destruction

Hussein.

and end (Tyler

J.

weapons

Navy

Clements, U.S.

of

mass

Saddam

regime of

the

photo)

—

Sunday, Day 4 March 23 "[T]he day the war turned sour for the coalition."

MARTIN WALKER This was the day the war turned sour for the

advances

coalition, as the twin-pronged U.S.

up

and Euphrates Rivers each stalled running into well-planned Iraqi ambushes,

the Tigris

after

and al-Jazeera television screened the first pictures of U.S. battle dead. The Pentagon confirmed that 12 U.S. soldiers were missing, and U.S. prisoners

—

one of them a

were paraded before the

dad

—

a breach of the

TV

woman

cameras

in

—

Bagh-

Geneva Convention on

the treatment of prisoners of war. Irregular Iraqi

forces

ambushed an unpro-

convoy of U.S. supply vehicles in southern when it apparently took a wrong turn. A

tected Iraq

Marine combat unit arrived tle,

at the

end of the

bat-

rescuing the "'remnants of the con\oy" and

fighting

ambush diers

off the left six

who

remaining Iraqi forces. The vehicles demolished. Four sol-

sur\ived the

for medical treatment,

Abizaid. deputy

ambush were evacuated confirmed

commander of

Lt.

Gen. John

coalition forces

in Iraq.

An were

undisclosed number of U.S.

taken prisoner.

for and

ing to

soldiers

Twelve were unaccounted

some may have been executed, accordPentagon officials and gruesome video

and photographs released by the ment. The pictures showed

Iraqi

govern-

appro,\iniatel>

six

47

48

THE IRAQ

WAR

dead soldiers on the floor of a building. At

least

Suffice

fight.

it

to say

was a very sharp

it

one American soldier was shot through the

engagement." The fake surrender was one of

The wound was pictured in a closerange photo. The Pentagon asked new s organizations Sunday not to use the images or identifs the soldiers involved until their families had

several incidents "in

raised a flag of surrender but then launched

been

an

forehead.

notified.

Kuwait spoke darkly to reporters of "one outfit taking 86 casualties in a fire sack." for which there w as no immediate official confirmation. But it was confirmed that the 1st battalion. 2nd Marines, had run into a heavy artillen. barrage after crossing the Stunned Marines

Euphrates

at

Xasiriyah.

north

further

in

at

The U.S. 7th Cavalr\.

Euphrates crossings near

Najaf. also ran into hea\A artiller>

fire, as

did

convoy bringing supplies to the 3rd Division. An Iraqi military unit Sunday faked a surrender to the Marine battalion but then opened fire as it approached near Xasiriyah. just one fight in a day of pitched battles marked by w hat military officials called "ruses" on the part of Iraqi forces. "As our

of behavior

moved

to receive this surrender in

an

honorable way. they were attacked and sustained

casualties."

said

Brig.

Gen. Vincent

Brooks. deput> operations officer

at

Central

artillen.

attack.

come

U.S. forces and then ambushed them.

"Here

of units have just melted away.

added.

Meanw hile.

from F/A- 1 8 Hornet

ters.

Fighting

bombing.

subsided after six hours of

Fewer than

10

Marines

reported to have died in the battle.

An

were

unspec-

there

was

scattered fighting out-

Umm

side the largely secured port of

Qasr.

where the capmre of one Repubhcan Guard colonel

indicated

that

some of

Iraq's

ehte

troops had been sent to the south to stiffen the resistance. Fleet clearance diving

teams and

explosive ordnance disposal teams were clearing mines from the port at

Al- Abdullah waterway.

Umm Qasr and in the

Once

ments of humanitarian aid

it

will

is

safe, ship-

mo% e

in

and

begin distributing food, water and medical sup-

George W. Bush said Sunday at White House he expected "massive" amounts of aid to be deU\ ered. starting in the the

AV-8 Harrier jets. A- 10 "Warthogs" and AH-1 Cobra attack hehcop-

We find a sub-

amount of abandoned equipment on the field, and in the regular army there is clearly ver\. ver\' little w ill to fight." Abizaid stantial

plies. President

jets.

we've been encounby far the majority

in the areas that

tering regular Iraqi forces,

The Marines" Task Force Tarawa arrived Sunday to take control of the area and seize two bridges on the eastern side of Nasiriyah. The two bridges lay along the same road and were crucial to moving U.S. forces north of the Euphrates. Iraqi regular army units pounded approaching Marines with tank and artillen. fire. The Marines responded with tank and artillery fire of their own. They then fighter

troops dis-

another,

In

guised in civilian clothes app)eared to wel-

Command.

called in close air support

which there were types

can only describe as ruses."

Abizaid added. In one incident. Iraqi troops

a U.S. militar\

forces

I

next 36 hours.

The

coalition

command always

expected

by then there would be serious fighting as their troops closed on the Republican Guard's main Iraqi defensive positions around Baghdad. The deceptively easy race north from the Kuw aiti border was never going to last. But the hope that the regular Iraqi army would not fight hard has been confounded, even though much of it is manned by Shiite conscripts

from

a region with

little

love for the Baghdad

regime. The psychological impact of the T\' film of U.S. prisoners of

war upon

the Iraqi

number of others w ere wounded. Embedcrews said as many as 50 Marines news ded were wounded. The Marines destroyed eight tanks, some antiaircraft batteries along with

convince the Iraqis that theirs

many

cause. Moreover, the suggestions from senior

ified

Iraqi infantr\ soldiers.

Marines were successful: they defeated the enemy/' Abizaid said. "It w as one of the few times we've seen resular forces

"The

troops and population cannot be predicted.

But

it

makes

it

harder for the coalition's psy-

chological wart'are campaign that seeks to

Pentagon

officials

command and

that

the

is

Iraqi

a

doomed

military's

control system had been badly

disrupted by the

bombing of Baghdad looks

— DAY 4

TWENTY-ONE DAYS optimistic.

own

their

Not only

49

are the Iraqis fighting for

territory against the invaders, but

according to military sources

in

Kuwait, they

appear to be fighting capably and

intelli-

gently.

Iraq: Forces

Fighting Back,

Given the technological superiority and the

power of the

air

outcome

coalition, the militan.'

can hardly be in doubt. The Bush administraits assurances Sunday that was both near and inevitable. Defense Secretar> Donald Rumsfeld said the Iraqi forces should "put down their weapons and put an end any resistance for it is futile. The

tion stuck firmly to

victor,

—

regime of Saddam Hussein will not

be there

is

gone,

it is

over,

in a relatively short period

time." Rumsfeld added.

"The outcome of this

it

of is

certain."

Each time

ground troops run

the coalition

ad% antage of air power.

And combat

helicop-

and A- 10 Warthog ground support war-

planes were swiftly on the main battle scenes

at

Nasiriyah and Najaf. But meteorologists warn that a

Take PoWs Ghassan al-Kadi

BAGHDAD,

new storm

is

brewing to the west,

ening to bring one of

threat-

this season's regular

storms to the battlefield

—

sand

the biggest threat to

Iraq,

March 23

(UPI)

Ramadan

President Taha Yassin

that Iraqi forces captured a

—

Iraqi

Vice

Sunday

said

number of U.S.

sol-

denied that coalition forces were near

diers,

into serious opposition, they call in their big

ters

Av\^ing Allies,

Baghdad and staunchh lashed out at U.N. SecAnnan for his complicity with Washington. Ramadan, in his first public appearance since U.S. reports claimed he was

retary-General Kofi

killed along other Iraqi leaders in the first air strikes

diers

on Baghdad, said a number of U.S.

in

sol-

Souk al-Shiyoukh

the region of

in

southern Iraq were capmred. and affirmed that Iraqi

TV would soon be

broadcasting footage of

and destroyed tanks and other mil-

coalition air power.

the prisoners

The stiffening Iraqi resistance south of Baghdad reflects the scale of the strategic set-

itary vehicles.

back suffered by the coalition when Turkey's

"You will see today the U.S. prisoners of war and the U.S. tanks which have been

parliament refused permission for the U.S. to

destroyed before they

move

back." he told reporters in Baghdad. "Our mil-

the 4th Division across

open a second front

its

territory'

in northern Iraq.

to

The 4th

Division's heavy equipment, after languishing

weeks on ships off the Turkish coast, is Suez Canal on its long way round

for the

in

to

This relieved the Iraqi generals of the strategic threat of a heavy,

nonh by American northern

armored punch from the

troops.

frontier,

They cannot

since

Kurdish

strip

militia

backed up by U.S. Special Forces remain a menace. But

it

has allowed them to bring their

way."

refuted "as lies" U.S.

killing of Iraqi leaders.

and Nasiriyah "while

He

cited as

Op)eration Iraqi

it

was

clear that

Freedom was not going

to

be a

walkover against demoralized and disaffected

until today, this

"We hope and wish come

to

Baghdad so

matter

is

they (coalition forces)

that

(U.S.) administration and ing with

it

we teach this evil who are cooperatdesene." Ramadan

all

the lesson they

"Let them advance, mass troops, tanks

and Marines and we

missions for the ground troops,

examples

Umm Qasr

not finished." he ^aid.

south of Baghdad.

Iraqi troops.

He

reports about allied advances in Iraq and the

said.

As night fell over Iraq Sunday, complicating work of the U.S. warplanes flying support

pulled

operations were proceeding smoothly and

in a perfect

best-equipped and most loyal troops to the

the

forces)

the ongoing fighting in the cities of

Kuwait.

the

itar\'

(U.S.

will give

them

all

will not

provoke them and

the time they need. But any

contact with any Iraqi village or find (resistance) like in

Umm

city,

they will

Qasr and Souk

al-Shiyoukh."

He

said

Iraq

purposely

forces to enter the Iraqi desert

allowed coalition vs

ithout resistance.

50 He

THE IRAQ

WAR

noted that U.S. and British forces based

"their strategy

and operations on information

whom

received from traitors

they call opposi-

and from intelligence services of some

majority in the Securit>' Council. Iraq does not

need a high commissioner of his speaks as

if

the United States

is

He (Annan)

sort.

his master

and he

became

the military ruler of Iraq," he said, reject-

Arab countries saying that Iraq is divided in every aspect between families, tribes, provinces,

ing

of Annan's "suspicious schemes," for

army and people, leadership and

impose anything on the

tion,

leader, (Baath)

party and people. In line with this illusion, they

believed at

first that

massing troops and threats

all

"neither

him nor his U.S. and

British masters can

on the Security Council

to "prove that

and "condemn and stop

exists"

called it

still

this aggression."

Ramadan denounced some Arab

of war are enough to achiex e their objective of

He

Iraqi people."

rulers

who

changing the situation and bringing a regime

are

similar to the ones they cooperate with. But they

against Iraq as well as supporting the U.S. -led

are faced with the wall of Iraq's unity."

coalition forces in their

Asked about

Saddam

the well-being of Iraqi President

Hussein,

Ramadan

TV

been appearing on

Saddam

said

has

every day since the

to

taught the U.S. and British invading forces "a lesson they fiercely

all

the world will

hear fi-om time to time the voice of Saddam, is

running the war operations. "You know,

among the names he

said,

States first

all

it

and Britain are

and

of the

degree, and they should be stoned, fought by

the p)eople in the world

war criminals

He

in a clear

and be presented as

rebutted U.S. claims that Iraq possesses

four days, they have been using

said,

all

why

WMD

if

then Iraq

is

"For

kinds of

weapons of mass destruction on Baghdad. you,

the shelling on Basra,

Baghdad and other

get,"

Information Minister

said

Baghdad. "We pushed them

which they

Mohammed

in a

were forced

in

quagmire from

will not get out of alive."

said the "invaders"

Al-Sahhaf

to retreat

from

Najaf after they suffered casualties but said

hesitating in using those

Nayef Shindakh Thamer, head of the Iraqi Baath Party in the city, was killed Saturday

observers from the demilitarized zone between

great

and Kuwait, and then halted the U.N.

employee of the U.S.

areas.

"The (U.S. and British) mercenaries who advanced last night and at dawn toward Nasiriyah were taught a lesson they won't for-

ask

I

they are available?"'

program.

war-

down, while more than 81 Iraqis were and nearly 500 people were wounded in

shot

borhood of Qaddisiya

for-food

that five coalition

killed

Ramadan lashed out at U.N. chief Kofi Annan for "fulfilling the wishes of U.S. administration" when he pulled out the U.N. weapons inspectors from Baghdad and the U.N. Iraq

of shock

Saeed al-Sahhaf said during a news briefing

and public way."

weapons of mass destruction and

state

information minister

Iraq's

planes and two helicopters have been so far

"The United

terrorist countries

terror.

claimed Sunday, adding

calling for assassinating the Iraqi leaders

claiming

and then

was

they said to have disappeared,"

fighting terrorism.

won't forget" by fighting back

and forcing them into a

who

I

adding that the United States was openly

was

secrecy

war on Iraq or preventArab masses from taking to the streets denounce the aggression. Iraqi forces have

sometimes "more than once per day." He said

and Arab people

in

ing the

U.S.-British air strikes began four days ago and

that the Iraqi

openly or

conspiring

either

"Annan State

acted

as

oil-

an

Department and two

days ago presented a draft resolution

to the

night during the clashes.

He

said the coalition

forces began "to enter a state of hysteria" and started to

bomb

civilian areas, like the neighin

Baghdad, where a

number of people were

injured during

"the criminal bombardment."

was shock and awe, it on them," he said. "It seems

"If their strategy

seems

that both are

they were shocked (by Iraqi resistance) and

keep them

terrified until they are defeated,

(God

willing), soon. Iraq will be the

Security Council to modify the oil-for-food program in such a way as to appoint himself general commissioner of Iraq. May he be dis-

will

appointed in his attempt." he said.

U.S.-Zionist conspiracy will not pass," he said.

He warned Annan

against pursuing his "vio-

lations" against the Iraqi people

and sovereignty,

as he should be "loyal to his mission as

U.N.

secretary-general and speak on behalf of the

inshallah

example

to tell those

He pledged

that the

war criminals

that their

U.S. and British forces

"will face death everywhere.

They

death in the cities and the desert."

will

see

5

k

Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division

in

firing

an enemy approach on their objective RAAAA, in southern Iraq on

positions during position at

March 24, 2003

(Rex Features, UP!)

—

Day 5 Monday, March 24 "The war was not supposed

to go like this."

MARTIN WALKER combat helicopters softening up

U.S.

Republican Guard positions

50 miles from Baghdad ran

at

Iraqi

Karbala barely

into a storm of anti-

downed at least one Apache Monday and badly damaged 7 oth-

aircraft fire that

helicopter ers as to

1

Marines fought

Baghdad from

the

to secure the roads north

communications hub of

Nasiriyah. Meanwhile, coalition

commanders

rushed British troops from Basra back to the

Rumaila where

oil

fields

near the Kuwaiti border,

had

Iraqi guerrilla forces

ambushes and challenge

lay

infiltrated to

the coalition for

control of the roads north.

There were two kinds of war under way

Monday, as the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division closed on Baghdad from the southwest, probing forward from the Euphrates crossing at

Najaf toward Karbala. The

first

was

the classic

where three Republican Guard armored divisions were trying to hold the approaches to Baghdad from the twin-pronged U.S. advances up the Tigris and battle of organized armies,

Euphrates Rivers. In tion air

power

this

kind of war, coali-

and technological superiority

should have put the Iraqis vantage.

But the

Apaches ran

into

at a

severe disad-

power faltered as the trouble. The second kind of air

war, the guerrilla actions being fought by Iraqi militia

and irregular forces stiffened by

special forces, the

British

is

Iraqi

proving a real challenge for

and American troops,

who

are

53

54

THE IRAQ

WAR The Medina Division, which protects Baghwas spread out and heavily dug in, requir-

constantly being distracted by the need to rese-

cure their communications and supply routes to the rear.

ing the attack-and-scout helicopters to engage

U.S. Marines reacted with outrage to

news

dad,

that

some of

Monday

comrades had been

their

killed in action against Iraqis

and

that other

the forces directly rather than targeting

pilots at risk.

U.S. personnel had been captured and shown

found the

on televised

effective.

reports.

"What's the word, captain?" asked

Commad and want to

Leuthe of the 5th Battalion's Bravo

Bill

pany. "I have Marines f-ing kill

1st Sgt.

somebody."

Marines were getting

their

news through

shortwave radio reports, often from the British

moved through The Marines, among the first to

Broadcasting Corp., as they southern Iraq.

enter Iraq last week, are engaged in a long-

range

country.

They

in southeastern Iraq

where,

penetration

bypassed Nasiriyah

into

on Sunday, some of the

the

fiercest battles of the

five-day-old war were fought.

The 5th Marines

By going

mand

posts and artillery units.

fuel,

is

water and ammunition from the giant

logistics

dumps

their rear.

It is

two

in

Kuwait, up to 300 miles to

these supply lines that the Iraqis

An ambush Sunday

are contesting. killed

it

on endless supplies of

night that

British soldiers forced the British to

again.

Finally, the

ter.

Medina Division was attacked

German based

ment, a

hoped

that the attack

unit that

unit. Coalition

would deal

planners

the Republi-

can Guard a decisive defeat and help persuade

Guard

other Republican

Many

pilots said they

don most of their

targets

units not to resist.

were forced

and return

Hellfire antitank missiles

still

on

to

to

It

aban-

base with

their launch

racks because of an intense curtain of antiaircraft fire that included heat-seeking missiles.

Nearly

all

of the returning gun ships (31 of 32)

One had an engine blown

by a rocket-propelled antiarmor grenade. The damage to the Iraqis was minimal. Reportoff

edly, four or five Iraqi tanks

and several

vehicles were destroyed or crippled. insult

one Apache was forced by

to injury,

mechanical trouble to land without firing any of

men were

light

To add

its

in a farmer's field

Both crew-

missiles.

captured.

The use of Apaches

in

this

fashion was

over

unorthodox, a gamble that the Republican

war paraded Sunday were from a maintenance ran into an ambush. The Iraqis also

Guard was demoralized. Apaches are not designed to be employed against viable, dug-in

And

Iraqi

are

by 32 Apaches from the 11th Aviation Regi-

switch armored forces from the outskirts of

Basra to clear the Rumaila

on

rock-

scattered over an area a quarter mile in diame-

sustained damage.

their constant reliance

ATACMS

950 half-pound bomblets, which

ets carry

carry.

and combat helicopters have a weakness,

be alarmingly

The attack began with heavy aerial bombardment of the Baghdad, al-Nida, Medina and 10th Armored Divisions. Then, some 30 army tactical missile-system surface-to-surface missiles were fired at Republican Guard com-

did neither.

armored columns of U.S. tanks

Apaches

in close, the

Iraqi wall of fire to

column traveled more than 24 hours non-stop before coming to a brief rest Monday. Food was handed out, vehicles were refueled and the Marines had a welcome chance to stretch. The men had been cramped inside armored vehicles, which were holding as many as 23 men, when 12 is the usual number the vehicles If the potent

them

with long-range munitions that don't put U.S.

oil fields all

the U.S. prisoners of

TV

came up with Apache combat Iraqi tactic of

a counter to the feared helicopters.

U.S.

The success of

mounting "a wall of

fire"

every

time the Apache helicopters approach has tled U.S. officers. in the area

Every

opens up

rifle

in the

the

star-

and machine gun

hope

that

some of

—

heavy units with defenses. In the ters

Gulf War, attack helicop-

were a potent complement

tion's

to the coali-

heavy armor, accounting for about 14

percent of in

fully operational antiaircraft

first

all Iraqi

armored vehicles destroyed

combat. However,

in that war, they

were

used mostly to attack units that were reeling

were mov-

Apache and 17 Apaches limped home from the first encounter with the Republican Guard Monday, all needing

aided by heavy artillery barrages,

repairs.

involving antiarmor bomblets. These barrages

that flying lead will hit an

from an ing.

artillery strike or units that

Attacks on dug-in heavy units were usually usually

— DAY 5

TWENTY-ONE DAYS The

knocked the defenders off balance and wiped

55

built-up areas of Basra, Nasiriyah and

—

away most of their antiaircraft weapons, making life much easier for the Apaches. Apaches were also effective when attacking units on the road.

Najaf

When

problems for the advancing coalition forces.

a unit

traveling,

is

down, and

ally

Apache

it

strike.

its air

can be a

On

aircraft defenses,

sitting

other

the

employed against viable

defenses are usu-

duck for an hand,

when

units with potent anti-

an Apache, flying low and

fmd itself a sitting duck. The war was not supposed to go like this. While the hard armored battles with the Republican Guard outside Baghdad were expected, the guerrilla war has come as an unpleasant surprise, and strains a coalition force that is slow, can

considerably smaller than the 600.000-strong

armies of the

allied

with

The and to

The reason

for-

plain; they

is

appear to the Iraqi people

is

in general,

and

wanted and

to

the Shiites of southern Iraq in particular, as liberators, not as destroyers of their

been

homes. The

of Qusay's fedayeen guerrillas has

strategy

provoke just such a use of firepower

to

civilian areas, with

worrying

in

political conse-

quences.

The

coalition

helicopter

enemy

for this

real

heavy firepower

air strikes against civilian buildings

areas.

Franks

intentionally bypassed

have become

and British troops

difficulty for the U.S.

up

said.

—

their reluctance to use their

guerilla war was the price to be paid for the speed of the main U.S. advance. Gen. Tommy

"We have

occupied mainly by Shiite Arabs

reason to defend the Sunni-domi-

nated Baghdad regime

Gulf War. But the

first

all

little

commanders have an ace card

their sleeve: the airborne troops of the 101st

Division, highly mobile elite forces with strong support,

uncommitted and

largely

available for deep strikes to the flanks

and rear

mations to include paramilitar>' and the fedayeen.

of the Iraqi defenders around Baghdad. The

And

buildup of U.S. supplies and Special Forces,

so you can expect that our cleanup opera-

tions are going to be

the fumre.

ongoing across the days

We know that the

in

fedayeen has in fact

put himself in a position to mill about, to create difficulties in rear areas,

contact with those forces fight

this

and is

1

can assure you that

not unexpected. We'll

on our terms. Well undertake the

sequencing and simultaneity of our operations on a time line that

Coalition

makes sense

forces

are

prospect of a northern front to threaten the Iraqi

But this threat is far. far less potent than it would have been had the Turkish government opened its territory' to permit the planned dri\e

rear.

of the powerful U.S. 4th lnfantr> Division.

The their

of northern Iraq, also holds open the

districts

to us."

depending on

militar)'

outcome

the 4th Infantr) Division

with Iraqi ground troops. The fast leading edge

the

of

Army

is

coming within striking distance Guard-heavy Baghdad, an

Republican

intentional

strategy to keep forces there off

may

clothes and using pickup trucks to resistance outside the port of

Umm

mount

the

left

the desert

in

his

address Monday. For once, this was more

than vainglorious propaganda.

Iraq

puts

passing through

is

certain, the

starting to look problematic

mounts and Saddam's appeal

intense

in the

pressure

world outside

on other Arab

regimes. But the level of Iraqi resistance raises the prospect that the eventual battle for

Baghdad

prove tough and destructive indeed, just as

the coalition forces start trying to build a post-

Iraqi

and come into our homes, they

is

Arab and Islamic support

Saddam

have met resistance." Saddam boasted

TV

to

and

Nasiriyah fronts. "Every time the invader has

outcome

as Iraqi resistance

Qasr and

the guerrilla strikes in the rear of the Basra

Heavy

might have been usefully deployed from the

ized the fedayeen. the forces dressed in civilian

—

now

beginning. If the military outcome political

—

not in doubt.

Suez Canal, and the 1st Armored and 1st Cavalry Divisions, two armored units that

The readiness of some units of the Iraqi regular army and militia not just the Repubhomeland has lican Guard their to fight for been another surprise. The Iraqi leadership seems to have planned this resistance. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's son Qusay organguard.

is

U.S. reinforcements are on the way, including

speed and agility to avoid unnecessary' fights of the

fly-

ing into makeshift airfields in the Kurdish-held

administration for the country. leader

Saddam Hussein

hailed

the

them mujahedin and the defenders of the whole Arab world in a TV address Monday that was intended to show he was alive and defiant as coalition troops closed in on Baghdad. The resistance of his troops and called

56

WAR

THE IRAQ

The green

speech was packed with references to the

had been taped

appearance

advance.

in

"Every time the invaders leave the desert our homes they meet our

and attempt

to enter

resistance,"

he said. "The enemy underesti-

— you

heroic Iraqis." Dressed in

real

Saddam

other

TV

who monitored

said they believed

it

Iraq.

sur-

was indeed

the

despite earlier suggestions that

The speech was aimed not only

— but

Jihad"

He

at

— "inspired by

opposed.

Annan

said Iraqi martyrs

all it

was prepared

said the United Nations

could to provide humanitarian assis-

tance to the Iraqi people, but his spokesman

added, "However, the United Nations would

long live Iraq" and

would be "rewarded by

par-

have limited capacity

do so

to

until security

conditions allowed for the safe return of (U.N.) staff to affected areas. Until then,

assistance

would have

United States and

adise and by God."

"We

do

at the Iraqi

a wider Arab and Islamic audi-

live Palestine,

oil-

just as the

the spirit of

closed his 25-minute speech with the

words "long

—

dis-

U.S. -led war, which France had consistently

to

bles.

ence.

for-food program in Iraq

appearances had been staged by dou-

forces and people

members

France as a backdoor way to legitimize the

Iraqi

and a wall plaque depicting an eagle

Kuwait

as council

the broadcast

from an anonymous room, flanked by an

speaking experts

more than an hour

cussed possible revisions in the so-called

Arabic-

TV

Saddam spoke over

mounting the national arms of

Annan and Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette on humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people and a U.N. role in a post-Saddam Iraq. The four met for with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi

humanwas itarian problem becoming urgent. The diplomatic complication was that any changing in the wording of the program to allow U.N. aid to be delivered into the war zone was seen by

uniform and speaking calmly and

without histrionics,

in

U.S.

and U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte met

if to

officials that his previous television

flag

after

confound earher claims by U.S.

Basra, as

full military

came hours

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice

fighting in

mated you

light

Umm Qasr, Nasiriyah and

weekend

its

to

humanitarian

be provided by the

coalition partners in those

will continue our pact with

God, and the

areas under their control, consistent with their

(Islamic) faithful around the world

know we are we have to

overall responsibility under international law."

prepared to sacrifice everything

God and

please

to

remind him

to humiliate the

aggressors and turn their evil upon them." he said.

"We

are the soldiers of

after putting

our faith

hedin are causing our

in

God

in

God. The

enemy

our land,

Iraqi

muja-

and

to lose

to suffer

everything, and as time goes on they will lose

more and they will not be able make it as painful as we can they

will

retreat

to escape.

enemy

so

before our faith,

which

is

all

strike

them,

be defeated and that

strike evil so that evil will

our mothers will be able to sleep in peace."

The

resistance

shown by

the Iraqis

had a

strong political effect in the Arab world and

spurred them to push hard at the

United Nations

—

— and

successfully

for a formal debate

on

the U.S. -led invasion. In closed-door consultations, the

U.N. Security Council agreed to the

open debate

after requests

Kuv^ait

We will

for the

endorsed by God. Strike them,

The Siege of

from the Arab Group

Martin Walker

KUWAIT

March 24

—

It is an open more under siege Kuwait City or Baghdad. The handful of ineffective missile attacks on Kuwait so far is no match for the relendess bombing campaign against Baghdad. And there is no giant war

CITY.

question which

(UPI)

city is the

machine bearing implacably down on Kuwait's approaches. But there

is

Kuwait nonetheless. This

a sense of siege in tiny

bubble of pro- Western space

and prosperous is

afloat in an

of the world organization to join in a formal

Arab and Islamic sea has been whipped into a furious storm by

debate on the U.S. -led invasion of Iraq to

war. Kuwaiti students at the Universities of

unseat Saddam.

Bahrain, Jordan and Cairo have been told to

and the nonaligned movement for

all

members

increasingly hostile

that this

TWENTY-ONE DAYS come home by that to

pays their

the Kuwaiti Education Ministn bills,

because of their exposure

anacks and insults by some students

in those

"A vsa\e of hate and hostiht>

launched against the

has been

of Kuwait." claims

slate

Al-Seyasseh columnist Abdul Amir al-Turki. has been launched by a

impro\e

as a ploy to

'it

number of Arab regimes

their o\\

n image

in their

ou n countries b\ boosting the militan effort of Saddam Hussein as a defender of .Arab dignit>." The media in the rest of the .\rab world outside Kuw ait have become so many cheerleaders for the Iraqi resistance. Even when they despise Saddam Hussein as a thug, they hail his feda\een defenders as the new heroes of the

what

.Arab world. .And

Arab media

is

that this

striking about the

is

wave of anti-American

solidarit> with the Iraqi regime's defenders

is

not confined to the semiofficial press of the

various Arab regimes. Take one sample edito-

from Egypt's best-selling

"Should the

\\

unjust forces win the

The

ing victor).

al-.A.khbar:

rongdoers and the oppressive and

wax

it

will only

and the

evil axis

be a

fleet-

e%il forces

will

not gain their main political objectives

from

this

war

—

to crush

and occupy the .Arab

E\ en the independent .Arab media based in

London, and the new sateUite

and relati\el\ free .Arab

TV channels, are beating this same drum

way Western

to the fastidious

tel-

of blood. Their cameras on mangled corpses, on wounds and hospital emergency rooms and nage,

a cult

like

endlessly

pools of blood.

Like generals, television companies tend to be good

War

I.

war.

at fighting the last

media has organized

The

.Arab

itself for a

The Western

replay of Gulf

media has organized

itself for

a replay of the intifada, complete with heroic

mart>rs.

bombers, wicked Crusader

suicide

who

invaders and besieged leaders

On

for their resistance.

dam

Hussein

turning

is

are hailed

.Arab television. Sadinto

Yasser Arafat

before our eyes, just as the images of

bomb

damage in Baghdad and Basra is turning them into Gaza and Rumaila. Saddam Hussein's propagandists have been tr\"ing for \ ears to build this new image of the "Beast of Baghdad." casting him as the modem Saladin.

defender of the .Arabs

defiant

the

against the Western Crusaders. Finally, under the rain of

bombs on Baghdad and

ate braven. of his feda>

een

the desper-

who charge .Abrams

tanks with pickup trucks, this campaign

is

suc-

ceeding.

But

world."

57

evision tends to shun screening scenes of car-

linger

countries.

rial,

accustomed

— DAY 5

this

is

Hussein and

about more than just Saddam

There

Iraq.

bom

patriotism being

in

a new pan-.Arab

is

this

war. an anti-

American consciousness that believes

in the

and the religious w ar of

of pan-.Arab sohdarit\ Take al-.Arab al-.Alamiya.

clash of civilizations

pubhshed

pay the

Islam against the Christians and Jews. Those

limits to

of us in the

.

London: ".America

in

price sooner than

.American

thinks.

it

injustice

will

There are no

high-handedness.

and

power and t\raimy .America will not it has no humanitarian \ alues." We look back at the first Gulf war of 1991 as the event that made CXN into a global media force. We look back at the Afghan war against Despite v,\n

its

because

and the event

the Taliban

Jazeera

TV

war on

Iraq has

slew of

new

that catapulted al-

into a similar prominence. But

been the making of a whole

.Arab

TV

channels.

Jazeera, based in Qatar, there

TV. based ver\

this

is

As

now .Abu Dhabi

There

in the emirates.

well as al-

is

al-Arabia.

polished and well-funded by Saudi and

Lebanese money and based al-Manar. the

TV

Hezbollah.

What

something

that

in

Dubai. There

is

channel run by Lebanon's they

all

have

in

common

is

looks to a Western viewer.

Westem media w ho have covered

the .Middle East and follow ed the long, dispiriting tragedy of .Arab politics

over the past 30

years have never seen anything like this new

w ave of .Arab viously

seen

we have

feeling, just as

television

footage

demonstrations in Cairo and

Amman

not pre-

mass

of

denounc-

ing those countries' leaders as stooges of the

CIA. Kuwait, the main base of the war against Iraq

and a countr>

remembers

that well

brutal occupation 12 years ago.

still

Iraq's

stands out

as a bubble of pro- Westem sentiment. But with

most of Kuwait's

TV

screens also tuned to

Jazeera and Abu Dhabi TV. Kuwait,

under siege

in

a war that

tinue long after the

fall

now

too.

alis

threatens to con-

of Baghdad.

58

THE IRAQ

WAR known by everyone,

widely

Al-Jazeera under

Americans."

fire

versy in the United States

The Arab network

attracted further contro-

when

and audiotapes of suspected

CLAUDE SALHANI

LONDON, March 27 tions of

what

is

(UPI)

— Amid

accusa-

accurate reporting and what

is

not, al-Jazeera. the "black sheep" of the "all-

news channels, has

war-all-the-time'" 24-hour

found

itself the

focus of the news once again,

instead of simply reporting

A British militan,'

headquarters

coalition

by severely

started his briefing

Arab

TV

Qatar Thursday,

in

criticizing the

network for showing footage of two

British soldiers Iraqi troops.

who were

reportedly killed by

Air Marshal Brian Burridge said

Pentagon

to appeal to U.S.

covering the

Web

its

were hacked

sites

now enraged by

According

the

to

Broadcasting

British

by saying the

British accusation

station

was

independent and determined "to show our audi-

ence the

truth,

even

if

it

"This

reporting.

It first

in the aftermath

New York

attracted the West's attention

of the Sept.

1 1

.

200

1

.

attacks on

its

the

first

independent

yet another unfortunate incident,"

is

manager

communication and media for the network, to United

Press International from Qatar.

Commenting on

Wall Street ban. he said al-Jazeera has

the

"urged the authorities to reconsider. Perhaps

it

two al-Jazeera reporters. This will prevent us from doing our job." Al-Jazeera, which reaches an audience of wasn't

fair to target

some 35

a dirty war."

is

The Qatar-based satellite network stunned the Arab world with its brazen Western-style

and

as the West, a

voice emanating from the Arab world.

relations

Corp., a reporter for al-Jazeera replied to the

to air

of government-controlled Arab

critic

is

week

this

media,

bodies of two soldiers lying in a dusty street and

The

networks not

correspondents banned from

said Jihad Bailout,

Iraqis."

master-

New York Stock Exchange,

longtime

al-

British officer called the incident "deplorable."

aired video-

the footage. In a strange twist of fate, the net-

Jazeera "should take no pride in a film of the

two prisoners of war in a room with

it

terrorist

mind Osama bin Laden urging Muslims to fight against the West in a holy war. In the current war on Iraq, al-Jazeera also exasperated the United States when it aired footage of dead and captured American soldiers, prompting the

work has seen

it.

spokesman, speaking from

including the

dom

million people, complained that free-

of the press must be protected. "This

restricted only to

America,

national effort." Bailout to

is

not

should be an inter-

was quoted

as saying

ABC Australia. The United

and Washington as the only news

it

States

accused al-Jazeera of

netw ork maintaining a full-time bureau and cor-

breaking the rules of the Geneva Conventions

respondent in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Taysir Allouni. a Syrian national, remained

by showing images of prisoners of war. Yet the conventions, adopted after World War II. makes

Kabul for al-Jazeera for much of the U.S.

no

in

mention of prisoners and television.

specific

bombardments, reporting exclusively on the

Article 13 of the conventions states: "Prisoners

Taliban and their leaders in ways that often

of

angered and

irritated

officials

in

Bush

the

war

treated.

must .

.

.

at

all

times

humanely

be

Likewise, prisoners of war must

at

administration. Secretary of State Colin Powell

all

voiced his displeasure with al-Jazeera"s report-

of violence or intimidation and against insults

ing to Sheikh

Hamad

bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Qatar's ruler during a Washington plaint that

was rebuffed by

visit,

a

com-

the emir.

During the U.S.-led assault on Afghanistan. al-Jazeera's

managing

and public

curiosity.

against prisoners of

war

Measures of

Article 14 stipulates: "Prisoners of

were destroyed by a

persons and their honor.

Jasim. the network's

treated with

director,

was quoted

as saying at the

war

are

entitled in all circumstances to respect for their

offices

time that he would not speculate as to whether

reprisal

are prohibited."

Mohammed

Kabul

U.S. missile.

times be protected, particularly against acts

all

Women

shall

be

the regard due to their sex and

shall in all cases benefit

by treatment as favor-

able as that granted to men. Prisoners of war

the offices were targeted by the Americans, but

shall retain the full civil capacity

stressed that the location of the bureau "was

enjoyed

at

the

which they

time of their capture. The

— DAY 5

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Detaining Power ma\ not either

w ithin

or without

restrict the exercise,

own

its

territory,

of the

a preemptive war for 'regime change' >

our rationale for war

is

deemed by

\

59 when

...

irtually all

rights such capacity confers except insofar as

of humanit) to be unproven, noncredible. unac-

the captivit} requires."

ceptable, and slightly mythical."

Many

people

in

Europe and the Arab u orld

have accused the United States and Britain of

when

adopting double standards

comes

it

to the

Middle East, and particularh on the issue of prisoners. They cite footage shown on Western televisions of captured Iraqis

made

to kneel in

presence

them and having

their

hands

backs as they are made to squat

Other

critics refer to

behind their

tied

in the desert.

images of suspected

Qaida members held

in

al-

Guantanamo. Cuba.

which were seen on Western television blindupset

—

shackled and caged

folded,

many

across the Arab

\\

images

orld.

that

Regardless

of the outcome of the al-Jazeera debacle, truth,

u ar. will undoubtedly w ar continues.

that fu-st casualty of

fer

more

as the

suf-

cent of the Americans in Vietnam, the Russians

Lebanon in

and the

Afghanistan,

in

li\

ing

—

Israelis

south

in

three of the greatest mihtary fiascos

memor}."

All editorials, without exception, also reflect

what government

when

are saying, is

officials all it

over the region

writes that the "real fiasco

about a violent, flailing American foreign

policy promoted by a small group of ideologi-

hawks and

cal

promised a

intellecmal wild

men who have

neat, surgical

war and ha\e

fast.

reaped instead

—

in just

one week

new

ing sandstorm of swirling

and threats

vulnerabilities,

The

influential

language that

Middle

is

—a

blind-

uncertainties,

in the night."

Arabic daily al-Dustour used

now common throughout

the

pro-American

East, including normally

countries:

Global media onslaught

The American

added, "is certain to generate

it

guerrilla-type resistance that will be reminis-

the sand, being searched while guns are pointed at

in Iraq,

"The U.S. and Britain escalated

brutal aggression against brotherly Iraq

their

and the

war operations launched by these two allies took a serious and destructive and bloody turn

(when

their aerial

bombardment)

started to tar-

get civilian areas and civilian infrastructure that

ARNAUD

DE

claimed the lives of many."

BORCHGRAVE

Richard Perle. a senior fellow BEIRLTT,

Lebanon, March 28 (UPI)

— Under

the

can Enterprise

headline "Reaping the Fiascos of Ideological

w eek

Wild Men." the Beirut Daily Star

is

editorialized

"One would haNe thought that the current global power in VS'ashington and the former power in London that set out to change the world u ould know more about how the w orld feels and Frida\,

works than seems

be the actual case toda\."

to

Reflecting dozens of Arab and other foreign

Institute,

at the

who

Ameri-

resigned

this

as chairman of the Defense Policy Board,

usually credited with being the architect of policies

U.S.-Israeli

"Perle." said Bater

one of those

in the

is

those

in al-Dustour. "is

of militar>

a supporter of the

who

Middle East.

the

small circle of

and American owners

who

in

Warman

Likud

stand for Israeli

oil traders

industries,

partN

and of

interests

the

in

collected by the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Infor-

White House and who control American decisions. ... Shame on us. as an Arab nation, to allow a group of Zionists in the White House to

mation Ser\

determine the future of the Arab world

editorials

and op-ed

articles,

from Morocco

to

Malaysia, and from Spain to South Africa,

torial

ice. the

added:

Daily Star's front-page edi-

"It is slightly

attacking forces

disingenuous of the

who have launched

at

breakfast tables in Washington."

The

an unpro-

editor in chief of the mass-appeal Ara-

Al-Arab Al-Yawm wrote:

"The

voked and internationally unsanctioned war

bic

against an already battered, embargoed and inspected country to point out how some Iraqis are not playing by the rules of war. The first and most serious rule of law that the Anglo-

Bush-Blair war can be called anything but a

Americans have broken

is

that

you do not launch

daily

liberation of the Iraqis. that carries

w ithin

what freedom billion are

i>

it

...

What freedom

unspeakable

this

is this

atr(Kitics.

and

where more than $74

going to be spent on weapons to

kill

60

THE IRAQ

Iraqis

and destroy

war

tion of this

WAR

their cities?

is

a

war of

A good

descripalso

lies. ... It is

criminal, colonialist, brutal, but

illegitimate,

not as a war for freedom, unless the freedom

is

Mohammad Amayreh

Columnist

wrote in

the influential, semiofficial Saudi daily al-Rai.

Americans and the

came

British

and thought

erate the people of Iraq

to lib-

that they

would be received with welcoming cheers and flowers, then look at the

first

eight days of war,

which prove otherwise." Another columnist, Fahd Fanek.

same

in the

convince the Americans and the world

because the justifications given were either not true or true but not new.

.

.

.

This pushed

many

to look for the real reasons for the war, finding

only the desire to control Iraq's Israel.

...

oil

Spreading democracy

and to serve

in

the

Arab

world? Ridiculous, because democracy cannot be imposed from outside."

Most

dailies the

have Bush

but, as the Pakistan

long, drawn-out

Observer

said,

it

will be "a

war" or a "quagmire." Both

Algerian and Australian newspapers warned that the coalition will

have

choose either

to

high coalition casualties from extended street

committing

or

"a

crime

against

Meron

a certitude."

headquarters for the war and

pro-American, but

quarters for al-Jazeera. the

anti-American

TV

it

is

its

gov-

also head-

immensely popular,

satellite

network, and

its

newspapers denounced what al-Raya called

Haaretz,

in

wrote:

initiated

assumed with

typical arrogance that there

the

war against Iraq

such thing as Iraqi patriotism.

...

is

no

All of the

bombs cannot

devices and smart

conceal the character of this war

—

a colo-

it is

war whose conceptual outlook is drawn straight from the early 20th century. Those who wage an anachronistic war should not be surnial

prised by

its

al-Akhbar fighters

outcome." Egypt's pro-government seven million strong

said: "Iraq has

who

are ready to continue the fighting

God be with them." Al-Gomhouriya, also progovernment in

for 13 years continuously.

asked:

"What

is

editor in chief,

its

between

the difference

Israel's

lowly and treacherous crimes against Palestinians and what the American masters are

doing

What

to Iraqis?"

is

happening

dad, he continued, "refutes the invading troops

came

now

Bagh-

in

allegations that

all

to liberate Iraqis."

News

Taiwan's conservative United Daily

who have

observed that "those Iraqi children today

is

Benvenisti,

"Those who

make Baghdad ernment

American strategy" and of

internal change."

managed

is

in their grip."

a United States "on the cusp of a process of

humanity, the bombing of civilian areas to

Qatar

by

Turkey's mass appeal Hurriyet wrote about

Egypt, under the byline of

world over predicted the

United States "will ultimately win the war."

fighting

strategic plans designed

the ultra-conservative institutions that appear to

electronic

paper, said: "Bush's problem lies in his failure to

from the

"the collapse of the

to kill Iraqis."

"If the

different

to survive in the besieged Iraqi cities

may possibly turn out to be the 'little bin who will swear to retaliate against

Ladens,'

hegemony

U.S.

States

war

still

in the future. Will the

feel safe

are bent

on

United

while these orphans of the

terrorist retaliation against the

United States?"

Naew Na

America's "haphazard attack" that was "nothing

Thailand's pro-opposition

compared to the huge number of Iraqis killed which TV cameras could not reach." Media in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Pakistan and

"Cowboy Bush must now be

thinking that

snatching of oil wells from Iraq

not a piece of

cake as he was led to believe. Rather, he

Muslim

sending his white-skinned children to hell like

countries

in

sub-Sahara

Africa

denounced the war "as conquest and colonization" and published accounts of "hideous massacres" and "carnage."

Belgium's Het Laatste Nieuws said Bush "never mentioned that the Euphrates River

would be colored red by American blood. ... A war in the field appears to be something totally

when

is

said:

is

a former U.S. leader sent countless GIs to

die in Vietnam. tracts, the

Bush and

more

...

The longer

likely

it

will

this

war pro-

be curtains for

Blair."

There was not one pro- American Friday's pickups

editorial in

from the world's leading

newspapers outside the United

States.

i

2ND GULF COALITION

Royal Marines from

40 Commando based in Taunton, Somerset, on operations in Iraq March 25.

—

—

Day 6 Tuesday, March 25 "Clearly they are not a beaten force."

— Gen. Richard

Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff

The U.S.

drive on

Baghdad went on hold

Tue.s-

day, delayed by a howling sandstorm that cut

grounded the combat helicopters and

visibility,

forced U.S. forces around Najaf to wrap their tanks and vehicles in tarpaulins against the

grinding sand. that the

And

then

came

a driving rain

sand thickened into a liquid

mud

that

obscured windscreens, sealed tank periscopes

and blocked the lenses of night vision equipment.

One

U.S. tank and several

Humvees

drove into canals. For the Iraqi guerillas, the

grim weather provided cover, enabling them creep close to U.S. lines to launch swift

to

hit-

and-run attacks. "It's

a

little bit

ugly out there today. Weather

has had an impact on the battlefield, with high

winds, with some rain, with

some thunder-

storms." said Maj. Gen. Victor "Gene" Renuart, U.S. Central

Command's

director of oper-

ations at a press conference in Qatar.

But the storm did not prevent the constant aerial bombing of Iraqi Republican Guard

Baghdad by fixed-wing aircraft from bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and

units around

aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.

the air strikes

Some

of

depended on targeting informa-

from British SAS (Special Air Service) and U.S. Special Forces teams on the ground. U.S. forces were supposed to f\y some 1,400 tion

sorties

over Iraq Tuesday and into Wednes-

day, but with the sandstorm obscuring visibility

on

tactical targets like

Republican Guard

most of the missions were retargeted to headquarters, ctimmunicalions and fixed

tanks,

positions.

63

64

THE IRAQ

WAR

Approximately half of the

sorties

by coalition

were now being flown against the

air forces

Republican Guard, focusing on the Medina

Armored Division and Nebuchadnezzar Infantr\' Division south of Baghdad. The Medina Division,

equipped with Soviet-built T-72 tanks,

is

seen as the strongest single unit on the Iraqi side. It

also has a large contingent of

ZSU-23

highh mobile

armored vehicles, fuing

antiaircraft

radar-guided quadruple cannons. British forces

of the port city of

Tuesday declared

full control

Umm Qasr and promised that

food and water would begin flowing into the city within days.

for

welcome by

Iraq's

liberated Shiite citizens

in

it

a "military target" as they girded for

Two other Republican Guard divisions, the Hamurabi Mechanized Infantr>' and the Baghdad Infantry, were stationed on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital. And a further two divisions, the al-Nida Armored Division and the Adnan Mechanized Infantn,'. were still located far to the north of Baghdad. The Adnan was moved earlier this month from Kirkuk. near the Kur-

expecting a

hometown of Tikrit, aerial bombing

sein's

under heavy

this

week.

"Clearly they are not a beaten force," said

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff,

at

a press briefing

Penta-

at the

gon.

As

the guerilla attacks

on

their supply

Unes

threatened to take troops from the front lines,

forces in civilian clothes.

"We were

Saddam Huswhere it has come

dish-held zone of the north, to

grueling urban warfare against Iraqi irregular

lot

of hands up from

and for the humanitarian opera-

Iraqi soldiers

Nebuchadnezzar Mecha-

division, the

nized Infantr>.

But despairing of the hoped-

second city of Basra. British forces

declared

Guard

commanders Tuesday began consid-

coalition

ering the need for reinforcements from the 4th

whose heavy equipment was

tion in Basra to begin fairly quickly behind us.

Infantry Division,

with aid organizations providing food and

passing through the Suez Canal after spending

water to the

locals.

But

it

out that way." said British

hasn't quite militar>'

worked

spokesman

Capt. Patrick Trueman. "There are significant in

regime."

We

always had the idea

that

everyone

hated Saddam. Clearly, there are a

number who

em

forces

brigades,

the

civilian-garbed

Turkish

in vain off the

front against Iraq.

To to

sail

unload

around the Saudi Arabian peninsula at the port

of

Kuw ait would

delay the

deployment of the 4th Infantry Division least a

don't."

Stiffened by troops from the Iraqi army's special

weeks waiting

coast for permission to land and open a north-

Basra v\ho are hugely loyal to the

elements

in this area

three

may

week. But there

unloading more quickly

Red Sea

at

diplomatic

if

for at

be a possibility of

Saudi ports on the

agreement can be

The 4th Division's troops

guerilla forces in Basra put

up a nagging resistdubbed the road to the

secured.

ance. British troops

Fort Hood, Texas, and will have to fly in to be

RPG

reunited with their heavy equipment. But as the

bridge across the Shatt al-Basra canal Alley,

the

after

salvoes of rocket-propelled

grenades that came

them through

at

the gray

haze and drizzle.

The sandstorm slowed the fighting around the city of Nasiriyah, where U.S. Marines had secured the two bridges across the Euphrates

Saddam

even though

most sophisticated unit

in the U.S.

are

still

Army, a

at

test

bed for high-tech and computerized equipment, the 4th would add a heavy new punch to the coalition's increasingly overstretched forces.

U.S. Marines,

who

lost nine killed in action

near Nasiriyah Sunday, pushed into the city to

Iraqi

tackle the bases of the Iraqi guerillas. Earlier

forces held out in urban areas nearby. But there

Tuesday. Marines from Task Force Tarawa

River and the

were heavy

artillery

canal,

exchanges overnight, and

secured a hospital

in the city that

had been used

ian areas.

by paramilitary forces. They took 70 Iraqi soldiers prisoner and confiscated more than 200

the

weapons, ammunition. 3.000 chemical

Iraqi forces

were using guns concealed

in civil-

The U.S. Marines pushed on across Euphrates bridges Tuesday through harass-

1

suits

ing sniper and mortar fire and prepared to drive

with masks and a T-55 tank that was on the

north parallel to a second large column of U.S.

compound. Marines had been

was advancing on the central Iraqi city of Kut on the Tigris Ri\ er. Kut was defended by another Republican

inside the hospital.

Marines from the south

that

hospital

when

were injured

it

No

fired

civilians

was seized and no

in the operation,

on from

were

in the

civilians

according to U.S.

— DAY 6

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Command. The

Central

cent flag, similar violation of the

Command

use of the hospital by

was flying a Red Cresin meaning to a red cross, is a Geneva Convention, Central

combat soldiers while

it

the Iraqi regime from shifting

forces to the defense of Baghdad, the United States and

Kurdish

its

began

allies

to

open a

"northern front line," preparing two quickly

upgraded

airstrips to

handle military cargo

craft bringing in light armor.

to fly in

A

air-

U.S paratroop

173rd Airborne Brigade, was on alert

unit, the

He wanted the Iraqi know they are

defenders of Baghdad.

leadership "to look north and

surrounded," Safeen said.

But the U.S. troops have another mission

—

Kurds from complicating the war by moving too fast and too far and alarming Turkey, which fears an Iraqi collapse and the establishment of a separate Kurdish state. After a 20-year war against Kurto restrain the

said.

To prevent

65

from bases

in Italy, reinforcing

mated 50,000 Kurdish Pesh Merga

an

esti-

politics of the

dish separatist guerillas in Turkey, the Turkish military has

warned

that

it

would

feel

bound

to

intervene to prevent the emergence of a Kurdish state that could act as a

magnet

for

its

own

Kurdish minority.

militia.

The U.S. buildup of its forces in northern Iraq is hampered in speed and firepower, the top Kurdistan Democratic Party representative in

Turkey told United Press International. The

mission of

some 10

this force will

be to

of the Kurdish militia, Safeen

UPI

in

try to tie

down

divisions of Iraqi troops with the aid

M. Dizayee

told

The Shov\^biz

War

an interview.

This was the original mission of the U.S. 4th

Nason

Pat

Infantry Division, in a battle plan scotched on

March

1

when

the Turkish Parliament voted to

LOS ANGELES,

(UPI)

— The Academy Awards

75th anniversary in Los Angeles

bar the 62,000-strong American contingent

celebrated

with tanks and heavy equipment that Washing-

Sunday, but the ceremony was largely preoccu-

new

pied with controversy over the U.S. -led war in

ton wanted to put on the ground. Since the force, airborne units,

can only be delivered by

M A

Iraq.

its

Although filmmaker-provocateur Michael

of the 4th will not be available. The

Moore's acceptance speech for Best Documentary was the evening's most enduring emblem

"coalition in northern Iraq" as Safeen referred

of Hollywood liberalism, the event offered sev-

C- 1 30

aircraft, the

artillery

to

it,

will

big

1

comprise these

1

tanks and heavy

Army

paratroopers

and the 50,000-man, U.S. -trained Kurdish militia,

which faces the

Iraqis along a twisting bor-

moments of reflection on America's invamost of them bombing of Iraq

eral

—

sion and

amounting

wishes for the safety of American

to

der that runs from Syria on the east to Iran on

troops and an early end to the war.

the west.

Moore won

Kurdish intelligence reckons that some 75,000 Iraqi troops of varying levels of

disci-

"Bowling

for his

for

Columbine." he invited the other

documentary nominees

him on

to join

pline and skill are holding this line, including

"They're here in solidarity with

one Republican Guard division and several

we

nonfiction and we

well-trained armored and mechanized divisions.

times," said Moore.

The job of

the northern front

was

to pin

those forces down, Safeen said, noting that one unit,

the

Iraqi

3rd

Armored

Division,

already been shifted south toward

had

we have ing us to

Up in

mined to maintain a probing pressure on the

on.

forces,

taking

ground when possible,

because capturing key locations in the north

would have

a

major psychological

effect

on the

live in a

in

because

fictitious

time where

war

We

have a man

who

is

lead-

for fictitious reasons."

to that point.

Moore had enjoyed

a stand-

ing ovation and energetic applause. But st)me

parliament decision. But the Kurds were deter-

Iraqi

"We

live

the stage.

me

fictitious election results that elect a

fictitious president.

Baghdad

because of the delays imposed by the Turkish

like

When

gun culture documentary

the

audience began

"We're against

said.

you."

this

to

boo

war,

as

he

went

Mr. Bush." he

"Shame on you. Mr. Bush. Shame on Speaking

with

reporters

backstage,

Moore was asked whether he was

afraid of

66

THE IRAQ

WAR

being blacklisted in Hollywood for his

He

was

said he

wood," he

"Fm

said.

work

not. "I don't

who don't live

The

politics.

in Holly-

funded by Canadians and

opened with a film

telecast

ning mo\'ies over the previous 74 years.

was Hollywood that voted for this award. It was Hollywood that stood and cheered when it was announced." The audience at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and the worldw ide TV viewing audience

included several

might have heard even more

Julie

others

here.

But

it

political

from the podium, but academy

officials insisted

— not

Oscar winners

that only

speeches

—

presenters

clip retro-

moments from Oscar-win-

spective of classic

It

segments fondly recalling

memorable acceptance speeches and producnumbers from past telecasts. A high point of the evening was the appearance onstage of tion

— including

nearly 50 past acting Oscar winners

Andrews, Olivia de Havilland, Karl Maiden,

Eva Marie

Academy

The

Saint and Denzel Washington.

of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

the show. Interestingh. telecast producer Gil

all out to make the 75 th Anniversary Academy Awards an occasion to remember,

Gates offered the evening's

despite the competing headlines of war.

would have

w ar

freedom

the

to

speak their minds on

denunciation of

first

—

in remarks on the first page of the commemorative program intended to articulate the

rationale

holding the awards ceremony

for

while people were dying

in

a war halfway

around then world.

frivolous to

some

is

no small thing

it

may

even for an

to focus,

evening, on an element of our cultural said Gates. "Art

histor).""

to celebrate,

though, and this extraordinarily powerful art

form of

men and women

ours, wielded b\

and human

intelligence

of

can even-

sensibilities,

be a greater force for understanding and

tually

tolerance and. yes, peace, than

and missiles

Not

all

that

bombs

the

haunt our globe."

late

artist

took

a step further: "If Frida

not a dream.

is

It

tu

Frida Kahlo:

was

hand out the Oscars Martin

v\

ith

said,

— and

will be divvied

in occasionally sly

targets

"Saddam

lovers"

have been inspired by Dixie Chicks

London last week that she was ashamed to be from the same state (Texas) as President George W. Bush. singer Natalie Maines. She said in

I

and fans holding ceremonial burnings of

by

his

Fox News channel)

persisted in pushing

the boycott of Dixie Chicks music.

saw

in the

It

even

episode an opening to promote eco-

the United States

at

eration of Iraq

"Proceeds from

think this

who was

is

this

so great

—

given an honorary

of soldiers being killed right now.

them up."

lists

nomic punishment of several other "appeasewho want to stop the libment-loving celebs

is

—

to cheer

and concerts. The column its

— — —

their

to

to the

ample justification for handing out Oscars during wartime. "I'm an entertainer," he said. fami"There are men. women and children is

boycott

was appropriate

it

Oscar, told reporters backstage that there

lies

to

readers

that

Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper (followed

up among huge corporations."

Peter O' Toole,

GDs

which called

seemed

of entertainers

expressed themselves politically

suggested

movies.

list

ogized for her intemperate comment, but the

mercenary and the vain. Referring

questions about whether

telecast

who have and

rolled out a

York

usually

alive she

references to Hollywood's image as a haven for

Oscar

column

is

On Wednes-

devoted to entertainment gossip. day, the

New

Dixie Chicks concert tickets. Maines has apol-

side, against the war."

humor, engaging

in Iraq,

Page Six column, which

Post's

He

a necessity."

Host Steve Martin largely avoided overtly

war

else

There have been reports of country stations

is

the

who

gets hurt, as long as their targets pay for speak-

dropping Dixie Chicks music from their play

nominee "Y

"Peace

political

of antiwar celebrities they don't care

mama

tambien." quoted the

would be on our

showbiz passions. Some

incited

Gael Garcia Bemal. one of

the stars of screenplay

it

all

presenters honored the mandate to

stick to the script.

The war

Americans seem so bent on harming the careers

ing freely. Take, for example, the

"In times of grim poUtical history

seem

went

My job

.

.

.

from mass murderer Saddam

Hussein and his rapist henchmen."

The Page Six "quick reference list" of entertainers whose careers readers might wish to harm included Tim Robbins. Sean Penn and who co-star in the Laurence Fishbume upcoming movie "Mystic River." The paper

—

called

it

"the mother of

but did not explain to

harm

why

all

appeasement casts"

readers might also wish

the careers of others involved in the

production. There

was no

article

of particulars

— DAY 6

TWENTY-ONE DAYS alleging insufficient patriotism

on the

part of

Freedom took

Iraqi

67

part in the event in Will

"Mystic River" co-stars Marcia Gay Harden or

Rogers Park, organized by entertainer

Laura Linney.

Luft and actress Alana Stewart. Luft. whose

One wonders whether even bothered

to

the column's writers

movie was

learn that the

directed by the reliably conservative Clint East-

memoir "Me and My Shadows: was made into an Emmy-winning TV movie, told United Press best-selling

Life with Judy Garland"

wood. By the way, a boycott would harm East-

International that she and Stewart

wood

cerned that the troops

directly in the

—

pocketbook

movie through

also co-produced the

since he

own

his

production company, Malpaso Productions.

seems not

to matter to

Page Six

and hundreds of others involved tion could suffer

that

produc-

in the

economic losses

—

as long as

were con-

were not see-

in the field

ing enough support from the folks back home.

"My

It

Eastwood

Loma

view

were sent

is

in, if

that before the

you wanted

boys and

ahead, that's your right," said Luft. there,

it's

over.

You've got

women

to protest the war,

"Once

go

they're

to support them."

Robbins, Penn and Fishbume were made to pay

Luft said she was also jolted into action

a price for publicly disagreeing with the presi-

when she heard a TV talk show host accuse Hollywood figures of being "backstabbing

dent on the

wisdom of

his policies.

The Post also suggested that filmgoers stay away from "Basic," the new John Travolta movie that also features Samuel L. Jackson. The paper called Jackson "another Hollywood drone who signed an antiliberation letter to the Bush administration" but did not explain star

Connie Nielsen did

what Travolta or co-

The

to deserve payback.

Americans." Raquel Welch and Nancy Sinatra also took part in the event, along with Nicolette Sheridan

("Knot's Landing"),

Kazan, one of the

to cancel

Channel miniseries "Children of Dune" because

ports the

the cast

is

in

it. It

seemed

who are

become bankable — and who

in

mind

that

when

the nation

debating the advisa-

bility

of invading Iraq.

falling,

I

don't want them to

I 1

hate the idea that

support the troops.

come back and

still

Now

that the

bombs

are

of course, there will be different expec-

think they

were fighting for nothing." Luft said one of the things that

recommended celebrities made

punishment for statements

was

illness.

we're over there. But yes.

that the Post

had

Kazan told UPI she suptroops but remains opposed to the war. due to

see

and must be punished.

Bear

Big Fat Greek

to participate but

don't believe in any war.

as an important step in their career devel-

"My

of

still

opment. Never mind. Sarandon has spoken out of turn

stars

"I don't believe in this war," she said. "I

not to care that

mainly made up of actors

struggling to

"Dune"

is

Turkel ("Deep Space")

Wedding," was scheduled

paper suggested that viewers shun the Sci-Fi

Susan Sarandon

Ann

and Ed O'Ross ("Six Feet Under"). Lainie

ica great

bon on

is

that

their

make Amer-

people can "hang a yellow

home and

rib-

then go to a peace

demonstration." She said the main idea behind the yellow ribbon event

and

their families

was

know

to let the troops

"we care about come home safe and

that

— and

politicians

of us

should

soon." Before the event was over, said Luft.

consider to be the bounds of appropriate dis-

every tree on both sides of Beverly Drive from

tations about

what

celebrities

and cab drivers and the

But even

sent.

so, the

rest

—

"sit-down-and-shut-up"

constituency might want to consider that just as

Bush has reminded us

all that

—

America

doesn't need anyone's permission to defend itself

— Americans don't need permission from

anyone

And

to say what's

on

their minds.

prowar celebrities in Hollywood. Four blocks of a tree-lined Beveriy there are plenty of

Hills street

were bedecked with yellow ribbons,

put there by

Hollywood

support for U.S. troops

Beverly Hills lies

of

celebrities to

show

Mayor Tom Levync and serving

to

Sunset Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard

had a yellow ribbon

tied

around

it.

"1

couldn't

find any more trees," she said.

Hollywood had another problem with the at the box office. American news netwar works are not just competing against one they're also another for Iraq war scoops competing with Hollywood for the attention of media consumers. The news business has been

—

—

cutting into the

movie business throughout

war. according to box office analysts.

in Iraq.

men and women

them and we want them

in

fami-

Operation

show business pros have suggested lia\c

the

Some

that grosses

been lackluster because nu)\ics haxont

68

WAR

THE IRAQ

been so

hot.

News

executives might not want to

see themselves as rivals with Hollywood, but no

one can deny

TV news employs show busi-

prime-time

CNN

viewers,

(AOL-Time

Warner) attracted 4.4 million and

MSNBC

(General Electric) drew 2.1

million.

ness-style techniques in the increasingly intense

numbers

translate into higher

ad rates

supremacy. In a recent behind-

better to

pay the costs of expensive wartime

that

battle for ratings

the-scenes report on the in

TV

coverage of the war.

plumes of smoke

into

3-D rendering of

a

"Is the gas

going to be green? No." said Fox

creative director Richard O'Brien. "It will be transparent.

ple can see

Cinny Kennard. nalism in

at the

assistant professor of jour-

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, said

easy to see

it's

TV"

consumers prefer "War

poison gas.

We it."

take

some

liberties so that

News consumers might

be

the

programming.

New

York Daily News described a process which a Fox News artist inserted green

Those

—

the current trend in "If

you have

why media

— her name

for

war coverage.

patriotism, flag waving, live

bombs and

peo-

reporters,

star-

movies?" said Kennard

bullets, in

why go

to the

an interview with

tled to learn that "creative directors" are con-

United Press International.

sciously deciding to distort reality so viewers

ing room, except for the cable or satellite bill."

can see something that

is.

in reality, invisible.

"It's free in

— a former CBS News corresponColumbia University duPont her coverage of 1991 Gulf War —

who won

dent

poorly in focus groups. Faith Popcorn, founder

the question of whether U.S.

New

York-based consulting firm Faith

Popcorn's BrainReserse. recently concluded that viewers are tired of

watching war news and

liv-

Kennard

The Washington Post reported recently that broadcast news consultants have been advising news and talk operations to wear their patriotism on their sleeve. Coverage of war protest has tested poorly among viewers. The time may come when war news of any kind will test of the

your

Award for

the

the

said Operation Iraqi

Freedom was

the

most

thorough example she has ever seen of entertainment and news merging into one Social and

media

critics will

entity.

debate for years

media resorted

to

pandering in their coverage of Operation Iraqi

Freedom. But Kennard concluded serious

that

it

has a

downside and potentially damaging

want more escapist programming.

consequences for the future of American

news audience is understandable, given the amount of money that is on the table for media conglomerates.

democracy.

The competition

News

ratings are

(Viacom) and

for the

up for

NBC

ABC

(Disney),

CBS

(General Electric), and up

news war. Fox

dramatically, historically, for the cable

channels. During the

News (News

first

Corp.)

week of the

averaged 5.6 million

"Since

when do we

tell

people

how

to feel

about the news?" said Kennard. "You don't need an American flag, patriotic music for any of coverage.

You

don't need to gussy

it

up with

white and blue and patriotic songs and

ments about

how much you

this

red,

state-

love the country."

FORWARD DEPLOYED, SOUTHWEST ASIA, 26 (UPI) — F-1 6G aircraft on a park-

MARCH

sit

ramp during a sandstorm on March 26, 2003. Aircraft move around-the-clock to support Operation Iraqi Freedom at a forward-deployed location ing

in

Southwest Asia.

(Matthew Hannen, U.S. Air

Force)

—

Day7

Wednesday,

March 26 "(T)he hardest battle of the war so far."

The second Gulf War began for the first time Wednesday to look like the first, with U.S. forces poised for a massive land attack while

U.S. and British warplanes pounded the dug-in Iraqi

Republican Guard. But

War of

in the first

Gulf

1991. those air strikes were taking place

inside occupied Kuwait. This time, the allied

warplanes are flying 300 miles north to strike the Republican

of Baghdad.

Guard

And

40 miles

lines just

this time, the

short

U.S. forces of

the 3rd Infantry Division around Najaf, and the

U.S. Marines

at

heavy fighting

And

Nasiriyah. have gone through

to get to this point.

the biggest difference of

was

all

the

parachute drop of the 173rd Airborne in the

Kurdish zone, opening

at

long

last

a serious

northern front with a threat of an American pincer

movement, threatening

the

Iraqi

capital

from both north and south. The 3rd Division Tuesday fought what called "the hardest battle of the

war so

far" as

it it

burst through Iraqi defenses tr\ing to seal off

the crossings over the Euphrates River. Firing to

both sides in a sandstorm that blinded Iraqi gunners, the U.S. 7th Cavalrs ran the gauntlet of the Iraqi

defenders as U.S. combat engineers under

fire battled to

after the Iraqis

Three

deploy bridge-laying equipment

blew up one key bridge.

MIAI Abrams

tanks were isolated on

bank when the temporan, bridge collapsed, and U.S. warplanes in atrcKJous weather

the far

conditions battled to fly close air support against

71

72

WAR

THE IRAQ

closing in to destroy them.

units

Iraqi

The

Preparing landing ground and forward

bala.

bridge was relaid, and U.S. patrols swept for-

bases, the 101st set up to open a

two more Abrams tanks were put out of action by Iraqi defenses that were then swept away with what the 3rd Division said were up

the west of Baghdad,

ward

to

until

750

where

its

new

front to

helicopter gun-

ships will also have to stop Republican

Guard

reinforcements from Tikrit and Falluja moving south to join the Baghdad defenses.

Iraqi casualties.

The sandstorms and bad weather that held back the U.S. combat helicopters Tuesday cleared somewhat over Najaf Wednesday morning, although visibility was still bad. Apache gunships patrolled the ancient city, an important shrine to Shiite Muslims, and scoured the farmlands ahead on the way to Baghdad. The battle of Najaf has opened the

way to Baghdad, but that route still is held by the Medina Armored Division of the Republican Guard, which came under intense aerial bombardment Tuesday from U.S. and

So

there are

now

four U.S. divisions closing

on the Baghdad region, the 101st and 3rd

to the

southwest, and the two U.S. Marine divisions

from Nasiriyah and Kut in the south. And U.S. air power continued to dominate the skies,

bombing Baghdad and its defenses at will, although early reports from Western reporters still in Baghdad Wednesday said there were

many

civilian casualties, including a least 14

dead, after one

em

bomb

market

hit a

in the north-

part of the city.

British

Although the U.S. land forces are keeping

Tornado fighter-bombers. B-52 heavy bombers

up the pressure and fighting for positions on the

took off from Royal Air Force bases in Britain

Baghdad approaches,

Wednesday

early

keep up the pounding.

to

But the precision weapons of the coalition air forces

cannot be used with

full

effect in

sandstorm conditions. The "smart bombs" using Global Positioning System navigation coordinates to

bomb

blind through cloud and

smoke and sandstorms depend on

the precise

known when the

geographic location of the target being in

advance. This makes no difference

targets are buildings, but the tanks

and heavy

The

end.

some

And

rest after

days of fighting and moving.

may

be reinforcements on the way.

there

Diplomatic

sources

Suez Canal,

the

forces, with their vast

hunger for

in

to start

heavy equipment

Kuwait

said

they

Yanbu, available

unloading tanks and

Saudi Red Sea port of

at the

to race across the desert to the

battle.

Around

1,000

landed near the

constantly.

week-

need resupply and

tired U.S. troops

expected the U.S. 4th Division, after passing

equipment of an armored division can move

The U.S.

the decisive battle for the

city will probably not be joined until the

U.S.

airstrip

Army

paratroopers

of Hariri in Kurdish-

controlled northern Iraq, the leading edge of

fuel and supplies, have been fighting for three

what

days to secure the two key crossings over the

Najaf and Nasiriyah. before

war on Saddam Hussein. The airstrip was judged sturdy enough to take U.S. military

they can build up the supplies required for the

cargo aircraft carrying Bradley armored vehi-

Euphrates River

final assault

at

on Baghdad. That process

virtually complete,

is

now

and U.S. Marines Wednes-

day had pushed 25 miles beyond Nasiriyah

where they ran

into

new

resistance and called

second U.S. Marine column was advanc-

ing steadily air

Wednesday from

some 80 miles south of Bagh-

dad, held by the Nebuchadnezzar Division of the Republican Guard.

As factor

the worst of the storms passed, a

came

into play

Wednesday

—

101st Airborne Division, which had

new

the U.S.

moved up

west and north of the 3rd Division toward Kar-

in the

vehicles were deemed essential armed paratroops and Kurdish militia were to be able to punch through the Iraqi defense lines on the hills above the strate-

cles. if

Armored

the lightly

northern

and Mosul, centers of the

oil fields.

The paratroops joined Special Forces

the captured Iraqi

base of al-Amara on the Tigris River toward

the city of Kut,

expected to be the northern front

gic cities of Kirkuf

in air support.

A

is

who have

units

already been operating in northern

Iraq since before the

war formally began. Tues-

day night the Special Forces called in a bombing mission on the ruling Baath Party headquarters in coalition

on

Samawa, destroying

it.

Wednesday,

warplanes stepped up their strikes

Iraqi northern defenses,

commanders' focus on

keeping the Iraqi

the northern threat to

TWENTY-ONE DAYS

— DAY 7

Army

deter the shift of forces to the defense of Bagh-

and tested by the British

Meanwhile in the South, British troops battled a column of about 100 Iraqi vehicles moving south down the Fao peninsula from Basra toward the port city of Umm Qasr, where the first British aid ship, the Sir Galahad, was

Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Kosovo.

dad.

due

to dock. British tanks

and

artiller\'

stopped

"We have to wait for the right moment or we put too many civilians at risk," David Palteron, commander of the

said Lt. Col.

Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

1st

plan

would be done cles rather than

The 8,500-ton

vessel headed for the single

Umm

"aggressive

for

calls

planes then attacked

working dock

over 30 years in

otherwise

the Iraqi column, and U.S. and British warit.

73

Warrior

in

on

troops intend to

The

which

patrolling."

infantr>' fighting vehi-

Section by section, the

foot.

move

slowly into the

streets,

Qasr, with British and

directed by Special Air Service troops and locally

Australian divers and minesweepers checking

supplied intelligence, using their vehicles" turret-

at

mines or obstructions while troops and hel-

for

icopters

watched for any sign of attack from the

fanatical fedayeen. Distribution of the aid

is

mounted 30-caliber Rarden cannons under at a

if

they

come

and deploying sections of seven men

fire,

time to clear houses as necessary.

only invading

The army believes its success at nearby Zubayr might be a model for Basra. There, on Tuesday, bombing of the Baath Party head-

troops, civilian casualties and vicious fedayeen

quarters and attacks and arrests of fedayeen

attempting to ensure they continue to fight, the

appeared to encourage local Iraqis to report on

considered one of the most important parts of

Operation Iraqi Freedom to date. At a time

when

allies

able

are

Iraqis

see

to

desperately need to

show they

are there to

help them. The allies have prepared a major

propaganda

effort for the ship's arrival, but the

original plan of simply driving the food, medi-

cine and supplies straight to cheering and grate-

Basra, however,

citizens in

ful

is

now way

Despite British and American armor almost it.

where weapons were school

of

stacks piled

up

the city of 1.5 million

from secure. Hundreds of

is

far

Iraqi paramilitary

where they took away a colonel, a major and

two captains

for questioning. In a bid to

Zubayr have

on Monday, appear

to

But the

allied

Baghdad claimed

propaganda vv

a coalition

in the

the city, killing at least 14 people.

page with an account of what

did bravely get into Basra Wednes-

to restore

station,

power

to a vital water

pumping

and British troops were rapidly build-

crime."

The Pentagon

the Iraqi border, the British were playing safe,

civilian

battle with the risk

An

estimated

1

down

in a

major urban

civilian casualties.

,000 or so of Saddam's

ulars" are believed

still

to

"irreg-

be holding the citizens

officials.

sites,

feet

is

to target their

in

it

called "a

war

could have

hit

avoid injury to civilians and

to civilian facilities, in is

weapons near

Command

some cases such

unavoidable when the regime places

stated

civilian areas." Central

Wednesday.

It

suggested a

likely scenario was an Iraqi air-defense

headquaners and individual homes and offices

more

by means of "snatch and grab" techniques

missile falling back to earth.

tried

front

insisted the residential

Qatar said that

to great lengths to

military

them

it

its

most of which were placed within 300

officials, the

British plan to dislodge

filled

in

British

of private homes. "While the coalition goes

But as they are primanly driven by

Baath Party functionaries, say the

One

homes elsewhere in Baghdad when it was bombing nine surface-to-surface missile

damage damage

of Basra in a grip of terror, according to British

a civil-

ning of the war, but Wednesday U.S. Central

Command

of heavy

hit

area has never been targeted since the begin-

ing a water pipeline to run from Kuwait across

unwilling to get bogged

took a

images from

bomb

neers from the International Committee of the

Red Cross

and

Shahab neighborhood

newspaper, the Independent,

city.

efforts

TV

hen

Although engi-

have melted back into the

Qasr and

wearing their berets.

strong Iraqi 51st Division, which had indicated

day

make

started doffing their helmets

ian marketplace

to surrender

Umm

populations. British troops in

hea\ y blow Wednesday,

was about

and

classroom. Else-

where, Royal Marines were directed to a house

Saddam continue to cow the population and launch ambush attacks against allied troops. Most of the troops of the 8.000soldiers loyal to

it

ammunition

in a

themselves more "approachable" to the local

behind schedule. surrounding

the Baathists. Children led Brifish troops to a

74 "i

THE IRAQ

WAR

don't accept the premise that the civilians

have been killed by coalition bombs. don't accept

that.

days

last several

\Miat

we have

Iraqi citizens

is

just

I

seen over the

being marched

out in front of irregular formations

w hile

the\

are firing. Iraqi civilians are being killed on the battlefield

by

Iraqis." said Brig.

Command

coalition has fired

cruise

peace

Gen. Vincent

spokesman. The more than 600 Tomahawk missiles and dropped more than 4.300

Brooks. Central

Winning both war and

Analysis:

precision-guided \\eapons.

according to the

Pentason.

PAMELA HESS

WASHINGTON, March 26 otticials

war

in strategy

from

The changes include accepting

more

tactical risk to

risk:

using air dominance to

reduce long-term strategic

make

the banle-

and selecting the

field three dimensional:

number of

criti-

in Iraq are failing to

grasp the fundamental changes earlier conflicts.

Critics

Pentagon

contend that "armchair generals"

cizing conduct of the

The Armchair

—

(UPI)

critical targets to get the

impact on the enemy's will to

least

maximum

fight.

The taking of American prisoners of war. resistance by Iraqi paramilitary forces and

the

Fi\e days into the war. armchair generals,

the

including retired warriors, are calling military

slowing effects of the sandstorm inspired a

ris-

reporters to express their concern that there

ing tide of criticism over coalition strategy and

Pentagon war planning.

On March

24.

the

Washington Post ran a front-page headline "US Losses Expose Risks. Raise Doubts About Strategy." The New York Times editorial said. "The Marines were bogged down in tough fighting in Nasiriyah." Tom Brokaw. the NBC

news anchor, spoke of "high-profile allied NBC analyst Gen. Barr> McCaf-

blunders" and

frey said in an inter\ iew with the coalition could be facing as

BBC

many

250.000 personnel are undertak-

war when more than 500.000 were required to expel Iraq from tin) Kuwait in 1991. that there is not enough artillen.. and that ing the

there

is

not yet a northern front to attack the

Republican Guard divisions north of Baghdad. Iraq has captured at least tw o prisoners of

At coalition headquarters the Arab correspondent for

asked U.S.

Lt.

in

Doha. Qatar,

Abu Dhabi

TV'

Gen. John Abizaid. "Are you

new Vietnam

in Iraq or are

you victims

w ar

and there may be five more.

The U.S. Army's 3rd

Infantr\

Division

is

cutting a narrow sw ath at a breathtaking pace

toward Baghdad, bypassing

casualties.

facing a

that only

tle,

that the

as 3,000

is

only one hea\ y diN ision committed to the bat-

ing firefights as the Republican Iraqi capital.

undefended

As

it

Guard it

— or

cities

races to meet

and eschewits

quarrs'

—

division protecting the

moves,

it is

at least that's

leaving

how

it

its

rear

looks to

of over-self-confidence?" The criticism contin-

those viewing the battlefield through historic

ued, despite the mounting evidence of coalition

lenses.

New York Times anaApple (who had suffered much criti-

successes. lyst J.VV.

On March

30.

Proof of that vulnerabilit\

lightly

to

becoming "a quagmire") wrote. "With ever}

traditional

two gross

it

is

militap.

e\ ident that the allies

misjudgments

in

made

concluding

that coalition forces could safeh bypass

Basra

and Nasiriyah and that Shiite Muslims in southem Iraq would rise up against Saddam Hussein."

A convoy

of

defended soldiers went missing.

cism for a premamre judgment that the 2001 war against the Taliban in Afghanistan was passing day.

:

supply vehicles was ambushed Sunday and 12

It is

a puzzling strateg> to former generals and

an increasing!) militar\ sa\ vy public reared on land warfare, where a line on the

ground (referred

Forw ard Line

to in the

the territor) behind

is

Pentagon as PLOT, or

Ow n Troops it is

)

is

mo\ ed forw ard

as

occupied and held.

But senior Pentagon officials explain there method to what some consider madness:

a

accept more tactical risk to reduce the long-term

— DAY 7

TWENTY-ONE DAYS The

strategic risk.

which

tactical risk is that

troops accept on the battlefield. Certainly they

would be

more heavy divisions than than less, with more

safer with

with more

less,

artiller>'

soldiers than less.

Command

They do not want

that the

"own"

strategic

which to

The United

win

is

it

goal for the United

not just to topple Sad-

— bombing alone would

the hearts of the Iraqi peo-

States has

ing Iraq, and the less

post-Saddam,

it

wants

committed

has to do. the

the

to

in

convince the Iraqis

Arab world

—

to rebuildbetter.

And

place a government

To achieve

friendly to the United States.

needs

to

come, according

That approach would

officials.

— but

that the

—

and the

this rest

plans to do this

of bombing and the ian

American force

is

it

a

described this a

U.S.

week ago

Force

Air

officer

as "effects-based tar-

This approach to bombing uses a

geting."

hyper-intelligent and culturally sensitive

exam-

and

bomb

ination of the battlefield to identify

number of

the least

maximum

critical targets to get the

impact on the enemy's will to

rather than

its

—

Leaving Baghdad largely

concerned," Gen. Richard

rear

its

Staff,

news conference Tuesday.

— planning —

exposed on the ground

in traditional military

the 3rd Infantry Division

relying on the Air

is

Force and the Navy to provide cover from the air.

A

quick-moving land force

enemy

faster than the

just has to

forces behind

may appear surrounded on

Infantry

it.

be

The 3rd

the ground,

but under a sky firmly controlled by U.S. air-

enemy

craft, the

is

actually the one surrounded,

What was once a is now a three-

military officials suggested.

two-dimensional battlefield

dimensional one. and one of those dimensions is

w ith

firmly in American hands

the advent of

munitions, laser-range finders and

precision

Global Positioning System-aided targeting.

"We've got

total

not air superiority,

dominance of

the

air.

It is

dominance. They have

it's

Rumsfeld

Donald

ends up drawing

He

Tuesday.

said

also

launched a spirited defense of the approach the Pentagon, saying

men who

it

has the

charged with carrying are involved in this

.

out.

it

.

.

are

Myers pronounced the plan same press conference.

War

Gen.

chief

"The people comfort-

\ er\'

He

he

said.

"brilliant" at the

Tommy

Franks'

plan

commonsense approach

the hairiest scenario of the battle: fare.

at

support of the

full

able, as are the Joint Chiefs of Staff"

employs a stunning,

intact is critical to it

With

unheard of

fight,

ability to fight.

the long-term peace, even if

little

not put an airplane up." U.S. Defense Secretary

w ith the minimum amount minimum amount of civil-

A

casualties.

I

said at a Pentagon

of

liberating rather than a conquering one. It

I

Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of

to lose the

such firepower

United States does indeed intend

Hussein's regime

that

ple.

war just

Iraq for a long time to

States in Iraq,

do

the

and convincing the Arab world

undermine the

dam

win

Bringing

risk.

the risk of flattening the countr>'.

military

to

reducing strategic

is

to

peace afterward.

would run

Pentagon and Central

to

planners

killing civilians

were

in Baghdad and I was looking saw a U.S. Army division that is on the outskirts of Baghdad. 1 think you know, I don't know that that would be shock, but I'd

"If

south and

certainly be a

More important

75

to

urban war-

doesn't want his people involved in

—

own

sakes

out the near-term battle. Pentagon sources say.

bloody

There are sound

sons for opting for a leaner force on the ground.

and for the civilians inevitably caught in the crossfire. So he directed the leading edge of the

Pentagon

ground forces

The

tactical "effects-based" rea-

officials insist.

ground force assembled jumped into Iraq more than 24

relatively agile

for this fight

hours before the original plan, intelligence

in part

revealed the southern

because

oil

fields

were rigged with explosives, a senior military official

—

bridges,

to largely skirt the cities, focus-

waterways and

and water

to

ingly at risk.

The plan envisions

fighters remaining in the

down what

the Pentagon

vation to fight.

on

elite Iraqi

no less a part of "shock and awe" to undermine the regime than the deafening bombing of Baghdad.

airfields to allow

food

be delivered to people increas-

the demise of the regime

strike

for their

urban fighting on securing roads,

ground force

A

hopes will be a lighting-fast units

their

larger

said Tuesday.

might have slowed

ing

street fighting

that

bypassed

would

any

Iraqi

cities after

lose their moti-

The maneuver has been strained o\cr the last two days, as irregular forces have taken up positions in the cities and harass U.S. Marines

and British soldiers' positions on the edges.

76

WAR

THE IRAQ

But coalition forces reiterated

their intentions

Tuesday: They will secure the

for

cities

Rumsfeld's leadership and of Franks' will

be perhaps the

humanitarian aid without occupying them.

force winning a

They are banking on targeted raids to win the day. They refuse to be drawn into a fight not of

inch of

their

own

choosing.

What remains

what the coalition responsibility

unclear will

be

if

humanitarian workers are victimized by Iraqi troops once in the

cities.

Both Rumsfeld and

Myers have a strong interest work. Winning the war with

in

toward Its

is

seeing this

enemy its

first

tactics.

war without capturing a square moving through it

territory but

engagement.

final

success hinges on the belief that the Iraqi

people don't really oppose the United States,

and instead

will just

go peacefully about

indigenous opposition,

it

will be a very differ-

of

ent outcome. Pentagon officials recognize.

U.S. and Iraqi civilian casualties will be

its

only

own

reward. But

if

the strategy works,

also bear out a central

it

will

theme of Rumsfeld's

Rumsfeld came

—

into office promising trans-

transitioning the

services and.

Army, to use lighter, faster tanks and weapons, but more important, changing the way the leading edge fights wars. What would especially the

be traditionally a lumbering, logistics-heavy

forward march all tooth, It is

very

is

now

a speedy, agile sword

little tail, in

—

Pentagon parlance.

Rumsfeld's enthusiasm for transforma-

tion that has his critics grumbling, charging that his insistence field

and

on seeing

his hubris in

it

realized

beUeving

on it

this battle-

can be suc-

cessful puts troops in danger. If the strategy

works

—

if

Iraq

is

it

way

inflicts

welcomed

the U.S. force will be

The is if

no unnecesary damage, no unnece-

sary violence.

It is

a delicate balance and one

never achieved by an invader before, Pentagon

reign in the Pentagon.

formation

their

business. If the forces encounter significant

minimum

a

It

instance of a ground

"liberated"

from Saddam

Hussein and a friendly go\ emment takes root

—

the success will be a stunning endorsement of

officials say.

lent

It

will

intelligence,

be made possible by excelprecision

targeting,

and

patience.

Rumsfeld is aware of the criticism leveled at him but he is unmoved by it. "I can't manage what people civilians or retired military want to say. And if they go on and say it

—

—

enough, people will begin not be true, and

it

may

to believe

reflect

it.

more of

It

may

a misun-

derstanding of the situation than an analysis or

an assessment of

it.

but there's no

way anyone

We

have a free

country. In Iraq, they can affect

what people

can affect what people say. say because you get shot

if

you say something

they don't like," Rumsfeld said. that."

"We

don't do

NORTHERN IRAQ, Kurd Peshi Merga

AAARCH 27

fighters

(UPI)

patrol

—

Iraqi

a Seyed

at

Sadegh checkpoint near Hoiabja on March 27, 2003.

-i^*^

^?^

Khaligh, UPI)

(Ali

— Thursday,

Day 8

March 27 enem> we are

"Ttie

fighting

we'd wargamed against."

commander of

the U.S.

—

is

from the one

different

Lt.

Gen. William VSailace.

Army V Corps

MARTIN WALKER The sandstorm's enforced slowing of by the

inflicted

Iraqi guerilla attacks

Baghdad, combined

alties in

mood

inter-

growing

to fuel a

of concern back in Washington. Media

commentators and ex-military men licly that the

"The

and

bombing casu-

national criticism of the civilian

"^'ork

the U.S.

on Baghdad, along with the damage

drive

war was not going

fretted

to plan.

pub-

New

Times defense analysts reported Thursday. air campaign that the Pentagon promised

would "shock and awe" Saddam Hussein's govto ha\ e done neither." But the most sobering comment came from

ernment appears

the

U.S.

commander

the

in

field.

Lt.

Gen.

William Wallace, commander of the U.S. .Army

who told the Washington Post: *'The we are fighting is different from the one enemy we'd wargamed against. We knew they were but we didn't the paramilitaries there know they would fight like this." \

J

Corps,

—

—

Worried

become chiefs

that talk of setbacks

and

self-fulfilling, the political

in

Washington

Prime Minister Tony

—

crisis

could

and militar>

along with British

Blair,

who was

visiting

— resolved push one simple and reassuring message — President

Bush

as

Camp

David

to

that

the

war plan was on Not

quite.

track and going well.

But the campaign was kxiking

promising Thursday morning, as coalition com-

manders scrambled to meet Iraqi counterattacks moving out of Baghdad and south o\ Basra.

The counterattacks were

swiftly

hammered by

79

80

WAR

THE IRAQ

coalition air power,

recovenng from the two

bombmg

With the

days of near blindness imposed by the driving

the

sandstorms. .As the dust cleared over the

the west

River

Euphrates

crossings

and

Najaf

at

Xasiriyah Thursda\. the scale of

on March

19.

Plan

C was

the flanking dri\e

bank of the Euphrates

up

shock the

to

Iraqis into an acceptance of their defeat.

Not one of those

this tactical

U.S. victor}' became clear. In a defensive battle

raid

swoop on Baghdad,

succeeded,

in

three plans has fully

first

because the sandstorms

part

against Iraqi raids that tried to take advantage

slowed the coalition advance and

of the sandstorm cover that grounded the U.S.

because of the guerilla raids on the long and

gunships.

helicopter

U.S.

troops

reported

part

in

vulnerable supply lines of the U.S. 3rd Divi\%hich had swept forward almost 300

counting "hundreds of Iraqi dead." .And south

sion.

of Basra, where an Iraqi armored column of

miles in three days. But the further elaboration

some 80 tanks and armored personnel carriers was "almost entirely destroyed" by allied guns and air power Wednesday e\ening. the tirepower superiority of the coalition forces was

of Plan

C

is

now under way.

It

began with a

ous opening of the northern front

seri-

ith the air-

\\

drop of 1.000 parachutists from the U.S. 173rd .Airborne Brigade on the airstrip at Harir. near

town of Bashur on the Kurdish occupied Once the airfield was secure. C-17 miHtar\-

again on display. Thursday morning, the Royal

the

Scots Dragoon Guards outside Basra claimed

zone.

have knocked out another 14 Iraqi tanks making what a British mihtan. spokesman called "a suicide charge" from the cit>. But the U.S. troops were still fighting on two fronts, one against the regular militap.

transports flew in the rest of the brigade and

to

began flying

in Bradley

armored vehicles and

antitank weapons.

The

of the 63rd .Armored

Battalion

1st

Brigade (normally based in Germany) was

forces to their front, another against the para-

scheduled to be flown into Harir later to pro-

militaries fighting guerilla-st> le to their rear

vide armored support.

and on

their flanks.

casualties,

none

The U.S. Marines took 20

fatal,

the

in

Nasiriyah overnight. Thursdas

Marines sent loudspeaker trucks into the

some 200.000

initial rules

allied troops to

after the use of ci\ ilian

fedayeen.

of

The

of engage-

avoid damaging

deliberate publicit}

mand

suggested that they wanted the fraqi

commanders the

to

— and wony — about

know

U.S. forces gathering to their north. The

fraqis will

have

to think long

taking Republican

Guard

and hard before

units

to reinforce the defense of

from the north

Baghdad.

ha\e been modified,

Meanwhile, south and west of Baghdad, the

cover by Iraqi guerrilla-

U.S. 3rd Division and the Marines were getting

civilian areas appears to

tA.pe

cit>

people, telhng the civilians to

pack up and leave. The

ment requiring

of

defense

morning, the

The

given to these movements by the allied com-

initial

plan to bypass the

towns and simply use the bridges was no longer

The Marines would ha\ e to root out the in the streets and compounds. With the weather clear and the gunships fly-

with the main Republican Guard units, Medina and Baghdad Divisions. Led by the

to grips

the

viable.

7th CavaLr>. the 3rd Division continued

fedayeen

drive up the west

ing again, the

flat terrain

of the

fertile plains

between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers became a killing ground for the Republican Guard divisions trying to hold the approaches to Baghdad. But in strategic terms, there was a on lot of flexibihty if not change of plan

—

—

display at the coalition

of U.S. Gen.

Tommy

command headquaners

Franks in Qatar. Plan

A—

a t»o-pronged attack on Iraq from north and

south

— was ditched when

the Turks refused

single

the abortive attempt to

blow by decapitating

the

end the war

at a

Baghdad regime

its

the Euphrates, bat-

way through repeated ambushes by armed troops with rocket propelled grenades and by regular army units w ith dug-in tling its

lightly

antitank guns. For the

first

time in the tank's

Ml Al Abrams

20-\ear histor\. two

knocked out by guns

firing

at

tanks were

close range,

although none of the crewmen was killed.

And

the Iraqi defense positions were only able to get oft~ one or t\vo shots before the> were hit by

barrages artiller>

from

the

guns or the

Paladin

self-propelled

air cover.

The Marines pushing north from Nasiriyah

passage to the U.S. 4th lnfantr> Division. Plan

B was

bank of

to

Ash-Shatra and al-Amarah fought a series of

sharp, tactical battles.

One

Iraqi

armored unit

— DAY 8

TWENTY-ONE DAYS and

its

accompanying infantry were pummeled fire Thursday after

with air strikes and artillery

to the northwest, as if to attack

it

81

in force.

As

hoped, the Iraqi tanks and infantry, which had

into

been turned back Tuesday when they had

vacated U.S. positions in central part of the

approached the column farther south, then

for a trap

falling

lured the

that

The Marines advanced

country.

Iraqis

to contact

and

then pulled back in apparent disarray. Tuesday,

had vacated an area near the main where militia from a nearby train-

the Marines

Highway 7, ing camp had ambushed a Marine column. A U.S. Navy medic was killed by mortar fire while tending a wounded comrade. The militia fought well. "Some of these guys must have Benning (Georgia)

moved

what they thought was a would bring them in behind the Marines on the move. The Iraqi force, a Republican Guard unit in to exploit

situation that

equipped with Soviet-made T-72 tanks, was approaching the vacated positions across the

open desert when two Navy F-14

swooped down from a

aircraft

bright, clear sky

—

the

—

at

one time or

first after

another," said Capt. Jason Smith,

commander

and released laser-guided missiles and bombs.

gone

to Fort

three days of vicious dust storms

Bravo Company, 1st Battalion. "The ambushes are right out of the book ambush,

Cobra helicopter gunships then buzzed

ambush again as the target either withdraws or moves forward to consolidate. They also have

Plumes of smoke could be seen

of

—

boxed

the road

As 3rd

in (preset) for the mortars.*"

Battalion Marines repelled the attack

and hunkered down for the night, ther to the rear strikes

pounded enemy

artillery fur-

positions. Air

were not possible because of a raging

from the burning hulks. fell for it."

Gunnery

Company.

1st

International.

which

world,

in

to less than 10 feet.

night

was sometimes

visibility

compacted the dust

A hard

rain in the

in the early

morning,

increasing visibility, but a strong wind contin-

Battalion,

"We

really

forw ard

air controller for the

of Bravo

United Press

told

them

lit

and they

feint

Ron Jenks

Sgt.

distance

in the

was a

"It

Shawn Basco. an F-18

Capt.

added

up.'"

pilot acting as a

company.

Meanwhile, troops of 2nd Battalion. 5th

dust storm that turned day into an eerie twilight

reduced

in

lower, firing Gatling guns and rocket launchers.

were attacking a regional airport two hours away by slow-moving armored troop carrier. Two Marines were killed Marines,

about

by small-arms

Word on

fire.

Iraqi casualties

miserable. This has got to be the ass

was not immediately available. The fighting Thursday was the culmination of a four-day march from the southern Rumaila oil fields,

end of the world," Lance Cpl. Gregory Moll,

seized and secured by the Marines in the hours

ued

to blow. Late

Tuesday, the wind was blow-

ing at about 45 knots.

"This

is

from Harrisburg,

commented.

Pa.,

"It's

so

unreal."

units to enter

The storm was not a sandstorm but a dust storm. Once part of the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia, the area where the Marines were had once been marshland. Saddam began draining it in the late 1970s. The result: a

to unseat Iraqi leader

moonscape, covered with inches and inches of soft, fine

dust and what

officers in the

column

was once

silt.

Senior

said the attacks by mili-

Marine with armed defenses with pickup trucks machine guns. About a half dozen Iraqi army T-72 tanks tried to join in the fighting by movtia

ing

included

down

withdrew

the

attempts to penetrate

highway Tuesday

night, but they

after the Marines" 155

mm

artiller>'

In a regiment-sized

movement,

arm

Iraq of

destruction.

Iraq at the start

the Marines

took to the road and swung toward the airport

the

U.S.

first

of the ground war

Saddam Hussein and

dis-

suspected weapons of mass

its

Although

has not suffered a

it

chemical-weapon attack

in its

dash into

Iraq,

the Marines are in their chemical protection suits,

with gas masks in small bags attached to

their belts.

During the hot days, the

bake the Marines, but

at

suits

slowly

night offer a bit of help

against muscle-cramping cold.

"OK.

are

we having

miserable, but we" re

your Bill

he

spirits up,

moved down

fun yet?

all in

the

same

I

know boat.

keep your guard up."

Leuthe of Bravo

Company

the line of

rying his charges.

gave them a deadly welcome.

became

after the 5th Battalion

night, but so what. will hit the spot."

"I

1

it's

Keep

st

Sgt.

told troops as

armored tracks

car-

was cold

last

knou

it

Heat up for

MREs.

guys,

it

82

THE IRAQ

WAR followed by an era of peace during which the

whole world

Wars,

Nev\^

in

— who

man

a beloved

Old Gods Babylon

harmony.

will be in

A charismatic

leader will emerge from this time of calm,

Antichrist.

will turn out to be the

HeTl then destroy

Israel in a fiery

come

cataclysm, and Christ will

again. I'm

abridging, of course, but the literalists holding

Book of Revelation

the

ing on this

John Bloom

war

in their

hands are look-

as the beginning of the end, or

the beginning of the beginning, depending on

NEW

YORK, March 24

— There

(UPI)

s

a rea-

son the lower plain, between the Tigris and Euphrates, where right

now. looks

God wiped

it

the death

all

occurring

is

out himself.

deposited the sons of

the islands shall dwell there,

dwell therein: and

it

it

shall

be no more inhabited

shall

for ever: neither shall

and the owls

be dwelt

in

from gen-

eration to generation."

has been dwelt in over the past 25 cen-

bareh: The dynasties have been

and the settlements sporadic. As the

short

prophet said,

it's

to generation."

"from generation

failed to last

And

under the ground

yet.

ground —

almost ever> where under the

—

the

lie

bones of our ancestors.

where a hundred

have occurred before. E\er>' missile

that

penetrates into the ground destroys not just the current occupant of the land, but as

seven major civilizations below

however shocking

Abraham

it.

many

as

Every death,

entire nation

had

But again,

it's

to

a tale better

Noah

after the Flood.

dence

go

—

For some

that the

where

are believed to have settled this is

mere coinci-

most powerful nation would

to the oldest battleground at this particular

time. But

if

you watch some of the more fringe war

evangelists on religious TV, youTl find this is

being monitored with the sort of rapt atten-

tion they normally reserve for the proceedings

of the state biology textbook committee. their

reckoning

When that

it's

an entirely spiritual event.

the second

would be

By

Iraq

Babylon

—

is

destroyed

they expect

it

to

— be

—

a prophet

will stretch out

hand against the north, and destroy Assyria;

and

make Nineveh

will

like a wilderness.

And

the midst of her.

all

and dry

a desolation,

flocks shall

down

lie

in

the beasts of the nations:

both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge

upper

in the

of

lintels

it:

their voice shall sing

windows: desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work.

place for beasts to

the sons of

left to

"And He

time Zephaniah:

this

terrible that their

be destroyed.

older even than Egypt

erally trampling the oldest, at the place

by the heavy

of Nineveh, a city especially despised by

site

God. where the kings were so

beside me:

lit-

called

suited him,

Mosul especially ironic. Fortunately, most of King Sargon's summer palace, built in 709 B.C.. has long since been removed to the Louvre. But the bombing area was the

the ruins of Ur, oldest civilization in the world, the newest world

it

at

that said in her heart,

—

He

there.

the rubble currently being created

bombing

moment, is. from the standpoint of histor>'. a mere jot in the boneyard. When the 3rd Infantn.' Division marched up the right bank of the Euphrates, it passed over at the

Noah

And when

out of there.

is

He

gets his hands dirty.

he reduced everything to rubble. That makes

his

E\er\' battle takes place battles

God

exactly where

wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of

It

believe that this particular patch of land

like a wasteland.

"Therefore." said the prophet Jeremiah, "the

turies, but just

how you relate emotionally to the apocalypse. And why not? We have every reason to

in

the

This

the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly,

is

how

lie

am, and there

I

she

is

become

down

passeth by her shall hiss,

in!

is

none

a desolation, a

Every one

and wag

that

his hand."

The part here that fascinates me is that the sin of Nineveh was that it was a "rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart,

am. and there

is

none beside

me

... I

think

I

we

can assume that Babylon, where the god Marduk

Tower of Babel, and Division was turned back, was devastated for simi-

was worshipped where

the

recently

Iraqi

lar reasons.

phrase that

it

tator,

"I

in

the

11th

Infantr>'

But the intriguing thing about the

am, and there

is

none beside me,"

is

could be the mantra of a homicidal dicbut

it

could also be the slogan of any

TWENTY-ONE DAYS conqueror.

was

It

from the

a few miles

just

King Ham-

murabi,

He

who

as his reverence, the Cadi, declares, that they

actually invented the rule of law

codified the "I

B.C.

first

that

system around

legal

am, and there

something

—

Law"

capital city of

1

800

none beside me"

is

every child says

is

— before he

understands there are others beside him.

As

I

into the

w rite

this.

American

rivers."

the

rent-a-generals

and according

American force

will

on

to the speculation of

television,

move

Baghdad can be squeezed

second

a

to the north so that

in a pincer operation.

This means the second force w ould reconnoiter

somewhere around

the confluence of the Tigris

and the Zab. Though they won"t realize be

at

Nimrod. one of the

called Larissa

human

they'll

settlements,

by Xenophon. who encamped

there with the 10.000

most famous

first

it.

Greek warriors during the

King Nimrod. "the mighty hunter." Noah, and

were enormous winged

lions

Museum.

is

the

symbols

his

and winged

most of which fortunately now reside British

bulls, in the

After resting for 2.800 years.

they were excavated, loaded onto

600 miles down the

rafts,

Tigris to Basra,

shipped

and then

onto British ships that carried them 12.000

more miles around

the

feat,

who

super\ised this rather stupendous

was approached by

a local sheikh as the

sculptures were being loaded, and the sheikh

asked. "In the

O

name

are to the

go

to the palace

idols?" Well, as

us

of the Most High,

tell

me.

Bey. what you are going to do with those

w ho

of your Queen,

with

of the unbelievers, worships these

rest

it

some of

turns out. there are

who learn wisdom from them and some of who worship them. Unfortunately. don't I

numbered

think any presidents or generals are

among

either group.

And

that

makes

it

dicey for

the .-\rmy.

This war gives

me

the creeps.

As armored

divisions roll past the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar,

tramp dow n the bloody graves of

terrorists

march over the banquet hall Sumerian gods, the cities of the

like Sennacherib,

of the

Chaldeans, the fortresses of the Kassites and the Elamites. the as strange in

its

enemy before them must seem way as the fearsome Sirrush.

the dragon of Babylon, a long-legged four-

w ith

talons and a snake head

on a long neck, topped by a horn on a

flat skull.

The Sirrush destroyed many an army, and according to Daniel became impotent only w hen it faced "the living God." There are many gods in Sumeria and Akkad and Iraq, and all of them are broken into shards

—

—

that lie

crumpled on the backs of a million

mangled, stabbed, speared, beheaded and murdered people. The

Horn of Africa.

Austen Henr> Layard. the British foreign officer

upon such things! Can

footed scaly beast

retreat in militar\' history.

third generation after

stones'?

us

soldiers are pouring

Aram-naharaim. the "land between the

two

83

So many thousands of purses spent it be. as you say. that your people learn wisdom from them, or is it.

interesting to see that tv\o

days ago an American soldier erected a banner reading "Future Iraq: The Rule of

— DAY 8

blood and lightly. If

ver\'

ground consists of

flesh. It's not a place to

and when we win

this war,

their

be taken

we

should

leave quickly, as though from a cursed place, lest

we

be thought of as a rejoicing people w ho

dwelt carelesslv.

God

doesn't like that.

4

I

I

CENTRAL

COMMAND AREA OF

SIBILITY, KUWAIT,

MARCH

28

(UPI)

RESPON-

—A

pilot of

a CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter bends down to gather himself after surviving a crash at an expeditionary airfield station while ation Iraqi Freedom.

in

support of Oper-

(Lance Cpl.

J.T.

Spencer,

USMC/UPI)

—

Day 9 Friday, March 28 "... however long George W. Busti

The

battle of the

it

takes

U.S.

Sunni triangle

is

engaged, and coalition commanders will

it

President

now fully now hope

continue long enough to secure the

Now

that

have heard President Bush

they

declare his readiness for a long

ever long

it

war

— "how-

takes," as he said at Thursday's

destruction of the Republican

Guard before they close in on the city of Baghdad. Bounded by the cities of Baghdad, Najaf and Kut, this triangle of some 1,200 square miles is the heartland of the Sunni Muslims and the cradle

news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair the coalition commanders feel under no pressure to mount a premature attack on the Iraqi capital. They are repairing the cap-

of the ancient Babylonian civilization.

and

at

air

power. They are securing the Euphrates

It is

now becoming

As the sun of spring bums

a killing ground.

—

tured Iraqi airbases at Tallil outside Nasiriyah

al-Amara

to base

and resupply

their

bridges at Najaf and Nasiriyah, which

own

means

skies clear and the fierce down, the U.S. combat helicopters and

clearing the houses and buildings within sniper

have been unleashed upon the

and mortar range.

and

Iraqi

army

forces

who

air power Republican Guard

are being constantly

reinforced to hold this bleak and the view of coalition is

a

gift.

commanders

where they can be

killed

And ground down in

from the

more Saddam's loyalists are this happy hunting ground for U.S. the

own

their

fix the Iraqi forces in

the

fewer they will meet

In

in Qatar, this

With steady pressure from

ground troops, they can place,

flat terrain.

in the streets

air

air.

power, the

of Baghdad.

In

meantime, the U.S. troops can scour the

remaining guerilla threats to their supply

300 miles back

to

Kuwait, and

lines,

start the "hearts

and minds" campaign with humanitarian supplies

among

the Shiite Muslims of southern Iraq.

And

U.S. Marines fought a

long battle Thursday in Nasiriyah against pro-

Saddam

fedayeen.

Baghdad's outer defenses have been dubbed the "Red Zone" by Central Command planners, after the last 20 yards before the end

zone of a football

field.

between eight and 10

The Red Zone contains Iraqi divisions.

Based

around Amarah. between the southeastern

cit>

Army's IV Corps. The IV Corps consists of two weak 0th Armored light infantry divisions and the

of Basra and Baghdad,

is

the Regular

1

Division, one of the best in the Iraqi army.

Behind the IV Corps

is

Guards Baghdad Motorized

the

Republican

Divisit)n.

a not

85

86

THE IRAQ

WAR

good truck-mounted unit. Closer to Guard Divisions least two commando brigades. To the

particularly

begun.

Baghdad

be decided in a month.

and

at

are four Republican

Hammurabi and

north of the city are the

al-

the 26th Commando Brigade. To the south are the Medina Armored and Nebuchadnezzar Motorized Divi-

Nida Armored Divisions and

sions.

Guarding the southern edge of the

Commando

the 3rd

regular

city is

Two more solid may also be in the

Brigade.

army tank Divisions

tv\

in 10 days.

Gulf War. By moving

small groups and

at

night and in

using camouflage.

forces had learned to survive

army

it.

well dug-in and soldiers" foxholes are

is

he said. "Our casualties power so far have not been heavy." While the Iraqi capital soaked up U.S.

hard to

from

hit accurately."

air

attacks in house-by-house fighting, the Iraqis

were determined

south. Ho\\e\er. there ha\e been reports that

strikes against the U.S. supply lines.

was moved north

the division

to

units,

been

has

there

no

"They

defend Baghcontact

serious

to

keep up the guerilla

are a snake that

kilometer,

we would

is

further and then start to

chop them up."

Mohammad

Information Minister

There ha\e also been reports that the 3rd

Sahhaf told Abu Dhabi TV.

Di\ision.

north, across

usually

stationed

moved

Region, has been

to

In short, the

the

in

from the Kurdish Autonomous Ramadi. on the

500 them even

stretched over

like to stretch

between coalition forces and the 6th Armored.

Armored

Iraqi

"The regular

for.

dad. Aside from a few contacts with rear-guard

power,

air

had been studying since

Iraqi generals

the first

could

It

o months or more."

Nor was he overawed by U.S. which

ring.

The 6th Armored Division is unaccounted It was supposed to be stationed in the

be decided

"It can't

Iraqi

Saeed

commanders of both

sides

al-

now

think they have found their killing ground. For the Iraqis,

will be the streets of

it

Baghdad and

enemy's stretched and vulnerable

western approaches to Baghdad.

the

The question is whether the Iraqi commanders will cooperate with the new American strategN. So far. they have proved capable of delivering some nasty surprises, and Iraqi

communication. For the U.S. and British com-

leaders are

now

talking openly of fighting a

long campaign of attrition against the coalition forces

that

seems drawn equally from the

Soviet defense of Stalingrad in World

and the Viet Cong

War

guerillas. In a long

II

news

lines

of

manders, the killing ground will be the 1.200 square miles of the Sunni triangle south of

Baghdad. This war is becoming a struggle between two differing concepts of the war of

—

which the side with the greater and resist internal dissent has usually won. Even as they buckled down to a war of attrition

in

political will to take casualties

Baghdad Thursday. Iraq's defense minister. Sultan Hashim Ahmed, suggested Iraq had its own counterstrateg\ He acknowledged that coalition forces might encircle Baghdad within 5 to 10 days, but sooner or later they would have to tr\ to enter

defense, the Iraqi regime's offensive capaci-

the city.

military targets of the vital port of

"The enemy must come inside Baghdad, and be its grave." he said. "We feel that this war must be prolonged so the enemy pays

the

conference

in

.

that will

God

a high price.

impregnable.

We

willing.

Baghdad

will be

will fight to the end.

The

ties

were not exhausted. Their missile attacks

had hitherto proved almost pointless. Unlike no missiles were fired at

the first Gulf War. Israel. its

And

the missiles fired at Kuwait, with

vast civilian target of

sprawling

desert,

had

an Iraqi missile

can he go? He

has to enter the citv." he said,

stressing that this

war

for

which the

had been preparing for the

last \'ear

either

were shot down by the Patriot missile sys-

our countr}'. the more they will pay in

in

The missiles

tems. But a large explosion rocked

Kuwait City

lives.

military

effect.

the

Doha and camps in the

veered off course into the Persian Gulf or

longer the American and British soldiers stay in

"The enemy can bypass the resistance and go the desert as far as it wants. In the end. where

U.S.

little

Kuwait City and

downtown

a.m. local time Saturday, as

at 2

cinema of a deserted malk within a stone's throw

hit the

seafront shopping

of a Kuwaiti Foreign Ministn. building and a residence of the ruling al-Sabah family. The

army

usual radar-triggered air raid alarms did not

had barely

sound. su22estin2 the missile was one that

Iraqi

TWENTY-ONE DAYS came

below radar coverage, and

in low.

Kuwait International Airport continued

to

operate as usual, and commercial jets were

heard taking

although the airport

off,

tinely closed during a missile alert. officials said

was a low

it

Iraqi missiles, after 12 missiles inflict

inspired

many

to shrug

failed to

false alarms

head for the

shelters.

some English writing the movie theater. was an American Tomahawk that

Kuwaitis, finding

on the missile beUe\ ed

w ent

fears of the

and ignore the regula-

tions requiring people to

Some

missile,

it

that

hit

fact

was an Iraqi-made

it

homemade

skimming Silkw orm Iraq

that

although U.S. retained as

missile,

a

modification of a Chinese seacruise missile, fired

One

the vicinit) of Basra.

war was

man\

tired

from

countries.

Mohammad

by bus and was allowed

to the border

my

Iraq "to see

him on

the bus

dying mother

in

to leave

Yemen." With

were 22 Palestinians who are and Eg>ptian

travel

ments. But the Eg> ptian Embassy in

docu-

.Amman

is

unwilling to guarantee their onward journey,

and the

Embassy

Iraqi

in the

Jordanian capital

no Scud missiles,

a car salesman in the duty-free zone outside

reckoned

intelligence

as 24. despite

it

U.\. orders

had

Amman,

but no one recognized his name.

International relief organizations had been

that

expecting hundreds of thousands of Iraqi

well as the Scuds that Iraq claims to have

has rwo other locally

Kuwait. The

.Mi Goufi. 30. told

United Press International that he had traveled

won"t take them back. Goufi said he worked as

destroyed under L .N. disarmament rules, Iraq

reach

stuck in a tent in no man's land between the

two

striking fact of the

the) be destrosed.

As

—

RUWEISHAD, Jordan, March 24 (UPI) The sole Iraqi refugee to make it to the Jordanian border since the beginning of the war is now

bearers of Iraqi

astray.

In

Arnaud de Borchgrove

Iraq, across

had

man\ more

an> damage, and

The Lonely Refugee

Kuwaiti

trajecton.

from the direction of Basra. the Persian Gulf Kuu ait Cit> had lost its initial fired

rou-

is

87

the

defenses did not react.

antimissile

Patriot

— DAY 9

made first

missiles that can

is

the

al-Samoud.

whose range U.N. inspectors deemed last month to exceed the 150-kilometer (93-mile) limit imposed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. They ordered those missiles destro>ed. which Iraq was in the process of doing when war broke out. The second is the shorter-range al-

So far. however, only a trickle has been reported on all frontiers. Jordanian refugees.

authorities erected eight tents in the desolate \\

ind-

and rain-swept zone between the two some 400 miles from the Iraqi

countries

—

Baghdad, and about 200 miles from three .Amman. Families occupy seven tents

capital.

per tiny tent

— and Goufi has one

—

to himself.

The temperature Monday was near freezing. International Red Cross and United Nations

Fatah missile, with a 130-kilometer (SO-mile)

refugee agency representatives were on hand

range.

when UPI reached them. The media have

Until

been no

the

Saturday explosion, there had

air raid

warnings and no missiles for

36 hours. U.S. militan. spokesmen said the threat

of missile

into Iraq,

would inevitably

attack

recede as coalition forces

moved

farther north

pushing Iraqi forces back out of

fir-

Kuwait came as the coalition air forces launched another series of heavy bombing raids against Baghdad. Iraqi authorities claimed some 50 more ing range.

The explosion

in

had died in what they called "another war crime" attack on a residential

civilians

district.

not

been authorized to enter the no man's land.

Observers

said

this

was

partly

because

gouger's fees were being charged for taxis

and other transport, and partly because Jordan. Turkey and Syria had closed their borders to refugees at least for the

moment,

as

had the Iranians. But. the obser\ers said, Iraqis could well be staying put in anticipation of being liberated by troops of the U.S.led coalition.

Faltima Saeed. a medical doctor, has a Jor-

danian passport, but she wants to stay with her Palestinian lawver-husband and three of

88

THE IRAQ

WAR (two stayed behind

her five children

in

Baghdad).

None spoke regime:

"We

ill

When

asked

why

they thought

the United States decided to invade to

Saddam from power, to see said,

he said with some amazement.

because of the bombing and

left

food shortages."

Saddam Hussein

of the

car, bus, van and on foot. "Two Egyptians walked 140 kilometers (90 miles) to get here,"

by

they looked

who would speak

first.

"We're not involved

at

Then

remove

each other

husband

the

But

pened, and Suifan ing.

"We

sits in

a large bus-office wait-

"We

ready," he promises.

ple have

regime and kept saying. "We're not

who

moved each way

across this border

are not claiming refugee status,

on such

Benz

divergent transport as buses, Mercedes limousines, family vans and giant trucks.

those travelers are most likely to stop at the Saif

Casablanca 2003 Everyone

—

are

In the 19 days of this war, thousands of peo-

declined to offer their opinions about the Iraqi in politics."

are

prepared."

They

in politics."

date the refugee crisis that over-

to

whelmed Jordan in the first Gulf War has not hap-

—

sword" seats, a

the

name

Arabic for "father of the

is

— a 24-hour

And Abu

restaurant with perhaps

40

butcher shop, a grocery store and, like

Rick's, lazy fans circulating in the ceiling.

This

is

where the hundreds of Iraqis have had

goes to Rick's

a last supper of peace before returning to Iraq,

NICHOLAS M. HORROCK

they watch their nation being bombarded. This

many vowing to fight for Saddam Hussein, many just wanting to be with their families as is

RUWEISHED, Jordan,

April

Saif isn't Rick's, and

— The Abu

7 (UPI)

Muwfaq Syouf

have a white dinner jacket, but just

doesn't

like Rick's

mythical cafe in the 1942 movie "Casablanca,"

Abu

the

Saif has been the end of the line for a

Ruweished you enter

h^aq,

and 530 miles can get killed

is

the last Jordanian

town before

Amman, Jordan, from Baghdad down a road you on, and is for many who pass 75 miles from

1

it in either direction the end of a way of maybe the beginning of another. The town is a dust>' way station in the desert, here to serve the giant oil trucks that for years ran down this

through life

or

which maintains a cordon

some

ity

known

this is

Red Crescent and

night, doesn't

thinks

movies.

own

a white dinner jacket, and

he once saw "Casablanca"

"We

don't like war," he told United Press

a Jordanian char-

is

not

tives

from the Associated Press, a half dozen

Japanese television and print organizations,

and reporters from Brazilian papers.

refugees or more, but as yet only a handful

have come, mainly third countr>' nationals

regional disaster

war began. "They come

Amar Ahmed

manager

in

International correspondents as they dined. "It

Newsweek photographers and BBC

border," said Suifan

the

"Casablanca," he deplores the war around him.

Hashemite Foundation. The

ing Iraq after the

in

Like Humphrey Bogart's Rick

have a capacity of perhaps 100,000

as the

where

has apparently eaten there, as have representa-

mission on Refugees, the International Red

tent cities

Baghdad, and

Com-

refugee camps set up by the U.N. High

Cross, the

sites in

many of them of had the first relaxed meal on their way back from the war. Manager-owner Muwfaq, 44, was wearing a

12 miles, are vast

keep the

militaire to

wanderers 50 miles from the Iraqi border. village,

humanitarian

for sup-

to give their bodies to protect

good to gain money over war." And clearly war has been, although perhaps unwelcome, a boon to Muwfaq and his brother. The walls tell the story, with the business cards of his new customers, some famous, some not so famous. Jim Cox of USA Today

road and the army posts of the Jordanian army,

North of this

way

short-sleeved green shirt and slacks on Sunday

of people in this war.

lot

where the "human shields" stopped

per on their

for the

flee-

to the

al-Hided, a

Red

Crescent,

Never mind

producers

the business cards, his cafe bears

the unmistakable atmosphere that tried to recreate in the

Hollywood

"Casablanca" movie

set:

desperate people caught up in a war beyond their control and fortunes they can no longer predict.

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Sunday, the fried

Abu

Saif featured a quite tasty

chicken and frencfa

mixed

fries,

salad, black olives,

with oUve

oil

and large

flat

a Middle East

hummus

pieces of a {Mta bread

to be dipped into a delicious sauce of garlic.

The

garnished

price of dinner

yogun and

was S830

for two,

including Arabic coffee and a cooq^ementary bottle

of water for the

trip.

The waiter was an repofters ins

IraqL

name, but

in

— DAY 9

89

He was afraid to give a few days be

return to Iraq, to find out the fate of his

will

modier in

Samawa. He has been unable to call her for dav-s. Like most Arabs life \»ill

in this region, the waiter thinks

never be the same, and like most Arabs

in this region,

\ision that

he does not ha\ e much

George W. Bush has

faith in the

for his country.

r

HARIR AIR BASE, IRAQ, MARCH 29

(UPI)

American troops keeping watch March 29, 2003, northern Iraq during the coalition-led

Saddann Hussein's regime.

(Ali

— in

war against

Khaligh, UPI)

—

Day

10 Saturday,

March 29 The pause MARTIN WALKER Back

in

Washington and London, the armchair

pundits called

"the pause," the sudden slack-

it

ening of the breakneck advance that had taken U.S. forward patrols to within 50 miles of

Baghdad

as the vast logistics and supply con-

voys hauled the food and fuel and

ammo

200

miles north from the Kuwaiti ports. They had to

supply

90,000 troops inside Iraq with

the

400,000 gallons of water a day. Maj. Gen. Dennis Jackson, director of logistics for U.S. tral fill

Cen-

Command, said he thinks of it as enough to 20 swimming pools. And the tanks,

Humvees,

trucks, helicopters

and mobile gen-

erators for the field hospitals need 15 million

means 750 giant accompanying secu-

gallons of fuel every day. That fuel tankers rity units

— with

their

— heading north each

For the troops on the front

The

feel like a pause.

day. line,

convoys, and the lightly armed troops to

it

did not

security of those logistics

guard them against

who

tried

Iraqi guerillas attacks,

had become a prime concern after the ambushes of recent days. So in the towns of Najaf and Samawa and Nasiriyah. Marines and Airborne troops began the grueling work of urban warfare, clearing the houses and industrial

plants

and

factory

compounds within

sniper and mortar range of the roads and

bridges used by the vulnerable supply convoys.

Suddenly,

u

ith

it

was

a different

civilians in the front line,

kind of war,

and new security

91

92

THE IRAQ

WAR

combat troops who found themmanning roadblocks and checkpoints. It

more confident

tasks for the

coalition forces are

selves

are reaching Iraqi antiaircraft facilities.

was at such a checkpoint in Najaf that four American soldiers were killed Saturday when a suicide bomber exploded his car while he was stopped for a routine check. The incident reflects the

way

the conventional militar>' bat-

U.S. and British forces thought they would

tle

face has started to look

war of

more

like the guerilla

the Palestinian intifada against Israel.

The

suicide

bomber was dressed

and approached the checkpoint

as a civilian

in a taxi.

He

sig-

naled for help, and then blew himself and the vehicle up as the soldiers of the U.S.

Army's

1st

their

bombs

Baghdad has dwindled even

Traffic in

dur-

ing the day and people have been seeking safer

havens for

their families,

away from

the deaf-

ening blasts that have broken windows and

shaken

foundations

the

of

sight. State filled

and

homes.

their

become

Destruction and death has

a

common

channels are

satellite television

with images of attacks said to have been

propagated by American and British forces,

showing twisted and bloody bodies and bandaged children

daytime

in hospital. Neither

raids nor rationing of electric power, water

air

and

approached.

communications services have kept residents

him as Ali Jaafar Hammad al-Naamani. an army officer, and Iraqi TV screened a film of him swearing on a copy of the Koran to become a martyr. It will not be the

off the streets looking to purchase necessities,

Brigade.

3rd

Division

Infantr>

Iraqi officials identified

last

such attack. houe\er. declared Iraqi Deputy

President Taha Yassin

and he claimed were arriving

Ramadan

later Saturday,

that "thousands of volunteers"

Iraq daih'

in

countries to join the

w ar

from other Arab

against the coalition

You will hear good news in the few coming days. The Iraqi people will receive them the way those miserable

forces. "This is a beginning.

(U.S. - British forces) deserve," he said.

The bombing was "a symbol

of an organization

and allowed people

Information

Iraqi

of 140 Iraqis were killed and 35

by U.S.-British Friday. that

He

air strikes

that a total

others injured

1

on the country since

said in a daily briefing in the capital

68 "were martyred only

last night's

Baghdad

in

since

bombing, and 107 injured."

Lebanon have headed

in south

coalition forces,

to Iraq to battle

and Lebanese security services

Egyptian volunteers, mostly members of the

at

the

terrorist events."

Arab Baath

Socialist Party,

have traveled to

Iraq in recent days.

"There

is

not a single (Iraqi) refugee

out. but six or

coming

seven hundred leave every day."

a Syrian border officer told United Press Inter-

"Those who are going to Iraq, mostly and from various Arab nationalities, out-

national.

Ramadan's comments came

as

Baghdad

res-

idents braced themselves for another night of

the coalition's sea-launched cruise

missiles and aircraft

bombs.

In the

two

previ-

Iraqis

number those who

A Lebanese day

are

coming."

couple reached al-Tanaf on Fri-

to look for their only child.

ous days, Iraqi television has shown residential

19-year-old university student,

areas the government says were hit by U.S.

parents in Beirut telling

munitions, killing dozens of men.

women

and

spokesmen, confident of the

accuracy of their precision weapons, suggested

damage had been caused by

aircraft missiles

Mohammad

Minister

Saeed al-Sahhaf declared Saturday

also reported that several other Lebanese and

Combined Forces Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar. "Td ask. 'Where have we seen those types of events occur?' I think we would all agree that all of them are associated with

that the

up as

Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart

during a briefing Saturday afternoon

children. Coalition

to stock

they did before the outbreak of the war.

that's starting to get a little

bit desperate." said

bombing by

local markets

Scores of Palestinians from refugee camps

U.S. military officials tried to put a better face on the tactic.

—

however especially vegetables and meat, which have once again flooded the popular

hidden

Iraqi anti-

in residential areas.

booms of explosions have sounded

The

sporadi-

Wael Sabah. a

left

a letter to his

them he was heading

to

Iraq along with four of his friends to pose as

human

shields.

Syrian border officers con-

firmed that he was already

him and all What more can

protect Iraq.

in Iraq.

his friends I

"May God

and people

Kuwaiti border troops have arrested

cally throughout the Iraqi capital during the

fedayeen

dayUght hours as well Saturday, suggesting

bombing campaign

infiltrators

in

say?" Sabah "s father said.

on a mission in

1 1

Iraqi

to carry out a

Kuwait as they

tried to

TWENTY-ONE DAYS The 1 feda\ een \\ ere two separate operations Thursday

slip across the frontier.

arrested in

1

and Friday near the remote border crossing of

Bahar Houshan and have since been under interrogation by Kuwaiti security pohce.

— DAY

Muslims providing another

93

1

and many

third,

and family links across the border. Kuw ait remains uncomfortably locked into the political tribal

fate of

neighboring Iraq.

But as the hea\y equipment of the U.S. 4th Division began to unload

Kuwait's port Sat-

at

urday, security officials in this essential logis-

base for the coalition forces were bracing

tics

for Iraq's

new

guerilla tactics to stan operations

against their small, oil-rich emirate. Although there are

no blackouts

in

Kuwait

and the shopping malls are heightened security

there are con-

public buildings. Twelve

at

have been tired

Iraqi missiles

war began, and

the

full,

checkpoints on the roads and

police

stant

Cit) at night

Kuwait since

at

and

in

many

across

the

Kuwait.

And

itar%

who

Iraqis,

Ghassan al-Khadi

cases ha\e close family links

can pass unnoticed

border,

in

with U.S. and British air and mil-

intelligence opportunit>

is

a prime

Baghdad. So

for

far.

Kuwait has been an intelligence

objecti\e rather than a target for hostile co\ ert

which makes the

operations, trators so

no sign

arrest

of the

infil-

alarming for the emirate. But there

that the

new

Bombardment for 10th Day

speak the same language

bases in Kuwait, the countP.

however.

Under

send people

air raid sirens

scurr> ing to their shelters daih

Many

Baghdad

threats to

Kuw ait.

is

nor the

BAGHDAD,

Iraq,

March 29

(UPI)

U.S. -led invasion of Iraq entered

— As

its

the

10th day

Saturday. Iraqis began to feel the dangers their lives faced, panicularly after attacks

dential

and

civilian areas that killed

on

resi-

and injured

dozens over the past two days. More than 50 civilians are reported to

a missile hit a

have died Friday, w hen

crowded

Baghdad neighborhood. on the U.S.-British

street in

Iraq

a low-income

blamed

the raid

coalition. Coalition forces

constant attacks on Kuwait's support for the

have consistently denied targeting civilian

w ar against

areas.

will

Iraq

coming from

the .^rab media,

Residents of Baghdad began to feel exposed

change the government's policy.

"We have

interests as

Kuw aitis

that the Iraqi

after the missile attacks targeted the

impo\er-

ousted." said Kuwait defense

ished and low-income al-Shaab and al-Shula

minister Sheikh Jaber al-Sabah. speaking to

neighborhoods on Frida>. People began to seek

on an inspection tour of Kuwaiti na\ al

awa\ from the whose deafening noise missiles and rockets, were particularly terrifying for children. The explosion from the bombing shook the foundations of houses and buildings and broke w in-

regime leader

reporters

is

forces Saturday. "V^'e denounce the methods used

by some media stance of

Kuw ait ple, but

outlets

Kuw ait is

and

fx)liticians against the

tow ards the w ar

in Iraq."

a countn. of almost 2 million peo-

few er than half of them are

Kuw aitis

of

Arab descent, and a majority of the workforce is composed of immigrants from Palestine. Eg\ pt.

safer ha\ens for their families.

dows.

On

w indow s of

Pakistan. India and Bangladesh. Oil wealth pro-

ing

vides a highly prosperous per capita income of

hood.

o\er S20.000 a year, and

democratic of liament w ith

all

Arab

it

is

states.

one of the most

Kuw ait

has a par-

a genuine popular mandate, a divi-

sion of powers, a relatively free speech and

Friday night, a missile

tion Ministry in the center of

Iraq

said

Hundreds of demonstrated

condemning

Muslims

American and

Iraq)

furnishing almost half the population, and Sunni

a nearby residential neighborthe

Iraqi in front

missile artists

was American. and journalists

of the ministry building,

Destruction and death has

press and a written constitution. But with Shiite

and southern

Informa-

the attack.

mon

(like those of Iran

hit the

Baghdad, break-

sight in

become a com-

Baghdad. Images of attacks by British forces being broadca-st

Iraqi television has saddened Iraqis

who

on are

94

THE IRAQ

WAR

convinced that there

no such thing as a

is

"clean war" or one that differentiates between

civiUans and military. Iraqis are convinced that the missiles and rockets raining

down on

their

heads were far from "smart.""

The electric

the rationing of

power, water and telecommunications

services, has led to a reduction of traffic

main

Baghdad, a

streets of

lion people.

moving about

minimum

city

Because of the

on the

of some 5 mil-

risks involved in

the city, traffic has remained at a

during the past two days. Air raids

carried out during the day

on Baghdad have pre-

vented people from going about their daily lives

and forced some shops

operation told United Press International. "In Najaf. the al-Jaburi tribe understood that Sad-

combined with

attacks,

"The most important duty of a tribal chief is knowing when to switch sides," one British official with knowledge of the undercover

remain closed.

dam

Hussein"s time was

over."'

Afghanistan was the model for the opera-

where a handful of CIA agents spent $70

tion,

million to buy ties

— or perhaps

of Afghan

rent

—

the loyal-

campaign

tribal chiefs in the

against the Taliban in the

fall

of 2001

"The Iraqi tribes knew instinctively what was going on," the British official noted. "The week that the Washington Post reported that

from purchasing food, especially vegetables

S70 million had been spent on the Afghans, all knew that figure and several said openly that Iraq was a much more important

and meat, which have once again flooded the

country

to

Still.

that has not prevented residents of the capital

popular local markets, allowing people to stock

up as they did before the outbreak of the war. Information Minister

Mohammed

Saeed

al-

—

they

— and would

cost a lot more."

There are about 150 major

tribes in Iraq,

and

close to another 2.000 another smaller tribes or

some of them

clans,

little

more than extended The big

Sahhaf said the bombing of his ministry "will not affect its work and its responsibilities.""

families of fewer than 1,000 people.

and accused the British of destroying more

Beni Hasan, the Bardosti and Shammari and

than 75.000 tons of foodstuff in a warehouse

Dulaimi, have been dominant players in the

Basra, in the south of the countr\. Sahhaf

region's tribal mosaic for centuries before the

in

said there

were

efforts

by Arab and European

traditional tribes such as the al-Jaburi

British carved the state of Iraq

and the al-

from the wreck-

lawyers to "try George W. Bush and British

age of the Ottoman Empire 80 years ago. The

Prime Minister Tony Blair as war

British

criminals.""

understood the importance of

also

accusing their forces of killing civilians in

securing the loyalty of the tribal sheikhs.

southern Iraq on grounds they were soldiers.

this

The air raids continued throughout the day on Baghdad Saturday, but the targets were not clear. The loud sound of explosions could be

tribeswomen, to be worn only

heard repeatedly around the capital.

another time

day,

a

possession

prized

formal occasions,

a necklace

is

at

weddings or

made of British

gold sovereigns from the 1920s

when Western

To

many

of

—

relics

of

troops had to navi-

gate the shifting loyalties of the tribes.

man-

Traditionally rural-based, the tribes have

aged to survive the process of modemization that

Buying the

tribes

nomads Kuwait reckon

turned desert

into urban dwellers. Schol-

ars in

that

primary loyalties to their national

MARTIN WALKER

KUWAIT

CITY,

March 29

(UPi)

— The

dam striking

between a

half of the Iraqi population

government

helped

in

would

tribes, rather

Baghdad.

this process.

power

troops as liberators in the Shiite holy city of

recently

Najaf Wednesday came as no surprise

judicial authority to the sheikhs

officials

who have

for

months sought with

sweet talk and hard cash to win over the country's traditional tribal

sheikhs and chieftains.

than to the

his

Sad-

Baath

Party in the 1960s and 1970s tried to crush the tribes as alternative

to a

and a

Ironically.

Although

scenes of Iraqis cheering and welcoming U.S.

handful of British and American undercover

third

identify their

money

worked

to

for public

bases, he has

and channeling

works through them. And

despite repeated attempts at land reform,

than half of Iraqi land

than by individuals.

more

win them over by restoring

is

more

"owned"" by tribes rather

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Three years ago. Saddam's regime transfer land near Basra to

some

tried to

and

loyalists,

Hasan tribe rose in outrage. At least 24 were killed, and 14 of the Beni

the Beni

Iraqi soldiers

Hasan before Baghdad dropped

the plan

largely because other tribal sheikhs they, too.

warned

opposed any tampering with

—

that

tribal

95

1

the al-Jaburi tried to

mount a

with their officers.

failed, but the cautious

It

coup

military

sheikh was in Paris and later was able to continue running tribal affairs

from across the bor-

der in Syria. The al-Jaburi officers mounted

another coup attempt

in

1993

—

a desperate

last-ditch affair, as

Saddam

steadily purged the

from the

military.

Then

land rights. Last week, the abortive uprising

al-Jaburi

against Saddam's forces inside Basra began

regime patched up relations with a newly

when

installed sheikh.

a junior sheikh from the Beni

shot for being It

was

lukewarm

Hasan was which

Saddam

lasted throughout the 1980s, that forced

He needed

port and their

men

their political sup-

for his army.

of the large al-Jaburi

tribe died

When the

sheikh

and there

v\

as a

which clan leader would succeed him. Saddam saw his chance. He backed the son. dispute over

Machan

al-Jaburi

— and once

sheikh delivered 50.000 for the Iran war.

The

men

installed, the new^

to the Iraqi

al-Jaburi

became

army

fax

ored

and powerful, and public money for roads and schools and housing

was

steered their way.

lican

Guard were shot

Governments the tribes

faced

can

strong, he sacked the

shift fast.

Once he

were becoming too

two

al-Jaburi ministers

and cut off the flow of funds. In Januan 1990.

in

Baghdad come and

from the

revolts

go. but

al-Jaburi,

the

al-

knows they cannot be crushed, but only bought, cowed or accommodated. Now the Americans and British are playing at the same game. "This is not just about toppling Saddam with briefcases

full

of cash or telling their people

it

is

time to welcome the coalition troops." notes the

For them, the

al-Jaburi

Repub-

another coup

Dumaini, the Bani Hajam and the Beni Hasan,

British official.

tribal loyalties

after

—

go on forever. Saddam, who has

enhancing the sheikh's influence as he delivered

But

vendetta continued

attempt.

jobs and other faxors to his people.

suspected the

tribal

Baghdad

three years ago, al-Jaburi officers in the

in his loyalty.

the strain of the Iran-Iraq war.

to \\oo the tribes.

The

the

"The

real

tribes play a long

currency

is

not just

game.

money

but privileges and the promise of roles and

influence

in

the

post-Saddam government,

whatever the United Nations or the groups

may

say."

Iraqi exile

AL FAIR, pare

Iraq,

March 30

to destroy the

1

(DPI)

20mm

Iraqi military truck that

— Marines pre-

mortars found

was

in

an

halted by 3rd Battal-

ion, 1st Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team in Fajr, Iraq, on March 30, 2003. Marines and sailors of RCTl ore conducting operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Mace M. 1

Gratz, U.S. Marine Corps/UPI)

Day

—

11

Sunday, March 30 "We

are on plan.

acceptable,

And where we

stand today

— Gen.

remarkable."

is

it

is

not only

Tommy

Franks.

commander, U.S. forces

A

confident U.S.

insisted

Sunday

Army Gen. Tommy commander

the overall U.S.

that the

who

chiefs

do

seelc to

wedge between him and his poUtical back in Washington would be unable to

we

every day

between

campaign was going

according to his plan and those find a

Franks,

in the Iraq war.

in those cities."

gives the daily briefing

Command

Central

the

better connections

and our forces

who seldom

Franks, at

more and

see

Iraqis

any pause

in military

operations, of any inter-

ruption in supplies to the troops and of any

so.

Moments

Command

before Franks spoke

Central

at

headquarters in Qatar, a truck was

between him and

his

timing and forces available for the war. Back

TV pundits

tary store in Kuwait, injuring several people.

just of pauses but of setbacks

Coming

Yorker" magazine ran a long

a day after four U.S. troops were killed

Kuwait sparked

Iraq,

in

attack

the

in

widening guerrilla

fears of a

onslaught against U.S. troops wherever they

could be found and targeted. not at

all

said.

"We

Baghdad

see the regime in

—

claming credit for the suicide attack

reminded of what we heard

at

the

I'm

United

Nations of the connections between terrorism

and

this

it's

a threat." he said, referring to

the Iraqi guerrilla tactics.

"We

cities

and

rorize the inhabitants

and

pying centers of

see them occu-

in a position to ter-

to

move

out in an

attempt to interdict our supplies. They have not

been able

to

do

who claimed

article

that

"New

quoting

Defense Sec-

Donald Rumsfeld had pressured Franks attack with too few forces too soon.

to

simply not the case that there

operational pause. There

is

operations in this plan." Franks declared. are on plan.

And where we

only acceptable,

it

is

stand tcxlay

Lt.

"We

is

not

remarkable."

But Franks' subordinate.

mander

any

is

a continuity of

V

Corps com-

Gen. William Wallace, already hud

told journalists in an interview at his forward

regime."

•Qf course

and delays.

retary

"It is

remarkable that a dying regime

should resort to such suicide bombing tactics."

Franks

ser\ ing officers

in

were warning not

the United States.

by a suicide bomber

rift

Pentagon chiefs over the

driven into a line of U.S. troops outside a mili-

"It is

headquarters,

appeared Sunday intent of squashing reports of

so.

These bands of thugs face

more and more of our capability every

day.

And

command

post Thursday that constant guerilla

attacks on the supply lines had depleted the 3rd

Division's stocks of fuel, water and tion,

and forced

a 10-day supply.

it

to rein

back

in

And embedded

ammuni-

order to amass reporters could

see the unorth(xlox measures the U.S.

was taking

to

meet the

logistical

Army

challenge.

97

98

WAR

THE IRAQ

pressing captured Iraqi fuel tankers and hired

attack.

Kuwaiti civilian trucks into service. At any

now

Moreover. Franks went on. there was

a northern front after the landing of the

gixen time, logistics convoys up to 30-mile

1

long are moving through Iraq, feeding the vast

held northern Iraq,

hunger of the coalition forces, whose Abrams tanks each

consume 300 gallons of

fuel everv'

eight hours. Iraqi officials

have charged

forces were shocked and

that the coalition

dismayed because of

73rd Airborne Brigade

Kurdish-

at airfields in

w ith armored support being flown in from the 63rd Armored Brigade in Germany. This was '"a very capable force, with enormous leverage in air power." he said. Sunday saw a further flood of U.S. press reports

alleged

that

documented discord

or

the intensity of Iraqi resistance. Franks. ho\\e\er.

within the Pentagon and bitter recriminations

of op>erational successes, from the

over a war already turned sour after less than

ticked off a

list

seizure of the southern Iraqi oilfields to pre\'ent their demolition to Saturday's occupation of

he called a "massi\e Iraq.

He

terrorist

said that the

camp"

what

in northern

ground troops closing on

Baghdad were in fine fighting shape. v\ith combat readiness of more than "90 percent."

He added

that coalition

from captured

ating

coalition

had

of

u estem

—

Iraq to

a reference to

Scud missiles being

Israel. Significantly,

tired against

he went on. British forces

Basra and U.S. forces

"working with

that the

weapons of mass destruction

against neighbors and allies" the threat of

and

Iraqi airbases

in

Nasiriyah were

local Iraqis,

who

The

"Week

in

by Vietnam vet and respected author James

cle

Webb

"The War in Iraq Turns Ugly: What Wars Do." And the Washington

entitled

That's

in

now

are helping us

accusing Rumsfeld and his lieutenants of having

"micromanaged"

prove their

own

Saddam Hussein. "More interv

Baghdad and across

welcome

"The people of Iraq

will

Franks had

little

time for the commentators

and retired military pundits who suggested

that

Defense Secretar> Donald Rumsfeld had kept his force too small, too

small, plied.

weak

in

armor and too

of the war." Loeb reported.

at the start

in

an inv asion force that

strung out.

is

who

too

underprotected. undersup-

and awaiting tens of thousands of

forcements

rein-

will not get there for weeks."

TV

Rumsfeld, under pressure on the

inter-

view shows Sunday morning, acknowledged troops

coalition

that

resistance.

their liberation."

in

by

significant risks

leaving key units in the United States and Ger-

the Iraqi popu-

lation that this is an incredibh precise militar>

operation." Franks said.

than a dozen officers

Rumsfeld took

Iraq, said

many

ation inside

maneuver-

iewed. including a senior army officer

"That resulted

an appreci-

theor}' that a light

able force could handily defeat Iraqi President

mander also dismissed fears that the heavy bombing of Baghdad and the shelling of other Iraqi cities might lose the campaign to w in over is

deployment plan out

the

of mistrust of the generals and an attempt to

with records on the Baath Party." The U.S. com-

the Iraqi population. "I think there

New York Times led its influReview" section, with an arti-

Post carried a report Sunday by Vernon Loeb

warplanes were oper-

effecti\ e control

inhibit "the use of

a

tw o weeks. ential

days are

had faced "quite

The most dangerous and

ahead of us." But while the

still

guerilla-style

stiff

difficult

attacks

challenge,

the

Guard had

yet to

and ambushes were a

army and Republican mount any significant military

Iraqi

A

hand-

dependent on political decision-making in Washington. It was simply untrue, he said, that

ful

Rumsfeld had

coordinated with artillery and infantr>^ support,

insisted

attack go ahead more time after the

the

despite Franks's desire for

Turkish government refused to

the U.S. 4th

let

Division use Turkish territory to open a north-

em

front against Iraq. "It

was important

fionally to

where said,

it

strategically

have the force

was

until the da\

implying that

its

(the 4th Division) it

moved." Franks

presence aboard ship off

the Turkish coast forced the Iraqi to

keep troops

and opera-

commanders

in the north against the potential

operation against the coalition troops.

of scattered armored thrusts had not been

and the coalition's

made

total

command

of the

air

them to do so. Nightly attacks by Iraqi forces on a key bridge at Kifl, 15 miles north of Najaf. were described as "suiit

difficult for

cide missions" by the defending U.S. troops.

For once, reporters with

the

system of "embedding"

combat

units served to

rass the U.S. military, as they reported their

units were not moving, and

instances,

embar-

back in

that

some

were running so short of supplies

TWENTY-ONE DAYS that

Marines were down

What

the

embedded

one meal a day.

to

which

the broader strategic picture, in

U.S.

front,

their

hammering to destroy

was

reporters could not see

power was

air

the dug-in Republican

them before

Guard

units

the U.S. troops rolled

forward to meet them.

will last,

new mantra is that the war "However long it takes to win."

A

Blair's

few days before

U.S. and British warplanes flew a total of

Guard positions south

against the Republican

cellor of the

exchequer (and Blair's

40.000 of Britain's best troops Blair's position at

approved of going

been degraded "to

less than

50 percent of

double

in action in Iraq,

the British patriotic sense has kicked in. giving

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pen-

had

date.

their

Still,

units

to

war budget. But with more than

Two weeks

Guard

rival for the

Labor Party leadership), was forced

of Baghdad. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers,

tagon, said that the Republican

departure for

Washington. Gordon Brown, the British chan-

Britain's

800 missions Sunday, almost 500 of them

99

1

predicting. Bush's

far to

relentlessly

— DAY

On

home

ago, only

much-needed

boost.

war without a U.N. manwas close to 60 percent.

to

Saturday

a

19 percent of Britons

it

the political reality remains the same:

Short war plus low casualty rate equals suc-

prewar strength."

cess; long

Blair

is

war plus high casualty and possibly Bush

Camp

At

rate equals

—

toast

as well.

David, Bush and Blair reviewed

U.S.-U.K. Alliance Sho>vs Strains

the rules of engagement, and the diplomatic

Roland Flamini

ington Thursday offered several glimpses of

WASHINGTON, March 30 cozy enough fire,

(UPI)

in the television

No

different, in fact,

previous sleepovers at

George W. Bush's week's

visit

retreat in

fire,

sources said, there

between

roaring

Britain's role

Maryland. But

this

He

now

and obligations

Washington and Europe.

in

war against Saddam was right, was more than a hint of conciliation war's European opponents. Answering

the U.S. -led

but there

with the

"Why

well-informed diplomatic

German and

Turkish) support?" Blair replied,

same and

hint of

doing.

...

ers disagreed.

how

come back and

The widely held perception that all the consortium's troops

in

Washington

had

to

do was

Saddam Hussein's regime

would collapse has turned out to be wishful thinking. The war is turning out to be a much bigger challenge than anticipated. Ever>' day military experts have been predicting a

tougher, wider conflict, with every inch of the

human

cost.

"Cakewalk" and the "collapse whiff of gunpowder"

Instead

of the

after the

first

that administration offi-

cials and gung-ho conservative advisers were

We

it.

...

that disagrees with

according to plan, and looming differences over to reshape postcontlict Iraq.

haven't you got (French.

"There's no point in denying

Europe

at

Wash-

repeated his impassioned conviction that

part of

way gained

in

familiar political balancing

loyal support for

coolness as the remarkable Bush-Blair partnership faces the dual strains of a war not going

more

bombing on

the question

the

was an unprecedented

kick the door in and

troops, opening a

Baghdad targets. The Bush-Blair news conference

act

David, President

number of

northern front and intensifying the

also differ-

was both

Despite the

of military pressure, defined by

looked

It

from Tony Blair's

Camp

level

increasing the

Blair doing his

big chintz-covered armchairs, both leaders

coatless.

ent.

— news —

sources said they gave their approval to raising the

There

is

a

what we are

we had to act. Othwe will have to have to discuss how the

believed that

At some we'll

point,

disagreement arose."

Bush, on the other hand, dodged the question entirely. "We've got a huge coalition." he said,

and there was no attempt

to

echo Blair's

more conciliatory approach. Ahead loom larger differences over the question of who will govern post-Saddam Iraq. Both called for the resumption of the U.N.'s food-for-oil program, and Friday the Security

Council voted to extend by 45 days U.N. Secretary-General Kofi

Annans

authority to dis-

pense humanitarian aid from the program.

100

THE IRAQ

But the gap ington and

in

WAR

understanding between Wash-

London widens when

comes

it

U.S. plans for governing Iraq once

Saddam

to

has

been removed. As explained by Secretary of

on Capitol

State Colin Powell

Hill, "the center

of

gravity" will remain "the coalition, military and

This

civilian."

Powell-speak for a

is

militar>'

because that would retroactively bestow

legit-

imacy on the U.S. -led war, which many nations regard as illegal. But another reason is that Paris and Moscow don't want U.S. firms

monopolize the huge contracts for

to

reconstruction that are already being handed out.

The United

would prefer

States

to steer clear of

administration run by a U.S. general to restore a

the never-never land of Security Council resolu-

measure of normalcy. Eventually, a government

tions.

of Iraqi civilians will take over, but there

confumed

is

no

time frame for the change.

official

it

distaste for a

formula that

U.S. military administration because

installs a

makes

whole thing look more

the

pation than liberation. "It the United Nations

important.

is

it,"

occu-

...

that

involved, and that any

is

postconflict administration in Iraq

by

like

is

endorsed

White House nightmare involves the

French civilian as administrator for

Informed observers say Blair shares other

European leaders'

A

United States having to accept a U.N.-appointed

how

to put Iraq together again

Hussein had his great

mented

that

a tactic

known

in

harboring resentment

at the

solution offered.

Security Council's failure to support the U.S. -led

Blair also pressed

Bush

currently to

Blair included

the humanitarian effort, in post-

Saddam Iraq. Compare Blair's view of how

the recon-

the Hill last week.

"We

didn't take

on the huge burden with our coalition partners

how

it

issue

is

raised but

for action

unfolds in the future."

map"

— no

on the Mid-

—

believe the groundswell of

to the war,

administration were to

and

in particular

between

for peace

Bush

the

if

move forward now on

tinians, fathered jointly

the

Israelis

and Pales-

by the United

States, the

European Union, the United Nations and Russia.

The road map has

not to be able to have significant dominating control over

—

world opposition

"road

be imple-

to

Arab opposition, could be reduced

struction should proceed with Powell's testi-

mony on

huge amount

European leaders

dle East peace process.

beyond

is

diplomacy as "kicking the can

when an

the road,"

military action against

role,

it

identified

have to be a matter of discussion"

down

Saddam, has no plans give the United Nations a major

how

of details as to exactly

Bush

still

once Humpty

But having

fall.

the problem, he said, "There are a

Blair said in Washington. But the

administration,

Iraq.

Blair hinted at differences of approach over

but

detail,

is

known

yet to be released in

to consist of a series of

Powell declared. "(The United States) would

steps,

not support handing everything over to the

Palestinian militants, and on the Israeli side a

U.N.. or someone designated by the U.N. to

difficult to explain to his

new settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The road map will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005. As recently as March 14. Bush promised to unveil

either a part of. or at least

the plan once a Palestinian prime minister took

suddenly become in charge of the whole operation."

would fmd it Britain was

Blair

party

why

as

tors point out. is that a

U.N.-govemed recon-

struction program, shared ity

and under the author-

of the United Nations, would be a good

of healing differences in the international munity.

It

relations

Can to

would

also

make

way

com-

a start in repairing

between the United States and Europe.

Blair use his special relationship with

Bush

France and Russia threaten

to

veto any

U.N. resolution giving the United States a major role

prime minister earlier talks to

Blair pressed

There

is

that the

in the reconstruction, ostensibly

this

month and

is

Bush

wide belief

Bush

to

stick to his

— even

in

effort

until

the

Iraq

resolved. But Blair argues that tackling

simultaneously is

word.

Washington

administration will drag

on the peace

alliance

holding

form a Cabinet.

and seeking an end

cobble up a compromise plan?

by

Mahmoud Abbas, more widely known Abu Mazen. became the Palestinians' first

office.

The Downing

commenta-

Israelis

halt to building

accepted, a de facto U.S. military occupation. Street view, as British

such as the end of attacks on

its

—

feet

war is the war

to the Arab-Israeli conflict

will

demonstrate

"evenhanded."

that

the

ABOARD THE USS HARRY

S.

TRUMAN,

—

March 31 (UPI) A pilot on F-18 Hornet from Squadron VMFA-115

Eastern Mediterranean, of

shows rier

his relief after returning to the aircraft car-

USS Harry

S.

Truman following a mission over Operation Iraqi Freedom on

Iraq in support of

March 31, 2003.

(John

Day 12

—

Gillis,

UPI)

Monday,

March 31 "^'e are beginning to rat them out." ley.

— Gen.

Jotin F. Kel-

deputy commander of the Marine E.xpeditionan Force

MARTIN WALKER This

week

Coalition spokesmen estimate that half the

will see the decisive battle for the

power of the Medina Division,

approaches to Baghdad, as U.S. troops took the

fighting

upper hand on their offensive against the

equipped of the Republican Guard

lines

and Gen.

bined

attacking

forces

guerrilla-style

Tommy

their

Iraqi

supply

Franks launched com-

and land attacks against Baghdad's

air

Republican Guard defenders. After intense discussions over the weekend

among

command

has been destroyed and that

its

the best

elite force,

command-andcommanders

control has been so reduced that

communicate by unciphered

were forced

to

radio, easy to

monitor by coalition intelligence

teams.

The

Iraqis continued,

however, to rein-

and with

force their front-line units by night from Bagh-

Washington. United Press International has

dad and the north, running the gantlet of U.S.

learned that Gen. Franks has decided to go for

air

coalition

Baghdad without

staff

the full reinforcements of the

4th Infantp. Division, to beat the arrival of the intense heat of a desert

Despite

pause."

beyond

u idespread

coalition

summer.

reports of an "operational

forces

advanced

the cit\ of Hilla. within

Monday

ina Division air

and

began

to

their

ground probes from the

2nd Brigade of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division,

the

Republican Guard became prey from the prowling U.S. fighter

bombers and combat

"This

combined arms Kuwait told UPI. "The ground

is

classic

helicopters.

tactics." a coali-

tion staff officer in

forces air

w inkle them

power then

hits

out from their cover and the

them.

Monday

against the dug-in Republican

Guard divisions, with B-1. B-2 and B-52 bombers pounding their bunkers and the small farms and villages where the Republican Guard reporters in

bunkers and forced to give auay their concealed firing positions to tackle

deploN ed

had hidden

Forced out of

might of the U.S. Air Force was

full

Med-

crumble under the weight

artillery strikes.

The

30 miles of Bagh-

dad's outskirts, as the Republican Guard's

of

power.

intense air

their

remaining tanks.

Western

Baghdad said they could hear the bombardment from more than 30

miles away. But the Iraqi tactic of deploying their artillen.' inside

towns and

civilian areas

was

protecting their guns from the allied warplanes.

under firm orders to minimize civilian casualties.

With the U.S. 10 1st and 82nd Airborne

units

taking over the battle to guard the supply lines

and

reduce

Iraqi

pockets

in

Najaf

and

Nasinyah. the 3rd Division was free lo open the "crumbling" battle against the Republican

103

104

THE IRAQ

Guard units ad\anced on

way

WAR

Karbala and Hilla, as they

at

the city of Al Musayyib. the gate-

Baghdad.

to

in central Iraq

against

the

In addition

Royal Marines staged

centers. Sunday, British

a

dawn

on the outlying village of Abu

raid

al-

conventional air-land bat-

Khanib. seizing 200 prisoners of war and five

Republican Guard south of

senior officers believed to have been organiz-

to the 3rd Division's tle

Monday.

tactics

strikes

command

against Iraqi military' and political

There were two separate kinds of warfare under way

Baghdad, combining "hearts and minds" win over the population with targeted

to

Baghdad, other units were fighting a messy guerrilla war along the coalition's supply lines.

ing the city's defense.

Rather like the battle the British have been

tle

fighting in Basra for the last week, the U.S. air-

deaths in combat. Iraqi officials in

borne troops and Marines have been fighting to

claimed that 589 civilians had been killed and

secure their supply lines against Iraqi guerrilla

4.582 wounded in the coahtion bombing.

attacks and reduce the Iraqi pockets cities.

This

is

from

their expe-

casualties so far

Meanwhile,

the

an urban and counterguerrilla bat-

the British understand

tle that

in

Monday

Coalition forces said

that total bat-

were 45 U.S. and 29 British

in the north, the first

Baghdad

two trucks

carrying U.N. relief supplies, since the war

began

11

days ago, arrived

in

northern Iraq

rience in Northern Ireland, and British officers

from Turkey Monday under the oil-for-food

ha\e been flown

program. U.N. spokesman Michael Bociurkiw

in to captured Iraqi bases near

Najaf and Nasiriyah

on

to advise their U.S. allies

can assure you that U.S. forces

tactics. "I

have leaned heavily on

their British counter-

Gen. Richard Myers. U.S. chairman of

parts,"

the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in

"The British

Sunday.

Washington

Nasiriyah, hunting

Known

role in the use of Iraqi Kurds. Ali

mand of

Monday

sent

"snatch

Saddam Hussein's cousin as

"Chemical Ali" from

his

chemical weapons against

Hassan

supposedly in com-

is

the urban resistance in southern Iraq

(although he was earlier supposed to have been killed in the "decapitation"

Baghdad the

that

bombing

attack on

"We

are begin-

launched the war).

them out." the deputy commander of Marine Expeditionary Force. Gen. John F.

ning to

A

bigger con-

expected to arrive

next few days. "There

in the

S4 million worth of

is

supplies waiting at the Turkish port Mersin," he said,

"and another 10 million

in the pipeline."

RICHARD TOMKINS

squads" into the town of Shatra. north of Ali Hassan.

is

British tactics refined in Northern

U.S. Marines

Ireland,

voy of 40 trucks

Basra have been

in

absolutely magnificent."

Copying

told United Press International.

rat

Iraq,

(UPI)

slightly injured in

— Three Marines were Iraq

Monday by

cluster

from a U.S.

central

bomb

of the 82nd Airborne used similar

March 31

the explosion of a shell that

went off

they were digging defensive positions.

man

the head, another to the neck and the third

was considered treated

on the

few hours

serious and the injured were

spot.

The

incident

came

just a

after Iraqis attempted to fire mortars

on positions held by Bravo Company, Marines,

who

at the start

1

st

Bat-

of the war

had captured gas and

oil

fields of southern Iraq.

The mortar

command

short of the Marines' position, and U.S.

Samawah and

man

received leg wounds, but none of the injuries

"snatch squad" tactics against Iraqi resistance posts in the cities of

as

One

received a shell fragment in the back of

talion. 5th

Kelle\. told reporters.

A brigade

WITH THE 5TH MARINES,

facilities in the oil fire fell far

155

Diwaniyah Monday. Intense work by military

mm cannons

intelligence units in the field, monitoring Iraqi

sky. The mortars were not heard from again. The mortar attack came about three days after

radio

and other communications, convinced

commanders that these two cities held main command bases of the Iraqi fedayeen

replied, lighting

its

advance and hun-

Standstill."

"Operation Do-

coalition

the 5th Marines slopped

the

kered

and Special Forces who have been organizing

Meanwhile,

in

for resupply.

"Operation

Nothing." some Marines said of the break

the militia attacks.

British troops

down

up the pre-dawn

Iraq's

second

city

Basra.

have been waging what looks

like a dress rehearsal for the eventual siege of

advance. "I

we

in

wish we'd get moving. The sooner

get to Baghdad, the sooner

I

get

home." said

Cpl. Jason Malley. from Buffalo, N.Y.

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Fixed

minds of die Marines

in the

harsh conditions. Baghdad

is

home. Malley's wife

ticket

the

is

for a

expecting their

child in early June.

first

Monday

Later

march toward unit,

closed.

and an

a destination

The deeper

ment penetrated,

its

army

Iraqi

which could not be

dis-

into central Iraq the regi-

the

as

more green

the countn.-

2

05

1

the key to

is

"We train for it to be

military efficiency.

as hard

can possibly be," he says. What he does

it

not say

regiment resumed

the

the details of

Training. Sparks maintains,

living in

symbol

1

he sees

that despite his seniority,

is

his duty to

go through the

as

it

the troops

trials that

will suffer. That's part of his job. Constantly at

the side of the

ground force commander

Lt.

Gen. David D. McKieman. he has made five helicopter trips to the front lines so

After

far.

side appeared, with large swathes of palm trees

our conversation in his office, he was leaving

and brush along the deserts and small canals.

on another mission.

As

the regiment's

all

the

way

to the

— which horizon — passed convoy

stretched villages,

we have had

as

wave but watched

Much

crept by.

silently as the vehicles

of the convoy consisted of 26-

move

ton amphibious assault vehicles that

about

15 mph.

The

at

depending on

vehicles,

model, get gas mileage of between

1

and 3

.5

miles per gallon. The Marines faced wide-ranging weather conditions.

damp

at

freezing cold and

It is

night while the days are

ation exacerbated b\ the

hot —

w earing of

chemical-weapons protection

.As the senior enlisted

have seen

men. whether

in the

man. Sparks says

U.S. or British

Army

command staff. "My job is that w hen Gen. McKieman tells me what he's worried about. I tr\ to fix it. And when the troops tell me somethe

thing

I

think the general ought to hear,

a situ-

full-bod\

ammunition supply or whatever. I get on to it." He continued. "The only real worry I have heard

suits.

something

is

V

Iraqis

Man

—

there a couple of days ago.

He asked

Asked about

reports about hiccups in the

some Marines with only

left

one meal a day. Sparks shook

soldier

ing just one meal a day. I'm not saying

Maj. John Sparks. 41.

ater of war. finds the early

Kuwait pleasantly

summer

It

was

climate in

112,

Center

in

maybe 113

we were

at the

California

last

degrees, and

we

chemical warfare protection and body armor." Sparks told United in

is

if

was uncomfortable, and

tions harder, absolutely.

But we could deal with

No it.

it

quite |X)ssi-

only be eating once a day until the mission

accomplished. But one thing I'm sure of it

w as an

issue,

they w ould share

exp)end a

it

—

w ith me.

of time and energy to

lot

ensure that doesn't happen." he went on. "The

planning that goes into an of)eration like this unbelievable

— including

the training.

We

to train for everything, to replicate just

ver\ kind of

enemy

contact

His next

made opera-

question about

it.

is

try

about

— including check-

With proper training

trip

w ill be

incident,

when seven

And since we have been here in we have not had a heat problem yet."

sonal investigation so the

Army

is

when

they

making a

per-

civilians died

But Sparks

and proper water management, we could functheater,

to talk to the individual

soldiers involved in the tragic Najaf checkpoint

failed to stop.

tion.

could-

it

to the temjx) of the operation, they

ble that due

may

It's

eat-

is

point procedures."

Press International in an interview. "It

happen or hasn't happened.

"We

have ne\ er been as hot as

were dressed up suits

in the Iraq the-

n't

cool.

National Training

August.

is

a 25-

veteran and a nati\ e of Detroit

and as the senior enlisted man

"I

—

(UPI)

have

his head. "I

w here any

not found any incident

Kuwait, March 31

for the

the troops see a need for that."

U.S. logistics that

Martin Walker

I

Corps when

what about the humanitarian supplies

The Top

Army

see that

I

he does. If they are concerned about mail or

we w ere up

year U.S.

or

U.S. Marines. Air Force or Special Forces, to

so far from the troops up forward

Enlisted

it is

views of all the enlisted

his role to represent the

heard from a sergeant major in

CAMP DOHA, Command Sgt.

forward

far

ever\ force, visited everv major unit."

people stood by their doors to watch. They did not

have been as

"I

soldiers." he said, 'i

is

much

doing things

not

as checking that

right. "I don't

know

if

106

THE IRAQ

WAR

they were trained in checkpoint procedures, or

were they surprised or did they handle it as they should. I don't know. There will be an inquiry that asks.

"Was the training

right: are the

Rules

of Engagement appropriate for the preser\ ation

very uplifting

"It's

diers

who

don't ask about themsehes. but ask

how does command know if they are doing as

doing, to

"

they are.

of the force?" There's a military saying that goes back to

Roman

the

only as good as

its

noncommissioned

is

history.

officers.

A

the

asked

depends upon these long-ser\-

again.

who also embody an army's instimemory and much of its tradition. Like many other senior NCOs. Sparks has

just tell

talk to sol-

me when

see

how

it.

they are

They want

well as they think

them they have covered

in less

At one unit

same place

great deal of the force morale, as well as smallunit leadership,

I

more ground

army

legionnaires that claims any

when you

are forward." he said. "Mostly they

time than any force in that

had been hours,

for eight

they could

sitting in

they just

start

moving

served throughout the U.S. Army, as a cavalrv-

same when visit the wounded in One Marine, both his eyes bandaged, didn't want to know when he was to be shipped out. He just wanted to know how

man

with the tanks of the

other Marines in his unit were doing.

and

as a

ice veterans

tutional

Division.

1

st

Cavalry Division,

mechanized infantr\man

He

in the 3rd

has served in Korea and

Germany

as well as the Persian Gulf, and keeps on his office wall pictures of 19th centur\' U.S. cavalry troopers in the

American West. Tough and

trim with a brisk military haircut. Sparks a sentimental man — soldiers.

until

is

not

he talks about "his"

"It's the

I

hospital.

through the flap of one

young

tent,

soldier unconscious.

she didn't stroking

looked

And

the nurse

—

there

—

she

was

head and talking

to

him.

He

know

his

I

and there was a

I

was

could not have heard a thing, but that's the kind of commitment these soldiers have, of them."

all

4

IRAQ,

April

1

originally from

— Private Matereti Vere, 25,

(DPI) Fiji,

now

serving

v^itfi

the

1

Bat-

st

Watch, shares a lough on April 1 2003, with some of the children of Azubayr, a town captured by the British soldiers in Iraq. It was decided to patrol through the streets without body armor or helmets to show a softer and less agressive side in order to win over hearts and minds during Operation Telic. (Giles Penfound, Rex talion, the Black

Features/UPI)

—

Day

13 Tuesday, April 1

•'They are moving into a killing ground ..."

The war entered midda>

its

decisive phase Tuesday as

temperatures in central Iraq soared

toward 100 degrees and U.S. forces advanced north from Najaf into Iraq's so-called

Red Zone

around Baghdad, where local commanders may have authority to use chemical weapons. The best of Iraq's conventional forces, five lican

Guard

divisions, have

fied gathering south of to

now been

Baghdad

for

Repubidenti-

what looks

be the decisive banle of the war. Coalition

militar)

intelligence sources add that a sixth

Republican Guard division, the al-Adnan. is also reported moving south from Saddam Hussein's

hometown of Tikrit to join them. are moving into a killing ground,

They

the

flood plain of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

south of Baghdad.

It

is

a relatively confined

where allied warplanes and combat helicopters now hover like predator, hawks to swoop on any target that shows itself The clear

battlefield

JJBS

weather conditions and the coming of the heat of a desert

summer

suggest that coalition com-

manders are pressing on

to

Baghdad

vsithout

waiting for the expected reinforcement of the U.S. 4th Infantr> Division.

Although no

Iraqi

chemical or biological

weapons have yet been deployed or found, chemical alert and response units were close behind the forward U.S. inxips Tuesday just in case. Large

numbers of

Iraqi gas

masks and

109

110

THE IRAQ

WAR

gear have been found by

other protective

advancing coalition forces, suggesting that

The

airstrikes against the dug-in

were backed up by the

now

from Baghdad

units

from the U.S.

artillery

3rd Division, their shells to 10 miles

RG

able to range up

Units of the

itself.

It

was reported

that Iraqi troops

flying a white flag as they approached Marines

were

ready for chemical warfare.

Iraqi units are

dropping them. bait for an

ambush. Marines spotted other

nearby in the bushes waiting to open

Iraqis

tle,

the prisoners

were placed

flat

on the ground

along the road, their weapons stacked nearby

3rd Division hooked to the west around the key

along with personal possessions,

town of Karbala and established

wads of

firing positions

and pushed forward observation posts

on

direct fire only

To

to bring

the east, driving in

two

vast

columns up

between the two

Marines fought a pitched

sports

Iraqi

bags.

money,

wallets,

including

boom boxes and

The prisoners did not seem

relieved they were out of the fight. Their hard,

Iraqi defensive positions.

the Tigris valley and the plains

fire

on whoever came close. At the end of the bat-

bitter stares contrasted sharply

with the looks

of relief of prisoners taken during fighting in

battle

southern Iraq. In the distance, meanwhile, a

with elements of the Republican Guard Bagh-

horrendous rolling sound of numerous explo-

dad Division

sions could be heard.

rivers, the U.S.

to secure a

river Tigris near Kut.

Company,

Battalion

1st

—

of the battle casualties

were

came up

to

key bridge over the

No

Marines of Bravo

— who bore

the brunt

Known

injured.

seven killed

Iraqi

in action,

with 33 taken prisoner.

"One down, one down,"

the radio in an

armored vehicle crackled, shortly

the

after

Marine column began receiving small arms

fire

A B-52 was doing its work on an Iraqi artillery position. The five Republican Guard divisions are anchored on the Medina Armored Division, the strongest of all, which began the war with 20,000 troops and 270 of Iraq's most advanced Soviet-built T-72 tanks. They are outmatched by the U.S. MlAl Abrams tanks, which can pick them off at a distance while remaining out

and the Marines replied with machine guns.

of rage of the T-72 guns

Members of

—

if

the visibility

1st

Battalion poured out of their

clear enough.

vehicles along a

as

berm and immediately began Cobra helicopter gunships

Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the

to help them.

ina and

returning

tire

swooped down

"Mortars up! Mortars up!" someone yelled. Staff

Sgt.

Mario Lockett and

his

men

quickly set up their tubes and began a rhythmic firing of

60mm

shells at the Iraqi positions.

When ammunition

started running low, various

Marines ran back

to the

armored vehicles

to

is

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint

RG MedBaghdad Divisions have been degraded by about half after a week of strikes with artillery, aircraft and helicopters to "pretty low percentages of combat capability, below fifty percent in, I think, at least two cases, and we continue to work on them." Myers said he has not seen the Iraqi divi-

grab shells for Lockett and his men. Through-

sions retreating but rearranging their forces and

out the small-arms fire and incoming mortar

taking defensive positions

and rocket-propelled grenade rounds, Lockett, from East St. Louis, 111., remained calm and

attempting to hide tanks and armored vehicles

moved between

his mortar positions encourag-

ing his men.

At one point an

RPG came

within 150 feet

— and United Press reporter Richard Tomkins, embedded At Marines — but no one was Interna-

with the

injured.

another point a

landed within 20

120mm

Iraqi

mortar shell

feet of a platoon, but again,

everyone miraculously escaped

injury.

troops, at

who

and

haven't seen a retreat. I

think

We've seen

we showed some

dis-

pictures of

them dispersing into neighborhoods and things like that. We've seen reinforcements, and we continue to work away at them both from the ground and from the air." Myers said.

Two

of the other

RG

divisions south of

Baghdad, the Hammurabi and the Al-Nida, are armored units but equipped with 1960s vintage

moved

T-62 tanks and thought to number not much

between berms rooting out Iraqi one point shooting and killing two

more than 10,000 troops each. The Baghdad Mechanized Infantry Division, already worn

After fighting died down. Marines stealthily

in

aircraft.

"We persals.

of the mortar unit tional

from

— digging

raised their

weapons

to fire instead of

down by

a series of defensive battles against

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS advancing U.S. Marines

The objective of

RG

destroy these rather than

let

coalition

down is

back into Baghdad

fall

Once

stiffen the city's defenses.

to

to

inside the city.

where they can take cover from coalition air power, they could be much more difficult to tackle than they are

now on

the relatively

open

ground south of Baghdad.

begin restoring the long-standing alliance with Turkey. To intense U.S. frustration, the

first

ground war clashes

new

parliament in the predominantly Muslim but

down

secular countr>' voted

posal

to

a government pro-

Division transit

4th

U.S.

the

let

through Turkey to open a northern front against Iraq.

And

Powell's

new mission was

Turkish and Kurdish

Coalition military sources said the advances

on Baghdad, and the

the northern front, the immediate chal-

lenge was political, as U.S Secretary of State

Colin Powell traveled to Ankara Tuesday to

commanders

divisions where they stand,

them

On

has been

units brought

w eek.

Tikrit over the last

from

in the south,

RG

reinforced by other

111

3

1

allies apart.

to

keep his

Turkish gen-

erals

have vowed

lish

an independent Kurdish state from the

with the Republican Guard, decisively refuted

wreckage of Iraq

media suggestions over the weekend of a pause in operations. They dismissed suggestions of a "race for Baghdad" between the two prongs of the U.S. advance, the Marines from the south and the 3rd Infantn,' Di\ision from

The

block any attempt to estab-

to

—

by force,

if

necessary.

the

one of the key break-

the southw est. noting that

throughs to the town of Hindiya was achieved

Human

Shields

by the 101st Airborne.

'The

1

1

St

sent small reconnaissance teams

by helicopter deep into

Iraqi lines,

spotted and targeted Iraqi positions and then called in artillen.

and

source told UPI. "So

went

in.

air strikes," a militar)

when

the Iraqis had ver\'

the

main

little left

assault

to stop

it."

The capture Monday of the bridge over the at Hindiya means that the two advancing U.S. columns can now communicate directly, and coalition commanders can Euphrates

use

it

Nicholas M. Horrock

where they

to seize tactical opportunities

and push

The

made

cruise missiles, he said,

sound" as they came a shock

a "shushing

and the explosion sent

in,

wave "and you

feel pressure

Tom

grandfather from the

a

66.

Cahill.

northern California coastal town of Fort Bragg,

was describing

Jordanian capital the 10

in the

days he spent as a so-called human shield around a water treatment plant in Baghdad,

reinforcements from one front to the other.

enduring what U.S.

Meanwhile,

"shock and awe" bombardment from

in

southern Iraq. British troops

took the final bridge around Basra, virtually

British are

still

The

deliberately holding back from

a full-scale assault on the city, but nibbling its

at

edges and raiding and bombing the build-

ings from which try to

Saddam Hussein's

loyalists

Cahill

human

shields

who went

and. in his case, a water purification facility.

Last

week

several shields returned to

Many

others are

"We would go start," Cahill said,

siles,

Russian-based projectiles modified from

antiship missiles,

were

fired

landed close to the British

camp

outside

Umm

to a site previously

overnight.

One

prisoner of war

Qasr, where over 3,000

Iraqi prisoners are held.

ters

their

The other

struck close

occupied by the headquar-

of the Royal Marine

Commandos.

to deter

institutions,

power generators

schools, hospitals, electrical

patrols

Marines stepped up

Baghdad

to

from humanitarian

around Basra after two Iraqi Seersucker mis-

British

the per-

one of several busloads of \ olunteer

is

coalition attacks

by bus.

maintain their grip.

militar>^ analysts called a

spective of the bombarded.

sealing off the city except for a small land route up the eastern bank of the Tigris.

on your

chest, like the signs of a heart attack."

I

was not

still

Amman

in Iraq. Cahill said.

out and watch the attacks

"and

afraid, but

subconscious mind,

I

I

in

my

conscious mind.

realized later that in

my

As

the

was

terrified."

bombing continued, chronic back pains that he had defeated years before came back. "1 could feel

my

back tightening up."

"When was

ok,

*

I

as

started to lea\e it

is

ok now,

Baghdad my back

that he

is

back alive

112

THE IRAQ

WAR

and unscarred and trying

Amman

to tell his story in

and wherever people

Cahill

an activist for "peace and jus-

He

tice" virtually all his adult life.

on labor

been jailed

issues,

in

has worked

San Antonio.

Texas, as a result of his peace activities and.

along with his

and

in

Amman's

police.

brutal

his

—

attack

the

neat, if not palatial

working-class

there

by

name means 50-room hotel

district,

Tom

talked about the anger that brought

Cahill

him from

retirement along California's beautiful north coast and a town that grew from a tary post

George W. Bush out

is

the world." he argued, ica's greed."

He

to control

stopped to point out that half

"The U.S. needs

States.

850s mili-

and arises "from Amer-

world's billionaires

the

1

on the Mendocino Indian Reservation.

"This war

live

to

in

the

United

be cut down. The

world doesn't need a superpower." he argued,

for talking about

human

saw

a notice on the Internet calling

shields.

He decided

to

go

to

London

and volunteer. He didn't tell any of his friends for fear they would dissuade him.

He

London

flew to

in

February and joined

the group brought together

who

is still

in

by

Uzma

Bashir,

Baghdad. After staying with her

who did was

Saddam Hussein,

many

so

much

There were no military

activities at the

treatment plant, he said, but itary barracks

human slots

to

be a

shield at a children's hospital, but those

were already taken. His shield group

worked with an

Iraqi

"committee on friendship,

mil-

and they could see other military

facilities in the area.

The

plant

was not damaged,

but glass in nearby buildings was.

saw no

water

was near old

it

civilian casualties, but

He

personally

he said two Bel-

gian doctors described horrendous injuries at a children's hospital

where they worked.

smoke from

oil fires

and

bombings began to acutely affect many of the older shields, and about a dozen or so left. "It is strange. I was willing to give my life, but not

my

health," Cahill said.

They were roaring down the highway to Amman when they were stopped by a group of long-haired, armed men in desert uniforms. They all sat frightened in the bus until one shield, a woman from Australia, jumped up and say,

He had wanted

him

calling

he posed so

that

ran out to talk to the soldiers.

visa.

upon

he couldn't have time to govern.

that

wave to go, and flew to Anmian. They entered Baghdad by bus on Feb. 20 on a special

street

set

photos, paintings and sculptures of

Saddam, Cahill concluded

mother for several days, a group was put together, the second

joumaUsts

Fred when they wanted to mention him. There

After 10 days, the

Convinced that even if the war removed a dictator, it would terribly punish the Iraqi peofor

shield

as the

walk on the

to

Through Cahill's time there, they were warned they were being electronically eavesdropped on. He said they devised a code name

"but an effective world organization."

ple. Cahill

were told not

and beaten by

water

at the

living together in a dor-

They had "minders,"

do. and

operation in 1968, which he

In the Saraya Hotel

—a

mitory.

One

inmates.

"palace"

men and women

without them.

charges resulted in his imprisonment in a jail

plant,

things

started,

changed. They took up their posts

been the target of an FBI

sister,

"COINTELPRO" Texas

But when the bombing

a photographer and one-time jour-

is

nalist as well as

where children were suffering from

hospitals

leukemia and other problems.

will listen.

He

could hear her

"G'day." She had seen the patches. They

were Australian special operations Cahill,

who

from 1954

soldiers.

served in Air Force intelligence

to 1958, said

it

made him

angry.

"That's the U.S. Air Force up there. If you go to

Baghdad

angry, you

come back

angrier."

peace and solidarity." which gave out assign-

Charles Litkey lay in the al-Wadah water

ments. Cahill had seen a documentary about the

treatment plant in the darkness listening to the

1991 war, which showed the terrible disease

and

difficulties

of the loss of a water treatment

B-52s, and his mind drifted back to Vietnam and to the night

when he had

lain in the

darkness Us-

was his second choice. In the weeks before the war, the group lived two to a room at the Palestine Hotel, where journalists are housed. They could go down-

tening to the giant bombers blast the ground.

town alone in a new car provided for their use. They were taken on trips to southern Iraq to

beneath

plant,

and

that

"It

took

me back

to

Vietnam

in a big

way, to

feel the

rumbling of the ground and the horrific

noise.

began

I

all

to feel sorry for the Iraqi soldiers

of that," he said. Later, as the U.S.

Marines entered Baghdad, a

firefight

raged

TWENTY-ONE DAYS around the water

He

plant.

heard the famiHar

He was

unmistakable sound of a bullet passing his

around the world and

knows about firefights. He won the Medal of Honor 35 years ago as an Army chaplain when a platoon of the 199th Light Infantry Litkey

Brigade on a routine patrol

South Vietnam

in

stumbled across 500 North Vietnamese

When

diers.

the battle

Litkey, despite being

wounded men

Now foot,

70,

ended they found

had succeeded

The organization has every

views.

from Buddhist

ber,

grew up vices of

with a piece shrapnel in his at the

Bagh-

of

mem-

and Litkey

and committed Catholics.

that

Holy

sort

to atheist. Kelly

as serious

Trinity

Mission Ser-

in the

and with roots

the

in

He was bom

Catholic church and the military.

in

was a naval officer. He said he went to Vietnam with all the commitment that he sees in the young U.S. Marines now

Washington and

Litkey spent 20 days living

United States that

in the

informing people of their

in

Litkey was ordained in 1960

to safety.

still

up by the peace movements

lifted

sol-

wounded, had carried 23

113

1

ing inevitability of military action against Iraq.

sounds of machine guns and mortars and the ear.

— DAY

his father

But when then Sec-

dad water plant under the coalition bombard-

guarding Baghdad's

seemed the place to be." Litkey long ago became a committed peace activist and sent his Medal of Honor back to President Reagan because Reagan supported

retary of

CIA

a three-day pass to a Vietnamese beach by

ment because

wars

The

"it

in Central America.

outriders of the

ment here

—

American peace move-

a trifle tattered

and worn

after years

U.S.

to

suspicion by

Gen. Creighton Abrams, the

human

ago trying

first

arrived in

to tell

America

suffering being caused by

They often were under

Saddam Hussein's regime and

minded by his secret police operatives. However, they formed friendships, documented leukemia cases, allegedly stemming from U.S. ammunition in the first Gulf War, and reported on the medical difficulties that resulted

from the embargo on

to Iraq. In the

Army and

and

selling medical drugs

decade since Litkey

the priesthood and

became a

devoted opponent of war, the peace movement

American consciousness, makhim and others quite as their name described

slipped from the

them. Voices in

in the

Wilderness.

the lobby of the al-Sanar

Hotel — with no

Tower

electricity, occasional water,

bomb-blasted windows and

falling plaster

—

who

killed

the

Army

December,

as

became more and more

why

the

they go forward.

war against

Iraq

a reality, Litkey flew

San Francisco disheartened

at the

seem-

He

—

the U.S.

training facility at Fort Benning, Ga.,

that trained Latin

American

military officers

accused of repressive practices

in their

home

countries.

Kathy Kelly, a Chicago at the

Catholic

Hyde Park

native,

was a student

Jesuit School of

The-

ology, as remote, she said, "as Brigadoon in the

mist" from issues of war and peace,

volunteered kitchen.

at

a

northside

She said she found

when she

Chicago soup

herself.

"Everything

was easy. I did not have to go to my sisters' Tupperware parties anymore." In 1991, she came to Baghdad to try and stop the first Gulf War and was in the city during the fell

into place;

it

bombing. At the end of

that

conflict,

she

demonstrated against other war issues, but wasn't

until

1996

how deadly

from U.S. Marines. They are trying to understand where the peace movement goes from here but never in doubt of

enemy. This incident began

against the School of the Americas

the Iraqi people.

to

the

has served two prison terms for demonstrating

realize

home

all

Litkey's metamorphosis to peace activist.

these veterans congregate a few hundred yards

Last

He comway to commander in

soldiers.

of risking

This particular

conquest.

for

international sanctions.

Now

Cong

system, but he ended the rewards for soldiers

of the terrible

ing

Viet

three

killing

earned

Vietnam. Abrams couldn't end the body count

Iraq almost a decade

the

who had

end what they see as the vociferous

group. Voices in the Wilderness,

left

was "nothing but a bounty."

it

Litkey met a young soldier

their

appetite

equipment

vinced that

plained, taking his complaint

and sometimes

their lives, their fortunes

freedom

—

"body count system." Litkey became con-

the

are

and Kathy Kelly

like Litkey

streets.

Defense Robert MacNamara ordered

it

that she says she

came

to

the U.N. sanctions

were

for

She and others wrote a

letter to

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, saying they

were going

to

knowingly violate the embargo.

They came back and

forth

teddy bears and antibiotics

from Iraq carrying

—

both violations

of the law. In 1998, Kelly and others were fined

114

THE IRAQ

WAR

SI 0.000 each and the group was fined another

fight for

$10,000. The

Most of them remained here throughout

fines

have never been collected.

was also seized, but se\eral she was allowed to apph for a new

peace as hard as you" 11 fight

Kelly's passport

bombing, and one

years later

as they

went

activist died in

to the

in a war.

the

an accident

Kuwait border

to

demon-

one.

strate against the U.S. -led coalition's invasion.

So last October, she and other group mem40 strong at one point, came to Iraq again to try and end the sanctions and end the war. They believe that you have to risk your life and

Now

bers.

they are regrouping to return to the United

States and

change the

committins the nation

political forces they see

to endless wars.

RUMAILA OIL

FIELDS,

Army

soldier from the

Iraq, April

2

(UPI)

—A

helps to guard the Rumaila

fields in southern Iraq as firefighters prepare massive water lagoons in the desert to extinguish the last two fires at oil wells sabotaged by the oil

army on April 2, 2003. Teams from Coots International Well Control and the

fleeing Iraqi

Boots

&

Kuwait Oil Co. failed to put out the blazes earlier week, using water from smaller storage tanks.

this

(Chris Corder, UPI)

Day

—

14

Wednesday, April 2 "The (Republican Guard)

faces a terrible choice.

They

can stay where they are and get pounded by our air and artillery fall

and

die

where they stand. Or they can

back along the roads and

—A

tr> to

get killed as they retreat"

coalition staff officer

MARTIN WALKER Coalition forces were on the brink of a stunning military

victor)'

in

the

battle

of Baghdad

Wednesday, as U.S. troops drove forward from the southeast and southwest against slackening Iraqi resistance.

American troops were pushing

hard on two fronts to outflank the fi\e Iraqi

Republican Guard divisions south of Baghdad

and cut them off from the clement battle

city in a classic encir-

would force

that

the surrounded

Iraqi elite troops to surrender before they fall

back into the

could

city.

U.S. Marines advancing from Kut captured

we need"

"the last big bridge

across the Tigris

River early Wednesday and pushed on toward

Baghdad through the

Republican

the collapsing defenses of

Guard Baghdad Division.

Meanwhile, the tanks of the 7th Cavalry of the U.S. 3rd Division drove on to the north of Karbala as combat helicopters and A- 10 "lankbuster" warplanes. operating from nearby captured Iraqi airfields, cleared the path for their

advance through the shattered Republican

Guard Medina Division.

117

118 "I

WAR

THE IRAQ would say

that the

Medina and Baghdad

Divisions are no longer credible forces." Maj.

Tuesday

3rd Division and the

as the

101st

Airborne worked together to thrust deep inside

Medina

Guard

Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Joint Chiefs of Staff

the

vice director of operations, told a Pentagon

between Karbala and

Republican

Hilla.

Division

Small teams of

briefing.

Airborne troops were helicoptered forward,

The new focus of the battle was the t\vin towns of Mahmudiya and Musayyib. 10 and 20 miles

behind enemy air strikes

A

south of Baghdad, respectively, on the main high-

way

south from the capital toward Karbala and

two towns, which

Najaf. Taking these seizing

new

requires

crossings across the Euphrates River

south of Fallujah. will cut the Republican Guard's

of retreat into the capital. E\en

line

towns hold out but come under fire,

they could

for the 60.000

tr\'

their defensive lines to the south.

these

two towns

the

RG

told

way made The 7th Cavalry of

host of other battles along the

the breakthrough possible. the 3rd Division

sweeping

to the

mounted a

classic left hook,

west of the city of Karbala, tak-

ing the risk of forcing a passage through a nar-

row neck of land between Razzara.

It

and Lake

the city

could have been what Soviet mili-

tary doctrine calls a fire sack, a predefined

patch of important ground covered by prepared

The suuggle last

for

stand

artiller)'

target.

with

its

rounds already zeroed in on

But the 7th Cavalry got through without

Karbala was bypassed, and the Republican Guard now faced an unexpected attack from loss.

faces a terrible choice," a coalition

staff officer

call in

from

of the Republican Guard.

"The

and

bottleneck

to retreat

shaping up to be the

is

two

coalition artillery

become an impassable

RG troops if they

if

lines, to spot targets

before the main assaults began.

United Press International

the north and west.

A

Wednesday. "They can stay where they are and

crucial element in the breakthrough

was

pounded by our air and artillerv and die where they stand. Or they can try to fall back

the

along the roads and get killed as they retreat."

support troops to get them working and sup-

get

The prospect of

victorv'

was clouded

for the

capture

by airborne

resort

to

chemical and biological weapons.

ters

now

For the U.S. forces, a stunning victory

beckons

that

would

bat-

that

fire

power, as the combat helicop-

could refuel and reload just minutes from

the battlefield.

Another important factor was the

silence the critics inside

and outside the Pentagon and vindicate the

meant

ground troops were given nonstop support

the

desperation,

and

Hilla

at

plied again. These forward airfields

U.S. troops by the constant threat the Iraqi in

airfields

Karbala. and the ability of U.S. engineers and

defenders

might,

of Iraqi

the U.S. troops at Nasiriyah

ability

and Najaf

of

to fight

commander Gen. Tommy The defeat of the Republican Guard outside Baghdad would deprive the city of its

off the Iraqi guerrilla attacks on the stretched

This could

Those grinding battles for the Euphrates bridges, which encouraged the Iraqi commanders to keep their RG divisions forward rather than pulling them back into

tle

plan of coalition

Franks.

best-trained

potential

defenders.

have a dramatic impact on the much feared siege of the city, with civilian

its

grim prospects of high

and U.S. casualties

in Stalingrad-style

supply lines, guaranteeing an endless flow of fuel,

far

ammunition, food and water

to the troops

ahead.

Baghdad, were the essential precondition for

street fighting.

"The mystery

is

Republican Guard

why

the

Iraqis

left

the

the battle of

Baghdad.

The U.S. commanders

in defensive positions so far

also launched a pre-

south of Baghdad," a British staff officer in

ventive strike to ensure that the Iraqi regime

"They must have known from

could not breach the dams on the Euphrates

Kuwait

told UPI.

I

River to flood the approaches to Baghdad, a

can only assume that Saddam Hussein was

desperate measure to hold off the U.S. advance.

Desert Storm what our air power could do.

worried about the loyalty of the guard pulled them back into the

city.

if

he

His priority has

always been the survival of his

own regime

A

Special Forces team seized Hadithah

Monday, a dam

that

Dam

could potentially flood the

area of Karbala, where U.S. troops are pushing

rather than the survival of his troops."

northward.

The key breakthrough into the Karbala gap came in two days of fighting Monday and

at

In another preventive strike, this time

aimed

destroying the military supplies available to

TWENTY-ONE DAYS a potential defense of Baghdad, U.S. aircraft

bombed an

Iraqi storage facility with 40. 2.000-

pound, satellite-guided bombs Wednesday the al-Karkh district of

storage site

119

1

destroy "soft" and armored vehicles. Coalition

more than 700

forces have fired

cruise missiles

in

and used more than 10.000 precision-guided

Baghdad. The military

munitions since the war began two weeks ago.

used by the Special Security

is

and

Organization

— DAY

Republican

Special

the

Guard, charged by Saddam Hussein with the city's defense.

Despite the scale of the U.S. success

ground taken, there

many abandoned

in

were few prisoners — but

military boots and helmets to

Against defeatism

be seen by the U.S. troops driving north. The

Pentagon had expected many more prisoners, as in the first

Gulf War. But

own

inside their

country, the Iraqis apparently

preferred to ditch their uniforms, adopt civilian clothes and head for

"We

are seeing

through.

It's

is

— No

at the best

sensible

of times

—

certainly not the best of

surrender, but not in

times. But the current elite

are essentially able to

doubt and defeatism about the course of the war

unclear what

it's

is

happening said.

to

"As

very difficult to stop very

Brig. Gen.

Vincent Brooks said that an in-depth inquiry

had found no evidence

and

that coalition action

bombing of

neck

state firmly that Iraqi resistance will

soon

to stick out

— and crack so completely

crack

of Kabul,

gloomy

we

will

that, as at the

be astonished

the

at

forecasts of "quagmire" and "endless"

guerrilla warfare that preceded the collapse.

One

was

a market in

media epidemic of

my

me

tempts

in Iraq sorely

fall

command spokesman

responsible for the

(UP!)

1

We

small groups of people." Coalition

April

pundit makes predictions

some

some of those elements." McChrystal people melt away,

WASHINGTON,

and April Fools' Day

home.

tremendous numbers.

move

John O'Sullivan

this time, fighting

reason for believing this

is

the dramatic

progress of the Anglo-American forces

in

only

days campaigning. In every engagement

Baghdad that reportedly killed 14 civilians on March 25. "We have examined our flights, our weapon

thus far

systems that were used

defeated Iraqi forces and inflicted heavy losses

northern

period of time

in the

associated with the explosion in the market.

We've

we can

1 1

in

—

including the largest British tank El

since

battle

Alamein

—

the

men and equipment. They have

allies

have

secured the

get

southern oilfields without significant environ-

to try to

mental damage. They control vast areas of both

determine the size of some of the craters, the

southern and northern Iraq, and have persuaded

also

examined imagery

available to us. the best

direction

that

we can do

where some of the

blast went, as indi-

cated by surrounding buildings and what have

you.

And

there's absolutely nothing that joins

Brooks

that to coalition action," It

air

defense

commander

in

Baghdad had been replaced, and they suggested Iraq's

own

surface-to-air missiles, and

antiaircraft artillery falling

back

to earth

It

to reach the gates

took them less than a of Baghdad

week

— perhaps

the

quickest advance of a heavily armored column

said.

could be significant, coalition officials

added, that Iraq's

the Turks not to intervene against the Kurdish-

controlled north.

could

in

history.

military

And

these extraordinary

gains have been achieved with the loss of about

60 American and mately 40 other missing

in

British lives,

action.

and of approxi-

soldiers either captured

or

These figures represent a

be the cause of some of the reported ci\ilian

tragedy for 100 families, but they prefigure a

casualties.

military triumph rather than a disaster.

Tuesday night saw the debut of a

new

antiar-

mor cluster munition called the Sensor Fuzed

bomb

Critics argue, however, that they are short-

term gains

in

contrast to the long-term disasters

foreshadowed by two other de\clopments:

canisters

Weapon. Each of the six 1.0(K)-pound dropped carried 10 bomblets. each

first,

with four independently targeted nonexplosive

ance than expected and. second, that ordinary

projectiles

that

track

infrared

signatures

to

that there is stronger Iraqi military resist-

Iraqis

have failed

to

welcome

the

invading

120

THE IRAQ liberators

as

allies

What

WAR

with flowers and kisses.

these setbacks allegedly foreshadow

is

a

long-running guerrilla warfare campaign against

Baghdad Saddam Hussein has been disenjoy his 70 virgins. What we face,

the

that

the allies that will continue long after

land.

has fallen and

very

patched to

"quagmire."

in the jargon, is a

What should be

first

is

that

stronger-than-expected Iraqi resistance

ism

But the evidence for

is

nationalism.

explanation

this

what inspires people

It is

on

still

television cameras

by

is

nationalis

nation-

— or

to resist

patriotic public statements

it

rests

—

What

inspiring their resistance.

this

is

inspired by

are

thin. It is either circular logic

alism?

said

Iraqis

However much they hate Saddam, they prefer him to an invader and will fight to defend their

made

to

Iraqi civilians.

consists of irregular soldiers,

But what happens when the cameras are

generally disguised as civilians, harrying the

switched off? Here is what a journalist from Arab News, Saudi Arabia's English daily, dis-

not very strong.

It

armored column and picking off the occasional straggler.

It

it still

it

delayed that advance

failed to prevent the allies

new world This

if

falls several

from

enemy

record in seizing

setting a territory.

evision crews filming a

slightly.

notches below the defense of

Stalingrad on any scale of heroic resistance.

Such if the

would be even less effective had embarked on a conventional

resistance

allies

strategy of merely defeating the

covered when he took aside a young Iraqi

man who had been chanting, "With our blood, with our souls, we will die for you, Saddam" to tel-

manifestly failed to halt the allied

advance and.

enemy by

the

Red Cross handout of

an area under allied control. The young

food

in

man

later

explained in private: "There are peo-

from Baath here reporting everything that goes on. There are cameras here recording our

ple

faces. If the

Americans were

to

withdraw and

unconstrained use of superior firepower and the

everything were to return to the

destruction of the enemy's infrastructure. But

before,

by the allegedly

the novel strategy, adopted ruthless

of Defense Secretary Donald

figure

Rumsfeld, consists of defeating the enemy while safeguarding civilian lives, protecting his ordi-

nary

civil

and economic infrastructure and even

minimizing those enemy casualties strictly

that are not

longer;

it

way has its drawbacks: may suggest that the allies

takes

it

lack the

necessary toughness to carry them through to victory:

and

it

may encourage

the other side to

keep fighting. That would be an additional explanation for the Iraqi resistance.

hand,

it

On

the other

reduces the likelihood of a future "quag-

mire" by minimizing the harm and destruction that

might otherwise stimulate a desire for

revenge

among

the Iraqis.

street" outside Iraq,

At

present, the

which sees

"Arab

the air attacks

on

Baghdad through the distorting lens of alJazeera, seems more likely to harbor resentment and revenge than the

know Still,

just

how

city's

who

inhabitants,

precise the targeting has been.

together with the fact that ordinary Iraqis

have not generally welcomed the

allies, Iraq's

continued military resistance requires some explanation.

to

Why

has Iraq not yet cracked?

—

advanced The conventional explanation CNN by any passing Arab ambassador is

—

we always

make

to

sure that

would

the massacre that

follow.

way we

...

it

was

survive

In public

pledge our allegiance to Saddam,

but in our hearts

we

something

feel

else."

can be similarly explained.

Iraqi "resistance"

Iraq's regular forces are stiffened

by the special

security forces, in reality licensed thugs, that

Saddam has

necessary to gain military objectives.

Fighting a war in this "compassionate conservative"

we want

recruited to sustain his regime

against both popular discontent and military

mutiny. Ordinary soldiers, not excluding officers, are forced into battle either with a

their

home

backs or by threats they should

if

to

fail to fight. In

cumstances, surrendering

gun

at

their family at

may

these cir-

more

require

courage than advancing against a militarily superior enemy.

As

Arab News reporter

the

concluded: "The people of Iraq are terrified of

Saddam Hussein." And

that includes the ordi-

nary Iraqi soldier.

Those who predicted

that resistance

collapse and the allies be tors, as

I

did.

made

came

would

as libera-

the reasonable assumption

that this universal fear allied tanks

welcomed

would

into view.

dissipate

when

But Saddam had

reached exactly the same conclusion and, as the

months of U.N. diplomacy dragged on. he set in place a structure of repression that would survive the mere arrival of the U.S. and British armies.

He

instilled in the Iraqi

rooted in the

memory

of

how

the

people a first

fear,

President

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Bush betrayed

the

Basra

uprising in

Shiite

immediately after the Gulf War, that the libera-

would be strictly temporary. He persuaded them in advance that the allies were mere birds of passage who, after an interval, would fly off and leave them to the ruthless revenge of a and suspicious of It

their

He made them own hopes.

may seem odd that this

passive

as long as the paramilitaries are a visible pres-

Saddam's variation on these themes was

should work in the

an

it is

—

Saddam's Baath Party

communism

—

rely

is

a blend of fascism and

on politicized security

units to enforce their will.

when

their

power

is

and

That

is

especially so

dying and the regular

troops can no longer be relied on. It

days

was

true of the

Vichy regime

thus to uphold his regime's

in the territory

occupied by the

invading Anglo-Americans. But for will the paramilitaries

that in

its last

of the Milice to crush the Resistance;

was

it

of Hitler, whose bunker was defended

how

remain a

threat after the coalition establishes

SS and

calling

the

German

deep war- weariness of

people. There were even plans for

called

"Werewolves" —

surrender.

—

after a formal

The wartime

allies

took

this threat

even of the Soviet regime,

had acted from Nazi conviction

true

late as the perestroika

period used the

the so-

German

very seriously.

entire apparatus of terror collapsed.

was

to

up elderly men and 14-year-old

Hitler Youth, despite the

volunteers of the it

In

the bitter end, relying on the fanaticism of the

With myth of

SS;

rule

some lessons to teach us here. Germany resisted the allied advance

non-German fascist Charlemagne division of the

which as

its

History has 1945,

against the Russians by

true

long?

terrorist

clearly and without doubt?

a campaign of guerrilla resistance

recruited the ideological paramilitaries

it

— and — even

inflict fear

power

inventive variation on two established totalitarian practices. All totalitarian parties

to

realize that the paramilitaries could continue to

And

face of overwhelming allied power. But

121

1

ence wielding power.

tion

returning Baath Party.

— DAY

Hitler's

death,

totalitarian

Saddam's thugs

however, the Nazi

power evaporated and

— vanished

the

Those who

into the

—

like

shadows,

thuggish "special forces" of the Soviet Interior

deprived of the drug of power that had sus-

Ministry against the Baltics. Such forces tend

them in their wickedness. Those who like ordinary Iraqis had acted from fear were suddenly released from a living today nightmare. Not a single Werewolf emerged from his lair. And the allies, who had arrived as

to

be recruited from the dregs of society

who

enjoy not only the perquisites of power but

power

itself

—

the

more

Orwell described the boot stamping on a

Power

brutal the better.

Or

totalitarian ambition:

human

as

"A

it,

they

would removed

selves handing out food parcels to a grateful

German

Once

it

is

from them, they lose all motivation. The reverse of the power wielded by such creatures is

the fear of everyone else.

And

such fear

lasts

population.

That will happen

are loyal to the only kind of regime that

ever give them authority.

—

—

conquerors, not liberators, soon found them-

face forever."

itself is their ideology, justification

and drug. As long as they can exercise

tained

in Iraq too.

one can predict with will is

— and not long

joined.

certainty.

When? That no But happen

after the battle of

it

Baghdad

BASRA,

—

Iraq

Company,

A

soldier serving

Battalion,

st

1

enemy

possible Iraqi

tfie

Irish

with No.

Guards

1

looks for

positions as Royal Engineer

cap one of the burning oil on April 3, 2003. In a dawn raid on a university-factory complex within sight of their patrol base at Bridge Four on the outskirts of Basra, the Irish Guards attacked and cleared the base after coming under fire from smallarms mortars and surface-to-air missile systems, vv+iich were fired from Iraqi positions at a British technicians prepare to

wells within the city of Basra, Iraq,

Lynx helicopter supporting the

Irish

Guards.

(Giles

Penfound, Rex Features/UPI)

Day

15

—

Thursday, April 3 "We

have the Baghdad skyline in sight"

MARTIN WALKER Outmatched, outflanked and outgunned, troops of the Iraqi regular army and Repubhcan Guard fought on with clumsy desperation Thursday as

jaws of the two U.S. armored

the

thrusts closed

around them and the U.S. 3rd Division reported.

"We have

the

Baghdad skyline

in

sight."

By

Thursday morning, the U.S. 3rd Division's multiple-launch directly into

rocket

defensive positions urbs.

By

systems were

in the city's

nightfall, the airport

Iraq's 4th

firing

Baghdad's international airport and

Army

was

western subin

U.S. hands.

Corps, anchored by

10th

its

Armored Division, which has fought better than many Republican Guard units, was cut off and surrounded by U.S. troops, and U.S.

artiller>

and

warplanes pounded the escape routes back into

Baghdad

for the remainder of the Iraqi forces.

But not outside

all

the

the Iraqi troops ha\e been caught capital.

Guard Mechanized

moved and

The Adnan Republican

Infantry

Division, recently

south from the northern cities of Mosul

Tikrii.

was digging

western suburbs after

it

in to

defend Baghdad's

failed to hold

Saddam

International Airport. Elements of the al-Nida

Republican Guard amiored division, also merl\

for-

north of Baghdad, were also reported

123

124

THE IRAQ

moving

WAR

Baghdad, coalition military sources

into

On

the western side of

Baghdad, advance

said.

units of the U.S. 3rd Division

Hard fighting lies ahead for the coalition forces, and a crucial decision that may have to be taken in Washington rather than by coalition commanders on the ground or at the Qatar headquarters. The question is what to do about Baghdad.

artillery

Coalition officials in the region prefer. United

Press

has learned, to copy the

International

"softly softly" British tactics in Iraq's second city

of Basra. The British have

now

spent 12 days

running a gentle siege that never sealed off the

come and go

city,

allows civilians and food to

after

being searched and worked to restore water

and power supplies. At the same time, with and targeted

air

picked away

and

at the

raids

pushed

to within

range of the Iraqi capital Thursday

morning, after seizing a key double bridge across

the

Euphrates

south

of

Fallujah

Wednesday. One span of the double bridge,

car-

rying the main six-lane auto route west from

Baghdad

toward

and

Jordan

was

Syria,

destroyed, but the other span withstood desperate Iraqi artillery fire,

and U.S. combat engi-

neers crossed the river under fire in rubber boats to dismantle the demolition wires.

That

left

the

3rd Division with

highway

to

a three-lane

Baghdad.

On

the eastern side of Baghdad, the Marines

advancing up the Tigris were

less than

30 miles

artillery strikes, the British

from Baghdad

command

al-Numaniya, about 15 miles north of Kut.

posts and head-

key bridge

after capturing a

at

By

quarters of the Baath Party, the fedayeen and the

Thursday morning, U.S. combat helicopters

remaining military forces inside the

were operating from the captured al-Numaniya

city.

"We are deliberately not taking the city yet, but we are not destroying it either, and we are starting

get

to

more and more support and

information from the civilian population," said British

spokesman Group Capt. Al Lockwood.

"In the end, they are what this war

The

alternative to the British

is

for a

on Baghdad "on the run," as

full-scale assault

and 3rd Infantry use the momen-

the Marines

tum of

about."

is all

method

the stunning advances in the past

48

hours and take advantage of Iraqi disorganization.

This option

Pentagon

officials.

be taken soon, of

estimates

Baghdad. staff

If

apparently being urged by

is

The

which must

decision,

So

air base.

the battle /or

o/ Baghdad

battle

is

Baghdad

the lessons of the first Gulf War and of Kosovo.

The U.S.

military

machine

and looks

set to

dominance

that the British

power

A

other military on earth, the U.S.

have

in

his general

command

of their

armed forces on the lessons of the German of 1940 to pioneer a new style of war.

built

blitzkrieg

The German panzer

divisions integrated tanks,

mobile infantry and close

with radio communications

as yet

in civilian casualties.

no certainty about Saddam's

health or location, though Kuwait that

is filled

high-ranking Iraqis,

members of Saddam's

including

family, have been seen

in the neighboring Syrian capital of

Damascus.

Coalition intelligence officers maintain, ever, they see

command

little

with

how-

sign of a coherent Iraqi

The

in the cen-

in 1805.

bloody and costly

rumors

enjoyed

hinge on the intelligence

Saddam Hussein and

—

technological generation ahead of any

artillery,

is

unstoppable

tury after their decisive defeat of France's naval

defenses, a full-scale assault could be slow,

There

is

continue the kind of global

power

remain alive and

The

The overnight capture of Saddam International some 10 miles from the center of the Iraqi capital, brings to an end a stunning victory in two weeks of mobile warfare that reinforces

may

inside

over.

airport,

the

structure

is

about to begin.

— and

air

support

consistently

defeated larger armies.

The Germans First,

lost for three

main reasons.

they never understood sea power, and

modem America

does

— having

also learned

the lesson of British naval dominance. Second,

were poor. Most of

German

logistics

sions in

1940 depended on horses

their divi-

to haul their

siege-or-assault deci-

guns, and their logistics failed miserably in the

which also implies important political decisions in Washington about whether or not

Russian campaign when German troops froze

to establish an interim governing authority for

gates of

system.

sion,

Iraq

outside

delayed long.

a

besieged capital, cannot be

to death in their light

Moscow.

summer uniforms at the German military

Third, the

failed to nurture the national technological

industrial base

and

on which military superiority

I

TWENTY-ONE DAYS depended. They produced magnificent weapons, but never enough of them.

None

U.S.

armed

forces,

25

1

1

a result, they will have to think in terms of

asymmetric warfare,

of these weaknesses apphes to the cur-

which have long learned the importance of sea and air power. But the real genius of the modem American way of war is the way they have combined their

rent

As

— DAY

political goals

in

ways

to achieve their

by avoiding an

all-out military

confrontation.

They

will look for

an equalizer

—

like nuclear

weapons. North Korea's salesmen are going

become very

They

popular.

to

will look very hard

And

logistics with the best

of civilian technology,

from communications

to information technol-

study carefully the guerrilla attacks the Iraqi

V

paramilitary staged against U.S. supply lines to

Kuwait delivers 100 tons

work out how and why it went wrong. They will work at information warfare to see if those awesome American communications networks and

ogy.

It is

one thing

Corps post office

to

in

marvel

at the

way

the

of incoming mail a day. quite another to see the

massed ranks of PCs in the giant hangars at Camp Doha, with GIs e-mailing home and surfing the Web to see what al-Jazeera or the media has to say about their war. The supply systems are stupendous because

British

at

deniable terrorist surrogates.

computer-dependent

Above that

logistics

can be disrupted.

they will study the

all,

about to take place

is

Baghdad, the

first

time

they will

in

new campaign the

battle

of

U.S.

in its history that the

spare parts through bar codes, and start ship-

armed forces have taken on a contested city of 5 miUion people. The U.S. commanders know what the cities of Leningrad and Stalingrad did to the blitzkrieg experts of 1940. To avoid that

ping them forward to the combat troops even

fate,

the U.S. military has applied the technologies

of commercial companies, such as FedEx and

Wal-Mart, to track the use of equipment, locate

before they ask for them.

German

troops froze

months in their Russian campaigns. American troops outside Nasiriyah were able to take hot showers less than 48 hours after they

for

reached the place

—

new

and demonstrate

flexibility in the face

challenges that really

test

the victors of Blitzkrieg 2(X)3 have to learn

asymmetric

tactics

of

an army's mettle,

some

of their own.

despite the worst sand-

storm in a decade.

As

armed forces defeated Arab world with one hand tied behind their back. The U.S. Army did not even field its first team. The 4th Division, the a result, the U.S.

the best

army

in the

most technologically advanced of

computer

in

every vehicle and a

all,

The Rescue of Jessica Lynch

with a

TV camera on

It

was

for the

when

Americans the worst moment of

convoy of the 507th

the supply

the helmet of every squad leader, sending real-

the war,

time images back to headquarters, never even

Ordnance Maintenance Company took a wrong turn as it headed north past the city of Nasiriyah and ran into an ambush of heavy machine guns,

arrived on the battlefield.

The tank-heavy

Iraqis, trained

and equipped

according to the Soviet theories of

armored

warfare, were defeated by an outnumbered U.S. force that did not even contain an armored division.

They were beaten by one U.S. mech-

mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).

They weren't combat

troops, but

ply clerks and mechanics. hard, even though the

And

volley of

first

anized infantry division (the 3rd), one Airborne

two Humvees

and a Marine expeditionary force fighting further from shore than any Marine unit before them. They had the backing,

the 15 minutes of fighting, nine

division (the 101

on a secondary

st)

front,

of one reinforced British

armored brigade. This has been a campaign for the history books, an example of modern blitzkrieg that

convince every other military on Earth that there is no future in taking on the Americans. will

cooks and sup-

they fought back

RPGs

sent

flipping over onto their sides. In

were taken prisoner.

and

six

19,

was thrown from her

Americans died

Pfc. Jessica

Lynch.

vehicle, breaking an

arm and a leg. She fought on despite her injuries as her comrades died beside her. shooting until she ran out of ammunition. 'it

wasn't a small ambush."

Riley, 31. a bachelor

Sgt.

James

from Pennsauken.

N.J..

recalled as he flew back to the United States

126

WAR

THE IRAQ

after the prisoners" eventual rescue.

was a

"It

different

And we were getting shot from all directions as we were going down the

road

front, rear. left, right.

whole

city.

—

Custer.

We

charge

We

We

were surrounded.

ing weapons.

We

were

We couldn't even make a bayonet

— we would have been mowed down.

didn't have a choice,

sir."

Exhilarated at taking prisoners, the Iraqis

— and

took them to Baghdad and paraded them the dead

— before

wounds too

her

the

TV cameras.

But Lynch,

was taken to a which was also being

serious to travel,

local hospital in Nasiriyah.

command

used as a fedayeen

spokesman

An

"And

before the sun will

only as

-

—

Mohammed

who

that

is still

known

she was being

force recovered

back

self

and slipped into her room with a doctor

warn her that she would be fine. And then he walked to the nearest U.S. Marine checkpoint, his arms up, to alert the Americans that one of their own was in trouble. The Marines needed more information. With

Mohammed

remarkable braver).

went back

all

rest

As

command and

control

Ten days

after the

Black

ambush

Hawk

that

made Lynch

a

helicopters dropped into

the hospital courtyard at dead of night.

Marines on the outskirts of the

While

city staged a

site.

Renuart said,

operation.

The

assault force entered the hospital and,

according to Renuart, "persuaded a local physician to lead

them

to Pvt.

Lynch's location." The

doctor also volunteered information about

remains of other U.S. military personnel

Lynch

prisoner.

to

site

opportunity to collect intelligence on the Iraqi

tion of strong points

with relatives.

one

rescue mission also gave the forces an

entered the hospital

Mohammed sent his wife away to stay

itself,

had been used

the hospital

of fedayeen. the size of the courtyard, the loca-

his house.

and moved those

raced to the hospital

morgue or buried nearby, he

time, the fedayeen grew suspicious and searched

behind, the

of the assault force."

twice to the hospital, checking on the numbers

— and Lynch. The second

left

bodies and transported them

to the staging location

for information.

the

friend to

site

to bring their

rescue Lynch and the other to exploit the

Mohammed

him-

and be off the

up, a great testament to the

and ensuring there were none

as a

to the hospital to see for

came

"After completing the excavation

reporters.

slapped and beaten by the black-clad fedayeen.

went

post." a military

and desire of coalition forces

Two teams

lawyer

was being

own home." Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart. U.S. Central Command's director of operations, told

nurse helped look after Lynch and told her a local

it

they wanted to do that very rapidly so

that they could race the sun

back with the

husband —

command

said.

Iraqi

post.

very clear that

it

used as a military

like

had no work-

make

things that

a

in

said.

"As

in the

the team

room, they found Pvt.

hospital

The

bed.

approached the door and came

in

man

first

and called her

name. She had been scared, had the sheet up over her head because she didn't know what

was happening. She lowered the sheet from her head. She didn't really respond yet because I think she was probably pretty scared." Renuart said.

The

commandos, including Rangers and Navy SEALs, stormed

we're the United States soldiers and we're here

what they called

to protect

diversionary attack. Special Forces

'"the

hospital fortress."

Resistance to the rescue team was "light."

according

Command

to

U.S.

a

official,

Special

Operations

but there was a gun

battle

outside the building while the rescue mission

was

getting both in and out.

A second team

remained behind recovered

11

from the hospital morgue and nine in a that are being tested to gravesite in town

—

determine their

identities.

commandos dug

Lacking shovels, the

the bodies

from the shallow

graves with their bare hands. The rescue team also found ammunition, mortars, maps, a terrain

model, military documents "and other

said

again,

"Jessica Lynch,

you and take you home." according The soldier approached her bed and

to Renuart.

took off his helmet. Lynch "looked up to him

and

said.

T'm

an American

soldier,

too.'"

according to Renuart.

The rescue team strapped Lynch

that

bodies — two

soldier

stretcher

and carried her down a

waiting helicopter.

As

to

a

stairwell to a

she was loaded. Lynch

grabbed the hand of her American doctor U.S. Army Ranger — and held

it

—

a

for the entire

flight.

The Pentagon Saturday identified nine of 11 bodies exhumed as Americans and released the names of eight. They are soldiers the

TWENTY-ONE DAYS who went missing with Lynch on March 23, when their maintenance convoy was ambushed in

southern Iraq. At least five others of the team

are thought to be prisoners,

were

Lynch

suffering

is

foot,

and a back

according to Centcom. Her family

passed off on expenses. Yet once embedded, the situation changes

They change. The two become the hip. They eat together, sleep

legs, a

joined

injun..

together, travel together

West

left

Virginia Saturday to the U.S. militan." hospital in

Then they w ill then tr) to figure out how to jump into a SI 50 lunch that can be

dramatically.

from two broken

broken arm. ankle and

127

1

turn the

and two others

killed in the attack.

— DAY

Landstuhl. Germany, where she has been

at

and go through the

dangers of the battlefield together. Deep bonds

The two become old They start to jump.

are formed.

buddies.

When

under2oin2 sursen. and treatment.

the U.S.

friends, battle

Marines landed

in Beirut in

1982 as part of a multinational peacekeeping force, a

few of us who shared foxholes,

frights,

bad food and the occasional beer became good friends.

The Embedded Media: Embedding as Bonding

We

experienced some of what they

were going through. tions

We

later

some of

still

the

odd greeting card and e\en

the occasional

reunion. Invited to join up, as they have in the Iraq

campaign, the media became

more man-

far

ageable for the generals and the Pentagon

was

far better than

having several hun-

dred uncontrollable hacks running around the

Claude Salhani

on whatever they want,

battlefield reporting

April 2 (UPI)

— Whoever came up

much of what

including

the military

would not

with the inspiration of "embedding" journalists

want reported. Once embedded, they report

into fighting units deser% es the militar> equiv-

or rather do not report

alent of an

Academ>

Award. Without a doubt,

should be given the "Oscar for Best

they

us

friends and remain in touch via e-mail,

are

suits. It

LONDON,

felt their fears, frustra-

and anger. Twenty years

.Advance Planning of the Year."

From

the

—

information that

headquarters deems harmful. The

became

the ideal

way

—

to control the

"embed" tlow of

information emanating from the front. Since

how many

times have

dam

the

war

idea to

emerge from the minds of war planners "Bouncing Betty" came into existence. If the initiative was a civilian's, he (or she) should be given a big fat raise. If it's some-

we

heard embedded correspondents reporting

since the

from somewhere in southern Iraq say, "We cannot tell you exactly where we are for 'oper-

Pentagon's perspective, this

one

in

is

the best

uniform, they deser\e a promotion, a

cigar and a special toast in the officer's mess.

Think about hardl>

it

two more

moment. There

for a

are

dissimilar sets of minds than

and the media. In the military, when someone shouts. "Jump." soldiers are the militar).

trained to reply. "Sir. yes.

sir.

But should someone ask a

media back.

to

should jump?

ing over?

Where

When

scheduled for?

it

is

this

high, sir?"

member

jump, chances are they

"Who is

How

What jump

are

of the

mouth they jump-

will

to take place?

How exactly

will this

jump happen? Why is there a jump in the first place'^ And if I may be allowed a follow-up question, is there a precedent for such a jump?"

in Iraq started,

ational reasons'"?

Operational reasons became the key word.

This would hardly be the case with "independent journalists,"

by the same

set

Pentagon and

who

are not obligated to abide

of ground rules imp
who do

not feel the

same burden

of camaraderie with frontline troops as their

embedded

colleagues. While most responsible

journalists remain deeply concerned \sith safe-

—

and reporting on troop human life their movements can certainly endanger life reporting would ntu be subject to the same strict self-imposed censorship. The "opera-

guarding

tional rules" change.

On

—

the other hand, inde-

pendent journalists would never have access offered to embedded hacks.

the

128

THE IRAQ

WAR

Rather than have to fight the media, as they wars, the Pentagon has simply recruited them.

Above all, they are no longer "the military." They have become individuals that we have come to know, like little Robert, who to his

The old maxim

regret

did during the

first

"'If

Gulf War and previous

you can't beat them, join

them," has been masterfully turned into "If you can't beat them,

Who

make them join you."

says military intelligence

moron?

guard outside

stand

to

There

to

at the

ple he sees and

fills

remain behind

and

oil

we're with the boys

Chris,

who

far

is

is to

that this

from sure he

asks

we

if

Manchester United won

With

is

war

likes

There

There

it.

is

about

is all

is

whose

play his bagpipes for the queen and

hesitantly

its

with the

can find out

if

match.

and the U.S. 3rd

the British troops

Division,

who

his pockets with biscuits

volunteer from Zimbabwe,

a

dream

Ireland,

poverty of the Iraqi peo-

to give to the children.

who grumbles

Sarge,

not,

from Northern

Paul,

is

genuinely upset

and candy

Embedded or

short

doing stores duty. an oxy-

is

too

is

Buckingham Palace and has

and the

101st Airborne

Marines, with the gunners and the medics and the Air Force

MARTIN WALKER BASRA,

Iraq, April

— Something fun-

8 (UPI)

damental has happened

to the British

media during

Those who ha\e spent

this war.

and U.S.

time on the front lines with the coalition troops,

know the same kinds of troops, and we in the media had better rethink the way we do our work. One of the consequences of the way the British tion

Time

after

time, they saved our necks.

They put our

soft-

skinned vehicles behind their armor when the shells

when

came in. They told us when to duck and it was safe to move. They shared their

food and water with us and were embarrassingly grateful lite

that

phones to it

We

when we call

home.

let

them use our

We

was all we could do for them. saw how hard they tried to avoid

casualties and the risks they took restraint.

We

began

satel-

were embarrassed

by

hun-

realizing that

traveling independently through liberated Iraq, to love the military.

ships, there are

getting to

whether embedded with individual units or have learned

and aboard

dreds of journalists learning the sam.e lessons,

and Americans have dropped conscrip-

and now use professional armies

is

that the

media and the broader population have become disconnected from their troops. The military has become a private club, and one that has learned to distrust most of the media, who

know

little

of the people

who

fight in their

The legacy of wars in dubious causes like Vietnam or some of the British colonial wars has widened the gulf of mutual country's name.

ignorance and mistrust. This

civilian

their self-

to understand their quiet

ings

still

happens. At one of the daily brief-

coalition

at

command

headquarters

Qatar (about 300 miles behind the

pride in their skills, and the plain decency of the

large at

lines),

in

a

and skeptical media corps became restive

arms.

men and women who follow the profession of When we got lost, U.S. Marines went out of their way to put us right, and British officers

weasel words about responsibility for civilian casualties in the

sketched "safe" areas on a map. They are kind to

on the front

one another and considerate

the need for operational security.

"Thank God

to civilians like us.

for the British army," said grin-

ning United Press International photographer Chris Corder (an American) as

we

tucked

in

what they saw

as military stonewalling or

Baghdad bombing.

Journalists

lines took a very different

view of

We

did not

even complain when we were ordered

to turn

off our satellite phones because the Iraqi guns

seemed

be able to zero in on their transmis-

to

when we were asked

behind the comforting bulk of a Warrior

sions, or

armored infantry vehicle of the Royal Scots

something.

Dragoon Guards one night outside Basra, and were offered a cup of tea.

Special Forces trooper told

"Screw

the nut

on

it.

not to report

mate," a British

me when

I

SAS came

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS him questioning one of

across

"No

inside Basra.

Basra

falls.

word

photos, and not a

until

it

was

men

across the

me. and

my

protection

kill

knew by their first names. There was no question which side I was on. In the same way, those of us in the field knew that those gloomy armchair pundit accounts from London and Washington of setI

backs and "pauses" were missing the point.

We

way

the

learned to understand the painstaking British

were gathering intelligence

steadily separating the

Saddam

the bulk of the population finally fell like a

—

in

Basra and

from

loyalists

so the place

house of cards. Air Marshal

Brian Burridge. the British commander, sug-

"who

gested that the hundreds of journalists

have learned a new understanding of the military could

war."

I

change the way the media covers

really

While

who

reporters

hope

admiration

for

the

shared the dangers with front-line

troops. Burridge

the

so.

expressing

had nothing but contempt for

media back home, with

their reports of set-

backs, Iraqi resistance and civilian casualties.

"The U.K. media has criticize,

criticize

you drip. It's a spectator sport to anybody or anything, and what the

media says

fuels

sound harsh, but

where

I

muted when

public

that's the

It

may

feels

from

opinion.

way

it

When When Way.

this

HARM'S WAY. become such WIMPS?

did the media

a war starts, everybody

It's

is

Harm's

In

kind of part of the definition of the

word "war." Just a month ago I attended a conference where ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson defended the airing of footage showing American troops being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by Somali rebels. "Images like that are where policy becomes real," he said. So what was up with the general refusal to air the footage of the five American prisoners of war? From all accounts, and from the grainy images reproduced in the New York Daily News, this video was about a dozen times less graphic than the Mogadishu footage. Is this the same media that once aired images of a Vietnamese officer executing a civilian with a

gets

nasty

gunshot to the head?

When war

and graphic and deadly,

exactly when we need you know why?

a dose of

Because people are IN

that's

reality.

And

HARM'S WAY.

People on both sides.

Even

— normally held proud American media — goes

the idea of

sacred by the out the

window

two

in these

sides

modem

lopsided wars

of a technological army swooping

army of

sit."

mili-

French intellectuals on

channel, but, you know, IN

You

lost the plot.

stand for nothing, you support nothing, you

anti-war

tantly

depended on these British troops, many of

whom

protests should be

29

our boys are In Harm's Way.

Normally we would be interviewing Forget journalistic

all right.

There were armed

road trying to

— but

opinion

All right?"

Of course objectivity.

his Iraqi agents

1

1

the 19th century.

nationalistic, jingoistic

and blind

view of "the enemy." To a

down on an

The press becomes to the point of

real journalist, there

would be no enemy, only combatants. Once again, repeating the whole Afghanistan

The media wimp

experience,

we have

for information.

out

to

go

to the foreign press

(Interestingly,

newspapers apparently don't

the

have

British this

"In

Harm's Way" moratorium on bad news, even though

JOE BOB BRIGGS

their soldiers are just as involved as

our

own.) Al-Jazeera has footage, our own networks Apparently the new media catch phrase

is

"In

Harm's Way." Normally, movie stars would wear S2 million diamond necklaces to the Oscars, but that would be inappropriate when troops are In Harm's Way. this Everyone has the right to his opinion your despise is what people say when they

—

do

not.

European and Arab journalists hit the in Baghdad, toting up the civil-

ground running

—

our own journalists do not. dead Even within the relatively safe confines of New York City, the press seems to work for the war information ministr>. Widely covered on

ian

Saturday was a pro-war demonstration on Times

130

THE IRAQ

WAR

Square. There were 1.500 people there, and

was more ballyhooed than stration of

it

demon-

the previous

200.000 people against the war.

The tough

anti-U.S.

The other strange thread running through American coverage is the certain assumption that there will

speeches of Russian

be democracy in Iraq.

to

Jacques Chirac are not aired. The White House

system. They wouldn't be the

not pressed on the oil issue. (Since most of

the world believes we're

grab, one

way

engaged

to rehabilitate

be to bar American

oil

an

in

oil

our image would

companies from

partici-

so.

first

culture to do

Giving them self-determination could

in several

result

forms of government, including an

Islamic theocracy or

some version of

the Late

Roman-style dictatorship they have today. There was a time when our newspapers and

pating in post-war contracts. Other countries

And

one

democracy. They might prefer a strongman

President Vladimir Putin and French President

is

No

has considered that the Iraqis might not cotton

every day,

networks were neither pro-war nor anti-war,

and

the

neither pro-America nor anti-America, neither

other networks, are sentimental features about

overly sentimental nor overly hard-boiled. The

have already called for bleating from

CNN.

"family" (our Iraqi families)

own

this.)

Fox.

MSNBC

all

families, of course, never

and the agony of the profes-

sional soldier's loved ones. Yet these are

and

women who

have signed up for combat

duty, all volunteers,

they're

Korea.

and

so different

Vietnamese

men

it's

not clear to

from families

soldiers, or those

who

me how of,

say.

fought

in

phrase '"yellow journalism" era

when

a

itself dates

from an

newspaper publisher agitated for

war and then crusaded for the troops who fought it. For years it was used as a slur. The press considered its

it

a dark forgotten chapter in

otherwise illustrious history.

That was. of course, before

Harm's

Way

— of

we

all

landed In

the media's pandering.

KHAZER,

4

Iraq, April

(DPI)

— American troops

hold a position near the northern Iraqi town of

20 miles from Mosul, on April 4, 2003. Skirmishes continue as the U.S. military Khazer, about consolidates

its

position. (Ali Khaligh, DPI)

Day 16

Friday,

April 4 "WTiat really matters regime, whatever

not whether or not ($addani)'s

is

dead or ahSe, but the

fact that

is left

whoever

in this

is left

of the regime leadership, got up

today and realized they have

less

and

less control of

— Pentagon spoiceswoman Victoria

their country."

Clarice

MARTIN WALKER As U.S.

3rd Division troops consolidated their

hold on

Saddam

released

TV

International Airport,

of a jovial

footage

newly

Saddam

Hussein walking amid cheering Iraqis was hailed by coalition

commanders

as

good news:

that he. or his regime, feels sufficiently to

shaken

have to make such a bold show.

"What really matters

is

not whether or not

he's dead or alive, but the fact that in

left

regime, whatever

this

whoever left

is

is

of the

regime leadership, got up today and realized they have less and less control of their country."

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke

told a

Pentagon news briefing Friday. forces

U.S.

International

renamed sits

it

had

Airport

Baghdad

the Saddam dawn Friday and

secured

by

International Airport.

on the southwest side of the

It

Iraqi capital,

about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the center of the

city.

Patrols

discovered tunnels and

and started them as combat engineers cleared burned aircraft from the runways and taxiways and began preparing the underground

facilities at the airport,

the long job to search and clear

field for allied aircraft.

The 3rd Division fought

off a series of attacks trying to recover the airport in the early hours of Saturday and called in air

support [o help defeat a strong armored

probe.

133

134

THE IRAQ

The

WAR

information

Iraqi

warned

minister

flank against the possibility that Iraqi troops

Friday that "an unconventionaT' attack would

stationed along the Iranian border,

be launched against the airport overnight. The

east of

announcement followed a suicide car bombing

coalition air

western Iraq. The bombing, the second since the U.S. -led

To

near a militar>' checkpoint in

earlier Friday

war began March

coalition troops. U.S. Central

20. killed three

Command

said.

The driver and a pregnant woman who jumped from the car were also killed. The pan-Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera showed two women later Friday, one of them dedicating herself and it

said

were responsible for the

tactics,

insisted Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Director of

"We

Operations Maj. Gen. Stanley McChr\stal:

went

into this operation expecting the unex-

bombings to the potential use of weapons of mass destruction, we've had

pected, and from car

to stay postured for sort of anything that the

regime

capable of using. So

is

are just postured for that. threat that

we

We

at this point,

we

have no particular

consider more than another."

While the Iraqi minister indicated chemical

weapons would not be used.

or biological

McChr)stal said the troops are prepared for such a scenario: "Logically,

Baghdad

now

that

we

amongst

are at

Airport, they wouldn't use chemical

and biological weapons because we are their populations.

right

But they have not

sign that the Iranian capital

tlrst real

from the 3rd Brigade Army's 5th Corps rendered more than 30 Iraqi armored weapon sys-

Combat Team of tems inoperable

The

It's

Gen. Vincent Brooks

as simple as that," Brig.

said.

"We tried to do a num-

ber of things to protect the people of Baghdad.

power

American

Central

ities

near

defend

As Samawah.

Command

at this point,

as fortuitous.

so

It's

point in time for the

had extracted few trained troops

the fighting

to fight

where the coalition

the killing ground

Guard. Coalition spokesmen

Baghdad

and

Medina

in

went on. with

from the southwest meet-

of

U.S. forces

to

watch

the

have not discovered defini-

still

evidence of Saddam's so-called weapons

of mass destruction program, one of the for the entering the war.

their right

pri-

Brooks

said further examination of a possible chemical

weapons operations

discovered by special

site

operations forces in Mudaysis has turned up

was

"We

initially thought.

may have been

think that there

explanation for this as an

ably an

NBC

an

(nuclear, bio-

and chemical) training school, not an

We

facility.

NBC

now

think

training school."

it

was prob-

Brooks

said.

don't have any further investigation we're

going to do on that at this

point

is

that

site.

it

And

so our conclusion

was not a

WMD (weapons

proves to be something far less than

into small farming vil-

had

and

divisions had been significantly degraded.

and armored vehicles dug also

air

Republican Guard outside Baghdad had been

of mass destruction)

The Marines

from

Qatar said the

divisions

ing pockets of determined resistance from guns

lages.

it

had ground down the Republican

artillery

"We

population that's inside of Baghdad." city,

Central

routes.

said.

The prospect of a stiff battle for the city of Baghdad still lay ahead, but Iraqi commanders

operational

Outside the

taking up positions to

supply

coalition

a

the Marines advancing

attacked

paramilitary and Iraqi intelligence service facil-

logical

it ...

division enlisted the

Command. The 82nd Airborne

I

at this

The

townspeople, according to U.S.

plies to the

not part of the coalition design

matter of concern

troops.

help of a local cleric to begin distributing sup-

less than

in

wouldn't characterize

in the

dogged

b> the paramilitary forces that have so

the

Baghdad also relates to water in Baghdad. Electrical power in Baghdad also relates to power in hospitals in Baghdad. That's Electrical

compound

in a military

101st Airborne Division "completed the

mary reasons it.

the

Karbala Gap. southwest of Baghdad.

night.

do

the 30-

the Iraqi capital. Soldiers

tive

didn't

mopped up along

mile swathe the armored units had cut to reach

was coming under siege from the ground as well as repeated bombing attacks from the air, Baghdad's electricity supply was cut Friday

"We

try to intervene.

completely destroyed and the remaining four

fought logically from the beginning." In the

power and

the rear of the 3rd Division troops at the

isolation" of Najaf. cutting off access to the city

attack.

But U.S. forces are ready for such

Baghdad, might yet brave the gantlet of

airport, other units

her unborn child to the defense of Islamic land, that

still

150 miles

doesn't

mean

site

per

se. In this case,

they're not out there."

that.

it

It

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Meanwhile, back

Washington, the U.S.

in

with Turkey,

National

said

135

1

Security Adviser

Congress approved President Bush's war budget,

Condoleezza Rice.

S80 billion to the conflict in Iraq in an o\ erwhelming show of support. The House passed the measure 414-12; the Senate 93-0.

Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of state, said

granting nearly

Lawmakers, however, curbed Bush's request that the administration

have

the funds for the war.

The House gave Bush

total control

over

over S25.4 billion of the defense

flexibility

money, but asked the Pentagon

notify

to

a

In

to

letter

Congress,

it would be "particularly damaging to our diplomacy" to strip the funds Bush requested for

Turkey.

The House voted kill

3 51

1

from growing federal approach $400 billion

to reject the bid to

1

aid for Ankara. All the

money would come which could

deficits,

this

year and in 2004.

Congress seven days before any money was spent. The Senate cut that Bush had wanted S59.9

figure to SI

1

billion.

billion of the S62.6

Pentagon placed

billion in his bill for the

in a

which would have Donald Rumsfeld lat-

large discretionary fund,

given Defense Secretar>'

war in Iraq and on terrorism. The House also passed by a voice vote a proposal to block Germany. France. Russia and Syria from post-war reconstruction contracts, itude in the

but U.S. subsidiaries of companies from those countries could

compete

still

Baghdad Neighborhood Ghassan al-Khadi

BAGHDAD,

posed and defiant

draw an amendment

made

would have barred

any of the plan's nearly S2.5

billion for rebuild-

ing Iraq from going to French and

German

companies because they opposed the war. "If

America

is

going to become an arrogant

nation and do things only our way. this

good way Calif..

a

Dianne Feinstein, D-

to begin," said

who opposed

is

amendment.

the

bills

contained more than $62 bilUon for the Pentagon

porting

U.S.

billion for aid to countries sup-

overseas.

efforts

Included was

money

for replacing satellite-guided munitions,

setting

up a tribunal

war crimes and

Saddam

tr\'

letting state

bolster security at

The

to

and

for alleged

local agencies

home.

— Turkey,

funds for Turkey was a contentious one.

Turkey becau.se of

the United States use

The appearance was the culmination of sevby the Iraqi president to rally

eral efforts Friday

The date of his actual however some nearby buildings showed possible bomb damoutside the Iraqi capital. visit

was not

kill

its

its

SI

Some

billion in aid

resistance to letting

bases for the war on

—

definitive,

age.

The

television pictures

Saddam

showed

what was said

to be

the al-Mansour area, a target of coalition

bom-

surrounded by people

"With

Women

soul,

with

shouted

in

bltHxl,

dozens

ululated while

we redeem you of

through to kiss their leader's hand or cheeks.

"May God

protect you." shouted one

more joined Saddam,

his military

him, was then seen

vent that from happening.

to maintaining the strategic partnership"

as

men and armed body-

checking military reinforcements

"Despite recent difficulties, the president

man

the crowd.

guards

devoted

bystanders.

some of the men pushed

Iraq. But the White House fought hard to pre-

is

a smiling

military uniform and black beret

in

Saddam,"

conservatives wanted to

his

jubilant and enthusiastic residents greeted him.

Pakistan, Israel, Jordan,

Afghanistan and other countries. The issue of

for

bunker March 20. Iraqi showed pictures of him walking the streets of a Baghdad neighborhood, where a throng of

bardment.

rebuilding Iraq and for

bombed

TV

would go toward U.S. allies in the war on

international aid funds

terrorism

appearance Friday since

his first public

U.S. forces

his people against coalition troops poised just

Besides domestic security funds, both

and roughly $8

—

4 (UPI) A self comSaddam Hussein apparently

Iraq, April

pressured Sen. John Ensign. R-Nev.. to withthat

Tours

for contracts. In

Bush administration

the Senate, however, the

Saddam

in a cluster iu^ound

in the city

and

chatting with residents. Afterward, he sKhkI to overl(K)k the

crowd and

raised his

fisi

to salute

136

THE IRAQ

WAR

them. The television then showed pictures from

Saddam aboard, of Baghdad. Smoke clouds were

Large sections of Baghdad

lost electricity

a driving car, allegedly with

Thursday as coalition forces drew within 20

many

kilometers (12 miles) of the Iraqi capital and

streets in

seen in these pictures.

captured

was one of the very rare public appearances of Saddam. Mideast commentator Moustapha Maher, a retired Egyptian general, called it "a courageous step by Saddam, since he was not heavily guarded." He told al-Jazeera

Information Minister

evision by Friday morning, reading what he

that the tour did not look prearranged "or else

destroy the "invaders" at the gates of

we would have

and

It

seen a

much

bigger crowd."

The

appearance seemed intended to raise the morale of the Iraqi people, "especially

time with

at this

Nevertheless,

airport.

its

Mohammed

Sahhaf launched a verbal offensive on said

said

in "the land

of Islam."

them and

Iraqis to "fight

them day and

hit

and make the land of Islam a cremato-

night,

statement urging Iraqis to resist what he called

Baghdad's international airport

and

to

them hard." The date of the recording of the brief statement was also unclear, but Saddam did make "hit

mention of an shot It

down

was

Iraqi

the

farmer

who

purportedly

Apache helicopter

a U.S.

last

week.

time during several recent

first

appearances on television that Saddam made a

March 20. and F-117A

fire

their faces

under the feet of the invaders and

wherever they pass."

Al-Sahhaf also

suicide bombers.

at least

wounded.

Saddam, according to "Come a CNN translation. "Their dead are in hell and their living in humiliation. Our dead will be in paradise and our living in dignity." He declared, "Whenever they approach you and try to attack you. depend on God and hold to jihad." said

close to your principles.

God and The

.

.

.

Dignity belongs to

victory belongs to Iraq."

traditionally secular leader has

invoked

religious tones in recent years and particularly in

have

Iraqis

"We

are determined with

as

we

at the

God's will to defeat

walls of our cities as

are determined to

able armies and defeat

them

smash

in

their miser-

every part of the

land of Islam, the land of Iraq." the message said.

Al-Sahhaf concluded the message

in

the

same fashion as previous ones attributed to Saddam: '^Allah Akbar (God is Great). Glory for the struggling Iraqis and shame on the enemies of God and humanity. Long Iraq

...

Long

live

live Palestine!"

Has Saddam mellowed?

recent days, trying to unify the factions

within his country and Muslims in general

against the

Minister

U.S. -led forces. Sabri

Naji

told

Iraqi

Foreign

the

British

Broadcasting Corp. Friday that the Iraqi leader was, in

be

States has long

denied.

much

have suggested he was

The United

weapons, an accusation the

cal

when some 40 cruise missiles bombs were dropped on a bunker in which Western intelligence analysts said Saddam and

not they believe he survived the attack, but

at

"uncon-

that

claimed that Iraq posses chemical and biologi-

and destroy them

have not yet declared definitively whether or

warned U.S. forces

ventional weapons" would be used against them within hours. He later clarified the term, saying the unconventional weapons would be

definitive reference to an event after

other senior leaders were staying. U.S. officials

Baghdad

also called on the

It

rium's

the U.S. and British "invasion" of Iraq

al-

Iraqi tel-

was a message from Saddam. The message Iraqis were determined to defeat and

American troops near the city." The broadcast of his visit came less than two hours after he appeared on television to read a reports of

Iraqi

Saeed

in

fact, alive.

good health

Indeed, in

Saddam appeared

to

both appearances, but in

the past. U.S. intelligence officials have noted that he has

many

look-alikes and doubles.

ANWAR

IQBAL

WASHINGTON,

April

Hussein has written a

3 (UPI) letter

—

to

Saddam

his

niece.

Thurayya, according to the Iraqi government. Read on television across the Arab world on

Wednesday, the

letter

gives interesting insight

into the thinking of the

man

or

men

running

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Baghdad. The urge the family

But not the need

natural.

is

someone close

to write to

to

have

letter

knew

that

it

would

be broadcast across the world. Perhaps

why

answer

the letter tries to

Saddam's

loyalists

may

it

who

read on the national television. Those

decided to release the

in

that's

the concerns

all

be having about their

besieged leader.

turned

— who

Saddam

until then

1

1

was

a declared

who

non-believer and an Arab nationalist and

many Muslims

killed

for following their creed

come

nationalists forces that did not

to his help,

he has been attempting to exploit religious

feel-

Muslims since 1991,

ings of the Iraqis and other

much

—

Disappointed by Arab

supposedly religious.

albeit without

37

success.

The first point the letter attempts to prove is that Saddam is not only alive but is well enough to receive letters from his family and

coerce into action those thousands of Iraqis and

write back. This, of course,

other Muslims

is

intended to take

But since the beginning of the second Gulf War, the Iraqi regime has increased

who do

its

efforts to

not necessarily like

care of the reports that he might have been

Saddam

wounded in the daily pounding that Baghdad has been receiving since coalition

forces for invading a

Muslim

innocently

the

forces launched their military offensive in the

Saddam's worrying niece

that her uncle

still

region 14 days ago.

has the support of "thousands of fighters"

who

killed or

By

releasing the

also sending the

Baghdad and

control of

he can read

that

The

respond.

letter,

message

is

would

much

in

if

it

very

is

leader

its

from

letters

also

letter

the Iraqi regime

that

to

tries

humane image of a man who has heavy hand,

rule with a

out his

own

family

is

so relaxed

his family

killing

and

present a

so far tried to

and hounding

members when they dared

enemies until they are defeated, Saddam, for "this land of prophets,

"God

with his usual chants,

I

received your

if

the

all,

and

you and your

that includes

chant: "... long live the spirit of

defeated!

We this

May

Ahlam.

the

enemy be

land of prophets, this sacred land of ours.

These young men

will

until they're defeated.

fight the

God

is

enemies

great.

Long

our people. Long live our country, and

long live the

spirit

of Thurayya in every

Iraqi citizen.

is

first

sentence carries two messages:

a man, fighting his enemies with the

And by

saying that she

is

doing only what

"any good Muslim" will do, the

letter links his

niece's pledge to fight for her uncle with the

religious

injunction

that

all

good Muslims if a Muslim

should fight the invading forces land

is

invaded.

This has been Saddam's refrain since the first

Gulf War

in 1991.

The

live

new

Thurayya

attempt to

show

in

an

is

that all Iraqis share the spirit

of

defending Iraq.

in

letter

would, perhaps,

eral,

and the Iraqis

in particular,

gen-

in

tribes broadcast daily

by the

vision.

It

It

brief.

is

not hesitate to

official Iraqi tele-

sounds humane and

coming from

sentimental. But

kill

own

his

they dared to defy him,

than the dia-

it

a

man who

sons-in-law

defeat in 1991 had

did

when

looks rather crafty.

The power struggle has become more intimate and more vicious during the last 20 years. In the early 1980s, the entire

was

in

extended family

power, with Saddam's half brothers,

cousins and clan structure.

members

Gradually

part of the ruling

after

1988.

Iran-Iraq war ended. Saddam began

blessings and prayers of his family and his people.

the letter

Long

every Iraqi citizen." This obviously

sister

have thousands of fighters defending

Here

great!

letter

enemy reached has ordered God Baghdad, you you to do like any good Muslim. God bless

The

is

country," but not before adding a

will fight as

live

He ends

of ours."

this scared land

have a much greater impact on Arabs dear Thurayya,

saying that even

us

informs

also

fight the

not for

this

country. Rather

letter

This carefully crafted

reads:

My

tone,

in

Saddam's niece

to challenge his authority. It

but are willing to fight the coalition

of a

lot

of the

members of

when

the

to get rid

the extended family

to ensure that his sons, and not another relative,

inherited his throne after him.

The process accelerated after the first Gulf 993 it became clear that the only three people who had real power in Iraq were War, and by

1

sons. Uday and Qusa>. In number of Saddam's relatives have effectively been removed from the power circle, some also from this world. And the

Saddam and

his

two

the pHKCss, a large

visible

signs

of

this

exclusion

came when

138

THE IRAQ

Saddam and

his sons clashed with

brothers. In 1995, in charge

WAR

when Saddam's

Saddam's

brothers were

of security and the interior ministry,

they were kicked out of office and in a very dra-

matic

way came

to

Uday

shot one of

them

blows with Saddam's sons. in the leg.

But the most dramatic incident was the defection to Jordan of two of his sons-in-law.

Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel. with wives.

Raghad and Rana.

in

their

August 1995.

February 1996, they foolishly returned

In

home

after receiving

what they believed was a par-

men were dead, gunned down and killed in their houses. Their wives. Saddam's daughters, are believed to be don. Within 72 hours both

alive but haven't

been seen

in public

since.

Even Saddam's first wife and the mother of his two sons could not escape Saddam's wrath. She was reported to be under house arrest. She is believed to be unhappy with the regime because she blames it for making her two daughters widows.

t:

—

BASRA, Iraq, April 5 (UPI) Christopher Muzvuru of the Irish Guards, part of the elite British 7th Armored Brigade also known as the Desert Rats, mans the road to Basra, Iraq, on April 5, 2003. British troops have moved just outside the city of Basra and have been conducting raids on resistance groups

in

second largest

Iraq's

city.

(Chris Corder, UPI)

—

Day 17

Saturday, April 5 "We'll soon be

home drinking

beer."

— A U.S. Marine

MARTIN WALKER U.S. soldiers

made

into the center of

a daring and dangerous raid

Baghdad Saturday during

the

day, an operation carried out less to gain terrain

than to prose to the Iraqis

— and

audience

could.

—

that

they

to a global

The

Baghdad was a two-front war,

as

fight

image

is

can

for

even into

move

at

between routing the

the battle, as Iraq's information minister main-

and being drawn into

cameras

that the

American

claims were false and the film of their invasion

ver>' clear

we

their capital city."

U.S.

Arab

was a

Similar probes are likely to continue, as the

control the L^aqi and international perceptions of

tained to

think being in the it

times and places of our choosing,

troops battled both to control the streets and to

TV

I

—

clear

\ er>'

statement to the Iraqi regime as well that

TV

American

important, and so

daytime was a

tried

militar\'

Urban fighting

to

walk the careful

Iraqi forces

line

from the

city

out urban combat.

all

carries with

it

the possibility of

massive casualties, on both sides and among

tremendous damage

of the city was fabricated.

Iraqi civilians, as well as

The heavily armored raid was conducted by two task forces of the 3rd Infantrv Division. They began south of the city, then preceeded

to building

cause as few civilian casualties as possible,

north to the Tigris River that bisects Baghdad,

both of which will ease the

and then swung west out

led interim government.

to the airport.

Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams tanks battled Republican Guard, Special Republican

Guard and infantry

positions,

grenades and

guns

firing

forces,

irregular

23mm

with

and

rocket

57mm

on the American

moments voy in some

fighting

force.

from

propelled

areas of the city,

"I

American convoy. it was very

think that

strategy

way

and

intact

for a

new

U.S.-

denying the Saddam Hussein regime

to

There were

show

his

convince Baghdad the dictator's

finished.

The longer Saddam

image on

tele\ ision. the

take to convince the people he

is

is

able to

longer

it

will

gone and

to

switch their loyalty to the American invaders.

The U.S. government

is

trying to find a

way

to

prevent Iraq from getting access to satellite clear to the people

of Baghdad that coalition forces were city." said U.S. Central

part of the

critical

Baghdad

to leave

access to the airwaves, a critical piece of the

is

but elsewhere

is

A

streets.

Renuart admitted the United States has had difficulty

reign

people were standing on the sidewalks waving at the

U.S. strategy

anti-aircraft

of "intense fighting" against the con-

and

Command

in

the

Director of

Operations Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart. "That

services. "I

can say that

it

appears that there are a num-

ber of satellite companies

who have

sold broad-

cast time to Iraqi National Television,

and so

141

142

WAR

THE IRAQ

way

we're tning to work in some that not to

happen." Renuart

The U.S.

military

on

cast

do

will

Channel

Iraqi

3.

And

as

we

An

city.

Renuart said the

to

for the last

hand combat with "But

Iraqi forces.

basically

that's

challenging

in

36 hours, some of it hand-to-

moving

infantry

through positions on the battlefield. So

had some very

certain that they probably cult

engagements

in that area,"

I

am

diffi-

he said.

"We're

more leaders

communities of Basra and

tr\

that capa-

so." Renuart said.

beginning to see man\

combat

for

ability

and expand

that capability

we

the

the United States) to broad-

satellite television.

improve bility,

on

ing on the east side of the

Marines have been engaged

expand our

to

(who support

Iraqis

encourage

was already invading

Iraqi airwaves, broadcasting

"We're trying

to

said.

in the

RICHARD TOMKINS

As

Nasiriyah.

Samawah. Najaf. even now towards Karbala. become much more supportive, openly sup-

WITH THE 5TH MARINES OUTSIDE BAGHDAD,

portive of the coalition forces as they see the

pounded

April

Iraq,

—

5 (UPI)

the defenders of

U.S. Marine artillery

Baghdad

into Saturday

threat

from these other irregular troops go

morning as the 5th Marine regiment took up

away.

And some have

positions outside the city to control access into

expressed interest

in

helping to get that message out." American F-

A- 10 "Warthog" and

15 and

warplanes circled overhead,

British

Tornado

continuously

cir-

Baghdad on call to provide urban combat bombing support for American soldiers. Some cling

and out of the

155mm sky.

bombs of

can be targeted

much

at

concrete,

which

individual buildings without

damage on surrounding areas because they do not explode. The advanced U.S. base at the airport was secured and in use b> combat helicopters. One of the runways was destroyed by U.S. bombs to preinflicting

collateral

The explosions of the

and as

lit

up

dawn approached Saturday

the night

the

sound

of helicopter gunships going about their business could also be heard.

of the aircraft were equipped with precision

5(X)-pound "inert"

Iraqi capital.

artillery shells repeatedly

"It

Basco

topped said,

it

off just like a zit," Capt.

carrier destroyed

by a Hellfire missile. "We're

giving them a real beating.

going

to

Shawn

viewing an Iraqi armored personnel

I'll

bet they aren't

be sleeping well tonight."

Basco. from Cleveland,

is

an F-18 pilot act-

ing as the forward air controller for Bravo

\ent Iraqi leadership from fleeing, but a sec-

Company. 1st Battalion. 5th Marines. As of Saturday morning the Marines were

ond. ci\ ilian airstrip was found intact, albeit

on the southeast outskirts of Baghdad, within

covered tion

is

in

mounds of dirt. The

airport's condi-

an indication that the quick feint by the

3rd Infantry Division to the airfield, rather than attacking Iraqi forces in Karbala.

edge of

ful in gaining the "It

was

intact,

go\'emment

and

still

I

think the

—

well, the

today says we're not there,

so clearly they weren't expecting us. so they the

airfield

Renuart

said.

left

in

a fairly operable condition."

He

could not confirm reports there

had been a suicide bomb attack Marines and

Army

at the airport.

forces launched attacks

across central Iraq, seizing a vast munitions

cache

in

Diwaniya. about 100 miles south of

Baghdad, and attacking Karbala west of the

capital.

They

to the south-

took the headquarters

of the Republican Guard's Medina

Division, a

unit the U.S. mihtary declared largely destroyed

on Thursday. With the

Army

No

entrenched on the

west side of Baghdad, Marine units are operat-

city's center.

immediate move was apparent

farther into the city.

adxance

to

The positioning of

the

Marines, the exact details of which could not be disclosed

surprise.

appears the rest of the infrastructure on the

airport Iraqi

was success-

20 kilometers (12.4 miles) of the

coincided Division

for

operational

with

the

capturing

security

reasons,

Army's 3rd Infantry Baghdad International

Airport on the southwest side of the

city.

The Marines and Army have been running a two-pronged advance on the Iraqi capital. The final push up to the outskirts of Baghdad began Friday morning after the Marines had crossed over the Tigris River,

late

Thursday, in the dark.

Although not much could be seen crossing the river, the Marines were greeted with the unmistakable smell of flowers as they did so.

The long road to Baghdad had been littered with burned out Iraqi tanks and trucks, destroyed by U.S. helicopters and jets. Also littering the road diers

were

piles of

had stripped off

uniforms Iraqi

as they fled.

sol-

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS The

object of the Marine artillen

Iraqi al-Nida

army

division,

was the which had been an

objective since the Marines crossed the border at the start

43

w hile planes and helicopter gunships The battlefield remains a con-

are heard clearls. stantly

busy place.

A

Night at the

of the ground war. That di\ ision fled

Marines approached

their billeting area as the

but were

night sk\

1

1

hitting the

still

with periodic

monar

fire,

advancing column

small-arms ambushes

and rocket-propelled grenade

attacks.

There

were also uncontlrmed repons of extremists (said to be

non-Iraqis) anempting to attack

Front Line

vehicles in the convoy using explosives-laden

pickup trucks.

MARTIN WALKER

Thirt\-six kilometers. 36 kilometers." one

Marine yelled out

much

closer to

"We're

earlier Friday.

that

home. We'U soon be home

drinking beer."

The sentiment was understandable, but given continued Iraqi resistance and uncerabout what will happen

taint)

enter the cit>

itself,

when

troops

they could just be a pipe

dream.

As dawn broke Saturday, the sky toward Baghdad w as dark at the lower levels of the horizon. The telltale signature of burning vehicles was the indication the artiller>' was doing its

job.

For the 5th Marines, the periodic

dro\e into the outskirts of Basra

\\'e

late

Samrday afternoon, down the main four-lane highway from Baghdad, littered with wrecked Iraqi T-55 tanks and BMP armored cars from the initial coalition attacks. It was an edgy drive for this United Press International reporter

and

UPI photographer Chris Corder. along this road where two British reporters had been killed a week ago. a road still described by the British troops as "bandit country."

The sky w as dark w ith thick plumes of greasy smoke from the oil-filled trenches the Iraqis had lit

and the

to blind the British troops,

The land was

air tasted

ambushes were sporadic w hile the pounding of artillen. w as steady. There w ere reports of one

thick into

nightmarish bunkers by the tank treads.

rwo suicide dashes by the small pickup

Iraqi

w omen

or

trucks favored b) the paramilitar> forces. In

all.

composed of about 3.000 vehicles of one sort or another. The Marines heard of the capture of Baghdad International Airport through the rumor mill, after someone heard the new s on a shortw ave radio. Temperatures have begun escalating, makthe

Marine column

"MOPP'" anti-chemical

ing the

have

point,

of the road, offering

from crates and buckets,

on a desolate empt> road

We

sand. carN ed

that

had no customers.

were waved through one British check-

where a small knot of

Iraqis

was being

bod\ -searched, and then past another, guarded by a British Warrior armored infantn. vehicle.

We

dro\e on. past the

trenches of burning

oil.

tlrst

of the smoking

and suddenly realized

that there

were no more British troops

We made

a hast\ U-turn and raced back to the

at a time.

where drivers can wait for Iraqis

encountered along the

road near Baghdad have seemed far more solicitous of the U.S. troops than at earlier points,

waving and shouting. But the troops, unable to measure the sincerit) of the gestures, remained wary. Some young male Iraqis appear too fit to be ordinan. civilians, but unless they display hostile intent, they are being ignored. All vehi-

cles

sat b\ the side

fresh tomatoes for sale

flat

particularly

wear ven. uncomfortable,

assault vehicles,

hours

suits the troops

sour.

oven-like temperatures inside armored

to

at the

is

and

have to clear Marine checkpoints.

In the distance, the

bombing of Baghdad

could be seen, occasionally lighting up the

British checkpoint,

w ith

geant

where an

a bushy red

Irish

in sight.

Guards

ser-

moustache was search-

ing an Iraqi pickup truck while the rest of his squad kept watchful guard with machine guns

from

their foxholes.

"Any more

British checkpoints

ahead .^" we

asked him.

"No.

this is

it.

The

front line." he said.

"You

don't want to go past us unless you're a tank.

We

parked the jeep and began inter> iew ing

the troops,

who were dug

in

behind berms of

sand, pushed up by the combat bulldozers of

144

Royal Engineers

the

WAR

THE IRAQ

They had

to provide cover.

been taking intermittent sniper

and the

fire

The engineers have had some of

occasional mortar round throughout the day.

under

From

trenches.

inside

armored

One of them

scorched and charred side of their vehicle, with

had another accent altogether, and a big toothy lit

up

and dousing the flames of the oil-fed

fire

one squad with rich Belfast

accents offered us a cup of tea.

grin that

dusky

his

face.

Guardsman

Isoa

melted equipment, where the

its

the flames.

teered to ser\e with British forces.

in here

was a

bit scary at fu-st.

coming under

he told UPI. as he lay behind the sand

fire,"

fires briefly

took hold as they shoveled tons of sand onto

Nagera comes from the South Pacific island of Fiji, one of more than 700 who have volun"It

most

The crew of "Penndragon." one of the giant armored bulldozers, showed me the

of a Warrior

protection

the

vehicle,

the

dangerous fighting, laying temporary bridges

"Don't think you're safe just because you're with us." grinned Cpl. Peter Chilton of

who comes from Ashendon in "We get some incoming here

Penndragon.

Northumberland.

berm. only his helmet and the barrel of his

ever\ day.

Minimi machine gun poking above. "But I'm

accurate, but they dart out in pickup trucks with

getting used to

comes

in

it.

so great

It's

and nothing

hits

when

the fire

you."

second city that coalition forces had

advanced, was on the road just ahead of a badly

Once

night

we were

just after 7 p.m..

fell,

sudden provoked a salvo of illumination

under blackout conditions. Twice, alarms

A

sign, perforated

as the Basra Technical

and sink slowly

to earth

The ornamental gateway had been

The heavy guns

fired sporadically throughout

holes, identified

College.

few

off a

fire

it

damaged compound. let

mortars loaded on the back,

rounds, and then reverse back under cover."

Their forward position, the furthest into Iraq's

sniping and mortars, not very

It's

by bul-

holed b> a tank round, and there were smoke-

blackened holes

in the roofs

and garages from mortar troops, this

of the workshops

attacks.

For the British

had been home for the previous 36

As darkness

we asked

we

rounds, phosphorous flares that light the sky

the night,

Then

their parachutes.

and there were a few scattered shots

from snipers silences

on

that

only served to

make

the

hang more heavily. it

w as

time for patrol change, and the

could

Challengers and Warriors reversed noisily in

take co\ er there for the night, and they told us

and out of the shattered gateway, taking up

hours.

fell,

to park beside a Warrior

Once

\

advanced guard positions. Some of the soldiers

ehicle.

compound was enormous

inside, the

— and devastated.

armored

if

It

had been taken

fighting, including an air attack

after hard

by Cobra hel-

slept through

it all,

despite the deafening clamor

of a 6 1 -ton tank revving up

We

feet

1

aw ay.

shared another brew of tea with the Irish

icopter gunships. and every building was damaged. But ever> building was full. Over 600 troops. 14 heavy tanks and 18 Warriors

Warrior \ehicle. Cut off from news of home,

were camping within, without

were

running water.

Some

electricity or

took an hour or so to

room of broken glass and wreckage to dow n their sleeping bags; others just slept

Guards from the water heater

w anted

they

still

to

know

if

against the

war

And

they wanted to grumble.

yet.

the British supply system

it

Target One" because

that

name when we took the place." explained Guardsman Craig Marshal, from was

its

Liverpool. This ters

was

the temporar>' headquar-

of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards battle

group, with their heavy Challenger-2 tanks.

Attached to them w ere the armored infantry of the Irish

Guards and the armored bulldozers of all had

a squadron of Royal Engineers. They trained together at their bases in fight as a unit.

and

it!)

meant

A

foul-up in

that only desert

boots of size 8 and size 12 had arrived for them.

on the ground. call

from

(far

whether the Americans had capmred Baghdad

lay

still

back of their

the British opinion polls

clear a

"We

in the

Germany

to

The rest either arranged for families back home to buy some and ship them out or had to w ear the heavy black leather combat boots they w ore in Europe

—

intolerably hot in Iraq.

"And look

at

me bum

me

hanging out of

cammies," said one Guardsman, who had better not be identified, who bent over to show w here the material of his desert camouflage had worn away. They have only been issued with one of camouflage clothing each the Iraqis stay

— and joke

set

that

aw ay because they smell so bad.

TWENTY-ONE DAYS But

life

looked up

this

week when

a British

Army

mobile bath unit started supplying hot showers Basra airport

—

at

although few of the combat

troops have been able to

make

the trip there yet.

— DAY

passion for the Manchester United soccer team,

whose banner

tluttered proudly

the regiment's bagpipe and

from the back

members of drum band.

of their Warrior. They were also

There was a mood of suppressed excitement, some bad jokes about Army food and a lot of

attack that

forced laughter and talk of home, because they

Christopher Muzvuru from

knew

145

1

At dawn, as they prepared

all

to

launch the

would capture Basra, Guardsman

Zimbabwe took

was being prepared to go dawn the next day. So far, the unit into Basra at had suffered no combat deaths, although they cheerfully showed us the scar on the back of their Warrior where rocket-propelled grenades

out his chanter, a small pipe that bagpipe play-

had struck with serious damage.

over,

all

that a big raid

Each Warrior and seven knit

carries a driver, a

soldiers,

who become

commander

a very tight-

team despite the remarkable spread of

among the troops. One platoon men from Northern Ireland, southern Scotland, England, Fiji, Gambia and

ers use for practice,

and played some

"I

always wanted to learn the bagpipes," he

explained. it's

"When we

take Basra and

queen."

Then

the orders came.

The dregs of tea were

tossed aside, the chanter put away, the guns

opened up and the

contained

Scots and the Irish Guards went

Ireland,

for Basra.

all

volunteers and

all

united by a

all this is

my dearest ambition to play before the

nationalities

Zimbabwe,

Irish

tunes.

battle

group of the Royal in,

driving hard

n

—

BASRA, Iraq, April 6 (UPI) The rear door of a Warrior armored personnel carrier from the Royal Scots

Dragoon Guards,

Desert Rats, displays a

7th

little

Armored Brigade, aka

door

art as the

outside a former technical school

just

Party headquarters they

had taken

crew

and

rests

Baathi

control of only

days previous, during a dawn raid on Basra on

2003.

April 6,

British forces

faced fierce resistance

inside the city of Basra but kept driving forward, tak-

ing over control of most of Iraq's second largest city

days of

after

fighting.

(Chris Corder, UPI)

—

Day 18

Sunday, April 6 "There's no army, no organized resistance. This place

going to

fall."

—

is

Guardsman Paul Caugtiers from

Newtonnards. Northern Ireland

MARTIN WALKER

BASRA — Coalition troops took effective control

of two of Iraq's largest cities Sunday amid

two

reports of

friendly-fire

incidents in the

north of the country and an attack on a Russian

diplomatic convoy leaving the Arab

Baghdad. U.S. troops faced

Guard forces north of

who

intact

state.

In

Republican

the city and irregulars

maintained a scattered but determined

resistance

inside.

Coalition

planes dropped

thousands of leaflets on the

city,

izens to stay inside their

homes while U.S.

155mm

artillery shells

imploring

were lobbed

cit-

into Iraqi

strong points in the southeastern suburbs. Iraqi authorities

imposed an entry-exit ban

into Baghdad between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.. but it was not clear what the warning would accomplish, as coalition forces extended their own

control over

all

the southern routes of entr\ and

U.S. Marine and armored units raced north to encircle the capital.

More explosions were heard

in

Baghdad

ear-

Sunday, several hours after a column

o\ abt)ul

30 tanks and armored vehicles made

a brief

lier

Saturday foray into the center of Iraq's capital, killing

more than

U.S. forces.

2,(KK) defenders in the priKCss.

Army on one

side of the city

and

147

148

Marines on the the ter

WAR

THE IRAQ

other, continued to ad\

newly captured suburban

airport

ance and

was

the cen-

of a widening circle of U.S. control.

absence of regular army or

the

in

streets

were patrolling Baghdad

irregulars

Iraqi

Republican Guard troops, which U.S. Central

Command in

officials said

had been "obliterated"

approaches to the

the

United Press

city.

Walker reported Sunday that Basra, the second-largest city, was falling after nearly two weeks of siege. He watched International's Martin

British tanks,

backed by U.S. Cobra helicopter

gunships. launch the biggest raid so far into the city,

and

after

meeting

new

hold their

light resistance, dig in to

positions.

only a few militia

away

in suburban buildings that knocked out Marine armored vehicles, fought tenaciously. The Marines finally took the bridge in a

classic infantr>' charge, covered

an

in their trenches

and bunkers.

"Blue-collar

McCoy

called

by smoke and

before closing with Iraqis

artillery barrage,

warfare," it.

Lt.

Bryan

Col.

And

Hand-to-hand combat.

then another long day fighting off the suicide

charges of pickup trucks with mortars and .50calibre

machine guns mounted on the rear

as the

push the Marines back across the

Iraqis tried to

The day before they reached the bridge, had lost a Ml Abrams hea\7 tank when a suicide bomber drove alongside it with

river.

the Marines

a truck filled with explosives. After

that,

Saddam Hussein now." Guardsman Paul

Marines did not want

close.

Caughers from Newtonnards. Northern Ireland,

In Moscow, Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow and his Iraqi counterpart. Abbas Khalaf, Sunday to demand explanations for the shoot-

"It's

told

UPI.

fighting for

no army, no organized

"There's

resistance. This place

The

still

is

going

battle for the city

to fall."

has raged for two

weeks. Over that time, a series of raids and precise artillery barrages targeted the

posts and

known

positions of the Iraqi mihtia

plan was

The British to try Saddam's loyalists from the bulk of

leading the defense. to separate

command

the population.

By

the time Sunday's attack

was launched, the defenders had been isolated and ground down. The route and targets of the Sunday morning assault were plotted overnight after reports from anti-Saddam Iraqis to the battle group intelligence officer. Capt. Paddy Truelove of the Royal Scots.

The

British

operation inside

intelligence

humanitarian effort in the local towns and

and with attached

units that

SAS

city.

its

vil-

Special Forces

have been conducting

sions into the

that left at least five

people wounded as a group of Russian diploincluding the envoy,

mats,

and journalists

headed for Syria. Twenty-three people, including Ambassador

Vladimir Titarenko, were traveling

voy

that

came under

in the

from Baghdad, respectively, en route Iraqi-Syrian

Baghdad

at

The

border.

con-

8 and 15 miles

fire twice,

to the

motorcade

left

10:30 a.m. Sunday and traveled

along a previously agreed route that had been

their

own

mis-

Local Iraqis have been pro-

plate

numbers of the

trolled

RTR

cars, Russia's state-con-

television

mm

U.S. military in

network reported. The

was expected

to provide

the so-called "green corridor," ensuring safety

of the convoy on

its

way toward

Syria.

However, the convoy was attacked by a be members of a

viding crucial intelligence about the locations

group of soldiers suspected

and weapons of regime

U.S. intelligence platoon that apparently

loyalists Like the

Baath

Party and the fedayeen. Just 10 miles

the

relayed to U.S. officials, along with the license

Basra has been closely coordinated with

lages,

Baghdad

ing incident near

anyone get

to let

from the center of Baghdad, the

tra\ el.

five people

diplomats

all

knew

RTR reported. At

nothing about the

—

to

least

— were wounded. was

3rd Marines reached the southern end of the

None of

500-feet-long bridge over the Diyala River, run-

they traveled

ning wide and slow before

The Russians bandaged the wounded, abandoned a damaged car and kept going. Then, around 15 kilometers from Baghdad, they came

and ran into

it

joins the Tigris,

their toughest battle of the war.

Marines' battle for the Diyala bridge, ports too

damaged

to take the

its

The sup-

weight of tanks,

was to last over 48 hours. The Iraqis, Republican Guard troops backed up by fedayeen, and with strong artillery support from 122mm guns hidden

upon

the eight journalists at

injured as

the back of the con\ oy.

a jeep convoy, stopped and sent a car

ahead with a flag to show the Russians

came under

rounds apparently

hit the

who

they were.

fire again.

Then

One of the

Russian ambassador's

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS armored limousine and the wrecked car was left behind on the road as the convoy proceeded farther on.

Central

Command

insisting that

bilty,

in

Qatar denied responsi-

no coalition forces were

The

operating in the area.

attack

came

as U.S.

Looking ahead

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Sunday it would take more than six months to

flying to

Moscow

for talks with Russian

Monday. The Russian media erupted

officials

up a government

set

regime

is

be

will

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice

was

49

post-war situation.

the

to

1

1

in the

hands of the U.S. -led coalition.

"Six months

what happened

is

News

he told Fox

Iraq,"

Saddam's Arab nation

Iraq after

in

toppled. Until then, the

more complicated

in northern

Sunday. "This

situation.

will take

It

is

a

more

with conspiracy theories about the attack,

than that." (Kurds began governing northern

mostly suggesting that the convoy contained

Iraq in 1991 after the first

documents

concerning

Gulf war ended.) The

a

U.S. -led coalition will run the country until

Russian arms deal, or senior Iraqi figures, pos-

then, he said, adding he does not favor a U.N.-

top-secret

Iraqi

Saddam.

sibly including

Centcom

government

led

may

also said "coalition aircraft

in Iraq.

not a model

"It's

we want

to follow, of a sort

have engaged" special operations and friendly

of permanent international administration." he

Kurdish ground forces some 30 miles south-

told

east of

Mosul,

in the vicinity

of Kalak. At least

one civilian and one U.S. soldier were killed in yet

another of the friendly

fire

incidents

have marred the otherwise glittering

that

coalition military achievement. dier and four civilians

Kurdish

said.

A Kurdish

sol-

were wounded. Centom

sources

said

at

12

least

CBS TV's "Face the Nation." The United Nations operated such a government in Kosovo, and while wanting to curb any

future

role

international

the

for

could help in bringing humanitarian assistance to Iraqis.

"The U.N. can be a mechanism

for bringing

Peshmerga fighters and U.S. Special Forces were killed. In another friendly fire incident. Centcom said three U.S. servicemen were

that assistance to the Iraqi people

and five others wounded in an incident "involving an F-15E Strike Eagle and coali-

not to

killed

tion

ground

Vincent Brooks

Brig.

U.S.

after

attacked

what he said

Salman Pak. southeast of Baghdad,

being told of its existence by some captured

fighters.

Reports of such a training

camp

Information

Saeed al-Sahhaf,

the

in a

that

area.

Sunday afternoon news

Iraqi

He

forces

repeated

in

Saturday's

had recaptured the

Baghdad airport. He also acknowledged coalition forces were in fact in Baghdad but were only using an escape route from the airport. Iraq's

Information

Ministry

earlier

took

on an extensive tour of Baghdad to show there was no sign of U.S. troops. However, the tour was ended when gunfire was

reporters

heard

in the distance.

The Battle of Basra Martin Walker

and shot down two Apache helicopters

Baghdad

claim,

external authority but to the

Iraqi people,"" he said.

Mohammed

Minister

conference, said Iraqi forces killed 50 U.S. soldiers

government as quickly as possible,

some other

at that

location had circulated as long ago as June. Iraqi

tions of a

Gen.

appeared to be a training camp for non-Iraqi fighters in

but our

Doha, Qatar,

told reporters in

Marines

U.S.

that

...

goal has to be to transfer authority and opera-

forces.'"

other developments,

In

body,

Wolfowitz said he beheved the United Nations

BASRA,

6

April

pied the

—

(UPI)

British troops occu-

Baath Party headquarters Sunday,

center of the remaining resistance in Iraq's

second

city, after

an

initial

on

all

fronts

into an assault

comed them by

heavy raid turned

— and

Iraqis wel-

kissing the dusty armor of

their tanks.

The

first

Rats, the 7ih that shortly

commanders ordered Royal Marines north

came

at dawn by the Armored Brigade, after midday British

two-pronged assault

famed Desert went so well

in

a

third

the south.

attack

by the

Then from

the

another attack from the paratroops

150

WAR

THE IRAQ

—

of the Air Assault Brigade

and the

full

in Iraq

was

weight of the British land forces engaged.

ment and small-arms cheer the

to

"Marhaba "

—

to

fire

come

into the

and

troops

British

cry.

offices.

One group

was

the time

ripe to take Basra.

photographer Chris Corder spent the night on

away a broThe Baath Party

gleefully rolled

Iraqi military jeep.

headquarters was

the heart of Iraq's second city and then decided

infantr)' rolling past in their

cany ing off typew riters and furniture from

ken down

it.

light resistance before reaching

This United Press International reporter and

Warrior armored vehicles. Others began looting,

They met only

They gave thumbs up

greetings.

Guards"

to the Irish

bombard-

artiller}'

backed by U.S. Cobra

two weeks of besieging

the city after nearly

braved the

Iraqi ci\ilians

open

Earlier. British tanks

helicopter gunships launched a massive raid on

hit

by well-aimed

fire

by the

and rose to them before dawn for the successful attack saw Iraqi civilians cheering the advancing

the front line with the assault troops

join that

by the end of the morning's

British troops

A

battle.

dark pall of greasy smoke hung over

and then the infantry

the first rays of the rising sun as the tanks of the

rushed out from their armored vehicles and

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards stormed past the

Royal Horse

Artillery,

took the building and

its

surrounding complex

pools and trenches of burning

oil.

by storm. They kicked dov\ n doors and threw

armored infantry vehicles of the

grenades

followed them

guns

before darting

inside

inside,

their

Iraqi resistance

was described

as

"weak

and scattered." and no British casualties were immediately reported. But the Iraqi

fire

was

hea\y enough to force one Cobra helicopter gunship to

And

make

late

The

a forced landing outside the

Sunda>. sniper

from a pow er

city open,

Saddam Hussein's chance

was

fire

on the

station

to flee

still

cit>'.

coming

outskirts of the cit>\

one Western

British carefulh kept

from the

exit

hoping the remnants of

would take

and allow the

city.

The

slamming coughs of

flat,

artillery

infantry drove through, the thudding of their

30mm cannons

sounding harsh above the noisy

clamor of the tank treads and interspersed with

rest of the city to

the higher burping pitch of the infantry assault

weapons.

Guns supporting

intelligence learned that the governor of

came

Basra province, the mayor, and the military

British

chief of staff had

command

fled the city in the previ-

battle

tanks,

and tanks supporting

combined arms

Acting again on intelligence from local

by the Special Air Service, the

British launched a separate air strike

on a build-

ing believed to be used by the remaining Iraqi

southern front commander, Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan. Better

known

as

"Chemical Ali" weapons

leys

of

assault, the

group destroyed the fedayeen

post that had been their

and pushed on through small-arms

ous 48 hours. Iraqis obtained

in the

became a barrage that ignited blossoming fireballs by the key traffic intersection known as Gate of Basra. Then the armored gunfire

infantry in a classic

all

went

night, but at 5.30 a.m. as the tanks

after British mil-

sion to launch the attack

British

had been heard throughout the

fire

their

loyalists

be occupied without further violence. The deci-

itar>'

support as they charged

in

directly for nearly 3 miles into the heart of the

firing.

The

The Warrior Guards

Irish

rocket-propelled

initial target

fire

grenades

grounds of Basra University. The

and volto

RPG

the shots

bounced off the heavy armor of the Challenger one of them has, so far, taken seven tanks hits without damage. Taking a carefully planned route to minimize civilian damage and

—

way with

for his role in the use of chemical

casualties, the British fought their

against the Iraqi Kurdish village of Halabja in

steady determination through a suburban indus-

1989, he has been a prime target of the coali-

trial

tion

command. His personal bodyguard was

found dead

in the

wreckage of the building by

British troops later Sunday.

"Chemical Ali has war crimes and

we

British

forces'

answer for

him stand trial," spokesman Group Capt. Al

are very keen to see

Lockwood

to

said Sunday.

area of small factories and walled

com-

pounds, with few civilian areas. "This

is

what

I

joined up for," grinned

Guardsman Craig Marshall, from Liverpool. As the tanks of the Royal Scots and the Irish Guards launched their assault along the main road from Baghdad, another British column to the north, spearheaded by the Black Watch

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS regiment, launched a second attack that caught the defending Iraqis betAveen

two

was

British plan

to separate

to tr>

At 6.30 two U.S.

the time Sunday's attack

Cobra gunships. on standby for the British call. flew low and fast over the wrecked technical college where we had spent the night w ith the

assault had been plotted o\

A.M.. after an

fires.

hour of ground fighting,

loyalists

from the bulk of the

from anti-Saddam

and then swooped down from the north

intelligence officer. Capt.

three precise missile volleys into the last Iraqi

The suppon

artiller\

group

Paddy Truelove of

Royal Scots. The British intelligence oper-

the

w ith

their

61

advance.

The

at

weapon

armon.. pushed on to the

in the allied

tons the heaviest

"Resistance light and scattered." the ad\ ance tanks reported back by radio to the Irish Guards"

command

and

its

humanitarian effort in the local towns

and with attached S.AS Special

villages,

Forces units that have been conducting their

own

missions into the

city.

Local Iraqis have

been providing crucial intelligence about the

edge of Basra old tow n.

locations and

"A week reply, as the

planned raid turned into a solid advance, and b)

weapons of regime

loyalists like

the Baath Part) and the fedaseen.

post.

"Hold your positions." came the

midday came

after reports

as scattered small-arms fire

Challenger-2 tanks,

forward

emight

Iraqis to the battle

ation inside Basra has been closely coordinated

harass

to

By

British drove on. calling in

strongholds.

continued

Saddam's

p)opulation.

was launched, the defenders had been isolated and ground dow n. The route and targets of the Sunday morning

assault forces, circled twice to verify targets to fire

151

1

at

\

ago. the Iraqis wouldn't even look

"Now

ou." Caughers added.

waving at us." The crowd of Iraqi

they are cheer-

ing and

back

words "Positions secured." "It"s only a few mihtia still fighting for Saddam Hussein now." Guardsman Paul

far

Caughers from Newtormards. Northern Ireland,

tered pickup trucks filled with fresh tomatoes

"There's no army, no organized

UPI.

told

the

resistance. This place is going to fall."

The

battle of

ties.

minimum Over

Basra has been a classic exam-

and precise

mand militia

of friendly and civiUan casual-

the past

two weeks, a

artillery

posts and

series of raids

barrages targeted the com-

know n

who were

positions of the Iraqi

leadina the

defense.

w ith

The

civilians standing

start line

their bicycles

of the attack, jostling

and donkey

to sell in the city, finally surged Irish

ple of strategic patience, to take the city with

the

behind the

Guards

position the\

lifted

their

was reported

carts

and

bat-

forward as the

roadblock once the

secure, but not before

had each been handed a

leaflet in .Arabic

by the British troops, an advertisement asking any ci\ ilians who were interested in working for

and helping the coalition forces to contact

the headquaners later in the da>.

\

I

\

Senior Airmen Greg Pelletier and

Scares,

Phil

both security forces journeymen deployed from the

157th

Forces

Security

Squadron,

Pease Air

Reserve Guard, N.H., to the 363rd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, authorize a vehicle to

proceed through an entry control point during a sandstorm on April 7, 2003. The 363rd ESFS members work around-the-clock performing force protection measures, air base defense, tecting personnel

Freedom

at

a

Southwest Asia.

and pro-

support of Operation Iraqi

in

forward deployed location (Matthew Hannen, UPI)

in

—

Day 19 Monday, April 7 President

Saddam Hussein "no

Iraq" regardless of whether he

is

much

longer runs

alive or dead.

of

— U.S.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

MARTIN WALKER President George

Northern Ireland,

W. Bush tlew to for what became a

meeting with his closest

ally,

Belfast,

victory

British

Prime

Minister Tony Blair, as Iraqis pressed kisses on the dusty British tanks in Basra

tanks rolled along the western the river Tigris in the heart of

and American

embankment of Baghdad.

Behind the tanks, the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division was setting up a new com-

mand

post

in

Journalists

in

the

new

presidential

Baghdad's

Palestine

palace.

Hotel

watched U.S. infantry patrols cautiously probing the riverbank.

who

shooting

at

Iraqi

soldiers

had stripped to their shorts and di\ed into

the river to escape.

Further back along the 6-mile stretch that

brought Highway S into the capital, furious fighting erupted at three separate intersections,

known Moe,

to the

after the

Americans

comedy

as Curly. Larrv

and

trio the Three Stooges.

But there was nothing funny about the daring advance into the city ordered by the 2nd

Brigade commander. Col. David Perkins. For it was the crucial battle of Baghdad.

him.

153

154

THE IRAQ was a

"It

WAR come

pretty ambitious plan to

The value of

in

with one brigade and take the whole city." he

knew that if we we would own Baghdad.

the palaces

is

both tactical and

symbolic: They could yield important

intelli-

told reporters after the battle. "I

gence documents about the location of any hid-

could stay that night,

den caches of chemical or biological weapons,

That was the key to quickly collapsing the

and

two tank battalions, the 1 st and 4th of the 64th Armored Regiment, punching up Highway 8 from Objective Curly,

tion that

through Objective Larry to Objective Moe. the

same time contribute to the percepis done ruling Iraq. "We"ve secured Baghdad International Airport and have begun using it for coalition missions."" Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers said Monday, adding that more

Umm

than 125.000 coalition troops are

regime."" Perkins sent his

the intersection with the

Dawrah Expressway,

Attuboul mosque. Hundreds of Iraqi

at the

Saddam's regime

now

inside

and then opened a

Iraq and that a total of 340.000 are in the region.

furious fire on the supporting U.S. mechanized

"We've secured most of the major roads and out of Baghdad. We"ve visited two of Saddam's presidential palaces. Republican Guard divisions have only been able to conduct

defenders

let

the tanks pass

from the 3rd Battalion

infantrv'

Bradley

in their

lighting vehicles. At Objective Larr).

where the

intersection led to the Al-Jadriyah bridge across

the Tigris, the 3rd Battalion

from three

sides.

came under

attack

Almost ever\ vehicle was

hit

into

sporadic attacks on our forces. tanks they began with,

all

Of the

800-plus

but a couple of dozen

We

by rocket-propelled grenade rounds. Two American soldiers were killed and 12 more needed medical evacuation after the fighting along Highway 8. The defenders, a mix of Republican Guards, fedayeen and Syrian volunteers, lost over 400 killed, some of them in suicide attacks as pickup trucks packed

have been destroyed or abandoned.

with explosives tried to drive close to the U.S.

Mohammed

Saeed al-Sahhaf declared

that

vehicles.

At times during the 18 hours of close

Iraqi forces

had "destroyed" U.S. forces

that

fighting,

with fuel and ammunition running

American troops were close to being overrun. One American fuel truck ignited after an ammunition truck beside it exploded. At out. the

enemy came

Objective Curly, the

U.S. troops called in their

own

so close that

By

contrast,

Information Minister

Iraqi

Baghdad overnight and swore

entered

to

"slaughter the invading troops." U.S. forces

"learned a lesson forget.""

last

night they will never

he said, and insisted that Baghdad

was "secure and

great."

so close to

British military officials, meanwhile, con-

two of them were

firmed that Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majid was killed

artillerv' fire

positions that

have

more than 7.000 enemy prisoners of war. We are restoring power to cities throughout southem Iraq. And we"re delivering a growing amount of humanitarian relief to the Iraqi people in various locations,'" Myers said.

wounded. But the Americans held

their

ground,

in

an

air raid late

Saturday on his

home near known as

fought off the desperate counter-attacks, and by

Basra

establishing themselves firmly in the heart of

Chemical

the city, broke the back of the defense.

chemical weapons against Kurds in northern Iraq in 1998. He was also Saddam's cousin.

In

New

Annan

York. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi

called

members of

in

the

Security

in southern Iraq.

Ali.

reportedly ordered the use of

Far to the south, they cheered, they waved,

Council to discuss "developments on the ground

they kissed the tanks.

and the post-conflict situation that the international

community

was almost

over. President

longer runs

much

he

is

of

Iraq""

sign

the British troops, and their political masters

the

war

back

regardless of whether

Defense Secretan,

as U.S. tanks

vehicles fought their

felt

The people of Basra gave

—a

Saddam Hussein 'no

alive or dead, said U.S.

Donald Rumsfeld

in Iraq"

Al-Majid. also

and armored

way along Highway

8 early

in

Washington and London, the

images they needed this

was

a

war of

unfeigned delight

liberation.

But the scenes of

among

inhabitants

second

tant.

ere not entirely

\\

Monday, while Marines moved to close the noose on the city to the north and a fierce battle raged near one of Saddam's presidential palaces

the freedoms

on the bank of the Tigris River.

upon

uppermost

the

of

while gratifying and impor-

Iraq's

city,

TV

to buttress their case that

what they seemed. Of all the Iraqis, the one

now promised

in their

minds was the fear of immi-

nent death from the war that had descended their

homes.

— DAY

TWENTY-ONE DAYS "It's over.

That's what I'm so happy about."

Abel Rahman al-Gazwieni told United Press

to

cordon and

the security

lift

let

him and

a host

of others rejoin their families inside the

"That

is

why we

happy now.

are all

city.

No more

bombs, no more shelling."

He broke

off to give a

A

ing British tank.

It

was

Down

true.

of water from Baghdad 30 miles away, the British army's civil affairs officers

thumbs up

to a pass-

corner

On

to get the

that

at least

once a day.

Umm

Qasr

calls a sports field, the British

and U.S.

for life to return to normal.

reopen the soccer

my money?"

he wanted to

know, bringing out a thick wad of

Iraqi dinars,

Iraqi leader

money

is

Saddam

no longer good."

The money, in fact, has not been all good for some time. Once, in the fat and oil

and helmets and guns

1

Iraqi dinar. Lately

few people now expect to

be

it

has

3.000 dinars to the dollar and

like

Saddam banknotes

the

Behind the soccer

The big problem

for

Abel Rahman and

in

ready, stood guard

at the

field, there

amid

the dull, It

was

children, with swings

was a sudden

mud-brown uniformity a plastic playground for

and

The Marines had brought sleepers around installed

use for long.

in

game was

splash of color, neon pinks and greens and bright

of the Arab town.

been more

first

and smiled despite the fierce heat of the day.

royal blue

of

and the

camouflage smocks, body armor

their green

and then against Kuwait, the

official rate

field,

played on Sunday afternoon. U.S. Marines

that

rich

have managed to

civil affairs units

days before Saddam launched wars against Iran

exchange was $3 to

had indeed

the barren patch of scraped desert grit

water back on and the schools reopened, and

Hussein. "I hear the

town of

the border

in

hired six drivers to put a tanker on every street

most important things now were

adorned with the head of

wondrous jobs

Umm Qasr, which depended on daily deliveries

science teacher, he said the

"But what about

these

55

be found?

International as he waited for the British troops to

Where were

U.S. dollars.

1

1

the

it.

first

it

slides

shipped

and rockers.

sunk the railway

in.

in

soft

sand, and

and brightest-colored play-

ground the children of Umm Qasr had ever seen.

over

But there were few takers, as most of them

is the threat of a dead economy and no more jobs. The curious feature of this war that many

clustered around any visiting car to plead for

thought would degenerate into urban warfare

water trucks were trundling

many

was rare.

other Iraqis

now

that the fighting is

that house-to-house fighting

At Basra, and

to

was

relatively

at

Najaf and

an extent

Nasiriyah. most of the fighting took place in the

on

industrial areas

city outskirts, in factories

and plants where the defenders had room

to

stuck inside these spraw ling compounds,

where the to

keep

militia

and military commanders

their troops so that

it

liked

would be harder

for

them to run away, they tended to get stuck there by the coalition

air

power. The

result is that a lot

of industrial plants have been damaged cities that

saw the main fighting

in the

— which means

rickety

fell

ous American or European. In broken English or sign

language, or clamoring for English Rahman to translate, they all

speakers like Abel

said they had heard the

homemade

British

were hiring

drivers for water trucks and paying

them

in

habit, since the

down

the street

trolleys.

The fact is that apart from the casualties of war and overburdened hospitals there is no real crisis in Iraq, at least in the tradi-

tional sense of

famine or epidemic. The coun-

was dependent on the U.N. food-for-oil program, but it was well organized and large try

stocks of food are in

Umm

Qasr said

still

on hand. U.N.

officials

weeks of food seemed to be the

six to eight

stocks were on hand, and that

case elsewhere

Nor have

and the cheerful looting began, and reports came in of Baath Party officials being lynched by the people they had misruled, other Iraqis clustered around any obvias Basra

must have been sheer

behind them and other kids were wheeling disused oil barrels tilled with water back home on

the jobs have gone, too.

So

It

humanitarian

park their vehicles under cover.

Once

water.

in Iraq.

flmxls of

there been any great

refugees to neighboring countries. People

left

when

the

the

cities

of Baghdad and

Basra

bombing became heavy, and regional cities that saw serious fighting, like Najaf and Nasiriyah. But when the fighting died down and people saw that the damage was limited, the British civil affairs staff say. they

The

real

went home.

emcrgenc> now

supplies, said Dr.

in Iraq is lor

medical

Dimitrius Mognie. fomicrly

156

THE IRAQ

WAR

Without Borders, who left making a survey of medical needs for the World Health Organization. He reported a desperate shortage of most pharma-

The

ceuticals, including anesthetics.

around their gates.

"Ameericaah?" a

Doctors

with

Baghdad

after

'They don't have drugs," he myself when

I

said.

""I

visited the hospitals.

saw it I went

around and checked the drug cabinets."

who had

litde girl

asked a Marine

entered her village and taken a defen-

began to search homes. were deserted. People peered

sive position as others streets

The Marine smiled, wiggled the girl's direction

and her fear

his fingers in

— and

that of

the rest of the townspeople

— melted. Within

minutes people had

their

began

left

houses and

shake hands with the Marines.

to

Liberation from the strictures of the regime of

Saddam Hussein had come

Iraqi leader

RICHARD TOMKINS

for a

nameless village just a few miles from down-

WITH THE 5TH MARINES OUTSIDE BAGHDAD. Iraq, April

pounded

Monday

6

—

(UPI)

U.S. Marine

of Baghdad

defenders

the

artillerv'

early

as U.S. forces neared completion of

town Baghdad. Marines had

visited the village in force to

who

hunt for the people

rounds

them

at

fired

earlier in the day.

two mortar

An

Iraqi sol-

hammered away

was quickly caught on the roof without a fight and taken away. Townspeople led Marines to the Baath Party headquarters where two mortars, ammunition and rocketpropelled grenades were stored. As the men of the village were questioned individually

U.S. warplanes joined in the

through an interpreter, the Marines searched

operation by dropping laser-guided munitions.

about 100 adobe-style homes. They knocked

of the Iraqi capital. The

their encirclement

bombardment by 155imn artillery shells began Sunday evening. The explosions of shells could be heard by troops of the 5th Marine regiment,

and bright flashes

lit

up the sky from secondary

explosions. While the artillery at Iraqi positions.

At

least three

distance

B-52

strikes

could be heard

— ominous multiple explosions

dier

in the

on doors before they entered and spoke firmly

indi-

but politely to the residents, relatively gentle

men

bearing weapons that the

cating carpet bombing.

behavior from

on Sunday, Marines searched a large field, once used by Iraq's Republican

villagers

Guard, that contained armored vehicles, sup-

local party official. People looked sheepish

ply trucks and artillery pieces. In one aban-

and did not give

Earlier

doned armored remains of an

known

vehicle.

MRE

pack

Meals Ready

as

Marines found the

—

the food rations

to Eat that are given to

is

"I

to the

a crazy war." Capt.

Shawn Basco

crowd and asked

know you

name of

said the soldier,

the

it.

Saddam Hussein may

think

who

are afraid.

behind me. We've

is,"

requested anonymity. "I

all

Look come

"They come to us in civilian clothes, see what we've got, get some food, go back to their

Saddam. You don't need

own

said.

the

not be finished, but I'm telling you he

know you

U.S. troops.

"This

spoke

had not seen before. Later a Marine

to

at

the soldiers

to rid

you of

be afraid any

more."

an F- 1 8 pilot act-

The crowd of about 100 people immediately broke into applause. It was obvious they had

ing as the forward air controller for Bravo

learned in the past to cheer anything any offi-

Company,

cial

vehicles and then decide not to fight."

Basco, from Cleveland,

is

1st Battalion. 5th

Marines.

Iraqis in civilian clothing often

walk by

U.S. positions but are not challenged unless they appear to

some

show

hostile intent. Apparently

are Iraqi troops,

who check

and decide whether or not

things out

to return to their

does

The response had been automatic,

later

when

the Marines

the furnishings of the party office led to gen-

uine expressions of gratitude.

Later a

started with the kids.

—

curiosity

Somehow

it

always

elbowing aside shyness

handed out food, picked

up children and hugged them and passed out

units. It

said.

almost perfunctory. But the expressions of joy

man

with two young children

approached me. He looked embarrassed and through sign language indicated people were

of strangers and parents' admonitions for

still

caution.

He

afraid of

Saddam and

his party officials.

pointed to the party headquarters, pointed to

TWENTY-ONE DAYS himself and with one hand indicated a talking

home

mouth, and then he brought

With

his

thumb he drew

and then the throats of

the message:

a line across his throat

his children.

They

all

— DAY

157

1

proved perfect for the armed forces

of the U.S. 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division to its

punch

into the heart of the city, demoralize

defenders and fragment their forces

matter of only four days. There are

many of them

reasons,

Press

International

many

a

in

other

predicted by United

military

Thomas

analyst

Houlahan, as to why Saddam failed to turn his

Analysis:

capital into an urban stronghold to inflict sig-

on the invad-

nificant, let alone massive, losses

Sadoam's

ing U.S. forces. But this one should rate highly

The architecture of fear upon his own city led directly too.

Sense of Scale

There

MARTIN

SIEFF

WASHINGTON,

April

9

—

(UPI)

Baghdad It

was

being's sense of significance and worth

into a gigantic

than not, their boundless, megalomaniac arro-

was not

just that

gance backfires on them and they

by

their

own

fall,

plagued

pride and vices.

The Emperor Napoleon formed Paris

also the architecture.

Had Saddam been

human

with their overwhelming scale. But, more often

too few people were prepared to fight for him; it

immensely broad,

fail-

Stalingrad to confound, trap and slaughter thou-

sands of American soldiers.

have always loved monumen-

architecture and long,

endless boulevards that crush the individual

Saddam

Hussein has only himself to blame for his ure to turn the city of

he imposed

to his downfall.

a consistent pattern to this kind of

is

irony. Dictators tal

that

III

of France trans-

into a magnificent city of glorious

mid- 19th century, giving

boulevards

in the

inherited as formal No. 2 and real strongman of

splendor

retains to this day.

the second Baathist regime in Iraq 35 years ago,

pose was

he could have done

military forces recruited from the provinces to

content with the city he

For, as prominent Iraqi

it.

democratic dissident Kanaan Makiya, writing

nom

under the in his

de plume Samir al-Khalil, noted

1991 classic study of Iraqi totalitarian

"The Monument," Baghdad

architecture,

1968, with a quarter

its

was a "much maligned, anarchic

million people,

and crumbling cosmopolitan It still

"with

neighborhoods,

its

Baghdad

and ethnically divided

sectarian

colorful souks,

to

move about

fragment the

it

But

city

its

horizontal

skyline punctuated with pretty vertical minarets,

it

and allow loyal

by

easily without being stymied

urban barricades

in its ancient

a

his real pur-

narrow

streets.

His visionary scheme was meant to end the succession of urban revolutions and riots that

had plagued the

city for three-quarters of a cen-

tury since the French Revolution, as

shown

the hit musical "Les Miserables." But

city."

retained large areas of "old"

its

in

current population of 5

it

it

to prevent the bloodiest insurrection of

rising of the Paris

own that

Commune that

in

failed

all.

the

succeeded his

failed Second Empire in 1870. And after was crushed, it was the democratic Third.

inward-looking houses and shaded narrow

Fourth and Fifth Republics that enjoyed the

alleyways." In other words, the perfect kind of

urban tranquility and magnificent architecture

its

environment

which

in

ditch guerrilla war. But that

to fight a bloody, last-

Louis Napoleon had wrongly imagined would

Saddam

perpetuate his

did not leave

it

As Makiya metamorphose 1970s.

...

wrote, into

its

"Baghdad

first

began

to

present form in the late

Overnight Baghdad became a giant

construction

site:

new and wider roads, redeveland many new monuments

—

opment zones ... all were put in hand."

"New and ments"

own

glory.

Adolf Hitler discovered the hard way how

way.

— and

magnificent

the

arterial

the easy conquest of his

ended up

many new monunew monuments had wide, .

.

.

roads leading to them.

to facilitate

neighbors, instead

facilitating the destruction of his

own

Third Reich. Germany's national autobahn system, built

in

the

1930s,

was a

ahead of even America's fabled

wider roads all

amazing road systems, designed

full

20 years

interstate high-

way system. It greatly aided the massing of the German army for its early victorious campaigns against Poland, France and Russia from 1939 to

158

WAR

THE IRAQ

1941. But in 1945. the forces of the U.S. 12th

Army Group driving across the Rhine

to encircle

Field Marshal Walter Model's armies in the

Rhur instead found

it

a fast track into the heart of

Germany, annihilating

Hitler's last fading

hopes

of survival. In 1989. the grandiloquent scale of

communist urban architecmre and

ning backfired on brutal dictatorships

at

opposite

more than a million students and their supporters demanding Western-style democracy flooded into Tiananmen Square, the colosarea of Beijing in front of the

ancient Forbidden City of the Old Emperors.

regimes are so obsessed with holding.

ian

is

Instead,

became

it

communist

the natural focus for anti-

revolution.

.And

although

the

demonstrations were brutally crushed with the

Tiananmen association was no longer

slaughter of thousands of students.

Square's most lasting

Mao

the other battle for

from Washington

tlefields

from Paris

to the

Brussels,

to

United Nations

New

in

and

York.

The preferred weapons are statements, reports and memoranda: the land mines are leaks to the media.

Zedong, founding father of the Chinese

communist state, had razed the heart of Beijing to make Tiananmen Square a worthy city for the monumental mass spectacles that totalitar-

Baghdad is under way. but Baghdad fought on bat-

In Iraq, the battle for

so

First,

Mao

ROLAND FLAMINI

street plan-

ends of the Eurasian land mass.

sal central staging

The other battle of Baghdad

This

and

Iraq,

it

everybody

to

virtu-

ranging from faithful

else,

members

coalition

controls post-

shaping up as a con-

is

between the United States and

frontation ally

who

the battle for

is

Saddam

opponents of the war.

Like any good general. U.S. Secretary' of State Colin Powell was in Brussels Thursday to reconnoiter

"enemy"

positions.

From

accounts,

all

he found them dug in and determined.

NATO

At

headquarters, where Powell dis-

and his suc-

cussed the Bush administration's post-war plans

cessors, but with the ever-reviving, uncrush-

with fellow foreign ministers of the Atlantic

with the supposed glory of

human impulse to be free. That same year, down in the Balkans, one of

able immortal

the

endless

demonstrations

popular

that

Romania's communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had summoned in central Bucharest to celebrate his ow n genius and endless rhetorical powers finally turned on the murderous, grandiloquent old blowhard. Popular revolution

spread like wildfire and Ceausescu

popularly

known among

as "'Draculescu"

—

his adoring subjects

and "the Antichrist"

— faced

a firing squad on Christmas Day.

Now Saddam who

list

of monstrous tyrants

raised supposedly magnificent superhigh-

ways and monuments to their own glor\. only to see them become symbols and instruments of their own ruin. The 40-foot high statue he raised to

himself

in the heart

of Baghdad will instead

be indelibly remembered by future generations of Iraqis torn

— and

down

the

w hole world

with a noose around

its

—

for being

neck, and

its

severed head then joyously passed in a sponta-

neous frenzied freedom crowd.

ritual

—

member coun-

idea of the views of different

There

tries."

Europeans

is

think. British

the

Prime Minister Tony

Blair in Washington told President

Bush. "There's no doubt

what

question

little

"They

said.

just to get an

George W.

at all that the

United

Nations has got to be closely involved

in this

process. That's not just right, interest that

it

it's

in

everyone's

happens."

Following Thursday's meeting with Powell.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin

has joined the long and no

doubt ever-growing

spokesman Yves Brodeur

alliance,

did not meet to decide anything

among

a rejoicing

put

it

said,

more succincdy. The United Nations, he

"must ha\ e the central role"

and economic reconstruction of

A

large swathe of

around

lesced

in the political

Iraq.

U.N. members has coa-

proposals

on

based

Afghanistan model, a senior European in

the

official

Washington said Friday. These include a

U.S. -sponsored conference of interested parties

on Iraq

to

be held soon, bringing together rep-

resentatives from exiled political groups and

leading figures from inside Iraq

itself.

The con-

ference will appoint an all-party interim gov-

ernment.

Its

main tasks

ursent humanitarian

relief,

will

be to organize

make chanses

to the

TWENTY-ONE DAYS and prepare for democratic

Iraqi constitution,

The interim govern-

elections, the official said.

ment

be headed by a civilian administrator

will

appointed by the United Nations. At the same time, a peacekeeping force that could be pro-

NATO

— DAY

1

1

59

the immediate formation of an interim civilian

administration drawn from

Ahmed

ble leader will be

among

from Iraq

cal exiles, as well as

Iraqi National Council,

Iraqi politi-

itself. Its

proba-

Chaiabi, head of the

and one of the leading

over security duties

personalities in the Iraqi opposition. Rumsfeld's

from U.S.-led coalition forces. Last week, the Bush administration agreed

any action by supporters of a U.N. involve-

vided by

to a Security

will take

Council vote, extending the

oil-

for-food program for 45 days under U.N.

move

seen by observers as an attempt to limit

is

—

ment. Chaiabi

—

figure

a

somewhat

controversial

also has his enemies in Washington,

supervision so that urgent humanitarian needs

notably in the State Department and in the

could be met. But beyond that function the

Central Intelligence Agency. But administra-

U.N.'s role in putting together Iraq remains in

tion sources say Rumsfeld's plan already has

doubt. Powell told

NATO

Thursday

allies

world body will not be shut

the

that

Washington and London should "play the leading

role

in

Powell argued

at the

for

and fmancially. "but

politically

expense of

forward."

was paying

that the coalition

war not just

the

way

determining the

lives as well."

believed that the leadership

and therefore should be

role

Bush's approval

United Nations

in

sense, including

its

way and agree

and

appointment of a U.N. liaison with

to the

same functions

the

that

to a

U.N. conference,

Lakhdar Brahimi has

Afghanistan. But the Bush administration sharply divided over

ment

is

tolerable

some observers

how much U.N.

in

emergent

the

will be for

minimal

Blair

and

role without a struggle.

the

Pentagon

Department has the lead

war

political

and in

it

not

looks as

the

State

shaping Iraq's post-

and economic

future.

countries like

the world

body

its allies.

is

the

Rumsfeld plan crosses the

unease

the

that the

Europe grows. One

in

Gamer

administration

open-ended, and there are reports that

remain

are not at all sure Powell will

Based on recent developments, though

problem

is

be able to get White House approval even for this

Atlantic,

in

involve-

Iraq,

in

damaging excluding

politically

As news of

part of the

makes

reconstructing Iraq

experience

Camdodia and East Timor. But the most compelling for the Bush administration is how

theirs.

Powell also hinted he might be willing to go

in principle.

There are several reasons why involving the

but

out.

in place for at least 18

makes

the case to

nominal U.N. role

Bush

at their

it

months.

is

could

When

for a more-than-

scheduled meeting

in

Ireland next week, he will be speaking for other

European leaders

— U.S.

allies

Having survived the war would face fresh problems alike.

and adversaries politically. Blair

home

at

Pentagon-mn administration were

Baghdad

any length of time

for

if

a

installed in

— even

one

that includes British troops. In Spain.

Secretary

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar,

Donald Rumsfeld and the phalanx of hard-line conser\ative civilians that surrounds him have

another

cobbled up an interim administration that com-

uled for the end of this month, his popularity

bines U.S. and coalition military control with

rating

some

opposition to the war that continues to grow.

Iraqi political participation. In a

house outside Kuwait City, retired

Lt.

beach-

Gen. Jay

ally,

is

a disastrous

recently toned

touches to their plans for taking over

week

Baghdad, buttressed by American and British troops, as soon as the

Saddam Hussein regime

collapses.

Gamer will report directly to Gen. Tommy commander of coalition forces in Iraq. according

a senior administration official complained last

the last

that "Berlusconi has failed to step

up

to

plate." He was conspicuously absent from month's coalition leaders' war summit in

Azores bringing together the leaders of the United States, Britain, Spain and Portugal.

the

Franks,

But

20 percent. Concerned by

Prime Minister Silvio Beriusconi has down his support for the war, and

Italian

Gamer, the U.S. -appointed administrator for Iraq, and his team are putting the finishing in

faces punishing anti-war senti-

ment. With cmcial provincial elections sched-

to

a

report

in

Friday's

Washington Post, Rumsfeld has now proposed

Arab worid. the presence of U.S. solthe streets of Baghdad long alter the con-

in the

diers in flict

is

sure

to

aggravate public sentiment.

160 already

THE IRAQ incensed

American

WAR

by

the

military rule in

war.

"Prolonged

Baghdad could

also

antagonize Iraq's neighbors, especially Turkey

and

Iran," the Saudi

Arabian paper Arab

News

commented. "Both can cause a nuisance and

endanger Iraq's

territorial integrity

sovereignty.

There

. .

.

is

and national

no evidence

that

a

welcome American rule months. An army of liberation can

majority of Iraqis will

even for

1

8

mmintoanarmy of occupation almost instantly."

I

4

.afr

-rr"^.S-^-

Oi

BASRA,

8

Iraq, April

55 tank on

— A burnt out

(DPI)

Iraqi

the southern road to Basra, Iraq,

on 2003. Members of the 40 Commando Royal Marines look on. (Rex Features/UPI) 1

April 8,

,, '^

<

—

Day 20

T\iesday, April 8 "It

was

really something, the children just

streamed out

of the gates and their parents just started to embrace us."

—

commander of the

Lt. Col. Padilla.

First Battalion.

U.S. Marines

MARTIN WALKER American tanks ranged almost at will through Baghdad Tuesday, dominating the

central

bridges

across

their hold city

and consolidating

the Tigris

on the heart of the vast and sprawling

of 5 million people against scattered but

stubborn resistance from rooftops, mosques, ministry buildings and street ambushes.

Alerted by undercover agents that

Saddam

Hussein had been seen entering a restaurant an apartment building trict

al-Mansour

in the

bomber was

of Baghdad, a B-1

in

dis-

able to

drop four 2,000-pound, bunker-penetrating

bombs on the place within 45 minutes of the sighting. The building was destroyed, but military officials warned it may be sometime before

it

who was

can be determined

at the

location in what they called a "target of oppor-

C

tunity." In the day's

journalists

Tuesday

confused fighting,

were

killed

in incidents that

destroyed the al-Jazeera

by more than

in the Iraqi capital.

at Iea.st three

others injured

Baghdad and damaged

television bureau in hotel used

and

six

the

3(X) foreign journalists

Al-Jazeera said two U.S. mis-

siles struck its office

Tuesday, killing correspxin-

dent Tariq Ayoub. 34, a Jordanian national.

cameraman. Zuheir

Iraqi,

was

the attack. Just before he

A

slightly injured in

was

hit.

his

camera

filmed a spray of empty cartridges being ejected

from an automatic

rifle

being fired from a bal-

cony immediately below him.

163

164

THE IRAQ

WAR

Both journalists were standing on the roof

committee. Vernon said the sheikh offered his

preparing for a hve broadcast amid intensifying

services and a check determined that he had

bombardment of Baghdad when two

authority with area tribal leaders. (The agree-

missiles

struck the building, the network said. Shortly

bombing of

after the

Abu

al-Jazeera"s office.

Dhabi Television's offices were hit by a missile. The network said no one was injured. Later Tuesday, a tank shell apparently struck

two

the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel, killing journalists

and wounding

at least three others.

ment did not

The

last.

sheikh, a former Iraqi

general and Baath Party official, was replaced

before the end of the week, after other local izens claimed he

was too linked

to the

cit-

former

regime.) Basra remains dangerous, with

some

opposition remaining despite the broad public

welcome

for the British troops.

Two

British

Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, and

soldiers

Spanish cameraman Jose Couso, 37, were

ently as they slept. Three British soldiers were

A Japanese

killed.

TV

was

cameraman working

for Fuji

also injured.

Information

Iraqi

killed in the assault

a

booby

Mohammed

Minister

Saeed al-Sahhaf described the U.S. attack on

weaken

the hotel as a '"desperate attempt to

the

were killed Tuesday morning, appar-

British troops

evening,

Majed Abdul

correspondent

Al-Jazeera

Haidi accused the U.S. military' of "intention-

two Arabic-language chanBaghdad. He said: "The first

Sunday, one by

were moving freely through

Monday

parachute regiment had

the

after

moved through

capital."

city

of Iraq's second city by

parts

all

on the

trap.

the narrow streets and winding

alleys of the old town,

where armored vehicles

could not penetrate. Saddam's ornate "winter

bathroom

ally targeting" the

palace," with

nels' offices in

well-tended gardens, had become a base and

missile could have been excused as a mistake,

but

when

the second one landed, and then our

colleagues at clear the

Abu Dhabi were

bombing

is

it

coalition troops received fire

coalition

from both

forces

center for British troops,

said

loca-

right of

returned

fire.

the

country.

Most of

was

starting to stabilize in the

southern city of Basra. British military com-

manders local

Basra reached an agreement with a

in

sheikh from the Beni Hassan tribe to

establish a provisional civilian administration in the region, as the

breakdown of law and

order unleashed a spate of looting in the

"This

is

still

our troops, and

and resources life

back

to

city.

a dangerous environment for

we simply do

to try

not have the time

and run the

city

and bring

normal," said Col. Chris Vernon,

British military

spokesman. "This

is

a tempo-

rary agreement with the local tribal authorities,

but

we

we

think

it

important to demonstrate that

are not here to run the place but to let Iraqis

run their

The

own

affairs."

local leader

been given

full rein

was not named and has to set up an administrative

up was

British

Baghdad,

starting in the rest of

Royal Engineers were

Basra and destroying Iraqi ammunition dumps.

cleared,

the situation

installed

clearing mines from the edges of the roads into

being used by journalists reporting on the war." Despite outbreaks of looting that the British

who

as the fighting continued in

the job of cleaning

Unfortunately, both of these buildings were

troops seemed unable or unwilling to control,

of gold and

restored.

Even

Command

and "consistent with the inherent

self-defense,

became

fittings

showers on the grounds once the water was

intentional."

In a statement. U.S. Central

tions

hit,

rest

its

wary of one of

the mines

but

the

were

and easily

went cautiously,

booby

had

the kind of

its

hastily laid

engineers

trap that

killed

comrades two days ago.

Just outside Najaf

and east of Nasiriyah,

mounted a series of forays into regions where they believed they might find some groups of the most dangerous remaining enemy, the Arab volunteers from other countries who came to fight for Saddam and now have nowhere to go. U.S. troops had been U.S. troops

who

steered toward the area by local Iraqis

claimed the "Arab volunteers" had been

steal-

ing food from nearby farms.

"Combat

operations

continue

east

of

Karbala," U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen.

Vincent Brooks said Tuesday. "The mission increasing security and hunting

is

down remain-

ing hostile elements." British troops,

who

claim to have "pacified"

most of the region around Basra and along the

main road

to

Kuwait, the essential supply route

TWENTY-ONE DAYS for the British

Army and

for humanitarian sup-

"sweep squads" to start hunting down the remaining pro-Saddam loyalists who fled the city of Baghdad. phes, are organizing

RICHARD TOMKINS

WITH THE (UPI)

— U.S. Marines

April

Iraq,

8

rolled into northeastern

suburbs of Baghdad Tuesday, where thousands of cheering Iraqis yelled, "America, America,

Bush." The

and "Bush. Bush.

America,"

Marines, led by Bravo Company,

1st Battalion,

entered the area after fording a tributar>' of the Tigris Ri\

1

65

Saddam Hussein and

his

Baath Party lieutenants.

Civilian Rule

MARINES,

FIFTH

ens the noose around

— DAY 20

er.

up children, waved \\hite flags and showed no hostile intent. The sincerit\ of their emotions was unquestionable. The crescendo of welcome increased as an Iraqi woman led the Marines to a children's prison, where than more Iraqis held

and

its

Problems: CIA Report Slams Pentagon's Favorite Iraqi Eli J.

Lake

than 160 youngsters were freed.

was

"It

really something, the children just

streamed out of the gates and their parents just

embrace us," said

started

to

Padilla.

commander of the

Fred

Col.

Lt.

Part}'

1st Battalion.

headquarters, the Marines had to push

who wanted

to

welcome them. The

crowd had been busy looting

Intelligence

April

Agency

7

— The

(UPI)

Central

the headquarters

week

issued a report last

claiming that the opposition leader

airlifted

the Pentagon to Iraq over the weekend.

Further into the suburb, at a large Baath

people back

WASHINGTON,

by

Ahmed

Chalabi. would not be an effective leader to replace

Saddam Hussein because many

Iraqis

do

not like him. In a classified report distributed

widely within the U.S. government, the

CIA

of everything that wasn't nailed down. At a

argues that Chalabi, a favorite of Pentagon civil-

nearby agricultural research factory and

ian officials, and

ity,

scenes of people tearing

Again,

repeated.

there

away

facil-

things were

were cheers for the

"I feel really

good today."

Leuthe of Bravo Company.

said 1st Sgt. Bill

"I think

we

all

do."

Baqr al-Hakim, Supreme Council

for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq,

popular support

Marines.

Mohammed

the leader of the Tehran-based

among

Iraqis

httle

have questioned the

of the agency

Critics

have

on the ground.

report's timing and motives.

"The CIA has been bad-mouthing Chalabi

The suburb is definitely a poor section of the city, with open sewers and garbage strewn everywhere. Later a patrol of Marines went

years.

deeper into the suburb without incident. More

devoting resources to their character assassina-

such patrols were planned.

tion effort instead of other

There was an incident

that

marred the

entrance. At a village on the approach to the

suburb, a

man

in civilian clothes

jumped

a wall

and ran toward the lead vehicle, nicknamed the "Pork Chop Express." Three Marines vehicle

in

another

gunned him down when he put

a

and the INC

What

sions." said

Tommy

role to play."

journey for the

1st

suburb culminates a long

Battalion from the Kuwaiti

border that began March 20 and further tight-

surprising

is

that they are

still

more obvious misRandy Scheunemann. a longtime

now

president of the

Committee to Liberate Iraq, a lobbying group formed last year to support ending Saddam's regime. "Whatever the stories the agency may be spreading, it's clear Centcom Commander

der, preparing to fire.

arrival in the

is

National Congress) for

adviser to Chalabi and

rocket-propelled grenade launcher to his shoul-

The

(Iraqi

The policy

Franks thinks the

report a.s

comes

INC

has an important

at a critical

time for U.S.

coalition forces enter Baghdad.

publicly senior

American

officials

While

have said they

166

WAR

THE IRAQ

plan to include both Iraqi opposition leaders and leaders culled from inside the countr\' in the next

government

hawks and

Baghdad, behind the scenes,

in

supported Chalabi and an open strategy to spark a rebellion against Baghdad from the

coup strategy

north, they also pursued a palace

do\'es in the administration are fight-

without telling him. The agency has also held

ing a nasty battle over the leadership of the tran-

Chalabi accountable for compromising a coup

Saddam's regime.

sition authority that replaces

when Saddam's men rounded

attempt in 1995.

Chalabi has long been supported by a leading

up disloyal military

hawk, Deputy Defense

hoped would

Secretar)' Paul

Wolfowitz

and other advocates of regime change

week,

congressional

officers the

agency had

kill the Iraqi leader.

Last year, the agency released an assessment

in Iraq.

appropriators

of intelligence that Chalabi's organization pro-

voted to funnel S2.5 billion to the State

vided to the U.S. government, concluding that

Department for reconstructing the country even

approximately 30 percent of

though the White House originally requested

However, one key piece of intelligence from

Last

money go

the

it

was

accurate.

Senior State

Chalabi's operation was firmed up over the

deny lobbying for the

to the Pentagon.

Colin

Powell,

weekend when Marines raided a terrorist training facility outside of Baghdad in Salman Pak.

according to two State Department

ofi~icials.

Defectors slipped out of the country over a year

Department

money.

officials

Secretary

of State

called the White House from

week

ing from Brussels last

memo

a policy

from

Donald Rumsfeld

name

to

his plane return-

to

complain about of Defense

Secretan.'

calling on the

White House

the transition authority for Iraq sooner

than expected.

A

CIA

Monday: "This

about the Iraqi interim authority.

It

discusses

acceptability of an Iraqi transitional authority

eyes of the Iraqi public. In part

Iraqi attitudes

how

A

INC

the

Congress said

numerous al-Qaida fighters. spokesman for U.S. Central Command said over the weekend the U.S. military had concluded the facility was being used for terrorist the facility trained

A

toward the

viewed on

is

it

The agency has also blamed Chalabi for prewould welcome American troops

report

the factors likely to affect the legitimacy and

in the

Iraqi National

training.

U.S. ofiicial familiar with the

told United Press International is

ago by Chalabi's

looks

Iraqi opposition

at

dicting Iraqis in the initial

phases of the war. though recent

reporting from Najaf and Basra suggests that

optimism may not have

the opposition leader's

been as misplaced as

at first

thought.

and

the inside."

former U.S. intelligence

official familiar

with the report said. "They basically say that

every time you mention Chalabi 's name to an Iraqi, they

want

ity

puke." This

official,

how-

how

accurate the CIA's assess-

Iraqi politics

could be given the fluid-

ever, questioned

ment of

to

of events on the ground there.

nobody has any idea who is popular on the ground inside Iraq." Danielle Pletka. the American Enterprise Institute's vice president for foreign and defense policy stud"I think that

ies, told

UPI. "People

who

say that they do.

Analysis:

Coalition loses a

key ELI J.

LAKE

WASHINGTON,

including agencies of the U.S. government, are

States

saying so to further a political agenda."

ciliator

When

asked about the

CIA

report

on CBS'

"60 Minutes" Sunday evening, Chalabi said

seemed

me

to

him

the agency

"is

it

more focused on

The CIA has long considered Chalabi an leader for the government that replaces Saddam. In 1992, while the agency

and the

April

Iraqi

1 1

— The United

(UPI)

people

lost

a valuable con-

Thursday with the slaying of Seyyed Abdul Majid al-Khoie. scion of one of Shiism's

most revered willing to

clerical families

shrine of

Imam

Mohammad Ali

is

and an

embrace Americans as

Al-Khoie was stabbed

than on Saddam."

unsuitable

ally

Iraqi leader

liberators.

to death outside

Ali, son-in-law of the

and the

first

of the

Prophet

Islamic martyr.

Imam

the founder of the Shiite Islamic sect, to

— DAY 20

TWENTY-ONE DAYS which 60 percent of

Iraqis belong.

Al-Khoie

1

67

working discreetly with the United States on the

was in the process of giving the key to the

State Department's "Future of Iraq Taskforce." a

mosque to Haider al-Kadar. a longtime ally of Saddam Hussein and \\ idely hated in Najaf for

committee consisting of Iraqi dissidents

usurping the temple's spirimal leadership.

ing their country. Al-Khoie

Accounts of the that

Al-Khoie

native Iraq

by

— who had

from

mob

the

killing var\', but

exile in

it"s

thought

just returned to his

London

— was

killed

because he was mistakenly associ-

who was

ated with al-Kadar.

also killed.

Some

report that Al-Khoie fired a

gun inside

mosque

after a

ith

official

with Saddam's Ministr)' of Religious

Affairs.

But both

disagreement

clerics

\\

the

al-Kadar. an

were then hacked

to

death by a crowd outside the building.

leaving the city leaderless.

Mohammad

Ayatollah

Sadeq

In

two of

his sons.

an early

2001.

11.

local

On

was a member of the

governance and

civil society.

of the attacks on Sept.

critic

Oct. 4. 2001. he wrote in Al-

Hayat. the most respected Arab language news-

"What happened on September was a criminal and barbaric action totally remote from moral values and religious and human principles." His foundation was instrumental in setting up Shiite mosques throughout paper.

1 1

.

.

Representatives

of six

opposition

Iraqi

groups are to meet on Tuesday

in Nasiriyah.

Al-Khoie's presence will no doubt be missed.

1999.

u as

Less than a year

begun speaking out against Saddam. It is not clear what Al-Khoie was doing w ith Kadar or \\ hy he had given him the key. Some U.S. officials argue that Al-Khoie

before, Al-Sadr had

should not have had the key

He was

on

al-Sadr. the lead-

ing Shiite religious authority in the world, slain with

task forces

the world.

The Najaf clerics had come to symbolize the Saddam regime's persecution of the countr>''s Shiite community. Twice in the past 20 years. Saddam's men killed the grand ayatollah of Najaf.

that dis-

cuss a wide range of issues germane to rebuild-

Iraq's vanished

middle class SAM VAKNIN

in the first place.

had no middle class

speak of until the

but rather the slain ayatollah's living descen-

Iraq

dant Muqtadah.

boom of the

was a great risk he took going to Najaf. was not his key to give to anyone. Particularly someone like Kadar. who was

previous centun.'. Baghdad sprawled across a

'"It

But

that

hated." one U.S. official said.

Al-Khoie's decision to allow the U.S. military to transport him from Kuwait to Najaf was also controversial. The week he left, a leading

Iranian-based cleric. Ayatollah

Baqr al-Hakim.

Mohammed

criticized the decision publich

'"He was a very brave guy," says Dr. Mowaffak al-Rubaie. a neurologist in London who was working with Al-Khoie to form a moderate Muslim political party for Iraq. "He is by nature a high risk taker. He wanted to do something with the coalition and to help them in

Najaf and Karbala without a

lot

of fighting."

in Najaf one of the first things he calm the crowds and urge them not

Arriving did

was

to attack In

to

American military men.

London. Al-Khoie had been consulted by

Prime Minister Tony Blair on aspects of the

post-Saddam reconstruction. He had also been

to

oil

1960s and 1970s. At the turn of the

mere tenth of its current area. How ever, since then and as late as 1987, the Iraqi capital was renowned throughout the Arab realm for its superior infrastructure,

functioning

services,

splendor, conspicuous consumption and edu-

cated populace. dialects,

"Baghdadi."

in

many Arab

meant "big spender."

Two-thirds of

all Iraqi

children attended sec-

ondar\' school, thousands studied abroad, and

women

actively participated in the workforce.

The

wealth attracted hundreds of thousands

oil

of menial laborers from Africa and Asia. It

was Saddam Hussein,

tyrant,

who

rattled the

bound entrenched living

standards

increasing the

the

moribund and

interests

country's tradition-

and ratcheted up

by imposing land reform,

minimum wage and expanding

health care.

Even

the Iran-Iraq war.

which decimated tens

of thousands of intellectuals and professionals, barely dented this existence. Rather, the middle

168

WAR

THE IRAQ

— mostly Sunni — was done

class

sanctions imposed on first

Gulf War,

in

by the

aggressor in the

Iraq, the

to all the amenities

and consumer goods

— now

proffered by the impoverished owners in improvised curb markets.

As wages and

plummeted, once-proud

the dinar

were reduced

Iraqis

agonizing, humiliating and sometimes

to

life-

Prostitution,

street

kids and homelessness

have flourished. Divorce and crime

Young couples cannot

sharply up.

so promiscuity

rates are

afford to

and abortions are

vogue. At the other extreme. Islam

—

—

in

both

is making headway into a hitherto devoutly secular society. Head-scaned women no longer are a rarity. Official unemployment is about 20 percent

moderate and fundamentalist

but. in reality,

it

double

is at least

that.

Polyglot

professionals with impressive resumes drive

moonlight as waiters or

taxis,

from rickety

to

Humam

al-Shamaa, professor

at

Baghdad

quoted by the Asia Times, one

employed

in agriculture

in

war and

sanctions."

— from primary healthcare

through electricity generation to drinking

— were roughly halved

water

in the past 12

years. Quality has also suffered. Gross tic

domes-

product plunged by four-fifths. With infec-

on the rampage and a

tious diseases

ing stress load,

life

debilitat-

—

expectancy dropped

survive to the ripe old age of 57.

Infant mortality, at 93 in

1,000 live births,

soared. Three-fifths of the population depend

on an

system of government hand-

efficient

An

outs.

exit tax of

fenced in

all

more than $350

virtually

but the most well-heeled Iraqis.

The U.S. administration,

the

in

of

throes

preparations for the reconstruction of a post-

bellum

Iraq,

acknowledges

that the rehabilita-

tion of the war-torn country's middle class

the cornerstone of any hoped-for

is

economic

revival.

But income inequality and a criminalized regime led

of economy and finance

Iraqis are

vegetables

sell

stalls.

According

Public services

men now

threatening penur>'.

been affected adversely by

the extraordinary trauma of

after 1991. Iraq's relatively afflu-

ent and well-traveled urban denizens had access

marry,

entire generation has

to

huge wealth

The

tiny,

Saddam

(the

disparities.

fabulously rich elite beholden to

every two

removed from the indigent masses. They make the bulk of their ill-gotten

it

gains by maintaining Saddam-blessed import

University,

— most of

"war

rats")

is

subsistence farming, raising cattle and poultry.

monopolies on every manner of contraband,

Many

from building materials and machine spare

an urbane urbanite

now

tends to tiny plots,

trying to eke a li\ing out of the fertile banks of

the

at

— Euphrates and Industry — cement and petrochemicals — two

rivers

parts to cars, televisions

Bush administration

the Tigris.

the

is

a standstill due to the dearth of raw materials

and beauty products. officials estimate that

the dictator and his close, clannish circle have

away more than $6

secreted

billion in illicit

and spare parts delayed or banned by the pon-

commissions on

derous sanctions committee. The currency col-

ceeds of smuggling and intellectual property

lapsed from S3 to the dinar to 3,000 dinars to

piracy have trickled

saw their monthly earnings plunge from Si. 500 to S2.50.

of traders and merchants. So has the $30 billion

Malnutrition and disease prey on the trauma-

eighth year

the

dollar.

tized

and

Iraqi

destitute

Airlines

pilots

remnants of the bourgeoisie,

the erstwhile nobility of the

Arab world. The power of

influx

oil sales alone.

down

to a

But the pro-

growing

circle

from the oil-for-food scheme, now in its though, as Hans von Sponeck,

—

head of the program between 1998 and 2000, observed

in the

Toronto Globe and Mail: "Until

virtual elimination of the purchasing

May

one of the richest Middle Eastern countries has

cines,

had a profound impact on neighbors and trade

infrastructure supplies that have arrived in Iraq

partners across the region.

has amounted to $ 1 75 per person a year, or less

The U.N. Human Development Index has chronicled the precipitous decline of Iraq's

New

of 2002, the total value of education, sanitation,

all

food, medi-

agricultural

and

than 49 cents a day."

This

has

made postwar

reconstruction

York-based

impossible, and ensured mass unemployment

Center for Economic and Social Rights says

and continuing deterioration of schools, health

ranking to

its

that "Iraqis

127th rung. The

have been extremely isolated from

the outside world for

12 years.

The mental,

physical and educational development of an

and transportation. "Smuggled"

oil

revenues represent only a small fraction of

oil-

centers

for-food funds.

Even

here, an estimated three-

— DAY 20

TWENTY-ONE DAYS quarters of these funds have been directed to

Officers, followed

social services.

and, later on, by

the

Still,

and

tized

economy has been

is less

partly

remone-

insulated than in 1996.

Even

Baghdad stock exchange has revived.

the

Whatever said

the length of the war.

be guaranteed

to

demise of the hideous

—

terror

its

the

outcome

ignominious

regime of Saddam.

Then, the scenario goes, U.S. and British erators" will switch

"lib-

from regime-change mode

nation-building phase. Iraq will once

to the

again

is

become

the

economic locomotive of

entire region, prosperous

the

and secure.

may be

holding a different viewpoint. Quoted The Califomian, Terry Burke and Alan

Richards,

professors

at

the

shopkeepers, low- and mid-ranking

officials

and graduates of training schools, law

schools and military academies.

The most important economic past

four decades

University

intense

needs strata.

The backbone of Saddam's regime prised of bureaucrats and technocrats

of

Western propaganda has

hatred

Hussein's dictatorship."

country's that the

1958 overthrow of the monarchy by the Free

—

and sectarian

stable Iraq,

remember

com-

it.

iation, regional location, religious

with the

instructive to

is

— not of

Saddam's days might well be numbered, power based on tribal affil-

but the levers of

against the United States that will undermine

would be

reform and

and aspirations of these socio-economic

any hope of gracefully replacing Saddam

It

policies in the

to the

intact. If the

forging

— agrarian — catered

nationalization of oil

and

are

1968 inter-

geoisie:

tion

attacks

in

Saddam, represented the

lower-middle class and petty bour-

ests of the

California, Santa Cruz, noted that "the invasion air

by the Baath Party

raving rapists and torture-hungry sadists, as

But the bombed and starved denizens of Iraq in

169

Ottomans will too.

West it

interests

—

denomina-

will

survive

really aspires to resuscitate a

has no choice but to collaborate

social

long

structures

and

spawned by

erratic

did, the British did

—

history.

the

the

The

Americans

iJIV»i^

NORTHERN IRAQ,

9

April

Edward Grofoot,

Class

(UPI)

lOOth

Squadron, Midenhall Air Base,

— Airman

Security

86tfi

1st

Forces

Expeditionary

Contingency Response Group, greets local children during patrol on April 9 in support of Operation Children and adults

Iraqi Freedonn.

this

in

have been supportive and friendly to forces here. Operation Iraqi Freedom

is

region

coalition

tfie

thie

multi-

national coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people,

weapons of moss destruction and end the regime of Saddam Hussein. (Tech. Sgt. eliminate Iraqi's

Rich Pucket, U.S. Air Force, UPI)

—

Day 21

Wednesday, April 9 "The game ambassador

is

over."

to itie

—

Moliammed

al-Douri.

Iraq's

United Nations

MARTIN WALKER crowds took to the streets in Baghdad Wednesday, looting and celebrating the appar-

Jubilant

ent demise of the Iraqi regime and enthusiastically accepted the help of an

topple

a

Draped

giant

briefly in an

American tank

to

Saddam Hussein.

of

statue

American and then an was a moment of

Iraqi flag, the statue's fall

high symbolism that seemed to signal the war's

House urged "utmost

end. although the White

caution"

as

throughout the

—

resistance

sporadic city.

A

continued

full-blown

firefight

erupted between coalition troops and

Iraqis

near Baghdad University.

wSm

When

the tank fmally pulled the 50-foot

statue to the ground, the people in the

town

They then

sepa-

square rushed to dance atop rated

its

head and dragged

it.

it

of Baghdad, some slapping

through the streets

it.

others kicking

it.

Other symbols of Saddam's rule, including giant portraits, were defaced and beaten with footwear, a symbol of denigration. These acts

were previously punishable with death.

171

172

THE IRAQ

WAR

As Iraqis and a wider Arab audience sought comprehend the implications of the defeat of what had once been the leading militan,' power of the Arab world. Abu Dhabi TV analyst. Marwan Bishara. a Palestinian, said what happened in the Iraqi capital Wednesday was topical of the Arab status: "'We either live under to

state.

He

said

it

was time

Arabs began learning lessons from

the

their "mis-

local Iraqi military to

In Basra

and Baghdad, other symbols of the

commanders were reported

demand was

U.S.

northern

"I think

the

for

regime

for any explosives in the

be dismantled.

oil fields to

we

are at a degree of a tipping point

population is

Brig.

recognizes that the

that

gone."

said

coalition

command

Gen. Vincent Brooks.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint

regime were on display, as Iraqis led Western

Chiefs of Staff, warned that coalition forces

TV crews

had

chambers and prisons

into the torture

to

—

ization

poked through the wreckage of the many shattered palaces of Saddam, his sons and cronies. Among their findings. SI 00 bills charred at the edges, where Saddam's son Uday had used them to light his cigars. Advancing U.S. troops met little or no resistance from Iraqi forces and paramilitaryunits. There was no sign of members of Saddam's ruling Baath Party, and the daily news briefing with Iraq's Information Minister

death squads and Baath Party members.

Mohammed

museums, which began to breakdown of law and order.

the

al-Sahhaf was canceled because

man Western

audiences have begun to rec-

ognize as Iraq's face of the war did not turn up.

Iraq's

ambassador

to the

United Nations.

Mohammed

al-Douri. told reporters in

York. "The

game

sources

said

is

"In terms of regular army, there are about

Republican Guards

— took

Egypt.

to

political

asylum Kurds

weapons of mass

1987 in Halabja

in

—

destruc-

to the streets to

were seen

in Shiite

population centers to the South. But the e\ ident collapse of the regime

we

think

an

is still left in

the

north," he said. For the U.S. and British mili-

own

the imperative of protecting their

tar>'.

forces had a far higher priority than restraining looters or protecting the hospitals, banks

On

that civil disorder

were blocking

U.N. agencies

and looting

relief for hospitals

and

prey to the

fall

the humanitarian front.

in Iraq

and thousands

of injured and sick Iraqis. They called on the

was

paralleled

on the

Jordan and Kuwait and

administration,

main northern

dissident Kurdish

minorit)',

despite the

protestations of Kurdish leaders that they

would

stick to their agreement with the United States

autonomy within an

integral

Iraqi

Army

to restore

vast

The Kurdish advance alarmed Turkey, which has long feared the emergence of a de facto independent Kurdish state as a magnet for its

Lt.

U.S.

Gen. Jay

was preparing to move to Baghdad once the city was fully secured. A meeting of Iraqi notables, including tribal leaders and exile figures, was U.S.

of Kirkuk and Mosul.

retired

interim

Gamer, had already begun working on humanifrom its base in Kuwait and

planned to meet

Iraqi troops to the gates of the

An

tarian operations

by U.S. Special Forces followed up

retreating

by

led

could

critical supplies

be delivered to hospitals.

northern front, where Kurdish militia backed

to accept

up there,

division

infantry division, that

ambassador

celebrate. Similar scenes

own

divisions left in the north,

"belligerents" to restore civil order as soon as

In the northern city of Erbil. jubilant

cities

army

and perhaps as much as one brigade of a

possible so relief supplies could arrive from

Iraq's

victims of Saddam's

—

Republican Guard

Special

over." while diplomatic

Mohsen Khalil. demanded Yemen and in Moscow.

tion in

New

the

10-plus regular

warned

City police were also absent.

still

contend with Iraq's special security organ-

of the Baath regime, and British and American soldiers

by

demographic

be negotiating for a cease-fire. The prime

spokesman

erable historv."

into the northern cities

to strengthen the regime's

hold on the north began to flee southward, and

foreign occupation or under dictatorships and tyrannical regimes."

Arabs imported

Saddam

in the southern cit\'

Baghdad's

electricity supply,

work of cleaning up and

thing

like

of Nasiriyah.

engineers had already begun trying

normal

life

for

and the

restarting

Iraq

some-

began.

But

already there were signs that the United States

was eyeing another

potential target.

"I've accurately obser\'ed that they (Syria)

would be well advised to not provide miUtary They seem to have made a

capabilities to Iraq.

conscious to decision to ignore that," said U.S.

TWENTY-ONE DAYS Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

Syria find

is

story structure that

had been badly damaged by

coalition airstrikes

and was deserted. But as the

continuing to send things into Iraq.

We

Marines entered the 17-acre compound they

came under

fire

from

gunmen. Intense

Iraqi

gunfire and rocketry lasted 4 1/2 hours before

In an interview with Spain's El Pais

news-

weapons inspector Hans Blix Washington's decision to go to war in

becoming sporadic.

As

paper, chief U.N. criticized

73

his

at

notably unhelpful."

it

1

news briefing. "Senior regime moving out of Iraq into Syria, and

daily Pentagon

people are

— DAY 2

the Marines reached the palace, rocket-

propelled grenades began to rain

down on

their

inspections could have resolved the

convoy. Three Marines were wounded when a

impasse, he argued, and noted that after 21 days

grenade struck their armored vehicle while they

of war and widening occupation, no evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear weaponry

were

had been found.

one was injured.

Iraq.

More

struck the company's

"Hang Smith,

was

not

quite

United

over.

Press

International's Rick Tomkins. embedded with

the 5th Marines, filed this report ital

on the day

one of

vehicle, but

no

Keep thinking of your

about to be bom," Capt. Jason

is

commander of Bravo Company,

told

Marines who had been severely

his

wounded. While the more seriously injured Marines

from the cap-

were

after the city's liberation.

command

in there, kid.

daughter that

It

Another grenade

firing at Iraqi forces.

evacuated.

wounded

Marines

not

seriously

rejoined the fight around the high-

walled compound. "This

is

the lousiest birthday I've ever had,"

Shawn Basco, an F-18 pilot attached to Bravo Company as a forward air controller. "Happy birthday to me. Where's my cake?" Basco. from Cleveland, braved enemy fire said Capt.

RICHARD TOMKINS

WITH THE

FIFTH

— Marines

(UPI)

down

MARINES, Iraq, April 10 Baghdad were hunkering

in

for an expected tense night

Thursday

at

AI-Azimiyah palace compound following fierce fighting earlier in the day against Iraqi soldiers and other gunmen. The fighting began

the

dawn as the 1st Battalion. 5th Marines, down highways and streets in eastern rolled Baghdad toward the 17-acre compound. One Marine was killed and 35 others were wounded

before

in street battles against Iraqis firing

automatic

weapons and rocket-propelled grenades from

throughout the day and coordinated miracle evacuation flights while carrying the wounded

compound's riverside The area was being used as a helicopter loading area. Only after the fighting died down did Basco notice the blood on his pants leg and the pain from a shrapnel wound. to a grassy area near the

swimming

pool.

Basco was not evacuated. By late afternoon. Marines were ing a perimeter defense and

mortar and

RPG

establish-

said they expected

attacks during the night.

bridges, rooftops, balconies and alleyways near

on the east bank of the Tigris River. The exact number of attackers killed was not immediately available, but more than a dozen bodies were seen on the streets. The attackers men in appeared to be a mixed bag of forces army green, others wearing all black, and some

the palace

—

in civilian clothes.

told

Saddam's Jester

Marine intelligence sources

United Press International that about a half

Roland Flamini

dozen Syrians. Jordanians and Algerians had been detained Wednesday and were suspected of heading to Iraq to

The

Saddam Hussein,

millions

Information

fight.

presidential palace, built tor the former

Iraqi leader

To

is

an ornate two-

of

Western

Minister

viewers.

Mohammed

Iraqi

Saeed

al-

Sahhaf is the comic relief in the Iraqi tragedy. He is the porter in "Macbeth'; the grave digger in

174

WAR

THE IRAQ

"Hamlet." His comments provide a backdrop of gallows humor as the

Saddam Hussein regime

tanks? U.S. soldiers were "committing suicide against the walls of Baghdad," etc., etc.

unravels before a disbelieving world public on television. Al-Sahhaf"s version of

developments

This time

al-Sahhaf had to go to the

Palestine Hotel, where joumahsts have been

has added a touch of the bizarre to the battle for

staying since they evacuated Al-Rasheed and

Baghdad. Some examples from Sunday's U.S.

the

incursion into the center of the city:

the Ministry of Information, but that

Mansour Melia

hotels.

The usual venue was was "a

dangerous zone." Actually, U.S. troops claimed

With U.S. heavy armor grouped around Saddam's main palace and the crump of artillery reverberating

insisted that there

American

through the

to

have temporarily entered

city,

he

Al-Sahhaf wore

was "no presence of

the

fatigue and black beret.

villains in the city."

because their

it,

along with the

Al-Rasheed Hotel.

smirk was a

little

his usual military styled

The usual self-assured

out of focus and the bulbous

advance has been defeated.

nose sweated a

As U.S. military C-130 transporters thundered down the runway of Baghdad airport Sunday.

and the occasional anxious sidelong glance

al-Sahhaf was

still

saying that the airport was

He

not in American hands.

also said large

numbers of U.S. troops had been "poisoned" as they attempted to approach Baghdad. At

one point

— surrounded by Arab and Western — he again denied u that there

journalists

U.S. troops in the

what

ere

Someone asked him was

the firing in the streets

all

Those

streets.

are our soldiers chasing the

about.

Americans

the

at

daily

Arab world, however, al-Sahhaf's

TV

appearances, carried on Arab chan-

and often without the

nels

CNN

reality

check of

or another Western channel, have

him a tells

the

star.

made

In an extremely unpopular war. he

Arabs from the Atlantic

to the

Gulf what

they want to hear. Television images showing the U.S. -led military

presence in parts of Baghdad and inside

presidential palaces in the capital and Basra in

were hard

the past days

Sahhaf

engaged

is

in

not

imparting

to dispute.

psychological warfare.

ing on a particular

Arab

But

information,

trait

He

is

he

alis

play-

of clinging to fan-

tasy in the face of stark reality.

To some

what they want

Iraqi

their very eyes cheered

them

up.

Tanks? What

freely in

to wait for organized tours

Foreign Ministry for their

own

Arabs are also fascinated by al-Sahhaf's use of the Arabic language. Even Arab journalists

had

to

check

unsuccessfully

their dictionaries

—

—

sometimes

for a correct translation of

some word or expression he used. He can get vitriolic when describing the coalition forces, Bush and particularly President George Tony Blair. His preferred British Prime Minister "Oulouj," word for U.S. and British soldiers is which in the dictionary means infidels, but al-

W

Sahhaf once explained

TV

station that he

to a

Lebanese

satellite

meant "leeches."

Al-Sahhaf's early accounts of ongoing battles

to contain

two weeks of the conflict turned out more than a grain of truth as the U.S.

and coalition forces took casualties and suffered

Baghdad,

al-Sahhaf vigorously denying the evidence of

rapid-fire

"safety."

and tanks apparently wandering freely through

Baghdad. But the appearance of

move about

not to be allowed to

tims.

the streets of

its

nobody in the presidential palace. Iraqi forces had "destroyed" the American soldiers. His invitation to the journalists to go and see the bodies of the dead Americans in the streets was rhetorical, since journalists appeared still

to believe. In the Arab world this embedded in culture: it is often life itself. On Monday, Arabs were stunned by the early morning images of American soldiers trait is

That

automobile-salesman delivery. There was

in the first

degree, people everywhere believe

lights.

camera were dead giveaways that truth was a little nervous.

But the rhetoric poured out with

by the In

camera

Baghdad's voice of

Baghdad and had

out of town, he replied.

the

little in

some

setbacks, though he has never discussed

Iraqi military casualties

—

only civilian vic-

But as the coalition has moved into his statements

have become increas-

ingly surreal to Westerners.

world, what he says fact that his

is

To

the wider

Arab

less important than the

appearances mean the Iraqi govern-

TWENTY-ONE DAYS ment has not been toppled. But while al-Sahhaf promises resistance and the defeat of coalition forces in Baghdad, a rapid process of corrosion is

leading inexorably to an Iraqi defeat.

Arabs

miss him.

will

Also,

The

it

seems, will

U.K. press,

his

many

Westerners. In the

bombastic optimism quickly

— DAY 21

175

bought some for their news teams as a

bit

of a

joke."

The Observer, a British Sunday paper, found most devoted fan his son Osama. He said his father is a "good man ... a

—

al-Sahhaf's

very friendly guy."

To

the surprise of

many who had come to Saddam

earned the nickname "Comical Ali," an echo of

see al-Sahhaf as the public face of the

"Chemical Ali." the nickname of the

Hussein regime, he was not featured on the

eral

who ordered the 1988

Iraqi gen-

gassing of the Kurds.

Western entrepreneurs swiftly saw an oppor-

The first product on sale in London and New York was a talking "Disinformation Minister" doll featuring some of al-Sahhaf's choicest quotes. The online auctioneers, eBay, tunity.

features al-Sahhaf

mugs and recorded compila-

tions of his finest performances.

The Web

site

www.welovetheiraqiinforma-

tionminister.com puts historic

moments

him

like

at the

the

scene of great

1815 battle of

Waterloo between the British and the French,

where Comical Ali

winning

all

along.

insists

And

that

Napoleon

T-shirts

Sahhaf's face alongside the caption

with

"We

is

al-

are in

become collectors" items. "We've sold over 5,000 of that one," said Elizabeth Ryan of Rivals Digital Media. "It's interesting that it went global as soon as all the press interest started. It was in quite a lot of the U.K. national press, and we've had interest from CNN in New York and a couple of South African radio stations, and even the Indian press and also France. So it's kind of gone all over the place. Sky News and the BBC also control" have

U.S.

list

of the Baghdad regime's 55 most-

wanted men

—

largely because there

is

no

evi-

dence that the veteran journalist was directly responsible for any atrocities.

But al-Sahhaf's old colleagues

media of

the 1960s have

in the Iraqi

few warm memories.

Kamran al-Karadaghi of Radio Free

Iraq,

who

worked with al-Sahhaf at Iraq National Radio, recalled: "He used to walk with this stick and he used it sometimes on people if he didn't like something. Then when he became the general director he used to beat a lot of people with

it.

Sometimes even some artists, for example. I remember I used to work at the radio at the time in the Russian service. We would sometimes hear people screaming in the courtyard, and then we'd look through the windows and see al-Sahhaf chasing somebody and beating them with a stick." Iranian newspapers carried reports this that al-Sahhaf

week

had committed suicide, hanging

himself as the U.S. troops got so close that he

even he could not deny finally fallen.

that

Baghdad had

CHAPTER

4

AFTERMATH

INCIRUK AIR BASE, 39tli

Turkey, April

14

(UPI)

—

members Senior Airman Vuyancih and Airman Ist Class Aaron

Security

Forces

Michael D. L. Kuckovic plot

control

traffic

points during a

security forces exercise at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey.

(Joseph Thompson, U.S. Air Force/UPI)

The AngloAmerican alliance wins again MARTIN WALKER BASRA,

Iraq, April 7 (UPI)

— The

rule of Sad-

dam Hussein is over. Iraq's capital of Baghdad awoke Monday to find American tanks on the grounds of the presidential palace and the sec-

ond city of Basra thrilled to its first full day of freedom from Saddam's Baathist regime. This double triumph of American and British militar) machines could hardly have been better timed, as U.S. President George W. Bush and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared for their summit Ireland. Their

w ar

plan

\

who had

Northern

indicated, their critics at

least briefly silenced, the

leaders

in Belfast.

two English-speaking

much of world opinwisdom enjoyed another

defied so

ion and conventional

extraordinary bonus as their predictions of a

welcome by

liberator's

came

the Iraqi people finally

true.

Confounding the Arab media and the punwho had talked darkly of a new spirit of

dits

Iraqi patriotism resisting the invaders, the peo-

ple of Basra braved gunfire to dance in the streets

finally

and cheer for the British troops who broke the grip that Saddam's dreadful

regime had exerted on Iraq for so long. This reporter saw one Basra citizen e\en kiss a British tank. Iraq,

the

and Blair

to

—

if they so Middle East and for Bush now world order is and enduring, define. The world's

choose — a new

only reliable military alliance has done

it

again.

177

178 Or

WAR

THE IRAQ

two best mihtaries

rather, the world's

ered

outcome

the

their

There

deliv-

masters

political

one simple answer: Stick

is

Anglo-American principles

ordained, and did so with minimal friendly and

If other countries

civilian casualties.

erate for their

But as Bush and Blair

hail the magnificent

achievements of their troops Monday, there

some small and

are

ominous

familiar but

clouds on the horizon. Each

man

have

will

been delivered briefing books by his respective

on the new post-war challenges. There

staff

will be fat

named

curiously

that

European Union, a body

to illustrate that traditional

and no

"all hat

entity

the

seems designed

that

Texan description

The two men

and support

also have to agree

on the gov-

fine.

that the

want

coop-

to

They deserve all world's only two

is

their problem.

The Anglo-American

princi-

ples are too proven in their success to be

com-

promised for any passing diplomatic comfort or advantage. Also, build on success. alliance,

a

mutual loyalty and

Strengthen

it

unique

trust

once more proved

has

nations,

and

The Anglo-American will, and

based on principles, political

American

cattle."'

institutions

good.

serious powers can provide. If they don't, that

tomes on relations with Russia's

prickly President Putin, with France and Ger-

many and

the help

and

own

to the

have worked.

that

further

by allowing

— and Australian —

work and study and

its

among value.

British

and

citizens to live

trade

in

one

ernance of postwar Iraq and the role of the

another's countries at will. In everything that

United Nations, the body that reacted to

its first

matters, they comprise a single culture, and

Cold

Blair and Britain should be rethinking their

real

post-Cold

War

crisis

by reverting

to

"European vocation" with

War-style division and immobility.

down

All of these issues boil

to

one over-

whelming question: What does the AngloAmerican alliance now do with a world that so dislikes what is good for it? It is very odd. The Americans and British

that

plain

If

Bush and Blair should mark one small Baghdad

regret about the double liberation of

and Basra,

it

is

the seizure

by U.S. tanks of the

Ministry of Information in Baghdad. The end

Mohammed

stand for a world based on a handful of princi-

of the daily antics of the Minister.

ples that have stood the tests of time: represen-

Saeed al-Sahhaf, the "Baghdad Blowhard,"

tative

and

and democratic government, press,

free

human

rights

free

and the

free speech

economies, free trade, rule of law.

fact

firmly in mind.

is

a

He provided comic relief throughout the 19-day war. Silence may now befall the man who produced a timeless comic mastersad loss.

Those

piece in his wondrous response to the capture

countries and regions that have embraced these

"We have them where surrounded and doomed." we want them War crimes trials permitting, this man has a or maybe Madifuture on Comedy Central son Avenue. After all, one of the many things that Anglo-American alliance has in common, to the bafflement of much of the rest of the

The

verdict of our times

is

already

in.

core principles, from Japan to Western Europe,

from South Korea ple prosper

to India,

have seen their peo-

beyond any dreams possible

in the

wreckage of 1945. Middle Eastern countries that

same medicine may in the not so future look back on this seedbed year of

tr\'

distant

the

2003 with a similar complacency. Yet so

many

tected and enriched the

after

a sense of humor.

1945 evi-

Iraqi

war

began, the United Nations became a conspiracy of anti- Anglophones, conspiring to frustrate the best efforts of Washington and

London

to

to tackle in Belfast

Monday.

matter?

Why

After Saddam,

Osama?

make

U.N. resolutions actually mean something. There are two big questions for Bush and Blair

it

is

that defined, pro-

West

grim diplomatic weeks before the

does

—

—

world,

dently resent their benefactors. Throughout the

And

—

of the beneficiaries of the

Anglo-American principles

be?

of Baghdad airport

should

this

MARTIN WALKER

KUWAIT

CITY, April

9

(UPI)

—

Pro-Western

reformers in the Arab world have long been

179

AFTERAAATH gripped by the nagging worry that the arrival of

that

democracy would not

ticularly the

happy new era They fear it could

install a

of freedom and prosperity.

elect a series of fundamentalist Islamic govern-

And at some point in the next year or so, now looks likely to put that fear to the test.

It

pawn of Western

not a

is

it

American and

have to come to an accommodation

will

with the tribes, which remain a powerful force

ments.

of identity for

Iraq

the tribal sheikhs,

The Belfast summit between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony

his trusted ally, British Blair,

principle for Iraq's future

agreed on one key

—

that

run by the Iraqis themselves.

It

should be

it

was "a

interests, par-

British oil giants.

ises in recent

U.S.

population. And wooed with cash and prom-

at least half the

months by undercover

agents,

already

are

authority as the collapse of

Party leaves a

Saddam's Baath

week, the British agreed with

choice," Blair insisted, to debate whether the

a leader of the Beni

United Nations or the American and British

assemble and chair a new interim

forces in place should run the interim govern-

istration,

ment.

"From day

one,

we have

that the Iraqi peo-

ple are capable of running their

own

country,"

adminopen the and to start

local

garbage,

the

and

local teachers

Facts

hospitals.

ground, and the

some experience of democracy. From 1931, when the

tread carefully.

too often forgotten that Iraq has

handed the

monarchy of

constitutional

King

reins of

Feisal,

until

government their

Gen.

to the

World War

Abd

I

al-Karim

and doctors are working

with the U.S. troops to reopen the schools and

stressed Bush. It is

he would

rebuilding a police force. In Najaf. tribal leaders

insisted.

ally

tribe that

schools, handle food distribution

be run by the Iraqi people," Blair

'it will

British

Hasan

clear

to

and

their

vacuum of power.

In Basra this

false

British

reasserting

But there old Iraqi

about to

is

are

being created on

new government

a worrying

new

monarchy never had

— fundamentalist

repress

it,

will

the

have

to

factor that the to

worry much

Saddam

Islam.

tried

even as he began parroting

Qasim's coup of 1958, Iraq had elected parlia-

Islamic slogans and building massive mosques.

ments, the rule of law and separation of pow-

He

The

ers.

British kept

two

military bases in the

failed,

even among the Sunni, where the

venerable Muslim Brotherhood has undergone Islamic parties have

won around

country, and considerable influence.

a revival.

The period was in many ways a success. Under British tutelage, public health and edu-

20 percent of the vote

One of

most

influential exile groups, the

cation blossomed, and the ancient canal and

Supreme Council

for the Islamic Revolution in

systems were restored. Iraq had the

irrigation liveliest

and most free press

in the

Arab world,

and Baghdad became a vibrant cultural center. But

like the British before

him. King Feisal

the

in

Kurdish elections.

Iraq, the leading opposition force

among

the

Tehran and absorbed

Shiites, has

been based

many of the

theocratic Islamic principles of the

in

ayatollahs.

prime minister. Nuri Said, relied heavily on the

Arab state brave enough to experiment with democracy would be over-

Sunni minority

bureaucracy and the

taken by Islamic fundamentalism has worried

officer corps, to the resentment of the Shiite

Arab reformers since the Algerian elections of 1992, when the army stepped in to block an Islamic victory at the polls. The remedy may

and

his

successors, and the longest serving

to run the

majority of the south and the Kurds of the north.

They

also

depended on the

tribal leaders as a

and communist movements

towns and

cities.

pro- Western,

traditional

counterweight to the labor in the

fast-growing

The monarchy was staunchly

which proved a major factor

in its

The lessons here

for the future arc clear.

its

Shiites.

army.

It

It

have

The

a federalist

lives.

Egypt's Hala Mustafa, a reformer argues that democracy

is

who

edits

"Democracy."

too great a shock for

the demoralized and impoverished

Arab world,

on

probably need to demonstrate

ate cultivation of civil society, public debate.

will

will

have been worse than the cure; the subsequent war has claimed an estimated 150.000

civil

ground must be carefully prepared and the media and the delibereducation, through

wide autonomy for the Kurds

structure, with

and

will

fear that an

the pioneering quarterly journal

overthrow by a pan-Arabist military coup.

post-Saddam government

The

need to keep a

tight rein

that the

180

WAR

THE IRAQ

political parties,

an independent judiciary and

public interest groups. "In this country (Egypt), free elections,' the next

Islamists in power.

must

first

No

you say 'Have

if

day you'll have the

doubt about

modernize and secularize

So you

it.

to predis-

immediate tasks of

Baathist rule

all

mili-

is

The worst

would be

for

Saddam

out-

be

to

replaced, with an electoral mandate, by some-

one whose

all

he wondered

that

Osama

real loyalty is to

bin Laden.

a

Baghdad and other major

children.

in the

annals of war, but

were lying

the

in

it

was not easy

if

as

body and praying to Allah that the would not rip your family to shreds

—

to quickly enforce order,

chaos,

—

17 (UPI)

The

waiter in this small hotel by the Tigris has

been kind to me. finding

me

none and a bowl of soup

He

is

a dignified

tea

when

there

is

cities

still

been looted.

If the looters

destroyed anything else they found, mindlessly

man. 53. once an engineer,

tearing apart both the history of one of the first

it

is all

on Earth and the history of

great civilizations

gentle manner.

individual families. In the

It is

not easy in the hotel, packed with jour-

peace

activists,

working without

homeless

electricity,

Iraqi families,

walking miles to

music school's

Animals,

country," he says,

in cemeteries, angrily

has been destroyed.

It is

Perhaps, perhaps not. But certainly he and

and

its

people are the victims of our

now for misery with the Camthe Khmer Rouge or Sarajevans

time, able to vie

bodians after after

the

siege.

They survived a

medieval war with Iran thousands

Along ally

in the

relentless

1980s in which

of their sons died in hopeless battle

and thousands have never been found. They

have been bombed

in the

1991 Gulf War and

city,

pets,

wild

run

crazed by fear and hunger.

the Tigris banks at night, packs of

liter-

dozens of dogs race crazily about, howling

for hours in a search for food. Others find food

who come

no more."

of looting you

violin, a family antique.

some family

throughout the

"it

litter

persistently find family photos, a child's toy, a

work and facing a complete body search by U.S. Marines each time he comes to work or leaves. Early Thursday morning he looks stricken and I ask him what is wrong. "My

his country

took nothing, they

gone.

after

with a trim mustache, wire eyeglasses and a

nalists,

force too limited

and so for weeks the

have been ripped apart by civil more people killed by looters or looters killed by people defending their homes and shops. If you drive around Baghdad in any direction, you realize that terrible final indignity of anarchy was more damaging than the bombing. Hospitals, museums, shops and homes have

conquered

NICHOLAS M. HORROCK April

too often did.

all

They were conquered by a

stricken city

Iraq,

it

you

covering your

darkness,

crossfire

Baghdad, the

may

cities

have been conquered with what counts as ease

child's

BAGHDAD,

if

the wars.

bers of people and traumatize a generation of

Anglo-American

instant plunge into democracy.

come of

they had been through

not the best preparation for the

to

preparations.

ful

here,

may not be time for such careAnd 30 years of brutal

and a swift end

tary rule, there

One French surgeon who came

In late March and April, they were subject to bombing perhaps as surgical as the coalition forces could make it but with enough collateral damage to kill and injure still uncounted num-

rebuilding and international clamor for a U.N. role

supplies.

and stayed during the bombing, said instruments and clothes in his hospital were so worn and damaged from overuse

pose society to democracy." she says. In Iraq, faced with the

trodden down by a decade of sanctions that embargoed not only arms for Saddam Hussein, but a million necessities, from drugs to surgical

Saddam's Marines

died of

this

As

one of

week, they found an Arabian

and a family of

tigers.

animals were not so lucky and

thirst

stal-

At the

many

or starvation locked in their cages

when zoo workers finally

at interlopers

homes was searched by

son's

lion racing loose city's zoo,

growling

to search gravestones. After

fled,

according to Iraqis

who

broke the zoo's gates. late as

Tuesday,

unburied on downtown

human

bodies were

streets. It

still

was Wednesday

AFTERMATH Baghdad returned

before any firefighters in

work, and

the looters or

Baghdad

by

set

Wednesday

also

police began trickling back to

any notion of order suggested by the

duty, but

television pictures of a into their cars

war

was

It

this city

was

few men getting back

likely premature.

Before the

of 4.5 million people was policed

by a force of 40.000 men. but

it

is

"Iraq

to

by exploding ordinance simply

burned out of control. that

hundreds of fires

until then the

a relatively

many

who handled

Saddam Hussein regime,

others are afraid of

harm, others no longer can get

to

w ork." he

told

United Press International. But others he said are "simply at a loss" rigid

what

was a

to do. "This

system run by the government, they ha\ e

never administered a hospital or decided w hat to do."

He

said the administrators, often appointed

w ill have to be formed." deciding w ho runs hospitals, w here doctors should work and what types of patients should be sened. In addition to seven major hospitals. Baghdad w as served w ith 40 smaller ones that must be reor-

By Thursday morning

duty.

Streets are literally

awash w ith raw sew age at night by rats.

and garbage quickly attacked

week thousands of workers in different jobs here were afraid to come to work, so nothing is cleaned, little is w ashed and if it is, it was washed with dirty water. Insects

structure

ganized, he said.

Communications, or the lack of them,

Until late this

chaos. There are no telephones, either local,

walls of houses.

a

command began

get the water department, electric

lines. Thousands Baghdad seek out anyone who has

long distance or international of people

Saturday, the coalition

is

another perhaps Uttle-noticed factor of this

abound, craw ling o\ er the garbage and up the

to

but

to hospitals

who were

were fewer than 200 men actually on

to tr\

come

by the regime, are gone and "a whole new

enforcing law and order.

On

well-trained doctors,

the squalid tasks of Sad-

dam's repression from the ones there

man\

of them are afraid to

because of re\enge for being favored by the

painstaking job for the Marines to cull out the

ones

ha;»

181

in

telephone,

satellite

minute safe.

begging for a just a

to reassure a lo\ed

one

that they are

Sometimes they can cadge a

from a

call

department and sanitation employees back to

sympathetic news reporter or international

work. Perhaps their work

worker, but

that of the police.

those ser\ ices is vital.

is

It

the

is

more

crucial than

hard to say which of

is

most

vital.

Water certainly

Thousands of families have been draw-

ing their water from outside pipes, and not

of

it is

\ital. for

it

all

alarms.

There

Baghdad had

in central

city seen

By Wednesda>

from the

1

night, several grids

light,

but

much

of the

6th floor of one hotel

w as

Medical services are crippled, not only near future, but in the longer term.

immediate

no

le\el there is

in the

On

the

electricity, several

a

few seconds can

— a small fortune

local currency

is

in Iraq.

being devalued by

which

is

is

no

Iraqi

television

Baghdad family has a

left,

and so

sateUite dish,

unlikely, the only television station

they can pick up

is

Iranian one that has a

new s

broadcast that every half hour runs several minchildren

utes of photos of Iraqi

bombs and

dark.

game w here

the hour.

unless a

the second

the water, light hospital treatment rooms, run fire

where the

operates machines that can purify

is

has also given rise to a cruel

be bought for 520

most

drinkable. Electricity

it

escalating sales

injured

by

coalition soldiers.

The question

is

not the coalition forces on

duty in Baghdad. In the center primarily young Marines

city,

they are

who have been

carry-

in

Herculean task with enormous patience, good humor and judgment. They body search literally thousands of human

barely sufficient supply during the war. accord-

beings ever> day. as demeaning a function for

ing to a team from the charity Doctors Without

the searcher as for the searched.

major hospitals \\ere stripped by looters and

— a fundamental

there

is

no clean water

ment

in

medical care. Important drugs were

Borders,

w ho w ere

ele-

here to assist in medical care

and remained throughout the bombing, but now medicine

is

running short.

Dr. .Mario Del Vecchis of

a sense the whole system

One

visiting surgeon.

Bologna. is

Italy, said in

breaking down.

ing

out

a

One \oung

private jokes with English-speaking people that this is the

cheapest massage

laughing matter

in

in

tow

n.

but

it's

no

a nation where peoples

bodies and the e.xposure of

its

women

to a

male

outside the family can be an explosive issue.

182 Day

WAR

THE IRAQ

or night they have to guess the intentions

of the drivers as cars

of people hurtle

full

towards checkpoints, wondering whether the

among

passengers are

the 10.000 alleged ter-

Family reunion in Iraq

and dangerous elements the coalition

rorist

says are

left in

Baghdad or simply a family

try-

NICHOLAS M. HORROCK

ing to get to a hospital.

Meanwhile, they search for ammunition

BAGHDAD,

16 (UPI)

Iraq, April

—

We

are

dumps, brave occasional gunfire exchanges,

standing in the hot sun this

and shepherd important

Iraqis who might help new government through sometimes hostile crowds. They live for days as they did in the

graveyard, actually a secret graveyard walled

the

off

field

—

armored vehicles with no more

in their

many

water or comfort than

in

Baghdad.

The Bush administration has

persisted in

of these woes, but in Baghdad these past weeks

sounded

explanation

trite.

people ask an American reporter:

come and do

Persistently,

Why

did you

us? So whether Bush

this to

The incoherence of doctors who cannot function without an authoritarian regime

is

a metaphor for the whole country. Iraq

is

Iraqis

tell

you.

It

from the vast acres of the Islamic Karch

cemetery, six miles southwest of Baghdad, with

Abdul Hadi and Salim Abid. There

are

no

has

a

well-educated cadre of engineers, doctors, lawyers, and government administrators.

row of small aging yellow markers with numbers on them: 307, 992, 468. The numbers make no rhyme or reason, and Hadi and Abid are waiting for a man who knows what is below these markers.

This

is

right is becoming immaterial. Saddam has disappeared, and the object of blame for all misfortune is fast becoming the United States.

no Afghanistan.

in a

gravestones here, no statues, simply row upon

blaming Saddam's repressive regime for most

that

Wednesday

It

is

one of a score of burial places

in

and

around Baghdad used by Saddam Hussein's secret police force to bury its victims. Both Hadi and Abed lost relatives nearly two decades ago, two of thousands who under Saddam simply disappeared. Hadi's brother was taken on his wedding night in 1980 for what the translator said

was "praying too much," but

might have been for being an Islamic fundamentalist

in

Saddam's secular

Abed's

Iraq.

and music community of some world note and a cultured upper middle class. But tribal loyalties are still strong, and the

brother-in-law went missing in 1983 for crimes

deeply divided by religious and

knowing his fate. Now, under the watchful eye of a pack of

had an

art

country

is

ethnic differences.

Revenge on the

you

rise,

killings, coalition forces report, are

but

that that

is

many

cultured Arabs will

tell

not simply a function of the

freedom of repression from Saddam, but something

still

deeply ingrained in the tribalism of

the region. There

family justice

—

nearby Jordan a

public justice and there

is

even

in the orderliness

man who

kills

has defiled his daughter can

still

is

of

someone who

All

quickly notice that

reporters in

hope of

wild, growling graveyard dogs that had been

feeding here, they wait for a

man

to tell

them

which grave markers might be their relatives. Even learning this much was a stroke of luck, one of those things topsy-turvy war. a

city.

that are

Four days

man connected

that lives in their

happening

after the

in this

end of the

with the secret police

neighborhood brought them

and coalition

is

Baghdad and

family records

it

on the way, but Iraqis is not coming as fast the

bombers did. It was only Thursday that the first major World Food Program convoy from Amman came to Baghdad, and there is still so

much

lost

files it

kinds of international

abroad that help

man's mother, now 65, had long

taken from police headquarters. They said was a gesture of someone who wanted to avoid revenge. The files contain all kinds of

escape a Jor-

danian court.

spokesman assure

even more vague and confused. The missing

else that needs to be done.

—

interrogation

investigators and reports

reports

by

on how many family

members could be turned informers. All this was laid

into secret police

out in neat Arabic

handwriting on tissuelike paper inside a cheap

The picture of the family's elder male member was pinned to the sheet. But in it also binder.

183

AFTERMATH were execution notices and notices

body had been brought here

the

that

for burial.

Other

decomposed human bodies can be seen

many

in

and doctors say the health risks

areas,

nearby graves are empty; families have already

from sewage are increasing. There are uncon-

come and recovered

firmed reports of cholera outbreaks

The area

ones.

the remains of their loved

human bones and So we wait for the man

strewn with

is

of clothing as well.

bits

who

has the

map

after

an hour he doesn't

come and

go home

Col. Ehssan Kahtan of the

are checking.

and locate

Baghdad

police, a

Cash on the Une

not like to be interrogated by,

stands in front of his former police station with

regime. They are here, they say, to clean up and protect the police precinct.

Every window

smashed,

is

strewn around and one

too late to pro-

It is

RICHARD TOMKINS

Saddam

a half dozen other police officers of the

it.

are

files

room has been com-

pletely burned.

WITH THE 5TH MARINES, BAGHDAD,

Vietnam

the crimes of

instead, they

that U.S.

Marines roughed them up while look-

$36 million

"They put stepped on

it,"

my one

in

a group of reporters

Saddam money.

missing

head

in

the

ground and

head and threatened

Later they were joking with four young

country. Cash, 32,

is

a

in Iraq for

Navy

chaplain,

Marine Regimental ComTeam, which has been involved in some of the fiercest battles of the war to topple the dicthe 1st Battalion, 5th

bat

Saddam Hussein.

me

"At the same time God was calling tary,"

he

I

said.

traffic in the city is totally

street after street

felt

into

a call to minister to the mili-

"My father was a 30-year veteran

total grid-

few police

There are no

cers,

and no motorists with patience. There

offiis

abundance, however, of aging, rusting

Volkswagen Passats made in Brazil. They came from the Iran-Iraq war when Saddam awarded one to any family whose firstborn son died

in

the

fighting.

As

knew.

the

deaths

I

knew

their lifestyle, their

the transience of the community.

ries,

first

brought to

attention by Marines of Battalion,

who would

Sunday services or Life

I

wor-

was a

it."

Cash was

out of con-

blocked by

streetlights,

I

product of

station.

lock.

an

today

line

his parishioners are the front-line grunts of

people

Marines posted outside the

—

walking the

of the Air Force, so military people were the

"No."

trol

is

the ministry

to shoot.

ask.

The

and

woman.

Carey Cash, great-nephew of the singing

God and

pistols

"Did the Marines actually shoot anyone?"

we

the Line," a tune by coun-

Johnny Cash about a man walking a

tatorship of

said.

Another policeman said Marines put to his

Lt.

legend,

Saddam;

tell

Walk

to "I

straight-and-narrow out of love for his

the colonel.

Iraq,

ago, U.S.

troops began America's military buildup in

"Files of criminals," he said. "Everything

we knew about them." These men do not talk about

— Nearly 40 years

18 (UPI)

April

try singer

"What was there?" we asked

ing for

the

in

Coalition forces

they and sev-

to try

him.

tect

city.

of this ugly place, but finally

eral other families

man you would

southern suburbs of the

in

this

reporter's

Bravo Company,

1st

troop en masse to Cash's

what was called the LSA,

Support Area,

in

close to the Iraqi border.

northern

Kuwait,

The chapel

in the

Kuwaiti desert for the staging Marines was a mess tent with chairs hastily positioned around a makeshift altar.

was soon apparent why he was so popu-

mounted the regime ended the program, but it left Baghdad awash in 1980s Passats. South-

lar.

east of the city, in the direction of Karbala, a

the Marines' anxieties about impending war.

herd of dairy cows were caught

in the crossfire

family separation, the righteousness of ending

of a firefight, slaughtered where they stood.

repression, the firm belief that they were not

For days they lay

alone

in the

open, but finally this

week, coalition forces began under.

to

bulldoze them

Nevertheless, raw sewage and often

It

He spoke

in life

directly and compassionately to

and, yes, possible death and what

awaited beyond. Forty-eight Marines asked for

and received baptism from Cash before

184

WAR

THE IRAQ

crossing

into

The 49th received

Iraq.

sacrament on Palm Sunday

in a

the

bombed

out

God

palace of Saddam. The Sunday before cross-

to

ing into Iraq in late March, he concentrated on

times as well as bad."

Romans

the 23rd Psalm, and

which affirms from the convinced that neither

love of God. "For life,

I

am

neither angels not demons, nei-

ther the present nor the future, nor any ers, neither

be able to separate us from

God

the love of Lord,"'

that is in Jesus Christ our

"The main concern of these kids

me

if

I

The Sunday before Marines

hymns and

maker throughout

their

to

well-attended

God and His love, committing your life God and following the teachings of Christ in life's journey. They may be in a tent, or a few to

feet distant

prayers, calling for

lives.

As

the

their

battle

7-acre complex, which sat on the east-

edge of the Tigris River. For nearly

elements fought fiercely against attackers

six

who

them from nearby rooftops, balconies and streets in an unrelenting barrage. At one point, ammunition was running desperately low and supply trucks were unable to reach the fired at

almost miraculous

lull

of just a

few minutes allowed helicopters to quickly drop off the needed supplies. "Lucky? It wasn't luck," a Marine was overheard to say to another after the

fight.

"Go

talk

remark?

A

cliched response to their

escape? Perhaps. But to many, the author of that luck

was

clear.

Despite numerous direct

Rumaila

in the

were a

enemy

in their teens

Battalion crossing into

1st

oil fields.

oil

separation plant

More

than 30 Iraqis

killed in the first frenzy of fighting.

Marine

—

That came within the

lieutenant, hit

by a

So too

bullet in the side,

under the protective cover of his flack

just

jacket.

Cash

He

Memphis.

a Southern Baptist from

is

says he

is

not complacent about his efforts

Marines

to help bring

to

God and walk

with

Him. Nor does he ever feel helpless, because can pray for help and guidance." "But

I

don't feel as

Cash

when I'm

guess that

some reason from if

I'm doing

travels in his

all I

own

"I

separated for

the (Marine) companies,

I

can." special

Humvee,

adorned with a cross on the side doors. Singer Johnny Cash

is

the chaplain's great-

Cash

uncle, his grandfather's brother. Although

says singing

is

no great passion for him, he

who

one of the few pastors I've met

is

cannot

only hold a tune without musical accompani-

hymn justice.

ment, but also do the

"My mom

and dad both sing a

whole family sang together when ing up," he said, "but

it's

lot, I

and the

was grow-

not a particular pas-

sion of mine."

Cash was commissioned

to the chaplain, he'll tell you."

glib

to take life.

still

hours of the

hours, with their backs to the river, advance

A

around

also a staple, espe-

is

— some

and seizing a gas and

and near the al-Amiziyah Palace

An

Marines

Iraq

of rocket-propelled grenades while approach-

Americans.

artillery position, or

first

Baghdad this month, he brought soland hope to the wounded, braving gunfire and rocket attacks as he did so. The fight for the palace and a nearby mosque is spoken about in tones of hushed awe by those who were not there. The Marines ran a gantlet

em

from an

Informal counseling cially for

in eastern

1

calls

— learning

about

Saddam

ace, comfort

ing the

good

in

He

study groups.

Bible

them Head, Heart and Feet sessions

he led the dog-

raged around Marines besieged by foreign at

always near,

is

not walking the lines visiting with

who have had

God's protection and asking they honor

extremists

that

in war,

said. "I try

Marines and conducting services. Cash holds

'What's

said.

the battle for the

in central Iraq,

in

is

and urgency

die?'

have an assurance of heaven," he Hussein Canal

Cash

a patch of foxholes.

says.

it

going to happen to

tired

pow-

height nor depth, nor anything else

in creation, will

When

8,

that nothing will separate believers

death nor

emphasize

God

people to turn to

"It's natural for

especially after near escapes,"

in

the

1995 and received his chaplainship

Navy in

in

1998.

He's married and has five children, ages 2 to

8.

This Sunday, Easter, his sermon to Marines of course

be

about

"Hope and

the

rocket hits on armored vehicles, and the thou-

will

sands and thousands of rounds of ammunition

Resurrection," he said, but he'll also touch on

expended by foreign extremists and Baath Party diehards, the Marines suffered just one death

the risen Christ meeting

and 35 wounded

him.

that day.

after His crucifixion

two men on a road

who

did not recognize

185

AFTERMATH 'God need

is all

around us," Cash

said.

"You

just

look for him, to recognize him."

to

Norway and Russia have shown

that oil wealth

modest quantities can be a boom, but

in

three countries had strong non-oil

before the

oil

Britain and

What

to

do oil

it

removing Saddam

democratic government will

installing a

good government

not ensure

sector

(Russia). Therefore,

pretty clear that simply

is

and

case of

(in the

Norway) or a huge non-oil

that coexisted alongside it

with the

wealth appeared

Since the

in Iraq.

country has the world's second-largest

there

—

WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) Once Saddam Hussein is defeated, the U.S. -led coalition him

that has defeated cult

will

have

its

economic decision: what

most

to

diffi-

do with

Iraq's oil revenues, to ensure that they benefit

the

Iraqi

weak

reserves and only a

MARTIN HUTCHINSON

people as a whole, rather than

no chance

is

hood

that

Norway and

Britain.

that

it

will follow the path of

Russia, and every likeli-

even a democratic Iraq

will

its

people and squandering the

money

ruption.

proved ity

So what

large-scale revenue sources, oil has itself the

most destructive

to the qual-

of local governments and the welfare of

worth-

And. of course, there remains the posat

some

are the alternatives? Until last

Mon-

level to sponsor terrorist activity.

all

in

government projects and unbounded cor-

less

government machine.

Of

become a

second Venezuela or Nigeria, failing to enrich

sibility that

a difficult problem.

oil

non-oil economy,

simply fueling a destructive and greedy It's

all

economies

such an Iraq will continue

1995 "oil-for-food" program,

day, under the

Iraq's oil revenues

were handled by the United

Nations. This rendered a large portion of the

local peoples.

Examples abound. Venezuela,

spite of

in

being a democracy and relatively well

off.

has

Iraqi population

— some 14

million out of the

country's population of 24 million

— depend-

been appallingly run since the 1950s, com-

ent

pletely failing to develop a viable non-oil econ-

trators.

omy. Mexico, one of the world's wealthier

a society that has a high poverty level and con-

on handouts from the U.N.'s

relief

adminis-

A pure handout program of this kind,

in

simply creates

countries in 1945, declined into an orgy of cor-

siderable

owing to its oil wealth, with the worst corruption coming during the 1970-82 period, when oil was at its most valuable. Indonesia, while a dictatorship, was a beacon of Asian

dependence and reduces economic activity. Naturally, the "oil for food" program has also

success until President Suharto's

time Iraq was subject to international sanctions,

ruption

last years,

but

dislocation,

social

done nothing for

Iraq's agriculture.

sibly a necessary (if ineffectual)

U.N. administration of

While pos-

remedy

has descended into a mire of corruption since

the

the middle 1990s. Since Suharto's departure in

source of foreign exchange earnings

1998, none of his three democratically elected

to cause

shown any ability economy work. And

make

successors has

to

Indonesian

then there's

the

Nigeria.

There aren't a

lot

of favorable counter-

examples. Tiny countries like Kuwait. Dubai

and Qatar do OK, proving

that

if

you have

— say SI 00.000 per annum per head of population — you can manage enough

oil

wealth

to

avoid dissipating

it.

Even Saudi Arabia, the saw its per

world's oil-wealthiest country, capita gross domestic

product decline from

$25,000 to $7,000 from 1980 to 2000, proving that in spite is

of the Suharto example, autocracy

no cure for oil-financed corruption.

Britain.

huge

political

Iraq's

at a

principal is

bound

and economic trouble

going forward.

Another possibility would be for the

oil rev-

enues to be administered by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, which would use them to pursue a carefully thought-out strategy, according to the govern-

development

ing policies of the international institution con-

cerned. This has two problems. First,

it

would

be perceived in Iraq as an exercise in U.S. imperialism, since the World Bank and

perceived

in

the Third World,

IMF are

rightly

or

wrongly, as instruments of U.S. policy. Second, it

would provide no tangible benefits

Iraqi

population

itself (other

for the

than by U.N. -type

186

THE IRAQ

WAR

handouts, which have the problems outhned above), but would simply provide a huge "gravy

and

train" for the international institutions

associated consultants, by which the

their

money

The majority of Iraq's oilfields were developed by the Iraq Petroleum Corp.. a consortium founded in 1925 and owned by British Petro-

you think I'm exaggerating, consider

leum (23.75 percent). Shell (23.75 percent). Compagnie Francaise des Petroles (23.75 percent). ExxonMobil (23.7 percent, between the two constituent companies) and the late Nubar

Bosnia, a relatively prosperous country with a

Gulbenkian. the famous "Mr. Five Percent"

good education system before 1991.

owner of that percentage of the company. IPC was partially expropriated in

will

be wasted on ineffectual projects, while the true needs of the population go unmet. If

which

into

tens of billions of dollars of international aid

have been poured, without any sign of having created a viable economy. simple:

quite

bound by

The reason

The

international

own

agendas, paid

for this

aid

is

agencies,

wheeler-dealer,

1964 and fully nationalized

in 1972, the latter

by a government of which Saddam was already the guiding figure.

attention

There would thus seem no reason to recog-

needs of the Bosnians themsehes. In

nize the expropriation, and every reason to

every other countn,' that broke away from the

return the operation of the oil fields to the

to the

their

former Yugoslavia, one of the

little

first

orders of

business was to provide a mechanism to restore

populace their foreign currency savings,

to the

which had been expropriated by the Yugoslav

Bank

National

in

1991 and used to fund the Ser-

Once

bian war machine.

this

had been done, new

business formation and the restoration of a functioning

economy were once again

possible, since

British,

Anglo-Dutch. French. U.S. and Por-

tuguese (the Gulbenkian Foundation, domiciled in Lisbon) entities brutally overruled

whose

rights

were so

by Saddam's thugs. The Iraq

National Oil Company, a corrupt tool of the

Saddam regime, can the business.

It is

legitimately be cut out of

also clear, however, through

examination of current operating agreements

in

main source of

the oil industry, that the great majority of the oil

small business financing. In Bosnia, the problem

revenues, perhaps 75 to 80 percent, should

was ignored by the aid agencies and the government they controlled, and the small business sec-

accrue to the landholders, in this case (subject

these savings were of course the

tor

is

rent

consequently notably absent from the cur-

central

schemes

problem

in

all

the

above

for spending Iraq's oil revenues

is

that

they depend on a central Marxist fallacy: that the oil under a country,

issuing

from the

and the

countrv'.

any well-founded

on particular

whole

Bosnian economic scene.

The

to

are

oil

production

rightfully

the

property of that country's government. This

is

— not

title

claims by individuals

oil fields) to the Iraqi

to the

government.

people as a

By

revenues accrue to individual

that oil to their

ensuring

Iraqis, not

government, the coalition can provide

huge tangible benefit from the invasion and spread the money widely the Iraqi people with a

enough so that any funding for terrorism or a military machine is insignificant. Therefore, for a fund that holds the

equivalent to nationalizing the U.S. semicon-

the requirement

ductor industry' on the grounds that the U.S.

invested in the various devices involved.

money and that contains individual accounts in the name of the Iraqi people, who derive benefit from their holdings and have at least some degree of control over the way the money is

principle

invested.

government had provided

for the education of

who

William Shockley and his successors

The makes no sense economically; still more does it make no sense morally. In economic reality, there are two groups of

people

who have

Iraq's

oil

a right to the revenues from

industry:

developed

it

which the

oil

the

oil

companies

that

and the owners of the land under

was discovered.

In the event that

private property rights were undeveloped in the

region

when

the oil

was found,

the latter

own-

model

is

Fortunately,

there

is

an excellent

for such an entity: Singapore's Central

Provident

Fund, with currently 2.9 million

members and assets of $45 billion. The CPF was set up initially in 1955. but its growth dates from 1968. when by a provision of Singapore law a percentage of every employee's salary

(currently

employee plus

1

20 percent

paid

SGD 6.000 (S3.000) per month is paid into

ership devolves, not on the Iraqi government,

up

but on the Iraqi people themselves.

the fund, to accrue in solid investments

to

by the

6 percent paid by the employer)

and pay

187

AFTERMATH employee's future retirement, health and

for the later

home

housing needs (by means of

mort-

omy, and would have relatively few and minor avenues for serious corruption.

gage withdrawal). The fund's investments are

managed by

who

trustees

pro\ide "a

mar-

fair

which is linked to However, fund members

An

Iraqi

who had

people

their basic social

and education needs taken care

security, health

ket return at minimal risk."

of by a Central Provident Fund managed by

bank deposit

incorruptible and capable Singaporeans, and

may

rates.

own

also choose their

from an approved

investment vehicles

for their accrued fund

list

balances. Iraq's short-term potential oil production is

whose government was modest and not very would be the happiest polity in the unhappy Middle Ea.st. That, at least, is some-

corrupt,

thing worth fightins

for.

around 2.5 million barrels per day. with the posof an increase to 3.5 billion barrels per

sibility

day within three to five years from in\estment in

new

At an

fields.

with 80 percent of

revenues devoted to the

CPF would

fund, an Iraqi

of $25 per barrel.

oil price

oil

have

initial

revenues

of SI 8.25 billion per annum, or S760.42 for

woman and

every Iraqi man,

maybe

his or her

Over

enemies MARTIN WALKER

10 percent, could be added to

WASHINGTON,

account in the fund.

a period of years, as the fund's rev-

enues and assets grow,

this

should prove

suffi-

cient to provide the Iraqi people with basic

retirement, health

and unemployment benefit

would best be managed by the staff of Singapore's CPF. who have 35 years experience

man can

dent George W. Bush has picked some beauties.

Osama

bin Laden and

as foul a pair as current

the

Saddam Hussein

humanity has

are

to offer.

The Taliban and Baathist Iraq were two of most dreadful regimes on the planet. North

Korea, with

its

gulag and famine,

may be even

of scheme, and are as incorruptible (Singa-

uating into the ranks of the axis of evil after

fifth

lowest in the world, after

Scandinavian in

and

countries

New-

Transparency International's most

recent annual corruption rankings.) instituting an Iraqi

CPF. with individual

accounts, funded by the oil revenues and

aged by tion

If a

this type

Zealand,

By

—

humanly possible

pore ranked three

(UPI)

worse. Baathist Syria, which seems to be grad-

running

in

far as

It

20

April

be judged by the enemies he keeps, then Presi-

needs, as well as educational services for Iraq's children.

easy

child. In addition,

going forward, a portion of employed Iraqi's earnings,

No more

staff

man-

of the Singapore CPF, the coali-

would over

sly support for this

Saddam Hussein,

is

day by the ruthless brutality with which

crushed the rebellion

in the

tow n of

its

defined to it

Hama just

20 years ago. Bombarded into ruin by massed artiller)'. the rubble and some 20.000 civilians were then ground

into flatness

by bulldozers

and the vast tomb sealed with cement.

These are desirable enemies, not simply rest on state terror and institu-

a two- to three-year period

allow the Iraqi people to develop an asset over

because they

which they had

tionalized cruelty, but because they are breath-

(if

they wished) individual

Regimes

that rule with

investment control, which would fund their

takingly incompetent.

program needs. The new Iraqi government, in turn, would have to depend on

such viciousness tend to be very

basic social

non-oil sources, such as sales and

on the

Iraqi

people for

its

It would would also

job

revenues.

most 10 percent of

product under

its

afford expensive

its

people. With

Iraq's gross

control,

it

domestic

would be unable to would

military adventures,

have very limited control over the

Iraqi

econ-

at

belter

export-

power abroad. Secret policemen make poor generals, and armies whose main ing

have no need to provide basic social security,

at

maintaining domestic power than

income taxes

thus be relatively impoverished, but

health or education services for

at

much

their

is

and mow down their own seldom good at fighting well-

to intimidate

civilians are

armed opponents. America's two Presidents Bush could hardly have had a more cooperative enemy than Saddam Hussein. His use of chemical weapons against his

own

people and his invasion of

188

WAR

THE IRAQ

neighboring Kuwait defined him as a regional

menace. His mihtary skillful

skills,

diplomacy, were

unlike his rather

Gulf

pitiful. In the first

To

outsiders, Iran's incipient civil

war can

look like a hard cop-soft cop routine. Try to

condemn

the ayatollahs, and Khatami's silky

War, he kept his armies dug into the sands of

diplomats are on the phone to their friends

Kuwait and southern

where they could be

London and

Paris. Criticize their support for

devastated by nearby U.S. air power. In the sec-

Hamas and

Hezbollah, and the entire Arab

ond Gulf War, he watched his forces destroyed again from the air in the great killing fields south of Baghdad, between Karbala and Kut. The problem now is that the Bush adminis-

world

behind these "resistance" groups

tration

may be

Iraq,

running out of such incompetent

and cooperative adversaries. say

how America's

too soon to

is

It

current diplomatic intimi-

dation of Syria will unfold, or

into closing

down

nuclear workshops and

its

assembly

ballistic missile

its

lines.

But neither Pyongyang nor Damascus looks likely to

emulate Saddam Hussein's folly

in giv-

ing the United States such plausible excuses for military action.

They

are not going to invade the

neighbors. Syria, which has a seat on the Security

Council, will

make

do whatever it must

Raise the issue of Iran's

Israel.

nuclear ambitions, and suddenly the ayatol-

Afghan war on the

lahs cooperate with the

Taliban or offer to

the United States use

let

their airspace to rescue pilots

downed over

Iraq.

The problem

Bush

for the

administration,

apparently invincible and dominant after

its

stunning victory in Iraq,

no

is

that there are

more such palpably wicked and incompetent fact, the future of American power is likely to be shaped by the emergence of

enemies. In

And behind Iran lurk new soft enemies like France and Russia, who will snipe and criticize and use their diplosmart enemies like Iran.

the

a point of keeping on the

matic strength to block U.S. policies without

North Korea

ever giving the United States an excuse to do

right side of the United Nations. will

against

how North Korea

might be talked and threatened and sanctioned

rallies

in

to maintain at least

some

much

but grumble.

Chinese protection; Pyongyang only agreed to the talks with

China and the United States

China closed the

after

pipeline across the Yalu

oil

River for "technical reasons." The even tougher

enemy

for

Bush

will

be

Iran, a charter

member of

evil, and now appreciably closer becoming a nuclear power than it was when that phrase was coined in January 2002.

Bush's axis of

to

Iran remains a considerable irritant, and per-

haps even a threat

in the

Middle

It

backs

zations like Hezbollah and

Hamas

offices in

Hamas

with arms,

Hamas, but a

raid

Amman by Jordanian

on the security

police in October 1999 found documents that spelled out the relationship in great detail.) yet Iran has played

it

And

smart, and not just in the

secret talks with the United States this spring

on subtle ways Iraq.

in Iraq RICHARD TOMKINS

terrorist organi-

cash and diplomatic support. (Iran long denied direct support for

With the Marines

East. Its agents

appear to be fomenting Shiite opposition to the U.S. presence in Iraq.

War reflection:

to cooperate with

Bush's war on

WASHINGTON,

face of the Iraq war?

in their

Mohammed who

Khatami and the hard-

run the military, the judici-

ary and the secret police, Iran

is

a tough and

prickly challenge for the United States.

newspapers?

more often

relieved

brating civilians?

it

— What's

the

a scene of physical

Is

—

Or

it

a glimpse of sullen

—

Iraqi prisoners or cele-

is it

the

wave of camou-

flaged U.S. troops routing an enemy, and in typical

American fashion, then embracing

the

children of a foe vanquished?

Despite the incipient state of civil war

line ayatollahs

Is

destruction people see on their televisions and

It's all that

and more.

For journalists embedded with U.S. forces,

between the elected "moderate" government of President

April 21 (UPI)

the

dominant feature of Operation

dom

is,

and always

Iraqi Free-

will be, the faces of the indi-

vidual Marines, soldiers, airmen or sailors with

whom they

lived,

sweated and feared during the

189

AFTERAAATH long slog to Baghdad. There

Marine with

the unidentified

for example,

is,

his

mouth

set in a

grimace from the bullet that passed through his

He

ning out of ammunition. Thirty-five Marines

were wounded

morning and one

that

killed.

Luckily for Bravo, only three of the wounded

wave off comrades who evenhim to cover during the heaviest

came from

tually carried

fighting

al-Azimiyah Palace

tenacious courage. In liberating a people long

knee.

tried to

for

eastern

in

Baghdad. While being carried he continued fire his

weapon

at the

enemy

until his

to

ammuni-

tion ran out.

Marine

is

slightly

grenades

rocket-propelled

wounded There

to

an evacuation.

is

Capt.

controller,

Ready

ranks.

men of Bravo

In battle, the

cowed by

fought with

1/5

the repression of dictatorship, they

acted with great compassion, and in

many

cases

a great tenderness. Operation Iraqi Freedom, a

Pvt. Aaron Davis, a jovial pudgy kid from California, who moved with unbelievable speed and abandon, braving explosions and flying fragments from

There

and

its

carry

lives

and

to Eat packs to village children,

initially

greeted

with

in

and

scorn

gained poignant currency as the unbelievable

explosions of joy

at

Iraqi

—

squalor

being

set free

people

and

—

their

from the grip

fear.

a forward air

out candy from Meals

they

Marines viewed the plight of the

of

Shawn Basco,

who handed

help

to

name

expletive,

war

Earlier mutterings that the

Saddam Hussein should be

to

topple

called Operation

Sandstorm because of the weather, or Opera-

food to their parents, with the same personal

tion Stand Still for the delays in the

march

sense of mission that earlier had saved scores

allow

up with

American

and snuffed out many an

lives

one when calling

Iraqi

in air strikes.

"You hear about

the

World War

commander of

the

II

—

1st Battalion.

5th

we're certainly living off the

equity they earned. But this generation it

Generation

—

this

to

catch

feel

"I

pretty

good today,"

Leuthe of California said

Sgt.

1st

correspondent was

in

a

near Baghdad and a prison for children,

charges were reportedly beaten every morning

simply for being there.

"I think

we

all

do."

Leuthe, Davis, Shevlin, Washburn, Malley, Lockett, Jones, Moll. Lyon. Bishop, Avilos,

of names of the

list

men who

—

proud,

proud

was embedded with Bravo Company, 1 st Bravo 1/5. Bravo 1/5 was one of the first two units to cross into Iraq from Kuwait at the start of the land war (we would have been first, but Alpha Company broke the line of march and moved ahead of us). Bravo 1/5 captured a gas and oil separation plant in the Rumaila oil field in

than 180 in the company; more than 200

I

southern Iraq, routed Iraqi defenders while capturing a key bridge over the

Canal

Saddam Hussein

in central Iraq, liberated village after vil-

lage and a children's prison, fought

Baghdad through a grenade acre

fire,

its

way

into

gantlet of rocket-propelled

and seized and held Saddam's 17-

complex on

the Tigris River despite a five-

the is

you add

the

did themselves

of Pentagon policy for media coverage of the

Battalion, 5th Marines, or simply

Bill

town where

after liberating a

unique position to gauge that sentiment. As part

war,

to

were quickly forgot-

Nolan, Lockett, Meldoza, Craft. George

They measure up."

For 36 days

line units,

call

X or whatever — is also every bit

as extraordinary.

advancing front

generation

Marines, told this correspondent. "In a sense that's true

vehicles

ten.

being 'the Greatest Generation,'" Lt. Col. Fred Padilla,

logistics

Marines proud and

their

nation

too long to recite. There were more

in attachments,

when

such as armored vehi-

crews and additional Navy corpsmen.

cle

They were a

cross-section of America. There

were whites, blacks. Hispanics. Asians. American

Indians

between. Saipan

and every hue and mixture in was from

Pvt. Dustin Pangelinann. 23,

in the

anas. Fifteen

Commonwealth of the Marimembers of Bravo Company were U.S.

not U.S. citizens and represented the newest

wave of immigrants to our countr\'. Some were from Mexico and one was from Haiti. There were also several from Russia and Ukraine. Some came from poor backgrounds, others were solidly middle class.

One Marine, who

didn't

hour onslaught from Baath Party gunmen and

need to work because of a family fortune,

foreign extremists.

enlisted in his late 20s in the aftermath of the ter-

It

was one of

the heaviest battles of the Iraq

conflict, with the

besieged Marines nearly run-

rorist attacks

of Sept.

1

1.

2(XJ1.

And.

yes,

some

even had had youthful brushes with the law.

190

THE IRAQ

But they

WAR

shared two things. They were

all

Marines and "Devil Dogs." Not hyphenated

—

Marines, just Marines

the

"Few and

the

Proud," carrying on the tradition of courage

showed

their regimental forebears

Wood and Okinawa, and

at

Chosen Reservoir and Inchon,

Hue.

at

the scenes of

Cliched

is

live

we

fact that

in

me

tells

This group of men.

collection

of "is

this

going to war to defend an idea" of freedom,

man who

erudite

requires things be done cor-

with a B.A. in history, his main goal in Opera-

unit missions

—

—

home from

return

a

New

enough about

to drive

how

the

casualty department

would

sharp look of reproach

make

tune by talking about

1."

to

convey the

rich texture of the

men who make up Bravo 1/5 and among them. Words

the special

camaraderie

just aren't

adequate enough. But they are truly a band of

Even

brothers.

company

the

oddball,

Marine who somehow never seemed to pull his own weight, was looked out

fit

for

the in or

brother looking out for an

this

1/5. in

foxhole the

awkward

is

much of it

in

in

30 years

war zones: Sharing

a

bonding experience, and

the ultimate

word "cliche" needs a new definition. to the American Heritage College

According Dictionary,

"cliche"

is

"a

trite

or

overused

expression or idea" or stereotype. All too often

used with a negative

ters

cast.

it

Yet cliched charac-

and generalizations are based on truths. Take war movie you've ever

the characters in any

seen. There

is

the jokester, the screw-up, the

smart mouth, the lothario, the kindhearted sergeant with a tough-as-nails exterior, the goodnatured medic and the caring-but-firm com-

mander.

It's

no wonder these characters

ground

— don't

jinx

good

for-

it.

officer

1st

is

exist

is

David

Lt.

on

So too his smoking he'd

often a butt of jokes.

efforts to conceal the cigarette

taken up since crossing into Iraq.

And name

is

then there

Gunny"

Before

sibling.

a sense, proves two truisms

correspondent has discovered

of reporting,

in the

result in a quick,

Swede from Maynard, Minn., with a wicked sense of humor. The only graduate of the Naval Academy among the company's officers, his educational back-

and

protected with the concern of that of a big

Bravo

casual mention

Gustafson, a quiet, shy

1

It's difficult

is

The executive

don't want to happen again what happened

silent

Any

one crazy.

law and human dignity. "We're going to the world a better place because

Eve party to pacing was

Year's

company had been lucky

war

on Sept.

—

A graduate of Louisiana State University

rectly.

rule of

we

image

square -jawed, a good-natured, decent and

which they had driven. The

lot."

Marines, he said, comes from a nation that

to

the

of a teenager waiting for his or her child to

are all differ-

together under adverse circumstances

and the world a

Com-

of Bravo

fits

with each other and focus

The

the world can say that?

and

from Baton Rouge. He

are all

We

what other military force or country

different

tall,

is

Freedom other than accomplishing was bringing everyone home. Watching him one night, when troops were out setting an ambush, was like watching a parent

"Take a look around you. .

mirrors America and

it

commander

services. Smith, the

tion Iraqi

.

maga-

replicated throughout our society and military

world.

.

to civilians,

or holding up a

context of Bravo 1/5 should be

in the

a label of honor, because

pany,

ent.

smoke

zine pin-up to troops in a passing convoy.

"None of you had to be here. company commander Capt. Jason Smith told his men before crossing the border berm into Iraq from Kuwait. "You all chose to be here by becoming Marines, by doing something good for the "

in real life, just as

GIs passing out candy

sharing their last

Belheu

the Argonne. at Guadalcanal and

at the

paper and celluloid. They exist

battle,

is

Gunnery Sgt. Ron "my fu-st company logistician. Gulf War veteran would

Jenks. the the

sternly but lovingly caution his

men on

mis-

takes to avoid and advise on lessons learned the

hard way. His "OK, gents,

let's

get a

move

on,"

inevitably followed his barked orders. But for all

the sternness, there

was

the old cliched heart

Gunny Jenks always had words of encouragement, always knew who was married, who expecting a child and made it a point to inquire about them. He loaded up on cigarettes, parceling them out to his "knuckleheads" when of gold.

they ran out in the Iraqi desert.

"They're like

moments Bravo

— not

my own kids," in front

1/5 has

now

he'd say in quiet

of them, of course.

left

Baghdad.

It is

head-

ing south toward Kuwait and an eventual return

home

to California.

But there

will be

no

rest for

191

AFTERAAATH Oceanand a few weeks of reunion with family,

my band

the weary. After an expected parade in

ing

side

family

the

band of brothers

will ship out to

Okinawa

to

left

at

of brothers was wrenching, yet

home was

quickly, with

my

also calling. In the end,

few goodbyes. The

was

I

sight of a

something

complete a previously scheduled deployment.

blubbering

Operation Iraqi Freedom will become just a

avoided. Speaking with other formerly embed-

memor\. and another ribbon of honor

for

men

ser\ ing their country.

1/5

on April

est farewells I've

days

I

in Kuwait turned up similar emoSo how to say thank you? How to say how much I love and respect them? Words can't do it. So. like other reporters, I give them

ded reporters

was one of

the hard-

the smartest, snappiest salute

ever had to make. In the 36

can muster. Godspeed, Bravo

15. It

spent with them.

best

tional pulls.

Post script: This reporter took his leave of

Bravo

reporter

I

had been welcomed

and made part of the family. The idea of leav-

(Semper

Fidelis,

Corps motto).

"Always

I,

as a civilian,

1/5.

Semper

Faithful." the

Fi

Marine

EPILOGUE Most wars end with a political honeymoon for the victors. The 21 -day victory over Saddam Hussein's regime was an exception. Within days of the

of Baghdad, the controversy

fall

its

many

decades. Their best-known

quickly in a U.S. military transport aircraft. But

civilizations, cast the first sour note

vic-

at his first

warm

of

local

had been too complete. The Baathist state Saddam Hussein, along with its policing and

food distribution systems and local administra-

had

tion structures,

all

collapsed. Water and

power supplies were barely functioning.

In

exhausted from their extraordinary efforts

became steadily more glaring. The British and American military civilian

teams assembling

authorities,

Kuwait

in

General Jay Gamer, had never expected to inherit quite

such a vacuum of power. Even the

Iraqi exiles,

who had been

Iraq

a prime source of

on the ground inside

had not reckoned on the almost complete

evaporation of

Saddam Hussein's

And

tive regime.

administra-

as exhausted military engi-

neers struggled to restore electricity and water

treatment plants in Iraq's cities, the military

commanders

tried to identify local leaders

were not tainted by connections This proved

difficult,

grip on the country.

whom

ers, to

to

who

Saddam.

so complete had been his

The

traditional tribal lead-

had made

their

own accom-

modations with Saddam Hussein.

No

sooner

had the British appointed a leader of the local Beni Hasan tribe to run an interim city council than he

was denounced as a tool of the old it was hard to identify any senior

regime. But Iraqi

engineer or bureaucrat of

could not be said. Almost fessional classes, clerics

and

all

whom

that

of the Iraqi pro-

from doctors and teachers

factory

managers,

had

to

either

learned to live with and under the regime or

had gone into

exile.

demanded

funds, food and facilities from the U.S. and British troops.

The

situation

was

chaotic.

Gamer had no

authority over the tired and overstretched troops

who had won

the victory.

He

to establish order, a task for

had not been

could not order the

which the soldiers

He had assumed, on

trained.

the

advice of the Iraqi exiles, that with promises of

pay and future jobs, the existing

Iraqi police

would soon retum to work. Uncertain of their own future, and fearing arrest as associates of the Saddam regime, few policemen rallied to force

And a handful of assassiwho did retum to work,

the occupying forces.

nations of the police

possibly by

Baathists

still

loyal

Saddam

to

Hussein, or possibly by the professional criminals

unleashed from prison by Saddam just

before war broke out, dissuaded many. In the first

three weeks, there

were seldom more than

1,800 U.S. troops available for physical security tasks in

Baghdad

at

any given time.

There was one force

the British instinctively turned in

the Basra region,

in charge,

generals to put thousands of troops on the streets

under the leadership of former U.S.

intelligence for conditions

in

support. In city after city, self-appointed

mayors pronounced themselves

recruited teams of bodyguards, and

such circumstances, the difficulty of imposing order on a city of 5 million people with troops

meetings with prominent locals

Nasiriyah and Baghdad, he found only luke-

tory

City

Ahmed

leader,

treasures of the ancient Babylonian and

upon the military triumph. In a sense, the

and the

political credentials in the land that

of them had not seen for years or even

Chalabi of the Iraqi National Council, arrived

Sumerian

still

Iraqi exiles also struggled to establish

own

Museum,

over the looting of Iraq's National with

The their

able to step into this

ready and

that .seemed

vacuum of power,

the predictions of the Iraqi exiles

despite

and many

was

regional experts consulted by Garner. This the Shiite clergy,

Najaf-based ally

AH

refrained

ment. Those

whose nominal leader was al-Sistani,

from

who had

direct

the

who had

tradition-

political

involve-

played a political role

in

the Shiite uprising of 1991. immediately after the

first

Gulf War. had been

Mohammed

by Saddam Hussein, or driven they began dreaming of a new

193

killed,

like

al-Sadr. or ruthlessly suppressed into exile,

where

political role for

194

the Shiites. that

WAR

THE IRAQ

its

A striking feature of Iraqi history

government has

is

been dom-

traditionally

inated by the Sunni minority, rather than by the

was

Perhaps the most important

majority.

Shiite

consequences of Saddam"s overthrow

political

and some of

that the Shiites.

their

key

reli-

The

Americans and

British,

had pinned

exiles

hopes on a London-based moderate

their

Majid al-Khoei. who was flown

Baghdad

before

cleric,

Najaf even

into

and quickly emerged as the

fell

On a visit to the Imam Ali on April 10. al-Khoei was mob of al-Sadr supporters, although

main challenger

to al-Sadr.

shrine of the

gious leaders, saw their chance to dominate the

killed

new Iraq. Some of the

al-Sadr denied any responsibility for the killing.

Mohammad

Shiite mullahs, like

Bakr al-Hakim. leader of

the

Supreme Council

for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq,

exile in neighboring Iran,

had fled into

where they had come

under the influence of the Iranian ayatollahs.

Following

example, the exiled Iraqis

their

wanted an Iran-style Islamic mullahs. These

came

to

be

clerics, after the Iranian

state,

known

ruled by the as the

Qom

holy city where they

had gathered, and an early rivalry developed with the Najaf clerics,

named

after Iraq's Shiite

where the mullahs had remained and

shrine,

Saddam Hussein's rule. SCIRI had some 15.000 trained and armed

survived under

militia, the

power on

Badr brigades, which ga\e them

the streets as well as in the mosques.

But the Najaf

Qom

clerics

who

refused to follow the

group quickly found

own

their

leader in

by a

His death

the moderate and pro-Western

left

and those who opposed an

clerics,

Iran-style

with no obvious leader, and left Gamer's mission with few points of access to theocracy,

the increasingly important Islamic leadership.

Even while

failing to

impose security or

reestablish

much semblance of normal

Gamer was

unable to identify,

lish,

let

to

Hfe,

alone estab-

an interim Iraqi authority that could claim

to represent the various Sunni, Shiite,

Kurdish

and other groups. His team, composed of U.S. officials

from different agencies, squabbled

among themselves and

whom Back

with the U.S. forces,

they blamed for the lack of security. in

Washington, the Bush administration

realized that

was

it

in

danger of losing the

peace and within a month of his arrival

Gamer was

in Iraq.

replaced by a former U.S. ambas-

who was

Muqtada

al-Sadr. the 30-year-old son of the

sador. L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer,

martyred

Mohammed

the authority to deploy troops for security pur-

al-Sadr. Still a student at

Najafs Kawza seminar),

the

young al-Sadr

By

poses.

fresh troops

Sadr Foundation welfare agency to

Division and the

pon

in the

main

Above

Karbala.

cities

he established control over

all.

Baghdad's vast Shiite slum

known

as

rally sup-

of Najaf. Nasiriyah and

Saddam

city,

that

but has

used to be

now been

like

power and

Najaf

"Anyone supported by

ing

the

all

ties to

the United

cursed by us." But rather than oppos-

Qom

group. al-Sadr developed close

Kadhem

al-Husseini al-Haeri. a revered

Iraqi-bom mullah years in exile

in

who has spent the Qom. In a recent

last

30

fatwa,

al-Haeri ordered the Iraqi clergy to "raise people's

the

awareness of Great Satan's plans and of

means

since the

Satan

is

Bremer focused on

British

forces

Indeed, the

remained firmly

first

in

charge.

planned election of a ma} or

and town council, scheduled for the holy in June,

was postponed when

backed candidate looked

The one

the

city of

SCIRI-

likely to win.

part of Iraq that

had showed

itself

capable of representative self-government, the

Kurdish regions of the north, were facing their

own

difficulties

through the slowness of the

various bureaucracies to adapt to the end of the

U.N.'s oil-for-food program. The United States

had scored an important diplomatic success

May

of the shah in 1979. the Great

Council agreed to

lift

the United States.

the local politics of

appointing town councils, but the U.S. and

United Nations on

now

in Iraq.

on restoring law

water, while putting politics on

as in Iran

to abort them." In Iraq fall

Armored deployed

to concentrate

hold. Instead of trying to invent a national Iraqi

nation." In one dramatic speech in Sadr City, he

is

1st

more and

as the 4th Infantry

and order, the economy, and cmcial services

council.

States

arrived,

were available

Bremer decided

renamed Sadr city. While thanking the British and American forces for toppling Saddam, al-Sadr called for nonviolent resistance to pressure them to leave quickly so that Iraq might become an "Islamic declared:

Bremer

the time

used his father's name and the resources of the

given

tions against Iraq

22.

when

at the

the Security'

the long-running sanc-

and phase out the oil-for-food

195

EPILOGUE program, with the funds going to a new Iraqi

required

Development Fund. But the Kurds were

missing from Kuwait.

still

waiting for the $3.7 billion allocated to them,

him

to

account for the people and loot

the greatest

Still,

emphasis had been placed

but not yet paid, from their share of the U.N.

on Saddam's nuclear research

program. The end of sanctions, which also

of chemical

ended the Kurds' formerly profitable smuggling trade, disrupted the once thriving econ-

omy

And

of the Kurds.

while the end of sanc-

tions allowed the sale of the 10 million barrels

of Iraqi just

oil

stored in Turkey, their sale earned

—a

$300 million

fraction of the estimated

efforts, his stocks

weapons and his bio-warfare program by the British and American governmost publicly

ments,

in

Secretary

of State

Colin Powell's address to the United Nations January.

The

intelligence

in

British

government issued one

report

that

Hussein's forces could

claimed

start

Saddam

using chemical

costs of $3 billion to repair the country's oil

weapons

infrastructure alone.

Cheney each claimed before the program still was being pursued. All this became increasingly embarrassing as the weeks after the war failed to find any stocks of significance, beyond two special trucks that seemed to have been

In

sum, everything that could go wrong was

going wrong, even before the in

May

that an

first

signs

came

organized military resistance

was developing to the U.S. occupation. By mid-June, ambushes, sniping and grenade attacks were starting to take an almost daily toll of American lives. In the six weeks after May 1,

when

Bush declared "an end to operations," 48 U.S. troops lost

President

major military their lives.

By mid-June,

at

45 minutes notice. Bush and Vice

President Dick

the U.S. forces were

war

that the Iraqi nuclear

designed for chemical warfare. In Britain, the Blair

government was forced by pressure

in

Parliament to open formal inquiries into the allegation that the intelligence assessments of Iraq's

weapons of mass destruction had been

conducting major raids with armor and heli-

deliberately inflated. In the United States, one

copters against resistance centers, mostly run

of the leading Democratic candidates for the

Guards and other They were well funded. U.S.

presidency in the 2004 elections. Sen. John

troops found $8.5 million in cash, jewels val-

administration of "deliberately misleading the

former

by

Saddam ued

at

Republican

loyalists.

over $1 million and other currencies

at a

where 50 former Republican Guard members were arrested.

Kerry of Massachusetts, accused the Bush

American people."

The

resistance center outside Tikrit,

These political

difficulties with the

occupation had

consequences. Concern

first

for the

museums and archaeological sites, then for the crime wave in Iraq's cities, and then for the failure to locate Saddam Hussein's looted

weapons of mass destruction gave the critics of home in Britain and the United States and abroad, new ammunition to condemn Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The failure to find either the body or the living person of Saddam Hussein, or his two sons Qusay and Uday, was a further embarrassment. Of these, the most serious was the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction that had been cited so often from the White House and from Downing Street and at the the war, both at

United Nations

—

—

main justification for was not so. There was military action in Saddam's as the

critical reaction

might have been even

worse, but for the constant discoveries of mass

graves and evidence of torture that

left

no room

for doubt that Saddam had run one of the most evil and vicious regimes on the planet. Even the

sternest critics of the

British

governments acknowledged ple

and American

that the Iraqi peo-

had indeed been liberated from an appalling rule. The question was whether such

and brutal

issues of the

human

rights of the Iraqi people

alone justified the war, or whether Bush and Blair had between

them exaggerated

the truth

Saddam's dangers to other countries, whether through his terrorist links or his weapons of mass destruction. of

There had always been one broader aspect to the Bush administration's decision to go to war: the tantali/ing

become

a

hope

model

that a liberated Iraq

could

tor reform, democracy and

of the Arab world. The

the war. Legally, this

modernization

ample reason

main French criticism of the war. voiced by foreign minister Dominique de Villepin. was that a campaign to overthrow an Arab government

for

failure to fulfill the original

cease-fire

terms of the 1991

and other U.N. resolutions

that

in the rest

196

WAR

THE IRAQ

and occupy an Arab country, no matter how

good the

would be perceived

intentions,

throughout the Arab world as the opening shot a dreaded "clash of civilizations" between

in

West

the

and

Arab

the

world,

between

Christendom and Islam. This, argued Villepin. had

be prevented

to

itself

never argued

such terms, but some of its supporters

among

saw the stakes of the war in similar terms, but from a different perspective. William Kristol. editor of the Weekly the neoconservatives

Standard, argued that the only clash of civilizations

was

way

to prevent a

free trade

prosperous

and

democracies.

The Arab world, economi-

backward even with

its

oil wealth, run by

and quasi-feudal regimes and

be saved from

itself.

And

only such a modern-

democratic Arab world could ever be

expected to forge a lasting peace with Israel

—

the issue that kept U.S.-Arab relations in such

constant

The Bush administration

tension.

rifts

torn in the Atlantic alliance

partially healed,

even as Polish,

Danish. Dutch and other troops began to take their place alongside the British

forces, with the

NATO

and American

alliance offering logis-

and planning support.

how

remains to be seen

long the patience

of the U.S. Congress and public will accept the

acted as

if this

Middle

East.

full

weight of his pres-

attempt to craft peace in the

At two summits

in the first

days of

Sharm el-Sheikh with the Arab leaders and then at Aqaba in Jordan with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers. Bush became just

June, at

committed

to the

danger that having British

won

is

an obvious

the war, the U.S. and

governments could lose the peace. But

whatever the eventual outcome of the second

Gulf War.

at least this

time the vicious regime

Saddam Hussein was no longer in place to brutalize its own people and threaten to destabilize the region. One of the three regimes cited of

by Bush

in his

January 2002 State of the Union

The other two. North Korea and Iran, drew their own lessons from the two Gulf wars, that the only way to guarantee their security against the American superpower was to develop their own nuclear capabilities. The political crises with

world, and also put the

behind a

already getting under way. There

neoconservative view was

May. Bush proposed a trade agreement with the Arab

new

with the 2004 presidential election campaign

address as the "axis of evil" was overthrown.

in

strategic guide. In

broad free

as

were only

such terms,

might not have spoken publicly

tige

The

solved.

It

increasingly prey to Islamic extremism, should

it

cri-

looks to be long and difficult and controversial,

authoritarian

its

The

drain of casualties from an occupation that

Kristol suggested.

but

not stalled.

free-

of modern,

ized,

if

United Nations as an effective body

of religion were the symbols and the real-

institutions, free

cally

the

of global governance and opinion was unre-

tical

modernizing the Arab world. Free markets, free

ities

process was sputtering,

arduous process of

media and

campaign was organizing against

occupying forces. The Middle East peace

for the United States

to take the lead in the long,

dom

guerilla

sis in the

at all costs.

The Bush administration in

seemed to be steered by Shiite clerics intent on establishing an Iran-style Islamic state. There were increasingly ominous signs that a

Iran

and North Korea were building ominously,

even as the victors of the war struggled

to

reestablish order in Iraq.

Middle East peace process had been. But

as his predecessor Bill Clinton

within days, as Israeli settlers resisted eviction

and the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders refused to support the minister.

suicide

Mahmoud

bomber

new

Palestinian prime

Abbas, and launched new

attacks, the prospects for

peace

looked as elusive as ever. It is

far too

Commentary: Traitor or patriot?

soon to assess the results of the

stunning military victory of the Iraq war. The

ARNAUD

DE BORCHGRAVE

early hopes of a representative Iraqi adminis-

moving toward democracy under Anglo-American stewardship were not fulfilled. The best-organized Iraqi political force tration

WASHINGTON, June 16 to

change regimes

terror?

in Iraq

(UPI)

— Did

the

war

jeopardize the war on

197

EPILOGUE war on Iraq detract from Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan? Did the war on Iraq rob domestic security' of manpower, brainpower and funds? Did the war on Iraq w eaken the administraDid

the

tion's counterterrorism alliances

Did

the

war on

Iraq

abroad?

Did the administration

push the

to

fail

own

from America's

detract

stands for? the three

Afghanistan

—

even having

interna-

w ars

are

to

—

America

ideals

Qaida. Iraq and

between the be affirmative

lines,

the

to all eight

Republican

almost 3 million barrels a

economy

three-week war.

pumping out

by the end of

da>'

former administration

o presidents. Ronald Reagan and

heading south and a budget

still

deficit soaring to

over S400 billion for the year.

Again, ranking Republicans can see the need for supplemental appropriations for a funding

has not yet been voted. Budget spend-

ing realities are

now encroaching on

The House of Saud has

these foreign fulminations as gratuitous Bushis

creative

heady

also taken a

plunge back to earth. Recent

terrorist

bombings

Riyadh by Islamist extremists shook the

in

George Bush 41. make the same points and ask

royal family, as Sept. 11. 2001. never did.

same questions, albeit sub rosa and sotto voce. None Democrat or Republican

100 prominent imams

the

— wants motivations and patriotism impugned. week, Now Randy Beers — —

Until this

the

that

is.

man who succeeded

the legendar> Richard

Clarke as the White House counterterrorist czar

and mysteriously quit job

— has gone

after eight

public.

months on

Having ser\ed

the

who

thens have been called on the royal carpet and

knock

told to

it

done immediately

Asked why

off.

after Sept.

the

He joined

John Kerr\' for president camp and spilled a

few beans

to the

Washington Post

—

sufficient

evidence for Bush loyalists that he was a in their midst.

but,

as

his

Beers

is

traitor

The Wahhabi school curriculum

when it comes to counterterrorism. Former ranking Republican officials

recent memor>'. Saudis

the religious police to

when to

is

also

hateful references the first time in their

tell

their

mind

their

American

own

youth — — and millions

Millions of Saudi-educated

opposed

to U.S. -educated elites in

the

ure to anticipate Iraq's postwar problems. "'We

e\il.

the

the

as

Saudi Wahhabi clergy-

funded madrassas have been brainwashed believe that

tell

business

wives are scolded for allowing hair

show.

also faulting the current administration for fail-

should ha\e declared a victor>," said one ex-White House and Defense official, "and started pulling out right after Baghdad fell. Now we" re trying to get other friendly powers

now

w hat

friends they feel sufficiently confident to

of Pakistanis are

all

Jews and Christians. For

a registered Democrat

colleagues say, totally apolitical

wasn't

deflect the question with "and look at

to

nightly.

this

Saudi spokes-

we've done."

being revised to eliminate

— and

.

else

and Bush 41. Beers scanned from 500

pieces of "threat information" intelligence that

1 1

men

in three

to 1.000

Some

preach jihad, or

holy war. against Christian and Jewish hea-

Republican administrations, including Reagan

crossed his desk daily

day

the

have snaffled. Some Republicans can see an

bookkeeping.

trouble

in the

forecasts of Iraqi oil fields

Administration officials are quick to dismiss

The

ruing

are

strategists

peacetime action than

bill that

officials for tw

to police a countr\'

soldiers will have been killed in

And most foreign editorials, from Buenos Aires to Berlin and Copenhagen to Cape Town, have reached that conclusion.

questions.

bashing.

deployed

2003 and 5 million by the following summer al

being reported, without

to read

answ er w ould have

still

appears to be growing.

Rosy

and respect?

Did the war jeopardize the

The w ay

75,000 troops. Instead, some

Iraqi soil to

150.000 are

when more

war

George W. Bush

after President

assumptions expected to have cut back boots

terror-

ism problems? tional prestige

Two months

declared the war over, the Pentagon budget

where underground. pro-Saddam resistance

Saudis hard enough to address their

the

already

is

a tar baby."

on

spawn a new generation

of al-Qaida recruits?

Did

to share the policing burden, but Iraq

America and

to

Israel are intrinsically

This teaching has gone on since 1979. when

House of Saud reached a "concordat" with fundamentalist Wahhabi clergy whereby the

clerics

pledged not to

criticize the extravagant

excesses of the royal family, and in return the

198

THE IRAQ

WAR

were given

religious chiefs

free rein to spread

their gospel throughout the desert

and

in countries far

The

and

kingdom

—

got rolling in 1980. as the Soviets completed

The United

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan

(under

troops

—

another 77 set out to join them,

and largest tranche from the Iraq

last

Reconstruction and Development Council created in February.

already at

work

in

Around 60 exiled Iraqis are Baghdad and elsewhere, pro-

viding language, cultural understanding and

undermine the loyalty of Soviet

charge of some 20 ministries and government

at first,

most of the

units

were drawn

from the Soviet Union's Muslim republics adjoining Afghanistan

—

by flooding them

with the Koran and cheap drugs.

After the

a decade of almost

came up with a great idea army of occupation. They

President Zia ul-Haq) to defeat the Soviet

agreed to try to

the

now

independence.

On Monday,

their occupation in Afghanistan.

States.

total

near.

fundamentalist bandwagon

Pakistani

years of torment and

subject-matter expertise to the Americans in

They

offices.

are

aware they may be viewed as

who

carpetbaggers by the Iraqis

stayed and

endured under Saddam Hussein. Around 4 million Iraqis fled the country.

Soviets conceded defeat

"We

and

expect to receive that reception," said

pulled out of Afghanistan in Februar\' 1989. the

Adel Rahoumi. 46. now from Princeton, N.J.

message of hate was turned against the United

"Everyone of us has a suffering story

States

—

for leaving Afghanistan in the lurch

and for punishing Pakistan for

its

secret nuclear

them fered somehow."

He

also

knew

there

was no nexus

between the chamel house of Saddam Hussein

left

Saddam

buildup. Clarke understood the global context

of al-Qaida.

we

not like

Rahoumi's wants

and the global terrorism of Osama bin Laden.

Hussein's brother.

not

it is

so small, and other people's

recruits for al-Qaida.

setting out for Iraq.

on

agonies are so big. That

Rahoumi

to something.

mother and in

an

is

to

Baghdad

in the recesses

Iraqi

men

an ascetic con-

of a featureless

an anonymous building near the

Pentagon. They are the future of Iraq the

— or so

Bush administration hopes. They have volunteered to go back

country they fled

Americans now

in fear

in

an Egyptian

Iraq for college is

now working

Baghdad. His task will

statues

artistic

and murals." Most of the public

art

Saddam Hussein. transform the Saddam Art

—

to

—

into a museum dedmany victims, like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He would keep the name as it is. Rahoumi contended the outsiders should be welcomed, as they are the ones who have so long been advocating the ouster of Saddam

a city gallery

and disgust

to help the

They

will help

once vibrant healthcare system;

set a course for the

new government

to

in the

world community: to refresh a drained marsh; to reseed barren

wheat

fields;

and

Hussein.

"The people outside to the

charge of the "coalition pro-

visional authority" restore order. to rebuild a

to

before

icated to the regime's

— Six

room

left

be to "cleanse the country of so-called

Rahoumi hopes

WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) and one woman sat at a table in in

Born

he

May

pieces are representations of

PAMELA HESS

office

the tragedy of our

1977 and did not return. He

Center

ference

is

artist.

Iraqi father,

for the municipality of

Iraqi exiles return

killed

to talk about.

"I feel like

people," he said in an interview in

is

suf-

something he

The invasion of Iraq, like Afghanistan a Muslim country, could only spawn more fresh

Maybe Beers

tell. It's

Uday

son is

It

to

Everyone has

to rot.

to ease the

Kurdish people's entry into Iraq proper after

Iraq for the past

years, they have been the liberation to

become

were the lobby for

main reason

actual," he said.

this liberation to

12

for this

"They

come."

Besides, he said, few of the returning exiles intend to remain in Iraq.

Most have made

few months commitment, and they their businesses

"Many

and families

in the

will

just a

remm

to

United States.

of us will not stay there. We're estab-

lished," he said.

199

EPILOGUE Indeed, the group includes a doctor, a pharmacist, business

owners and two professors.

have

In addition to their ostensible jobs with the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, health, agricul-

and with the

ture all

cities

of Basra and Baghdad,

seven understand one of their

critical pur-

Thamer

tions" in the government. to be careful.

We

really don't

democracy

tradition of tolerating dissent. If a

anything,

difference of opinions.

on

We

have to really work

that."

The exiled

poses will be to ferret out the remaining

is

and respecting of the

tolerating

is

it

"We

said.

have a good

Iraqis

appear to have more

toler-

Baath Party members, and to distinguish

ance for the messy business of democracy than

between those who joined the party simply

the

get along

in a society

who

and those

to

controlled by the group

participated in

less savory

its

activities.

which was conducted in World War II. Several highranking Baath Party members were initially appointed to important posts by the American counselors at the Health Ministry and at Baghdad University but they were quickly

process

to

Germany

that

after

—

fired

when

—

Yet the future of the Baath Party divides

to

power

They its

group

came

that

1969 and promptly began

in Iraq in

persecuting

revile the

all

enemies. The questions they

have are whether an

Iraqi

democracy can co-

exist with the vestiges of the

"If

we

we

It is

Baath

"The ideology of the Baath Party was the non- Arabs in the crucible of the Arabs."

Mowaffaq al-Tikriti, a pharmacist who left Baghdad for the United Arab Emirates when

said

He

The session quickly turned and where

its

fissures

seven,

the

to flourish

and

later settled in

They will be the eyes and ears of in Baghdad who are making the shape whatever government comes

calls that

next. "I think

attract

Canada,

we need to we lacked

nonconstitutional.

ideology that calls for ethnic cleanings

Al-Tikriti will be working at the Ministry

Mahmud

from Najaf. Thamer

came

to

Thamer, 72. origleft Iraq

freed.

power and

tortured

Thamer

tied

and

When

settled

in

as this

clear conflict with the

You have

right of the

police

a

may

be. this

is

in

whole idea of democ-

to differentiate

people to believe

(in the

Baath ide-

have

begins

It

said

force."

Al-Shibli, 62, originally from Baghdad,

He was

Iraqis.

moved was

is

Affairs.

with the Iraqi diplomatic corps and was

member

He was

of the Baath Party

some

—a

dis-

15 million other

assigned to the United States

his family to

told his life

"We need

to

was

in

in

Baghdad. He

danger.

come up

'not democratic.'"

to

North Carolina because he

democracy sacred. That

with a it's

way

to

make

a big curse to be

Thamer said. "Democracy

is

an upbringing." dramatically expand

way

Iraq's

to

do

cxposeure

this is to

to infor-

mation and the Internet.

between the

ology) and the right to have important posi-

it).

working with the Ministry of Foreign

Al-Shibli believes the

"As reprehensible

do

game.

We

with small hamlets and towns.

tices. It starts

They elect a mayor, Ghanim al-Shibli.

Baltimore.

racy.

34 years.

with institutions, education, people and prac-

1969.

in

and interrogated his brother for weeks.

was

for

19S6 when he was recalled

should be banned."

he

set rules for the

Iraqi intellectuals (to

tinction he shares with

should be

after the Baathists

country

in a

Americans

melting others

inally

might be

debate has enormous practical

the

himself a

of Health with Dr.

into a philo-

implications.

where he now has a business. "That ideology of

Any

not a law.

sophical debate about the nature of democracy

party, or if

copied from Nazi ideology; you have to melt

notice.

is

a practice."

enough

government

from rebuild-

Rahoumi. "Democracy

mine the principles of democracy.

began

it.

can't prevent the Baathists

ing." said

That's what

his string of stores

may

are going to have a real democracy,

banning the Baathists outright would under-

all

far, at

concerned. The

with as violent a record as Iraq. But for these

Iraqis protested.

these seven.

is

embrace Baathism, and said they must not

be persecuted for

"de-Baathification" and compares the

it

Baath Party

seven acknowledged that many people still

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls

American powers have evinced so

least as far as the

in

"The freedom of mind. Access to everything Iraq would be the best blessing we could

ever have."' he said.

200 "There

something about

is

can jump the

world

moment we

on

added

Iraq."

Democracy

macist.

country

this

get

exposed

— we

wished-for. but so far unrealized, independent

to the

ethnic enclave; and Pakeza Alexander, 38,

35 years of isolation. That will have

after

a big impact

authorities don't

he

WAR

THE IRAQ

will

shove

al-Tikriti. the

succeed

it

if

down the

the

phar-

American

Iraqis throats,

is

mother of three children

Tenn.

She

was

"It

the differences between

the minority, but previously powerful. Sunni

Muslims and

Muslims

the majority Shiite

will

down on hard.

I

smelled

tains.

human

It still

Alexander

were created by Saddam Hussein and the Baath

ried in Iran

Party, they contended, in order to divide

and

background and

tions.

features

history

in

and

make me hopeful in achieving Thamer said. "There were poets

that

writers, there

son a year

were

We do have these

civil rights (in

and protec-

our history).

Among

was a cultural tolerance. was between governments. The

there.

of intermarriage, there was a

The

differences are there, argues

Ramadan

al-Badran. 41. the most recent refugee from

A former soldier in the Iraqi army, he "AWOL" during the Persian Gulf war and

Iraq.

went

then took part in the Shiite uprising in Basra in 1991.

was

It

brutally crushed, but al-Badran

said he fought until the

camp

refugee

in

of

end and then

fled for a

He was the last He is returning to

Saudi Arabia.

fighter to escape with his

life.

help the city get back on

its

feet

and

it.

happened yesterday," old.

She mar-

was 12 and had her first Alexander is going to Baghdad she

Council office

work with

will

former

the

culminated

in the

town of Halabja

the agriculture

greatly

at

the

government.

Iraqi

mustard gassing of

in 1988, killing as

many

as 8,000.

"All

time

the

sometimes

culture of tolerance."

knowing

Multiple wars and ethnic cleansing campaigns finally

lots

later.

it

The Kurds have suffered hands

the

There was

witnessed a

department.

The

people themselves didn't tight each other.

I

She was 10 years

when

were

from the moun-

flesh burning

feels like

said.

Comyon

the Iraqi people, there

fighting

was running.

I

to run the Iraq Reconstruction

"We have many democracy.'"

the Baathists

the

the Kurds.

lady dropping a baby without even

be difficult to overcome. Those differences

conquer the country.

in Nashville,

when

fled Iraq in 1975

cracking

said.

They do not think

who

has a masters of criminal justice and

Comyon

I

I

feel

I'm

—

danger

in

never even feel I'm an Iraqi," said

of his status as a Kurd. Based on his

— Sunni,

experience with other exiles

Kurd and Christian in Arlington, Va.,

—

in the

Shiite,

nondescript office

he has decided he will stay

in

"Kurdistan," Iraq, forever.

"Now friends

I

am

starting to feel

and colleagues

how we Comyon

can rebuild, said.

"We

really,

.

.

.

because

my

each other about

talk to I

feel

I'm

Iraqi,"

are a part of Iraq now."

to restore

the drained marshes in the southern part of the

country,

a

project

known

as

Project

Eden

Again. "Let's be clear:

We

are an old-fashioned soci-

Analysis: Blair

ety with loyalty to our roots," said al-Badran.

"Being trol"

clear,

on the

being clear

With

being honest will have a good con-

political situation. "Representation is

who you

are."

that declaration, the interview

spun out

running out of trust

of control as the group argued whether there

had ever been an important leader

from the southern

city of Basra.

It

Baghdad was finally

in

MARTIN WALKER

—

decided there had been, some 70 years ago.

WASHINGTON, June

This seemed recent enough to satisfy everyone

hours on Thursday afternoon, Tony Blair's

at the table.

Cabinet talked about whether or not the eco-

Two Comyon,

at

the

table

were Kurdish: Sardar

a Ph.D. in agricultural science

proudly declares he

is

who

from "Kurdistan," the

nomic conditions were

5

(UPI)

right for

referendum and recommend

For three

them

full

to call a

to the voters that

Britain should join the euro. But

somewhere

in

the

back of every Cabinet minister's mind was

—

more urgent question how far in general government and Tony Blair a rather

particular

much

carried

still

public. If they called a

trust Blair's

credibility with the

how many

Minister's Question

Commons,

of them

judgment?

Wednesday, Time"

on

Blair

in

referendum and advised

the public to vote yes,

would

the

facing the

"Prime House of

put forth his usual accomplished

performance against charges gence evidence about

Iraq's

that the

intelli-

201

own

were

point behind Labor. Blair's

ratings

grim. After the 1997 election, Blair had a posi-

—

60 that is, 60 percent more votapproved of him than disapproved. Just

tive rating of

ers

after

successful

his

2001

approval rating was

minus

in

EPILOGUE

reelection.

Blair's

Last week,

18.

was

it

18.

Worst of

were the

all

poll figures asking

whether the government had been honest and trustworthy.

Only 29 percent, fewer than one

in

three, said "Yes."

weapons of mass

At the time of the

last election,

56 percent

And 62

destruction had been doctored to strengthen his

thought Blair's government was honest.

case for the war. Iain Duncan-Smith, the lack-

percent of British voters polled said the British

and thoroughly decent Conservative

luster

Leader of the Opposition, delivered his customary feeble performance.

On

the face of

it,

Blair won.

He played

toring anything.

government was trustworthy.

own

Those

are

He denied

doc-

the patriot card,

Blair,

frightening

but desperate

politician,

who had managed

for

any

leader

like

figures for

a

to forge a close per-

sonal link with the British electorate, con-

praising the achievements of the British troops.

vincing them of his decency and his integrity.

He

The failure to find Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, nearly two

turned to

human

rights, telling the British

people they should be proud of toppling such a brutal dictator.

umph and

And

sneered

he wallowed at the

in his

own

tri-

discomfiture of his

after the fall of

Baghdad, has corroded

of personal

level

that

trust

had been

Blair's biggest asset.

critics.

"They said there would be thousands dead. They said it was my Vietnam. They said that the Middle East would be in flames!" Blair mocked the hapless Duncan-Smith. And the massed ranks of Blair's backbenchers shouted down the opposition. So it was a parliamentary triumph. Yet it was hollow, because one phrase from Duncan-Smith seems to be echoing in Britain with far greater

months the

and resonance than Blair's

reach

defense. believes a

"The word

truth

is

that the

that

nobody now

prime minister says."

Blair has yet to face his biggest test in per-

suading the British public to put their doubts to

one side and half of

be taking

One of

and people seem

to

it.

Blair's former Cabinet colleagues,

development minister Clair Short,

who resigned

(The chances are

is

just the

that the

Cabinet

duck the issue of a referendum, polls say they would probably lose.) they cannot duck is the European

which the The issue

Union's new constitution, whose draft has just been published by the convention chaired by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estang.

The merits of

new

the

constitution

are

almost beside the point. The Conser%atives and

and most of the public want a or no

the press

seriously.

it

prime minister. The

will agree to

This was the truly devastating remark from the Conservative leader,

trust their

decision whether to join the euro

endum in which they can say yes new constitution. Blair says no

—

be ratified

the

referto the

the constitu-

usual

way by

claiming that she had been misled over the Iraq

tion

war, has reinforced Duncan-Smith's charge.

Pariiament, not the public. In effect. Blair

"The

fact that there

military action

is

was deceit on

the

way

a very grave accusation

I

to

am

we can be deceived about this then what can we not be deceived about?" Short making.

If

Trusting itics,

public

seems

to

agree.

week, the Daily Telegraph published a poll

showed

Tony

and

thinks he

the Conservatives just

Last that

one percentage

is

now

less than is

"They British

in

telling the voters, "Trust

said.

The

will

is

me." when the issue of

at the heart

of British pol-

a third of the electorate

honest.

fear the

government

them out on Europe and thus

is

going

to sell

will tr> to

do

it

stealthily." says Robert Worcester, chairman of

the

MORI

polling firm.

202

THE IRAQ

So Time

apparent success

Blair's

at

Question

campaign for the trust of the British now seems to be losing. And

ing no chances on the return of his regime or

public that Blair

Middle

Blair's plans for Europe, the

it.

East, Iraq, domestic reform or anything else will

bog down. He seems

time, just three

to

be running out of

months short of Aug.

when he can claim

date

photograph the researchers or use the

names of committee officials. It seems that with no confirmation of Saddam's death, these

cessful skirmish in

without

not

may have been one suca much longer and more

Parliament

in

serious

WAR

2.

the

to be running the

men who were revenge

the

persecuted so brutally were tak-

of

They

supporters.

its

also

requested that United Press International not use the names of prisoners from the records

because their families continue to search for information on their fates, and

longest-serving Labor government in British

cruel, they say, to learn of

history.

written by a foreign stranger.

it

them

would be

in

an

Family members come by the carload ter in the

article

to loi-

yard of the house, poring over the

lists

men killed, and when. About six months ago. Saddam emptied his prisons of identifying

Feature: Iraqi records detail

most of the criminal and some

atrocities p.

—

MITCHELL PROTHERO

BAGHDAD,

—

27 (UPi) In "Leviathan", philosopher Thomas Hobbes described life for man living outside the proIraq,

April

tection of society as "nasty, brutish

This

is

also the life that

Not

to say that the

some

and energy

benefits

—

and short."

Saddam Hussein's

regime offered the people of deliver

it

first

one

that's

both touching and

Iraqi

women

scan the

walls and sometimes crumple into a moaning

heap as they find a name.

Men

cry and yell at

peo-

its

brutish rule

and a new group of

shocking details

in millions

of

Gulf War, only

to

be slaughtered by the tens of

thousands after Bush changed his mind and

allowed Saddam to crush the uprising. Teenagers with AK-47s roam the yard as a

what was once the home of the former Iraqi Prisoners

to ward off someone throws a Baath threats. At one point, brick through a window of the home, sending

studies the theories and practice of the

the gun-toting man-child at the door into a

intelligence,

group called Committee of Freed hell

is

Emotional old

inexcusable betrayal of the Shiite Muslims

was a nasty and

head of Iraqi miUtary

now

sinister.

when they rose against Saddam in 1991 at former President Bush's urging after the Persian

manila office folders. In

later.

The scene

Baath regime did not

— cheap food, gasoline

that lasted far too long,

Iraqis holds the

years

an American visitor for his government's

Iraq.

that aided daily life for

ple, but overall

political offend-

American invasion. The families knew what it meant when these men never came home, but they have never received confirmation which might lead to some information on which mass grave the men were dumped in, which might allow them to find the body for proper burial more than 10 ers in preparation for the

by the former government. arrived

Baghdad detail the

fell,

at

the

home

an impromptu

When shortly

looters after

they discovered records that

crimes and fates of more than 2 mil-

form of very dangerous security

deadly parody of a soldier as he "patrols" the

grounds looking for the offender. Inside the their

home, committee

officials brief

from the foreign media. They own tales of suffering. Each was

visitors

lion people persecuted, and mostly killed, by Saddam's men. These records only span the period from 1981 to 1991, but even more were killed from 1991 to 2003. committee officials

regime attention, which led to allegations

say.

they were agents of Iran.

United Press International was granted access to these records on the condition that

it

detail their

related to

Shiite

someone

religious

that

attended too

many

which

drew

ceremonies,

Once

that

the allegations

were made, each male family member was arrested and

most were

killed.

203

EPILOGUE Each room of the house records that in

some cases

strewn with neat

is

are stacked feet high.

journalist

compound and

its

four tanks,

its

four

Bradley fighting vehicles.

Each folder has details of the prisoner on the outside; his name, crime, date of arrest, date of conviction and ultimate fate are stamped with bureaucratic dispassion and efficiency.

Most

Dawa

Party

accusations are that they are a

member

or an assassin supported by a foreign

regime. The fates don't vary much: Hanged,

hanged, hanged,

life in

prison, hanged.

Inside the folders are reports from the inves-

in prison, but the next

signed by

letter

page

a typed

is

Saddam himself overruling

the

judge. Hanged.

"My

(dissident)

man

be 40, but looked a decade

to

"That meant he was a

older.

Dawa

Party.

I

was

member

of the

from

in prison

1981 until this year."

He from

displays the scars of his torture:

cigarettes, electrocution

"How

bums

and beatings.

can Bush and the Americans support

man Saddam?" he

this

asks, referring to the

occasional collaboration between the United States

and Saddam prior

to 1991

and the ensu-

ing betrayal of the Shiites.

"Why

WASHINGTON,

May

14

(UPI)

—

President George W. Bush. Monday's

For

bomb-

ing of apartment complexes in Saudi Arabia

brother went to mosque," said one

who claimed

NICHOLAS M. HORROCK

one case the judge decides on

tigating judge. In

20 years

Analysis: Does terror ever end?

my

What do

they

that the

war on

terror

goes on and perhaps evidence that the victo-

amassed on the battlefield may be very The president heard about the attacks in Riyadh as he toured tornado damage in the Midwest. It was not a surprise to him. U.S. intelligence has warned about ries

fleeting indeed.

attacks on U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia for

weeks. Bush did not blame

though

he. like

was

it

group or

four brothers?

everyone

the

its

it

else,

methodology, the targets

its

that

did they do this to us?

say in their defense about

was an ugly reminder

on al-Qaida,

assumes from and the venue

work of Osama

bin Laden's

sympathizers.

barkens to the original mission of

It

al-

He

About me?" he asks. "You are American, what will you say about this to (President George

Qaida as framed by bin Laden

in the 1990s.

wanted

of Saudi Arabia

W.) Bush, to (Vice President Dick) Cheney, to

and end the Western influence he felt was so corrupting to the home of Mecca and Medina,

The reporter cautiously offers that Americans who betrayed him and his peo-

the world?" the

ple will face

God one day and have But

for their actions.

response from a

man

this

to

account

draws a surprising

tortured for his religious

convictions. "I

do not care about

God." he

that.

I

do not care about

The man has lost more than just 20 years and four members of his family. The crowd outside is increasing and grows more dangerous. It's time for the reporters to go, and the tone turns nasty. The committee officials are kind

help ward off

men

some of

despite their anger and the passionate

demands

and intense cries for attention as the reporters struggle into their vehicle. At the car. the group

has

now

stopped moving and almost has to

fight to get in.

lence,

two most holy cities. he seems to have achieved both. Quietly, when fighting had ended in Iraq, the United States announced last month that after 12 years it would pull the bulk of its armed Islam's

Now

forces out of the Arab kingdom. Tuesday, after

replies.

But there

is

no outbreak of vio-

and they depart for the safety of

their

to get U.S. troops out

the

bombing, the State Department

ordered nonessential diplomatic personnel

home, and large numbers of the 40.000 Americans there also began making plans to leave.

The Bush administration always has been suspicious that the Saudi government secretly

as

may be that much danger as

enclaves of Americans.

Under Islamic

tolerates al-Qaida, but the truth

the Saudi royal family the

is in

teachings, non-Arab troops must not slMIIc

in

Muslim nations who attack other Muslim nations become infidels. The Saudi Arabia, and

204

THE IRAQ

WAR One of

royal family has allowed both, supporting the

President Bush's primary justifica-

war against Iraq and billeting U.S. forces. The Wahhabi school of Islam, which is dominant in Saudi Arabia, is strong on basic Islamic

tions for

tenets.

has been lean.

The

attack in Saudi Arabia alone, though

—

deadly

Americans

34 people died, including eight

— would not be so disturbing

White House were

it

in isolation.

But

it

is

waging war against Iraq was to end Saddam's alleged direct and indirect support for terrorists. Evidence of these connections

Abu Abbas,

in

not in

ment. Other possible al-Qaida members are

More than a month after hostilities ended Iraq, Baghdad and much of the nation are in •

there.

forces, left

and a

law enforcement,

in

basics of civilized

life,

•

entire

only operating

is

Bush team

at

Department of Defense had

put together to begin reconstruction, placing a trusted

American diplomat.

L. Paul Bremer, at

the helm.

Wednesday. Bremer immediately ordered

•

U.S. troops would

upon looters, a move that to many who entered Baghdad in mid-April seems a month too late. • Wednesday, he also set about making that

though

sort

Saddam's whereabouts a mystery

of open-ended sense that Bush faced

Afghanistan. Nearly two years after the Sept.

2001, attacks, and

11,

18 months after the

defeat of the organized forces of the Taliban,

quarter step.

quietly had to replace virtually the that the

hostilities in Iraq,

brought about swiftly and impressively by U.S.

turmoil. Food, water, power, medical care and

have not been restored, and the government

with the Italian govern-

in a deal

The end of major

apparatus

plotted

decade ago

under investigation

all

man who

to the

isolation:

in

the

Lauro ship hijacking, was picked up Baghdad, but he had been released over a

the Achille

fire

U.S. military and British forces

still

hunt the

Taliban and the al-Qaida in Afghanistan and still

face stubborn guerrilla attacks there. Last

Saturday, for instance, a U.S. -led convoy

was

attacked in eastern Afghanistan by rebels

who

killed

one Afghan soldier and wounded an

American. The Americans and British have had

mount search missions to locate members who often flee over the

to repeatedly

Taliban

Pakistani border into tribal regions.

members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party would not get posts in the new government. That will be a more formidable task than many may think. Jobs throughout government from hospitals to the army command generally required two things: member-

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage just completed a visit to Kabul trying to reassure the Afghans that Washington has not aban-

ship in the Baath Party and worshipping as a

doned them.

The Afghans have complained

senior

sure

their country in order to

Sunni Muslim.

team is

Sen.

Along with

•

the

of the U.S.

Bush and

United States

as is

hunting teams smaller,

coming

reducing in

(D-Fla.), former chair-

of the Senate Intelligence Committee and

Party presidential nomination, said Tuesday the

others in his administration

yet

Bob Graham.

against Iraq.

once an announced candidate for the Democratic

all

the

prewar rhetoric about the dangers of Saddam's is

man

wage war

under way

argue they will be found. Nevertheless,

weapons

the

weapons of mass destruc-

to get reconstruction briskly

the failure to find

tion.

inability

that

United States turned away from stabilizing

its

Iraq

more token force

to

The weapons

naught.

military

and sending

in

a

to destroy missiles

in Iraq distracted the United States from war on terror at a crucial moment. "I would say that al-Qaida had substantially weakened and was on the ropes about 12 to 14 months ago," he said. "As I said last fall, I

war the

thought the priority for the United States should

be to win the war on terror before

we

took on the

look further. The

other evils in the Middle East and Central Asia."

most glaring hyperbole here was the report shortly before the war that Republican Guard units guarding Baghdad had access to chemical and perhaps biological weapons. None has

campaign, but the White House dismissed his view by noting there is a Democratic primary going on. Karl Rove, Bush's principal

turned up.

adviser, sees

that

have been found and

to

Graham may

feel that is

Bush

as a

an issue for the

political

war president who

will

205

EPILOGUE run and win in 2004 on dealing with the war on

— no matter how long

terror

it

who had

children

milled around for hours in the

basketball court of 62 Area Barracks to meet

takes.

loved ones.

Bravo Company, 1st Battalion. 5th Marines, was home from war. Iraq was now a memory and a service ribbon, no longer a

Iraqi group

ger,

"All

formed

to resist

"All

want

I

to

do

is

see him," said Anita

who was meeting

Hedrick,

coalition

of dan-

reality

tedium and dust.

want

I

to

do

is

her son, Joseph.

give him a big hug." Pat

Ross said of Joshua, a private

first

class with

the company.

May 29

BEIRUT, Lebanon,

group

that

(UPI)

claims to have elected

most

from

committee

of

— An its

the

Bravo Company was one of

command country's

provinces has been formed to fight and prevent

American

Iraq.

The group,

called the Unification Front

announced

newspaper As

The group

said

"liberate the Iraqi territories

war on March

Rumaila

oil field,

called

on

180

its

men

was

lage and helped free children from a prison, to

from foreign occu-

all Iraqi

some of them

incarcerated for refusing to join

Saddam Hussein.

It

hungry villagers and helped stop looting

fed at a

national political

hospital on the outskirts of the capital.

blamed

the collapsed Baath Party

regime of ousted President Saddam Hussein for the presence of the U.S.-led coalition forces.

a great day to be a Marine," one of

The

had yelled crossing

that the

United States planned to

attack Syria and "tear apart

Egypt and Saudi

into Iraq

night, as artillery shells

them

from Kuwait

at

screamed overhead and

bright orange explosions from dropped lit

group charged

In

Safir.

"It's

It

later.

liberated village after vil-

cooperation with the occupation and. boycotting "agents."

cap-

pushed north and captured

Baghdad weeks and hundreds of miles

forces for quick resistance action, preventing

its

It

Saddam Hussein Canal Bridge and

the vital

the militia of dictator It

20.

exis-

pation," using "all adequate political and military

means."

into southern Iraq at

tured a gas and oil separation plant in the

between,

principal mission

its

punch

fought a pitched battle after entering eastern its

tence with a statement published Thursday by the Lebanese

units to

the start of the ground

cooperation with U.S. -led coalition forces in

for the Liberation of Iraq,

two

the first

Iraqi

bombs

the distant, inky black horizon.

The company's casualty toll during the war: four wounded seriously enough to be medevaced from the grounds of the alAzimiyah Palace in eastern Baghdad in the

just

Arabia."

middle of a

were treated

Feature: Johnny

firefight.

for less serious

back into the Call

it

Nearly a dozen others

wounds and rushed

fray.

luck or Divine Providence. Either miracle. Virtually every armored

comes marching

way,

home

by rocket-propelled grenades. More than 100 RPGs were fired at them as they held

it

was a

vehicle in which the Marines entered

was

Baghdad

hit

palace against extremist gunmen firing automatic weapons from alleyways and from

the

RICHARD TOMKINS

windows and balconies and

CAMP PENDLETON, started with worried

ended with

tearful

Calif.,

May 25 (UPI) —

It

murmurs of anticipation. It murmurs of joy. And in

between was the eruption of sustained cheering from hundreds of cold, tired men. women and

At

the

buildings nearby.

Saddam Hussein

Canal.

120mm

enemy mortars exploded just yards away from units, yet the men escaped unhurt as they cleared out Iraqi resistance, opening the

armored column's push into the

way from an

Iraqi heartland.

206

THE IRAQ

WAR

"Welcome Home Troops." motel

a sign outside a

Oceanside, near the main gate to

in

Camp

Pendleton, said Sunday. "Job Well Done!"

signs and banners were hanging from the

balconies of barracks surrounding the basket-

62 Area,

ball court in

known

of the base

in a part

Camp San Mateo. No Jive. Welcome Home,"

said one.

"Outstanding Vail." said another.

"Welcome Home. Daddy."

overall resource

is

estimated

at

Arabia's.

More pertinent to the world picture, that much oil could change the pecking order, prestige and power among the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries,

as

"1/5

The country's

112 billion barrels, nearly half the size of Saudi

Saturday evening and well into Sunday, similar

only 10.000 to 15,000 feet below the surface.

and perhaps ance

said a third.

"We

are proud of you."

reset the

Middle

in the

economic and

political bal-

East.

not like the North Sea or Sable Island

"It's

or the Gulf Coast, where you're in deep water

and the weather plays

hell with

your platforms

and people." said a former senior

oil company "You just drive out to the field and get to work once the shooting stops." The potential size of Iraq's reserves and the

executive.

Analysis: Iraq

oil

.

recovery risky, hopeful

new s

the

is

the least explored

— The good news

its oil

w ar-ravaged country

In

much-needed

influx of

has a long

to delay the

revenues.

oil

Current production levels of about

day are

barrels a

peak of

far

below

countr>'

is

million

1

and very

far

experts

told

is

technicians from Kellogg,

the

Brown

defense contractor in

U.S.

Houston responsible for restoring must add

drilled.

— or 20

He esdmated

could pro-

fields in the south

— Eleven new fields

— Three 300,000 —

in the north

could pro-

fields in the central region could

soldiers to their

Iraqi oil

—

convoys before they

barrels per day.

yield

Partially

fields

developed reservoirs

in existing

could add another 900,000 barrels per

day.

Production levels notwithstanding,

enue

why

—

which only 125

have been

— Eleven new

United Press

International.

Root

—

duce 500.000 barrels per day.

would be a relatively easy job if daily sabotage and sniper attacks were not hobbling

That

clients,

duce about 3 million barrels per day.

the country's oil exports to their full potential

&

for

with Cambridge Energy Research

some 4.7 million barrels per day could be produced just from the following short- to medium-term actions:

capable of producing

newly formed governing council. Increasing

industry

now

structures in Iraq, of

percent

situation has to be frustrating to Iraq's

efforts,

the rich oil coun-

calculated there are 526 potential oil-bearing

Iraq's pre-war

1.9 million barrels daily,

below what the and exporting.

The

still

among

special presentation

a

Associates, an international consulting firm, is

The bad way

again.

and events are conspiring

to go.

Iraqi Oil

Minister Issam al-Chalabi called Iraq "one of

Chalabi,

begun exporting

Iraq has

everyone involved. Former

virtually

BRUCE CHALFANT (UPI)

.

estimates of short development times frustrate

tries."

NEW YORK, July 31

.

is

led coalidon leaders in Iraq have said Iraqi oil

oil rev-

the key to the country's recovery. U.S.all

along

belongs to the Iraqi people and the

payments

will

first

be for food and much-needed aid

relief.

There are other calls on the money, however.

work each day on the looted and damaged fields, which once pumped 3 million

Iraq

barrels daily and are ranked among the world's

In

most

lawsuits over the invasion of Kuwait and by

head out

to

prolific.

Technically speaking, restoring and expanding Iraq's oil flow

Much

of the

is

a straightforward task.

oil is easily

accessible

—

in pools

owes

billions

addition,

on loans unpaid since 1990.

there

are

millions claimed

in

displaced ethnic and religious groups. Right

now. production efforts are said internal Iraqi

demand

satisfied.

to

be keeping

Some 9

million

207

EPILOGUE Turkey have been auc-

barrels in storage in

exported

neighboring nation seaports.

oil to

A

tioned and are being exported to retainers in

1.6-million-barrel-per-day line to Saudi Arabia

Spain, France, Turkey and to the international

has been closed since 1990.

company Chevron-Texaco.

per-day line into Turkey was barely operable as

Russia and China have additional beefs, too.

418 wells

Iraq had contracted for

oped

ventures with the Russian and

in joint

700,000 barrel-

coalition forces landed.

be devel-

to

A

"The government enues and

we

started taking the oil rev-

started losing out." said a senior

Chinese national companies. Saddam Hussein's

engineer with the government's national

regime had hoped

company who remembers the Saddam regime.

to use the joint ventures as a

political

wedge

after the

Kuwaiti invasion and boasted of being

to

imposed

the sanctions

lift

able to export 6 million barrels per day. That

over the next few

level of output is attainable

Phillip Carroll, a former oil tive

company execu-

and now a consultant to the coalition, says

there

is

one primary

task: "Increase security."

news confer-

years but ownership questions could take even

Carroll told reporters at a recent

longer to resolve.

ence. Carroll said a diversified global

Yet though

it

barely in business. Iraq

is

remains center stage

world

in

potential oil resource ranks

As

Saudi Arabia.

it

exports

oil

could demand the chair

oil politics. Its

second only

ramp

OPEC

at

them altogether and decide

skip

ture

is

OPEC

are not

become

created." Abdullah

OPEC's

Hamad

bin

a

members

the

OPEC

the

in

any of

brass philosophizes and the

Army Corps

KBR

and the

of Engineers tackle

if

talk of the

the attacks stop.

ernment should be

list.

need for buses to

An

gov-

Iraqi coalition

in place

and important long-

term decisions will be deliberated and decided:

Who

will get the oil. for instance.

Thamir Ghadban. said Iraq

is

the interim minister of

oil,

"going to open the door for foreign

investment but

in

accordance with a formula

that safeguards the interest of the Iraqi people."

Meanwhile, the convoys leave Baghdad

few

next

them much clout

lawyers huddle, technicians from U.S.

East

and production decisions.

the cartel's pricing

As

OPEC"s Middle

output through

will not give

—

al-Attiyah.

are exporting over 21 million barrels

Iraq's

months

be

to

president, told reporters after a recent

cartel ministerial meeting.

daily;

would have

it

on the

also high

them home. Most of all they are owed back pay. Most analysts agree 2004 will see Iraqi oil playing a more important role in world markets

to

showing any signs of it.

did not exist,

is

managers

reach their jobs and shooting wars are keeping

nervous about the long-term pic-

members

its

"if

Iraqi

commu-

monitor and control

Iraq

up.

Russia.

OPEC

pipeline slows)

(to

meetings, or

powerful but independent market force, as did

If

nications capability

to

oil

the country before

every day. As they head out to the refineries

fields,

and tank farms, the technicians wear

baseball caps displaying the letters

"RIO

"

—

''Restore Iraqi Oil."

the

rebuilding and renovation. Looting and sabotage have left badly needed production equip-

ment

in

what the Oil and Gas Journal

calls

Commentary:

"wretched shape." Analysts

who have

seen the facilities report

ransacked offices and control rooms, with communications,

command and

destroyed, pipeline

pumps

control equipment stolen, oil

and gas

Leaving Iraq is not an option

separation facilities missing important parts.

"You should see mess," the senior Iraq's facilities

oil

were

the place:

it's

a

goddam

all that

well cared for to

built palaces

and Baath party head-

quarters at the expense of the oil industry. also

left to

WASHINGTON, American

begin with.

Saddam

CLAUDE SALHANI

executive said. Not that

He

languish the crucial pipelines that

Sept.

2

—

(UPI)

casualties in Iraq surpassing the

With num-

ber killed during the actual offensive, a debate is

beginning to brew whether there

dispatch more

is

troops to Iraq or not.

a

need to

Some

say

208

WAR

THE IRAQ

yes. while others, such as Secretan' of

Defense

tance from their friends in the Iraqi National

Donald Rumsfeld, say

numbers

Council

no. the current

can adequately do the job. The

somewhere

lies

in

reality,

between.

Imam

Ali

— should have had no

trouble identify-

ing a cadre of friendly Iraqi officers able to lead a reformed military to take over control of

Following the horrific blast

mosque on Aug.

much

the

Najaf

of the country's security. At least as far as high-

which

killed

profile assignments go, such as guarding of gov-

at

29.

Mohammed

Ayatollah Syed

however,

Baqir al-Hakim

ernment buildings, major

intersections, bridges

and some 100 others, the bombing of the U.N.

and other sensitive

headquarters in Baghdad on Aug. 19 that killed

people feel they have direct involvement in the

representative. Sergio Vieira de Mello. and

rebuilding of their nation, instead of appearing

its

another 20 people, some voices argued for rein-

as bystanders with Uttle or

The current

forcing "boots on the ground."

The Najaf and U.N.

on the Jordanian

the heels of a similar attack

embassy and oil

which came on

attacks,

and

militants

bomb

out-

cratic reform.

Baghdad

side a

police station on Sept. 2. rein-

force the belief that the current level of troops

— reported

to

be somewhere around 130.000

U.S. plus 20.000 Brits

—

is

not enough for the

Others argued for more

international troops

from Europe. India and other friendly nations that

would allow American

visible, thus less

soldiers to be less

The counter argument opined that more would simply offer those targeting coalitroops

opportunities

greater

American (and other American

troops.

to

kill

The attack was not aimed indeed, some-

allied) soldiers.

on the United Nations, at

after

There

all. is.

thing to be said for that. In truth. it"s not

needed

are

that

up of

required in order to replace coali-

In

term of simple numbers, Iraq had the

largest

army

in the

Middle East before the U.S.it last April. According

led invasion abolished to a

lion

2003 CIA estimate, Iraq had about 3.5 milmen fit for military service. Deduct from

number those who were killed and disabled in the war and those who were too closely linked to the old regime in one way or another. Filtered down, you should easily come up with that

at least

100.000 able men.

them? And

if

you

really

the country, allow Iraqi

Why

want

not mobilize

to revolutionize

women

needs

it

to

into the

armed

room

to prevent

for Islamist

demo-

to

be done quickly.

who might

States' unilateral policy or

regard U.S. policy in the Middle

East as neo-colonialist imperialism: Before you

begin to applaud America's headaches

weaken

also

The

in Iraq,

in Iraq will

An

the rest of the region.

Iraq will only endanger the

unstable

whole Middle

East.

attack on the United Nations has changed

the face of this war. "If the

pull out now.

Americans

it

will

open

the area to the forces of darkness, the nihilists,

(Osama) bin Laden supporters, and others

who

will regress the area into the dark ages,"

said a seasoned

Middle East observer.

Bush pointed out

Or. as President

American Legion convention

tion troops with autochthonous forces.

little

Every day that goes by draws more and more anti-American forces to the region. So much has been acknowledged by American intelligence agencies. Note to those who

the

more American troops

in Iraq, but rather, speeding

the process

And

be advised that continued unrest

prone to attack.

troops tion

done

and other groups opposed

opposed the United

task at hand.

say.

from becoming a refuge

the sabotage of major water

conduits, as well as another car

no

situation in Iraq leaves

for doubt: something needs to be the country

Let the Iraqi

installations.

Aug. 26,

in St.

to

an

Louis on

'"Retreat in the face of terror

would

only invite further and bolder attacks."

What we

are seeing in Iraq in

many ways

is

a repeat performance of what happened in

Lebanon in 1982-83 when a multinational force was dispatched to restore order to that warravaged country. Lebanon, at the time, was torn apart along sectarian lines with Christian militias

opposed

Palestinian

to

a fractured Muslim-Leftist-

alliance,

much

as

Sunnis. Assyrians. Kurds and Iraq.

The difference

the

Shiites,

Turkmen

in Iraq is that the

are in

various

forces, too. That should easily provide an addi-

factions are not fighting each other at the level

tional 5,000 to 10,000 troops.

the Lebanese were, at least not yet.

By now. almost five months into the occupation of Iraq, coalition

commanders — with

assis-

Following the bombing of the Marine and

French army barracks attacks

in Beirut

20 years

EPILOGUE ago next month, the multinational force decided to cut

to

its

its

losses

and leave, abandoning Lebanon

own predicament. The Bush administration,

however, does not have that luxury

Abandonment option. Which pen with

haste.

in is

its

current state

why two

is

in

Iraq,

not an

things need to hap-

First,

this

also

international

troops should be

a concern.

The

on the U.N. building demonstrated

that

brought attack

more

209

in,

because security

was not simply an

assault

is

on U.S. forces, but

on the international community. And sec-

ond, Iraqis should be given a more direct role in

running of their country sooner rather than

later.

APPENDIX TOTAL FORCES ENGAGED

—

U.S.

U.S.

Total: 275.000. including U.S. air

ground

engaged

troops

killed in combat 495 wounded in combat

and

naval forces and 4th Infantry Divison. Total

— 112

U.K.

—8

Iraq,

in

combat

killed in

74 wounded

combat

in

125,000. This includes the 3rd Infantry Division, the U.S.

Marines Expeditionary Division,

U.S.

— 21

66 wounded

killed,

in

noncombat

the 101st Airborne Division, elements of the

conditions (includes accidents and friendly

82nd Airborne Division and 136 Airborne Brigade, Special Forces and corps, logistics and support troops.

U.K.

The U.S. Navy deployed task forces, a total of

Australian

—

killed in

noncombat conditions,

— no

casualties

and 12

ships,

Iraqis:

submarines.

U.K.

24

(includes accidents and friendly fire)

5 aircraft carrier

47 surface

—

fire)

Total: 45,000, including air

— 2,320

Military

and naval

(U.S. estimate).

forces.

Total ground troops

engaged

in Iraq, 26,000.

Civilian

This includes the 7th Armored Brigade, the 16th

Air Assault Brigade,

3

Commando

The Web

SAS

fighting alone

5,112 wounded, acc-

site

The Royal Navy deployed one aircraft car(HMS Ark Royal), one helicop-

2.377.

Their count

reported by

Ocean), a squadron

A total

3.

www.iraqbodycount.net, run activists,

Iraqi civilian fatalities to be

rier task force

(HMS

killed,

by academics and peace

Special Forces and division, and support troops.

ter carrier task force

— 1,254

Baghdad

other estimates available.

ording to Iraqi official figures as of April

Brigade

(Royal Marines), 102 Logistics Brigade,

in

No

at least

is

estimates:

between 1.930 and

based on

incidents

two media sources.

of 7,400 Iraqis were taken prisoner.

of 15 other warships, and a fleet submarine,

which

30 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

fired

—

Australia deployed a including

1

The Australian armed

total

50 SAS Special Forces on

A Commando

forces

7 soldiers recovered,

of 2,200 military personnel,

unit, 3

warships, and

the ground,

117 total dead

a squadron

of F- 1 8 ground support fighter-bombers.

Iraqi forces

—

PAMELA HESS Regular army, on paper.

420.000 troops: estimated ber,

real

deployed num-

approx 300.000.

Republican Guard: 72.000 Special Republican Guard: 15,000

WASHINGTON, April 13 (UPI) — U.S. Central Command Sunday identified seven U.S. service personnel who were found alive in Iraq. "Army Chief Warrant Officers Ronald

Special Security Organization: 8,000

Young and David Williams, Apache

Fedayeen Saddam: 21.000

and Sgt. James Riley, Spc. Shoshana Johnson. Pfc. Patrick Miller. Spc. Joseph Hud-

helicopter

pilots,

CASUALTIES

son, and Spc.

Edgar Hernande/, from the

5()7th

Ministry of Defense issued the following casu-

Maintenance Company, were recovered Sunday afternoon,"' Centcom said in a statement. All

alty figures:

were previously confirmed prisoners

On

April 24, the U.S. Pentagon and the British

211

ot war.

212

THE IRAQ

Members

of the

WAR

1st

Marine Expeditionary

who were found

Force returned the seven,

near

town of Samar and were flown by helicopan airfield near An Numaniyah. south of

the

ter to

Baghdad. They were then

C-130

aircraft to

Kuwait

to

2.

He was

He was tenance

ambush of the 507th MainCompany on March 23.

Capt. Tristan N. Aitken, 31, of State College, Pa.,

was

Field Artillery,

from

Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey E. Bohr. Jr.. 39. of Ossian, Iowa, was killed on April 10 in northern Baghdad while engaging opposition forces. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion. 5th Marine Regiment.

Camp

killed

on April 12 while manning a check-

point in Baghdad.

Tank

He was

Battalion. 1st

assigned to the

1st

Marine Division. Twenty-

Staff Sgt. Riayan A. Tejeda, 26. of

was

killed

on April

11

New York,

during combat

operations against opposition forces in northeast

Baghdad. He was assigned 5th Marine Regiment.

to the 3rd Battalion,

Camp

Pendleton, Calif

Three Marines were confirmed killed

from

missing-in-action

earlier

Division,

41st Fort

Brian

Durham, N.C, was hostile accident

Anderson,

E.

killed

on April 2

west of Nasiriyah,

son was manning a .50-caliber seven-ton truck

when

26,

in a

Iraq.

rifle

of

non-

Ander-

on top of a

the vehicle passed under

lines.

Maj. Jay

Thomas Aubin,

36, of Waterville,

Maine. Aubin was assigned to the Marine Avi-

Weapons and

ation

Tactics Squadron

1,

3rd

Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Corps Air Sta-

nine Palms. Calif.

N.Y.,

Infantry

and apparently snagged low-hanging power

Pendleton. Calif

Cpl. Jesus A. Gonzalez, 22, of Indio, Calif,

was

3rd

in Iraq.

1st Battalion,

Stewart, Ga.

Lance Cpl.

missing to killed in action.

on April 4

killed in action

Pentagon identified three service members killed status of three

Ga.

killed in an

Aitken was assigned to the

and changed the

on April

Army Airfield,

abouts of the seven by Iraqis. Also Sunday, the

in action

Iraq

of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd

Spc. Jamaal R. Addison. 22, of Roswell, Ga.

where they were

were notified of the where-

member

a

Aviation Regiment, Hunter

be transferred by a

City,

expected to undergo medical treatment. U.S. officials said they

Hawk helicopter crashed in central

in action

status:

Pfc.

Yuma,

tion,

Pfc.

was

Chad

killed

E.

on April 3

Shahin, Iraq.

He was

Nev.: and Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings. 19. of Boil-

ington.

Medium Aircraft

They were engaged in operations on March 23. The Pentagon said Sunday that 117 American service members have died in the war, 12 of which were nonhostile deaths. Not all of the une, N.C.

the outskirts of Nasiriyah on

families of the dead have been notified, so

some names have yet to be released. Five service members remain missing; there are no prisoners of war.

Ash

Trans-

Camp

Pendleton, Calif.

Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of Bloom111., who was assigned to the Marine

Battalion,

Leje-

1st

Capt.

ing Springs, S.C.

Camp

assigned to

portation Support Battalion, 1st Force Service

Support Group,

Expeditionary' Brigade, based in

in a nonhostile vehicle

accident during convoy operations east of

Tamario D. Burkett, 21, of Buffalo, N.Y.; Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline, Jr., 21, of Sparks,

The three were assigned to 1st 2nd Marine Regiment. 2nd Marine

Aubin died in a CH-46E helMarch 20 in Kuwait. Bales, 20, of Coahoma, Texas,

Ariz.

icopter crash on

Helicopter Squadron 268, 3rd Marine

Wing, Marine Corps Air

Station,

Pendleton. Calif. Beaupre died in a helicopter crash on

March 20

in

Camp

CH-46E

Kuwait.

Pfc. Wilfred D. Bellard, 20, of

Lake Charles,

when his vehicle fell into a ravine on He was a member of the 41st Artillery

La., died

April 4.

Regiment, Fort Stewart, Ga. Sgt.

Michael E.

Bitz, 31, Ventura, Calif

He

was assigned to the 2nd Assault Amphibious Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was killed in action on March 23 near Nasiriyah. Iraq.

Previously announced deaths:

Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Blair, 24, of Wagoner, He was assigned to the 2nd Low Altitude

Navy Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, 27, of La Mesa, Calif, was killed when two Royal Navy

Okla.

Sea King helicopters collided over interna-

Group 28, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. Cherry Point, N.C. His unit was engaged in operations

tional waters

on March 22.

Capt. James field, Va.,

was

F.

Adamouski,

killed

when

his

29, of Spring-

UH-60 Black

Air Defense Battalion,

Marine Air Control

on March 24 on the outskirts of Nasiriyah in Iraq. His remains were recovered on March 28.

213

APPENDIX Mathew G. Boule, 22, of Dracut, when his UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in central Iraq on April 2. He was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. Spc.

Mass., was killed

Cpl. Henry L. Brown, 22, of Natchez, Miss.,

died April

8.

Company,

He was

assigned to Headquarters

into a ravine April 4.

Edward

Spc. Michael Plains,

a

member

of the

He was

N.J.

Curtin, 23, of South

assigned to the

2-7th

Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart,

Ga. Curtin was killed

bomb on March

Battalion, 64th Field Artillery

1st

He was

41st Artillery Regiment, Fort Stewart, Ga.

at a

checkpoint by a car

29.

Staff Sgt Wilbert Davis, 40, of Alaska, died

Regiment, Fort Stewart, Ga. Brown died of

April 3

wounds received in an opposition rocket attack south of Baghdad on April 7. Spc. Larry K. Brown, 22, of Jackson, Miss., was killed in action on April 5 in Iraq. Brown was assigned to C Company, 1st Battalion, 41st

canal in Iraq. Davis

Infantry Regiment, Fort Riley, Kan.

Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion,

1st

Marine Division,

Camp

Pendleton, Calif.

He

when

a car

bomb exploded

Lance Cpl. Brian Rory Buesing, Key, Fla. He was assigned to the 1st

20,

Cedar

Battalion,

2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expedi-

Camp

tionary Brigade,

southern Iraq. Buggs was with the 3rd Division

Sgt.

was

killed in action

Iraq,

Bliss, Texas.

Jacob L. Butler, 24, of Wellsville, Kan.,

when

1,

in

Samawa,

a rocket-propelled grenade hit his

was assigned

vehicle. Butler

Company,

on April

Headquarters

to

Battalion, 41st Infantry Regi-

1st

ment, Fort Riley, Kan. Staff Sgt.

James W. Cawley, 41, of Roy,

March 29 during a firefight with opposition forces. He was hit by a U.S. Humvee. He was assigned to F Company, 2nd Utah, was killed on

Battalion, 23rd

Division, Salt

2nd

Lt.

Marine Regiment, 4th Marine

Lake

City, Utah.

County, Miss., was killed in action on March

Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq. Childers was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine

21

in a firefight in the

Division,

Camp

Capt. Aaron Ore.,

was

killed

Contreras, 31, of Sherwood.

on March 30

helicopter crash

in

in a

southern

UH-IN Huey He was

Iraq.

assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter

Squadron 169, Marine Aircraft Group 39, Marine Corps Air Station, Camp Pendleton, Spc.

was

killed

Daniel

Francis

Lewiston, Maine, died

J.

Cunningham.

when

33,

his vehicle fell

Sgt.

He was

Robert

J.

Solar. 20, of

assigned to the

Dowdy,

Dowdy was

Ohio.

land,

1st

at

a

38, of Cleve-

on or about

killed

March 23 when the convoy he was traveling in was ambushed in southern Iraq. He was with the 507th Maintenance Company, Fort Bliss, Texas. Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, of El Paso, Texas. Estrella-Soto was killed on or about March 23 when the convoy he was traveling in was ambushed in southern Iraq. He was with the 507th Maintenance Company, Fort Bliss, Texas. Cpl. Mark A. Evnin, 21, Burlington, Vt., was killed in action on April 3 during a firefight in central Iraq. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th

sion,

Marine Regiment,

Twenty-nine Palms,

1st

Marine Divi-

Calif.

Master Sgt. George A. Fernandez, 36, El Paso, Texas, was killed in action April

was assigned

to headquarters, U.S.

Operations

Command,

2.

Army

He

Spe-

Fort Bragg, N.C.

Lance Cpl. David K. Fribley, 26, Lee, Fla. He was one of nine Marines killed when a group of

opened

Iraqis pretended to surrender but then

fire

assigned to

Camp

on Marines near Nasiriyah. He was the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Reg-

2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Lejeune, N.C.

Cpl. Jose A. Garibay, 21, Orange, Calif.

was assigned

to the 1st Battalion.

He

2nd Marine

Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionar\ Brigade. Lejeune, N.C. He was killed on March

Camp 23

in a firefight in

Pfc.

Calif.

to the 3rd

checkpoint near Najaf on March 29.

iment,

Pendleton, Calif. J.

Lance Cpl. Jesus A. Suarez Del Escondido, Calif.

cial

Therrel S. Childers, 30, Harrison

was assigned

Armor, 3rd Infantry Division,

Fort Stewart, Ga.

Master

Support Battalion, Fort Stewart, Ga., the 507th

his vehicle ran off the road into a

Battalion, 69th

Lejeune, N.C.

George E. Buggs, 31, of Barnwell, S.C., was killed on or about March 23 when the convoy he was traveling in was ambushed in Sgt.

Maintenance Company, Fort

when

Nasiriyah.

Juan Guadalupe Gar/a

ance, Mich., central Iraq.

Jr.,

20. of Temper-

was killed in action on April 8 in He was a.ssigncd to the 1st Battalion,

214

WAR

THE IRAQ

Marine Regiment.

4th

Camp

Marine Division.

1st

Pendleton. Calif.

Cpl. Jorge A. Gonzalez, 20. Los Angeles. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion. 2nd Marine Regiment. 2nd Marine Expeditionan Brigade. Camp Lejeune. N.C. He was one of nine Marines killed on March 23 near Nasiriyah

when

troops faked surrender but then

Iraqi

opened

fire

on the Americans.

was

killed April

central Iraq. Battalion.

He was

Army

4 during a

firelight in

assigned to the 2nd Tank

2nd Marine Division, based

WiUiam A. Jeffries. 39. died in a March 26 from a sudden came on when he was in Kuwait. He

Spc.

illness that

was assigned

D

to

Company,

1st

152nd Infantn. Regiment of the

at

Camp

Force) Michael Vann Johnson

Jr.,

March 25

Palms. Calif.

ment, Fort Stewart. Ga.

Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez. 22, Los Angeles, killed in action on March 21 in southern Iraq. Gutierrez was assigned to the 2nd Battalion. 1st Marine Division.

Camp

Pendleton. Calif.

40. of Bennington. Vt..

Iraq

Hawk

on April

2.

was

killed

when

his

helicopter crashed in cen-

He was

a

member

of the

2nd Battalion. 3rd Aviation Regiment. Hunter

Army

Airfield.

W. Hemingway.

39. of Will-

was killed in action on April 10 Hemingway's Bradley fighting vehicle

ingboro. N.J.,

was traveling down a exploded next to to

C Company.

it.

1st

street when a car Hemingway was assigned

Battalion.

15th Infantry

Regiment. Fort Benning. Ga. Sgt. Nicolas

He was

on

assigned to the Naval

Medical Center San Diego, 3rd Marine Division Detachment, San Diego, Calif. Pvt. Devon D. Jones, 19, of San Diego, died when his vehicle fell into a ravine on April 4. He was a member of the 41st Artiller} Regi-

Staff Sgt. Philhp A. Jordan. 42. Brazoria.

Texas.

He was

assigned to the

1st Battalion.

2nd Marine Regiment. 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was on March 23 near Nasiriyah. He was among the nine Marines killed in Iraq Sunday when opposition troops pretending to surrender

opened

fire.

2nd Lt. Jeffrey J. Kaylor. 24. of Clifton. Va.. was killed in action in Iraq on April 7. Kaylor

was assigned

Ga.

Staff Sgt. Terr\

in Iraq.

in Iraq.

25. of Little in action

killed

Chief Warrant Officer Erik A. Halvorsen.

tral

Army

Howard Johnson II. 21, of Mobile, Ala. He was killed on March 23 when his 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed. Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class (Fleet Marine

Ohio City. Ohio, died April 2 from a noncombat weapons discharge in southern Iraq. He was assigned to the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. 1st Marine Division. Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center. Twenty-nine Pfc. Christian D. Gurtner. 19. of

LTJ-60 Black

Battalion.

Illinois

National Guard.

Rock. Ark. Johnson was killed

1st

remains

hospital in Spain on

Lejeune. N.C.

Marine Regiment.

his

Pfc.

Cpl. Bernard G. Gooden. 22. of Mt. Vernon. N.Y.,

on March 24. near Saddam Canal: were recovered on March 25.

M. Hodson,

C

Batten,. 39th Field Artillerv

Spc. James

M.

Kiehl, 22, of Comfort, Texas.

March 23 when was ambushed convoy was traveling in the he in southern Iraq. He was with the 507th MainKiehl was killed on or about

tenance Company, Fort Bliss. Texas. Capt.

22. of Smithville.

to

Battalion. Fort Stewart. Ga.

was

Edward

killed while

J.

Kom,

31. of Savannah. Ga..

he investigated the wreckage

in a vehicle accident in Iraq. Hodson was assigned to the 3rd Battalion. 2nd Marine Regiment. 2nd Marine Expeditionan. Brigade.

of a T-72 tank destroyed by his unit in central

Camp

Sgt. Brad Korthaus. 28. Davenport. Iowa, drowned in a canal on March 24. He was

Mo., died

Lejeune. N.C.

Chief Warrant Officer Scott Jamar. 32. of Granbur>. Texas.

60 Black

Hawk

He was

killed

when

his

UH-

helicopter crashed in central

on April 2. He was a member of the 2nd Banahon. 3rd Aviation Regiment. Hunter Army Iraq

111.

Kom

u as assigned

T.

James, 20. of Hancock.

James had been declared missing

in action

to the 64th

Infantr\' Division. Fort Stewart,

assigned to Engineering

Armor. 3rd

Ga.

Company

C. 6th Engi-

neer Support Battalion. 4th Force Senice Support Group, based in Peoria.

were found on March

111.

His remains

25.

Matthew Kennedy. 25. of Houswas assigned to the Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268, 3rd Marine Aircraft Cpl. Brian

Airfield. Ga.

Marine Cpl. Evan

Iraq.

ton,

215

APPENDIX Wing. Marine Corps Air Station

Camp

Kennedy died in a CH-46E crash on March 20 in Kuwait.

ter

Sgt.

was

Pendlehelicop-

ton. Calif.

Michael V. Lalush. 23. of Troutville.

killed

on March 30

in a

copter crash in southern Iraq.

UH-IN Huey He was

Va.. heli-

M. McPhillips. 25. of Pemwas killed on April 4 during a firelight in central Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, 1st

Brian

Lt.

broke, Mass.,

based

at

Camp

Gunnery

assigned to

Lejeune, N.C.

Sgt. Joseph

He was

Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169.

Jose. Calif

Marine Air Craft Group 39. Marine Corps Air

Engineer Battalion.

Station.

Camp

Staff Sgt.

Pendleton, Calif.

Nino D. Livaudais.

He was assigned

23. of Utah,

to 3rd Battalion.

75th

Ranger Regiment. Fort Benning. Ga. Spc.

Ryan R Long.

injuries sustained in to

A Company.

He was

from

assigned

died from a noncombat weapons discharge on April 1 in Kuwait. Maglione was assigned to Bridge Company B.

of Lansdale. Pa.,

Engineer Support Battalion, 4th Force

Meyer was assigned

1

1th Engi-

stances surrounding his death are under investigation.

Anthony

Pfc.

\\

S. Miller.

as killed

19.

of San .'Xntonio,

on April 7 by opposition

indi-

was assigned to headquarters and Headquarters Company. 3rd Infantr) Division. 2nd Brigade, Fort Stewart, Ga. Spc. George A. Mitchell. 35. of Rawlings, Md.. was assigned to Headquarters Company, rect fire in Iraq. Miller

in

Nashville, has been reclassified as killed in

Angeles, was killed in action on April 8 in Iraq.

Marshall was struck by an opposition rocketpropelled grenade during an Iraqi

ambush

Regiment. 3rd Infantn. Divi-

sion, Fort Stewart.

B Company.

to 3rd Battal-

John W. Marshall. 50. of Los

ion. 15th Infantr\

to

3rd Infantr\ Division, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Stewart, Ga. Mitchell died of wounds recei\ ed in an opposition rocket attack south of Baghdad on April 7. Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick R. Nixon. 21. of

Ser\ice Support Group, based in Folsom. Pa.

Baghdad. Marshall was assigned

Jason M. Meyer. 23. of Swartz Creek,

Pfc.

Texas.

Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph B. Maglione. 22.

Sgt. 1st Class

Camp

Mich., was killed in action on April 8 in Iraq.

3rd Battalion. 75th Ranger Reg-

iment. Fort Benning. Ga.

6th

Combat

neer Battalion. Fort Stewart. Ga. The circum-

21. died on April 3

combat.

1st

Marine Division.

1st

Pendleton. Calif

died on April 3 from injuries sustained in combat.

Menusa. 33. of San

assigned to the

Ga.

1st

Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata. 35. of Amarillo. Texas. Villareal Mata

Nixon was assigned to the 2nd Marine Regiment. 2nd

action from missing.

Battalion.

Marine Expeditionar>' Brigade, Camp Lejeune, N.C. His unit was engaged in operations on

was killed on or about March 23 when the convoy he was traveling in was ambushed in southern Iraq. He was with the 507th Mainte-

March 23 on

nance Company. Fort Bliss, Te.xas.

killed in action in

Donald C. May, Jr.. 31. of Richmond. Va.. of the 1st Tank Battalion. 1st Marine Division. Marine Corps Air-Ground

assigned to

Combat

Lance Cpl. Patrick T ODay. 20, of Sonoma, Calif, of the 1st Tank Battalion. 1st Marine Division, Marine Corps Air-Ground

Staff Sgt.

Center, Twenty-nine Palms, Calif.

Pfc. Francisco A.

Martinez-Rores, 21. of

Los Angeles. Marti nez-Florez was assigned

to

Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division. Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center.

the

1st

C

Jr..

Iraq

20. of Erie. Pa.,

on April

3.

was

He was

Battery, 3rd Battalion. 13th Field

Regiment (Multiple-Launch Rocket

Artillen,

System). Fort

Combat

Oaks

Sill.

Okla.

Center, Twenty-nine Palms, Calif

in a

UH-IN

helicopter crash in southern Iraq.

He was

Division,

.Marine Sgt. Brian D. McGinnis. 23, of St.

George. Del., died on March 30

assigned to .Marine Light Attack Helicopter

Squadron

169,

Marine Air Craft Group 39,

Marine Corps Air Station. Calif.

Spc. Donald S.

Lance Cpl. Eric J. Oriowski. 26. of Buffalo, N.Y.. was killed by an accidental discharge of a .50-caliber machine gun in Iraq. He was a.ssigned to the 2nd Tank Battalion. 2nd Marine

Twenty-nine Palms. Calif.

Huey

the outskirts of Nasiriyah in Iraq.

His remains were recovered on March 30.

Camp

Pendleton.

Camp

Lejeune, N.C.

Fernando Padil la-Ramirez. 26, of San Luis. Ariz., of the Marine Wing Support Squadron 371, Marine Support Group 37. Sgt.

Marine Corps Air Station. Yuma. Ariz. He was

216

WAR

THE IRAQ

seen conducting convoy operations in the

last

on March 28. His remains

vicinity of Nasiriyah

were

on April

identified

Michael

Sgt.

He was

F.

helicopter crashed in

member

UH-60 Black Hawk central Iraq on April 2. He his

was

a

tion

Regiment, Hunter

Pfc. Lori

of the 2nd Battalion. 3rd Avia-

Ann

Todd

killed

assigned to

10.

Pedersen. 26. of Flint. Mich.

when

killed

Sgt.

was

Army

Airfield.

C

Robbins. 33, Pentwater, Mich., action

on April

System). Fort

Okla.

Sill.

Marine Cpl. Robert M. Rodriguez, 21, of Queens. N.Y., was killed in action on March 27

was

the tank he

riding in fell into the

Euphrates River during combat operations

Piestewa was killed on or about March 23

northwest of Nasiriyah.

when the convoy she was traveling in was ambushed in southern Iraq. She was with the 507th Maintenance Company. Fort Bliss,

recovered on March 30.

Texas.

Twenty-nine Palms,

2nd

Lt.

He was

Nev.

Pokomey

Frederick E.

Jr..

Marine Regiment. 2nd

Camp

Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

Lejeune.

Pvt. Kelley S. Prewitt. 24. of

by opposition

killed in action

was assigned

Prewitt

to

Alabama, was

fire

on April

6.

ComArmor Regiment,

Headquarters

pany. 2nd Battalion, 69th

Rehn. 36. Long-

Sgt. 1st Class Randall S.

mont. Colo., was killed

was assigned

to

Field Artillery

C

in action

Sill.

Brendon C. Reiss.

He was

3.

He was

assigned to the

assigned to

Camp

in

when

his unit

23, of Casper,

1st Battalion,

Wyo.

2nd Marine

Lejeune, N.C. Reiss.

was engaged

Brigade,

Camp

tions

on March 23

Iraq,

had been

last

seen

in the vicinity

of Nasiriyah,

missing in action. His

listed as

remains were found on April

1 1

2nd

Lejeune, N.C.

He was

killed

on

Nasiriyah.

Rowe. 20, of Roscoe, 111., on March 3! in Ayyub, Iraq, by opposition artillery. He was assigned to the C Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Spc. Brandon

was

J.

killed in action

Airborne

101st

Division

(Air

Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

W. Sammis,

Capt. Benjamin beth, Mass.,

when

his

was

29, of

killed in action

AH-IW

Aziziyal, Iraq.

Reho-

on April 4

Super Cobra helicopter

He was

near Ali

assigned to the Marine

Light Attack Helicopter Squadron-267, Marine Aircraft

Camp

combat opera-

in

Battalion,

crashed during combat operations

Okla.

Regiment. 2nd Marine Expeditionar>' Brigade, based

1st

Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary

He

Regiment (Multiple-Launch

Rocket System). Fort Sgt.

on April

Battery. 3rd Battalion, 13th

Calif.

Cpl. Randal Kent Rosacker, 21, San Diego.

Regiment,

Fort Benning. Ga.

assigned to the

Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center,

March 23 near

N.C.

His remains were

He was

1st

31. Nye.

assigned to the Headquarters Bat-

tery. 1st Battalion. 10th

He was

3.

Battery, 3rd Battalion, 13th Field

Regiment (Multiple-Launch Rocket

Artillery

when

Ga.

Piestewa. 23. Tuba City. Ariz.

J.

in

Group

39, 3rd

Staff Sgt. Robert Ore.,

Marine Aircraft Wing,

Pendleton, Calif.

was

A Stever,

36, of Pendleton,

killed in action by opposition fire on

April 8. He was assigned the Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regi-

Diego Fernando Rincon. 19. of ConyHe was assigned to the 2-7th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. Rincon was killed at a checkpoint by a car bomb on

ment. 3rd Infantry Division. Fort Stewart. Ga.

March

24.

Pfc.

ers,

Ga.

Sgt.

was

29.

Duane

killed

tral Iraq.

on April 4 during a

He was

Camp

3

from

1st

Ind..

firefight in cen-

assigned to the

Engineer Battalion, at

Hammond,

R. Rios, 25, of

1st

Combat

Marine Division, based

Army Spc. Gregory P. Sanders. 19, of IndiHe was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored, Fort Stewart, Ga. He died on March ana.

Army was

Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27,

killed

by a grenade when he was sleeping Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, on

in a tent at

March

22. Seifert

was assigned

to the

101st

Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.

Pendleton, Calif

Capt. Russell B. Rippetoe. 27, died on April

Cpl. Erik H. Silva, 22, of Chula Vista, Calif,

He was

Ranger Regiment. Fort Benning. Ga. He was

was killed in action in Iraq on April 3. Silva was assigned to the 3rd Battalion. 5th Marines. 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton,

from Colorado.

Calif

injuries sustained in

assigned to

A

combat.

Company, 3rd

Battalion, 75th

217

APPENDIX Brandon U. Sloan,

Pvt.

of Cleveland,

19,

Ga. Weldon was one of four Americans killed

Ohio. Sloan was killed on or about March 23

at a

when the convoy he was traveling in was ambushed in southern Iraq. He was with the 507th Maintenance Company, Fort Bliss,

March

Texas.

assigned to Strike

Lance Cpl. Thomas

checkpoint near Najaf by a car

Nathan D. White, 30, of Mesa,

Lt.

bomb on

29.

was was Fighter Squadron One Nine Ariz.,

action April 2 in Iraq. White

killed in

Slocum, age unknown,

Five, based in Atsugi, Japan, and currently

Adams, Colo. Slocum was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine

deployed with Carrier Air Wing Five aboard

J.

Expeditionary Brigade,

was

Camp

Lejeune, N.C.

He

killed near Nasiriyah.

USS Kitty Hawk. White was the pilot of an F/A-18C Hornet lost over Iraq on April 2. The incident remains under investigation.

Chief Warrant Officer Eric A. Smith, 41, of Calif.

He was

when

killed

UH-60 Black

his

Hawk helicopter crashed in central

Sgt.

Eugene Williams,

He was

24, of Highland, N.Y.

assigned to the 2-7th Infantry, 3rd

on April

Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. Williams

of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd

assigned to the 11th Engineer Battalion, Fort

was killed at a checkpoint by a car bomb on March 29. Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams, 31, of Yuma, Ariz. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expe-

Stewart, Ga.

ditionary Brigade,

2.

He was

a

member

Aviation Regiment, Hunter

Army

Iraq

Airfield, Ga.

Tampa,

Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, 33, of Fla.,

was

killed in action

Sgt. Roderic A. teville,

on April

4.

Smith was

Solomon, 32, from Fayet-

N.C, died on March 28 when

Bradley fighting vehicle rolled off a nonhostile

accident

in

his

cliff in a

unit

As of Aug.

no confirmed prisoners of war

Division, out of Fort Stewart, Ga.

or missing personnel.

Combat

Air National Guard Maj. Gregory Stone, 40,

sustained

25,

when an American

from wounds

soldier allegedly

threw a hand grenade into his

tent.

Army Reserve

Spc. Brandon S. Tobler, 19.

His hometown was not available. Tobler died a vehicle accident on

was assigned

March 22

to the 671st

in Iraq.

in

deaths reported from April 17 to

Donald R. Walters, 33, of Kansas City, Mo. Walters was killed on or about March 23 when the convoy he was traveling in was ambushed in southern Iraq. He was with the Sgt.

Maintenance Company, Fort

Bliss,

Edward

Spc.

Anguiano,

J.

24,

Brownsville, Texas (previously reported as

on Highway

7).

He was

Support Battalion,

Staff Sgt. Kendall

Damon

Watersbey, 29, of

Baltimore, was assigned to the Marine

Medium

Calif Watersbey died

March 20

in

in

a

Camp

Pendle-

CH-46E

heli-

Kuwait.

Michael Russell Creighton Weldon, 20,

of Conyers, Ga.

He was

assigned to the 2-7th

Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart,

Combat

CWO

was inspecting

Andrew Todd Arnold. 30, when enemy rocket he exploded. He was with the 1st

Battalion, 10th

Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine

Marine

Spring, Texas. Killed

Expeditionary Battalion,

Army tage, In.

Spc.

Roy

Camp

Lejeune, N.C.

Russell Buckley, 24. Por-

Found dead by roadside

after exiting

truck and entering trailer while traveling in is

under investigation. He

was with the 685th Transportation Company. Hobart. Ind.

Marine Cpl.

Helicopter Squadron 268, 3rd Marine Aircraft

Wing, Marine Corps Air Station

with the 3rd

Stewart, Ga.

Ft.

convoy. The incident

Texas.

copter crash

combat operations were

the date major

Army

Tobler

Engineer Brigade,

Portland, Ore.

Pfc.

,

missing following 3/23 ambush while traveling

Squadron.

ton,

I

declared over:

Stone was

assigned to the 124th Air Support Operations

507th

May

Department of Defense

22, the

said there were

March

March 23 on

were recovered March 28.

assigned to the 2-7th Infantry, 3rd Infantry

of Boise, Idaho, died

Lejeune, N.C. His

in operations

the outskirts of Nasiriyah in Iraq. His remains

Solomon was

Iraq.

Camp

was engaged

22.

Kemaphoom

Waterford, Conn.

A. Chanawongse,

Killed

in

action

near

Nasiriyah on March 23. Previously listed as in action. He was assigned to the 2nd Amphibious Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expenditionary Brigade. Camp

missing

Lejeune, N.C.

218

THE IRAQ

Marine

CWO

WAR

Robert William Channell

36, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Killed near Al

Jr..

Kut April

22 when an enemy rocket he and others were firing

He

malfunctioned.

familiarization

for

overturned. Rivero

was assigned

Army

Spc. Narson B. Sullivan, 21. North

discharge April 25. Incident

Camp

tion.

Air Force Capt. Eric B. Das. 30. Amarillo.

when

Texas. Killed in action April 7

the

F15E he

Brunswick. N.J. Killed by noncombat weapon

He was

is

under investiga-

with the 411th Military Police

Company. Fort Hood. Texas. Air Force Maj. William R. Watkins in, 37,

was piloting crashed during combat operations. Das was assigned to the 333rd Fighter Squadron.

Danville. Va. Killed in action April 7

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. N.C.

cer went

Army

Joe

1st Sgt.

Texas. Died in

Garza. 43. Robstown.

J.

Baghdad April 28

of vehicle that swerved Garza was assigned

after falling out

avoid civilian vehicle.

to

to

1st

C Com-

Eustis, Fla.

was with the 1st Battalion. 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary' Battalion. Lejeune. N.C.

to

pany. 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Division,

F15E

He was

when

which he was flying as a weapons

in

down

the

offi-

during a combat mission in Iraq.

assigned to the 333rd Fighter Squadron,

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. (Source: U.S. Department of Defense.)

30th

Battalion.

Infantry Regiment. Fort Benning. Ga. Marine Pvt.

Jonathan Gifford. Macon.

March

action near Nasiriyah on listed as missing.

He was

Killed in

111.

23. Previously

with the

1

st

2nd Marine Regiment. 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

Army Mo.

Camp

May

1

Strategic

Lejeune. N.C.

Pfc Jesse A. Givens, 34. Springfield.

Killed on

Analysis:

Battalion.

Al Habbaniyah when

in

tank in which he was riding

He

fell into river.

was with 2nd Squadron. 3rd Armored Cavalry

bombing in Iraq war

Regiment. Fort Carson. Colo.

Army crest.

Sgt.

Troy David Jenkins. 25, Ridge-

Calif Died April 24

Germany from Iraq while

on

B Company.

at

a hospital

wounds received He was assigned

schrapnel

patrol April 19.

in

WASHINGTON,

to

Iraqi

3rd Battalion. 187th Infantry Regi-

ment. Fort Campbell. Ky.

Marine Lance Cpl. Alan Dinh Lam.

Snow Camp. N.C. he was inspecting to

the

8th

19.

when enemy rocket exploded. He was assigned Killed

Communications

Battalion.

Camp

Marine Expeditionary Battalion.

THOMAS HOULAHAN

in

2nd Leje-

—

April 23 (UPI) Operation Freedom provided good news and bad news for advocates of strategic bombing. The good news is that our bombing was more accurate than it has ever been. The bad news is that, dramatically increased bombing accuracy notwithstanding, strategic bombing once again failed to bring

knees.

As was

Saddam Hussein's regime

Marine Cpl. Jason David Mileo, 20 Centre-

As with many

other systems, in the immedi-

Md. Shot and killed April 14 when mistaken as an enemy soldier. Incident is under investigation. He was with the 3rd Battalion.

ate aftermath of the first

4th Marine Regiment,

reported that of the 288

ville,

Twenty-nine Palms. 1st Lt.

1st

Marine Division.

rough terrain

Osbaldo Orozco, 26, Delano, 25 when vehicle rolled over

in Iraq.

formance of cruise missiles

was

He was

with

C Com-

45 missed

hits.

Fort Hood, Texas.

overstated.

T

Rivero, 23, Tampa, Fla.

Killed in Kuwait April

17

when

his vehicle

Tomahawk

Tomahawks launched two were shot down

However,

in the

years that

followed, serious studies found that the

hawk's success

Cpl. John

like the

malfunctioned after launch.

their targets,

and 233 scored

pany, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment,

Army

Gulf War. the per-

overrated. At the time, the U.S. military

at the Iraqis, eight

Calif.

Calif. Killed April in

its

required significant fighting on the ground.

une. N.C.

Army

to

the case 12 years ago, victory

It is

rate

now widely

ahawks destroyed cent of the time.

Toma-

had been significantly believed that

their targets less than

Tom-

40

per-

219

APPENDIX The Defense a

targets for

Some

Agency conducted

Intelligence

bomb damage

assessment on 357 strategic

which

was

sufficient data

available.

of these targets were engaged by Toma-

Freedom were

Iraqi

satellite-guided. This cut

down on some of the problems encountered in the first Gulf War by airmen trying to guide their bombs optically or by laser under com-

hawks. Of the 34 Tomahawks launched against

bat conditions. Obviously,

these targets. 18 destroyed their targets and 16

guide a

failed to

Of the

do

about a 53 percent success

so.

rate.

breakdown

remains classified) experienced guidance

way

ures on the

to the target.

known

tical

land attack missiles

as

The Tomahawks,

TLAMs — which

also

fail-

stands for tac-

— were guided

to their

by topographic maps stored

targets in 1991

their electronic brains.

of

terrain in front

it

The

in

missile scanned the

and compared what

saw

it

are

it

difficult to

is

dodging

antiair-

craft missiles.

Of

16 that failed to destroy their targets, the

largest portion (the exact numerical

bomb when you

course,

combat conditions

crews were much

for allied air

were

less inten.se than they

during Desert Storm. At the beginning of the first

Gulf War. Baghdad had the second densest

concentration of antiaircraft weapons in the

world, behind

Moscow. However.

Iraq's anti-

aircraft

defenses were nearly destroyed during

the first

Gulf war. They had continued

away over

to

waste

the next 12 years as antiaircraft mis-

against digitally coded topographic information

sile sites

preloaded by the Defense Mapping Agency.

American aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone. The lack of strong air defenses made it possible

The terrain some Tomahawks had to fly over was so flat and featureless that the missiles were unable to properly guide to their targets. It was later disclosed that in some attacks Central

Command siles

solved this problem by flying mis-

over the rockier terrain of Iran without the

Iranian government's permission. For obvious

reasons, this

was a

tactic that

sparingly. Therefore,

many

had

over less than ideal terrain and were

way

to

lost

on the

Freedom,

guidance problem was largely solved.

Tomahawks

by global position-

are now^ guided

ing system satellite signals, not terrain features.

Though

a few

Tomahawks

did malfunction,

landing in Saudi Arabia or Turkey, that the

overwhelming majority

it

appears

hit their targets.

Not only were cruise missile strikes more accurate, they were more common. A total of 333 cruise missiles were launched during Operation

Storm

Desert

(There

were

45

air-

launched cruise missiles, very similar to the

Tomahawk, dropped from cruise missiles

B-52sj. About 8(X)

were launched 12 years

during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The

bombing campaign did not

suffer

later

strategic

from a lack of

delivering

non-satellite-guided

engage

and made

bombs much

easier.

As a result of improvements in guidance and bombing conditions, it appears that during Operation Iraqi Freedom, guided bombs hit the buildings they were aimed at nearly 100 perin

cent of the time.

should be pointed out

It

that,

claims by bombing enthusiasts to the contrary,

his choice.

sail a

However, they their

bomb

are not that accurate.

will hit within a

aim point, and

enough

through the window of

Guided bombs

few meters of

that is usually accurate

to destroy a selected structure.

Figuring out which targets to strike and

how

them were the world's top experts on strategic bombing. The U.S. armed forces have strategic bombing down to a science. Based on information collected from a wide variety of intelligence sources, targeteers select which to destroy

structures to strike.

Once

targets are selected,

weaponeers determine what type of. and how many, bombs or missiles would be necessar}' to produce the damage they want on a selected structure.

Coalition targeteers had a

much

better idea

of which buildings to strike than they did in

resources.

Guided bombs also were more common. Desert Storm,

In

some 9,500 guided bombs were

dropped. In the recent war, around 23.000 were

bombs second Gulf War bombs dropped in

1991. American and British intelligence agencies

had been gathering

over Iraq \sas

were more accurate

during the

first.

in

Many

the

of the

information

about

potential targets for 12 years. Satellite coverage

dropped. As with cruise missiles, guided

than in the

after trying to

for pilots to fly at lower altitudes

one cannot

to their targets.

In the years before Operation Iraqi

the

be used

missiles had to fly

were destroyed

first

far

more extensive than

it

was

Gulf War. There had also been

tremendous advances

in the coalition's ability

220

THE IRAQ

WAR

to gather Iraqi signals intelligence.

targeteers

knew which

Centcom

buildings were being

Centcom weaponeers had voluminous

infor-

mation on many targeted structures, to include

built,

how

the structures were

with what materials, and what areas were

vulnerable.

The

strategic

duce the paralysis

As

used for what purpose.

blueprints showing

advantages, strategic bombing failed to pro-

bombing campaign

it

in 1991, the Iraqi

was designed

to produce.

command and control

sys-

tem was disrupted, but not paralyzed. Strategic bombing enthusiasts have claimed that in the future, wars could be won by bombing alone. This war provided further proof that reports of the death of ground fighting have

did not suffer from a lack of information.

been greatly exaggerated.

Freedom, the tools bombing were closer to perfect than they have ever been. Conditions for strategic bombing could hardly have been better. The coalition had the world's top bombing experts. These planners had more

(Thomas Houlahan is the director of the Program of the William R. Nelson Institute at James Madison University. A veteran of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps staff, he is the author of "Gulf War: The Complete History,"

In

Operation

Iraqi

required for successful strategic

Military Assessment

information about their targets than any plan-

Schrenker Military Publishing,

ners have ever had before. Yet, with

N.H., 1999.)

all

these

New

London,

INDEX sandstorms. 63-64. 71-72 two-front war

Afghanistan. 198.204

141-143

for.

Basra

aid civil disorder blocking. first arrival.

U.N.

British patrols around.

Saddam

104

relief supplies.

capture of. 118

airfields,

Saddam's

terrorized by

94-95

Baghdad

bombed. 163-164 bombing of Baghdad. 32 58-59

offices of:

fire.

Blair.

EU

Tony ambitions, 4-5

200-202 6-7

facing tests at home,

al-Majid. Ali Hassan ("Chemical Ali"). 104, 150, 154

political strength,

al-Qaida, 198,

BMPs.

203-204

Mohammed

al-Shibli.

Ghanim.

al-Tikriti.

Mowaffaq.

capabilities of. 17

Bosnia. 186

Muqtada, 194

al-Sahhaf,

Saeed, 32. 173-175, 178

Iraqi exile,

strategy,

Brand

13-15

strategy.

Bremer. L. Paul. 194

199

British forces

199

Iraqi exile,

American prerogatives

battle of Basra,

13-14

149-151

clearing mines. 64

International, xi

Angola, U.N. vote. 5-6

on Day

Annan. Kofi. 50

fighting in Basra. 104

Ansar al-Islam. 41

at front line.

antiwar demonstrations

gentle siege of Basra. 124

London and

New

total

York. 32

of.

war

broadcast

protests in,

to.

of.

187-188

Bush administration

56

criticized for

136-138

new

26-27

postwar problems. 197

national security strategy, ix-x

reconstructing Iraq. 159-160

media. 57

war budget.

popularity of al-Sahhaf. 174-175

1

35

Bush-Blair partnership

voicelessness. 1-3

volunteer fighters. 92 Australia,

1 1

indicating opening stages of campaign, 21, 23

196

effect of Iraqi resistance on. letter

143-145

engaged, 2 1

enemies

democratization

33-35

Bush. George W.

United States. 26. 4

Arab world

Hussein

2,

patrols around Basra,

by Egyptian students, 26-27

Iraq

73

Belgium, against war. 8

al-Khoie. Seyyed Abdul Majid. 166-167. 194

Amnesty

irregulars,

Beers. Randy. 197-198

reporting on

al-Sadr,

1 1

64

targeted strikes by British. 104

al-Jazeera

under

loyalists in.

dangerous. 164

still

al-Badran. Ramadan. Iraqi exile, 200 al-Jaburi tribe.

149-151

battle of.

172

73

armed forces deployed. 211

99-100

showing

strains.

winning

alliance,

177-178

B Cahill.

Baath Party atrocities by,

202-203

future of. 199 role in

vote, 6

Ca.sh. Lt. Carey.

183-185

shield.

111-114

Centcom weaponeers. 220

new government. 204

Central Intelligence Agency. 165-166

Babylon, 82-83

Central Provident Fund. Singapore. 186-187

Baghdad advances on. 53, 109-1

Chalabi.

1

airport, U.S. capture of.

Chile. U.N. vote. 5

133-134

crucial battle, infrastructure

China, criticisms about war. 25 Chirac. Jacques. 8-10. 25 coalition forces

153-154

breakthroughs on Day

damaged, 134, 181

military achievements.

leaving largely intact, 75

bombing

of.

tour of neighborhood.

14.

117-119

147-149

opposition by Iraqi group. 205

92

coalition targeteers.

outer defenses. 17-18. 85

Saddam

Ahmad. 165-166, 193

Chemical munitions, suspected. 19

123-124,

bombardment of, 93-94 conquered, 180-182

missile

Tom. volunteer human

Cameroon. U.N.

1

35- 36 1

Collins, Lt. Col.

219-220

Tim. 3.3-34

221

222

INDEX

Congress, evading responsibilities by, 29

and

Cook, Robin, 9-10

tyrant,

157-158

Information Ministry, bombed, 93-94

defeatism, rebutted. 119-121

war

Iran, civil

democracy

1

within, 188

Iraq

and Baathists, 199-200 careful cultivation of.

95

tribes,

governing

79- 80 1

Chalabi favored by Pentagon

Denktash, Rauf, 15

Denmark, backing of

for,

165-166

U.S., 8

post-Saddam, 100, 158-160,

179-180 economics, wealth disparities

in Iraq.

168-169

ecosystems, marshlands imperiled, 42-44 effects-based targeting, approach to war, 20, 75

middle

167-169

class,

oil

recovery,

206-207

oil

reserves,

35-37

I

post-war chaos, 193-195

Egypt

tribes

media: war coverage. 60 student demonstrations. 26-27

embedding. 98-99. 127-129

states,

post-Saddam governance, 179

Iraqi civilians

European Union. 3-5. 8 backing of U.S.. 8

Baghdad. 198-200

exiles, returning to

of,

role in

U.S. stance on. European backing of, 7-8

enemies, of United States. 187-188

ex-communist

94—95

buying

benefiting from casualties,

oil

revenues, 186-187

73-74

finding lost relatives, 182-183 interacting with Marines,

Fedayeen. 55. 73, 92-93, 126 Fleming, Thomas, voice of dissent. 29

refugees,

87-88

relieved,

154-155

156-157

as shields. 41

France

main

criticism of war.

Franks. Gen.

Iraqi exiles, returning to

195-196

Tommy.

40. 75.

ambushes

97-98

Baghdad,

1

98-200

See also Republican Guard

Iraqi forces.

8-10

against war.

by,

47-^8

comparison with U.S. forces, 16-18

friendly fire incidents. 149. 211

fighting back,

49-50

rebuilding of, 208

Gamer. Gen.

total

193-194

Jay.

engaged, 21

Iraqi National Congress.

Germany, against war. 8

165-166

Iraqi resistance

governing Chalabi favored by Pentagon

post-Saddam

Iraq. 100.

guerrilla warfare.

for.

165-166

158-160. 179-180

effect

on Arab world, 56

post-war organized military,

1

95

strong, 119-121

54-55. 64. 80. 91-93. 104 Iraqi tribes,

94-95,

1

79

Guinea, U.N. vote, 6 Islamic fundamentalism, 179

Gulf War

comparison with present war, 42, 219 U.S, superiority

in,

20

Jihad, called for

by Arab world, 27

Jordan, refugee camps, 88

H

journalists, access to records,

202-203

"High Noon." See lonely marshal model

Highway of Death,

ix

157-158

Hitler, Adolf,

Karbala, airfield, 118

House of Saud, 197-198

Kelly, Kathy, as volunteer

human

King Hussein of Jordan.

shields

1

11-114

Kurds complicating politics of war. 65

Hussein. Qusay, 55 Hussein. alive

Saddam

and

exiles returning to

defiant.

55-56

militia.

detailed records of atrocities, letter to niece,

202-203

statue toppled.

Turkish threatening stance toward. 16

on 1

first

day of war. 25-26

missile attacks,

7

television address

on Day

Baghdad. 200

172

Kuwait

136-138

palaces, 154

touring

shield, 113-1 14

Korean War. brand proposition. 14

41

Iraqi,

volunteer,

human

2

1.

24

Baghdad neighborhood, 135-136

siege of,

86-87

56-57

uncomfortable position of 93

INDEX 110

Iraqi,

Labor

party. Britain.

7

television depictions of,

Libya, antiwar demonstrations, 27 Litkey, Charles, volunteer

human

47^9.

U.S., shield.

58-59

211

rescue of. 125-127

112-113

Putin. Vladimir, criticisms about war. 25

lonely marshal model. 1-4—15 looting

Baath Party headquarters, 165

Q

Basra. 164

Qom

mindlessness

of.

group. 194

180

Museum, 193

National

Lynch, Jessica, 125-127

Rahoumi. Adel,

198

Iraqi exile,

Ramadan, Taha Yassin, 49-50, 92

M

Reeves. Richard, voice of dissent, 27-29

Marsh Arabs.

42^M

refugees, Iraqi.

Media

87-88

Renuart. Maj. Gen. Victor. 141-142

Republican Guard

Arab world. 57 armchair

critics.

74

collapsing defenses,

1

17-119

embedding reporters. 98-99. 127-129 global. 59-60

crumbling, 103-104

Information Minister al-Sahhaf. 32. 173-175, 178

holding approaches to Baghdad, 80-81

divisions. 17-19. 64-65.

bombing of Baghdad. 32-33 129-130 MesofX)tamia. marshlands. 42—44

revenge

Mexico. U.N. vote. 6

road

Middle East

Rumaila

reporting on

wimping

crafting of peace

remaking ministry.

of.

Navy

in.

54-55

persistence of.

out.

killings,

85-86

on

182

rise.

Riyadh bombings. 197. 203

map

for peace, 100

oil fields. 33,

41

Rumsfeld. Donald. 76, 98

196

Russian diplomats, besieged, 148-149

28-29 chaplain Cash. 183-185

missile attacks

Baghdad. 92. 142-143

Kuwait

City.

Saudi Arabia. 197-198. 203-204

86-87

secret burial places,

missing in action, 212

Morocco, student Mubarak. Hosni,

protests, 2,

182-183

Sensor-Fuzed Weapon, 20-21, 119

27

193-194

Shiite clergy,

27

"shock and awe,"

18,

31-32

show business, war and. 65-68

N

Singapore. Central Provident Fund. 186-187

Najaf. 71-72, 167

Sparks. Sgt. Maj. John. 105-106

bombing. 32. 218-220

Napoleon, 157

strategic

Nasiriyah, 40-42. 48-49. 71-72, 80

Sudan, antiwar demonstrations. 27

national security strategy, post-9/11, x

Sultan

NATO,

future of.

Hashim Ahmed. 86

3-4

Nineveh. 82

North Korea. 28

television.

See also al-Jazeera

Arab, 57, 174-175

nuclear blackmail, 28

Thamer. Mahmud.

o

Iraqi exile,

199-200

Tiananmen Square. 158 tribes

oil

recovery

of,

206-207

Iraqi,

revenues: dealing with. 185-187

war

for.

buying

role in

of,

94—95

post-Saddam governance. 179

Turkey, pre-war decisions, 15-16

35-37

oil-for-food program. 50. 159. 168-169. 185.

194-195

Operation Desert Storm, 18-19, 219 Operation Iraqi Freedom, 49. 188-191, 218-220

Umm Qasr. 32-34. 42.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

U.N. Security Council, x

36.

Osama

207

155

hostile coalitions on. 5

U.N. veto. 3

bin Laden. 58

Unification Front for the Liberation of Iraq, 205

United Stales Pentagon. Chalabi favored by. 165-166

and Iraq's

precision-guided munitions (PGMs). 20

war

preventive strikes, on prisoners of

war

Day

14,

118-119

oil reserves.

for oil,

185-187

35-37

U.S. Air Force, deployed against

Republican Guard. 103-104

223

224

INDEX

W

U.S. forces

announced deaths, 212-218 comparison with

Iraqi forces,

Wahhabi 16-18

post-war presence, 207-209

power

19-21. 124-125

of,

preparing for short war, 18-19 total

engaged, 2 1

U.S. Marines

54

war. See also prisoners of

war

budget. 135 criticisms about, 25, 32, 74,

effects-based targeting, 20

and gods, 82-83

al-Azimiyah palace, 173

battle for Diyala bridge,

Day 1.24 Day 3 desert

197-198

195-196

two-front war for Baghdad. 141-143

at

clergy,

wall-of-fire tactic.

148

and Hollywood, 65-66 not quite on track, 79-81 for oil,

crossing.

hospital secured by,

39-40

64-65

35-37

preemptive. 27-29 tactical risk.

74—75

as individuals. 188-191

weapons

Navy

weapons of mass destruction

chaplain Cash. 183-185

inspections, x,

north from Nasiriyah. 80-81

failure to find. 195.

outside Baghdad, 142-143, 156-157

no definitive evidence

returning

home. 205-206

surviving mortar

t'lre,

104

volunteers

human

shields.

111-114

from Arab world. 92

204 of,

134

wildlife, wetlands: imperiled,

V fighters

73

weather, sandstorms. 63-64, 71-72, 80

Wolfowitz, Paul. 149

as

1

zoo animals,

1

80

43^44

ABOUT THE EDITOR Martin Walker

is

an author, syndicated columnist

journal of post-Soviet reform, Europe editor of

and chief international commentator for United

intellectualcapital.com,

Press International, and co-author of "Europe

to theglobalist.com.

in the

New

Century: Emerging Superpower,"

written while he the

was a public policy fellow

Woodrow Wilson

Scholars in Washington, D.C.

He

is

New

editor of editorial

the

of Washington, D.C.

He

is

also a

member of the

New

"Chatham House," and the Royal Institute of London. A guest lecturer at the universities of Moscow, Columbia,

at

"Europe" magazine, a member of the

boards of the "Wilson Quarterly" and of is

of the Advisory Board of the European Institute

review board of "International Affairs," the jour-

School University, a contributing

"World Policy Journal." He

Martin Walker has served as vice chairman

also a senior

fellow at the World Policy Institute

York's

at

Center for International

and contributes columns

a regular book

reviewer for the "Washington Post" and Britain's

"Times Literary Supplement" and also con-

nal

International Affairs, in

UCLA, is

Toronto,

New

also a faculty

York, and Pittsburgh, he

member

of A. T. Kearney's

Global Business Policy Council.

He

also serves on the

RAND

Corporation's

tributes to both the French and English services

task force on U.S. -European relations and

of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and to

member

the Voice of America French service.

Havel's

In 25 years as a journalist with Britain's

"Guardian" newspaper, he served as bureau chief in

Moscow and

and assistant

the U.S., as

editor.

European editor

He was awarded

Reporter of the Year prize

in

1987.

Britain's

A

regular

BBC, Fox News, National "Diane Rehm Show" and "On

broadcaster on the Public Radio's

Media" and CNN, and panelist on "Inside Washington" and "Capital Gang Sunday", he also scripted and narrated the BBC series the

"Martin Walker's Russia," and the

BBC Analysis

the

has written for the

"New York

Times."

"Washington Post," "Foreign Policy," the

"New Yorker,"

the

of Germany, "El

"New

Mundo"

Forum 2000

affairs.

He

Institute for the

Republic," "Die Zeit" of Spain, the

"Moscow

Times" and "Moskovskii Novosti." He

is

also a

contributing editor of "Demokratisatsiya," the

also served

for the study of coalition-

by Georgetown

run

building

a

group, an annual interna-

seminar on global

on the task force

is

President Vaclav

University's

Study of Diplomacy, and on the

U.S. Department of State's Roundtable on the

New

Europe.

Martin Walker was educated

at

Balliol

College, Oxford, where he was Brackenbury

and

Scholar,

Harkness

at

Harvard, where he was a

Fellow

and

Resident

Tutor

Kirkland House. His book "The Cold War: History" was short-listed for the

special Clintonomics."

He

tional

of former Czech

Year prize

in Britain in

Book

York Times" Notable Book of the is

A

of the

1993. for the Governor-

General's Prize in Canada, and was a

He

at

"New

year.

married to the novelist Julia Watson,

and they have two teenage daughters and a basset hound. They live in Washington, D.C.

OF CONTRIBUTORS

LIST This book best

is

a collective product from the staff of United Press International, one of the world's

known news

agencies since

Washington, the London-based

founding

its

staff

in 1907.

of UPI's Arab

The headquarters staff and news desk Service and UPI U.K., all contributed

News

in

to

the coverage, and without their support the war could hardly have been reported.

Special thanks for their written contributions here are due

to:

in chief, Washington Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large, in Washington and Jordan Roland Flamini, international editor, Washington Elizabeth Manning, deputy international editor, Washington Pamela Hess, Pentagon correspondent. Washington Martin Sieff, senior news analyst, Washington Louis Marano, writer, Washington Anwar Iqbal, diplomatic correspondent, Washington Eli Lake, State Department correspondent, Washington Thomas Houlahan, military analyst, Washington Krishnadev Calamur, news desk chief editor, Washington

John O' Sullivan, editor

Dan Whipple,

science correspondent

Bruce Chalfant, science correspondent Gareth Harding, chief European correspondent

Anthony Louis, Moscow correspondent Lisa Bryant, Paris correspondent Peter

Almond, London correspondent

William

Reilly,

U.N. correspondent

Martin Hutchinson, business editor

Sam

Vaknin, business correspondent

The main Nicholas

reporting team in the field included:

M. Horrock.

chief White

House

reporter: Turkey, Jordan, Iraq

Richard Tomkins, embedded with the 5th Marines

Jim P.

Bartlett,

with the 101st Airborne

Mitchell Prothero, Qatar and Iraq

Claude Salhani, features

editor, London, Damascus and Beirut Ghassan al-Khadi, Baghdad correspondent Joshua Brilliant, Tel Aviv correspondent

Dalai Saoud. Beirut correspondent

Modher Amin, Tehran correspondent Seva Ulman and Kemal Biritan, Turkey correspondents Chris Corder, news photographer, Kuwait, Iraq John Gillis, news photographer, embedded with the U.S. Navy on Harry S. Truman and the destroyer Anzio The

qualities in this

book

are all theirs.

The

the aircraft carrier

errors are all mine.

Martin Walker

Kuwait.

Iraq.

Washington

THE IRAQ WAR

—

maintenance members from the 392 Air Expeditionary Wing inspect their Aany additional damage after it was hit by an Iraqi missile in the right engine on April 8, 2003, at a forward deployed location in southern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The A-1 made it back to the base safely. (U.S. Air Force/Shane A. Cuomo, UPI)

IRAQ^

April 8 (UPI)

1

aircraft for

AFGHANISTAN,

— As a

got under way m Iraq, American dead are flown a grim reminder of the human costs from another war zone where the casualties continued. Army Chaplain (Col.) Richard Rogers performs the lost rites for six U.S. airmen killed when their HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed near Ghazni in Afghanistan, as they flew to pick up two Afghan children for medical treatment at a U.S. field hospital at Bagram Air Base. (U.S. Army/Terri Rorke, UPI)

home

to

March 24

Dover Air Force base

(UPI)

in

Delaware

new war

in

iNSI

—

Iraq, April 5 (UPi) A donkey pulls a wagon of Iraqis just outside of the city of Basra on 2003, past a checkpoint of British troops. Units of the 7th Armored Brigade moved just outside of Basra and had been conducting raids on resistance groups in Iraq's second largest city. (Chris

BASRA/ April 5,

the city

Corder, UPI)

BASRA,

— A member

of the Irish Guard looks on as a Warrior armored personnel Dragoon, 7th Armored Brigade, aka Desert Rats, leave a former technical school and Booth Party headquarters they had token control of only days previous, enroute. Iraq, April

6

(UPI)

carrier from the Royal Scots

INS2

—

ABOARD THE USS HARRY

Ordnance S. TRUMAN, Eastern Mediterranean, March 21 (UPI) 4 Tomcat with GBU-3 000 pound bombs on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Truman on Friday, March 21, 2003, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. (John Gillis, UPI)

handlers load o

USS Harry

S.

F-

USS HARRY his turn to

ing of

1

1

TRUMAN,

1

—

S. Eastern Mediterranean, March 31 (UPI) A pilot of a F-1 8 Hornet waits launch from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman for a strike into Iraq on the early morn-

March

31

,

2003,

in

the eastern Mediterranean. (John Gillis, UPI)

INS3

ABOARD THE USS HARRY

S.

TRUMAN,

ner gives the all-clear for a F-1 8 Hornet to

Truman

after

it

released the arresting cable from

March 31, 2003,

in

Eastern Mediterranean,

move

off the flight

its tail

hook

March 31

deck of the

(UPI)

— A hook run-

aircraft carrier

after returning

USS Harry

S.

from a mission over Iraq on

the eastern Mediterranean. (John Gillis, UPI)

SOLAYMANYIAH,

—

Iraq, March 23 (UPI) Kurdish Iraqi refugees from Solaymaniyah, Iraq, camp near Parviz Khan-Qasr-e-shirin, near Iran on March 23, 2003. Approximately 200 families are camping out, hoping to avoid the war and get on with life. (Ali Khaligh, UPI)

INS4

PARVIZ KHAN-QASR,

—

March 23 (DPI) Close to the Iranian border, 200 families war zone near their home in Soloymanyiah for home-made tents in

Iraqi Ksurdistan,

of Kurdish refugees flee the potential

mokeshift campgrounds.

—

KUWAIT threat

in

three air missile

CITY, Kuwait, March 20 (UPI) Members of the U.S. Army wait out a possio.iC ICI lli^UI basement shelter of the Hilton Hotel just outside Kuwait City on March 20, 2003. At least raid sirens have filled the airwaves after Iraqis fired missiles in Kuwait's direction. At least one 1^1

I

the

was

shot

down by a

Patriot missile, with others landing harmlessly in the desert. (Chris Corder,

UPI)

INS5

'It^l^^^'^^^^^^i^^:^ ffi i: X^.l"^-o.. 1NS6

...

wee. .in.

HILLTOP CHECKPOINT, north of Kuwait City

USS

ABRAHAM

Kuwait,

on March 21

LINCOLN,

,

the

March 21

2003.

(UPI)

— Army

military M.P.s

Arabian Gulf, March 24

(UPI)

over racks of precision-guided ordnonce before moving them to the

USS Abraham operations

in

Hussein. (U.S.

Navy photo/Michael

Hilltop

Checkpoint

— An aviation ordnanceman checks

"bomb farm," on the flight deck of the Wing Fourteen are conducting combat

Lincoln on March 24, 2003. Lincoln and Carrier Air support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom

effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraq's

dam

guard

(Chris Corder, UPI)

weapons

of

is

the multinational coalition

mass destruction and end

the regime of Sad-

S. Kelly, UPI)

INS7

USS CONSTELLATION, March 23

(UPI)

attack

—

missile

A Tomahawk is

land

launched from

the guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill on March 23, 2003. (U.S. Navy/UPI)

USS KITTY HAWK,

—

The Arabian Gulf, March 18 (UPI) An F/A-18C Hornet makes an arrested deck aboard the USS Kitty Hawk on March 18, 2003. Kitty Hawk and her embarked Carrier Air Wing Five are conducting combat missions in support of Operations Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom. Kitty Hawk is the Navy's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier and operates out of Yokosuka, Japan. (Todd Frantom, U.S. Navy/UPI) landing on the

INS8

flight

NAJAF, for

Iraq, April

8 (DPI)

— U.S. Army

food and water being distributed

itary

is

people

working with international in

relief

crowd control while Iraqi citizens line up need near, Najaf, Iraq, on April 8, 2003. The U.S mil-

military police provide

to citizens in

organizations to help provide food and medicine for the Iraqi

support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom

Hussein. (U.S.

USS HARRY

is

the multinational coalition effort

weapons of mass destruction and end the regime Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Arlo K. Abrahamson)

to liberate the Iraqi

people, eliminate Iraq's

of

Saddam

—

TRUMAN,

S. Mediterranean Sea, April 1 1 (UP!) Two F/A-1 8 Hornets assigned to the "Gunslingers" of Strike Fighter Squadron One Zero Five fly close air support missions for coalition special operations forces on April 1 1 2003. (U.S. Navy/Tom Lalor, UPI) ,

INS9

Iraq,

March 28

Element pose

(DPI)

in front

— Air Force members from of a makeshift sign at

the 621st Air Mobility Group Tanker Airlift Control a forward deployed location in southern Iraq on March 28,

2003. (Shane A. Cuomo/REX FEATURES, UPI)

HARiR AIRFIELD^

i:c.

—

March 30 (UPI) Paratroopers of the U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade 45 miles northeast of Irbil in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, continue on March 27, 2003. An estimated ,000 paratroopers landed last Thursday

stationed near the Harir Airfield, to reinforce their positions

and seized (Ali

the airfield as a possible staging

Khaligh, UPI)

INS10

1

ground

for

a second front against

Saddam

Hussein.

KHAZER/

Iraq, April

Khazer, about idates

its

20

4

(UPI)

— American

miles from Mosul,

on April

troops hoid z position near the northern Iraqi town of 4,

2003. Skirmishes continue as the U.S.

military consol-

position. (Ali Kholigh, UPI)

CENTRAL

COMMAND

—

AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY, April 9 (UPI) US Navy doctor Lt Cmdr Bryan Schumacher {right) and Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Zachary Rowe [left], assigned to Regimental Aid Station, 1st Marine Division, 5th Marines, renders medical aid to a v/ounded Iraqi civilian in a northern suburb of Baghdad In support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (U.S. Marine Corps/Brian Winnett, UPI) INS11

BASRA, Iraq, A Challenger-2

April (UPI)

—

tank from the Queen's Royal Lancers holds a position as a local biker rides by in Basra, Iraq, in April, 2003. (Rex Features, UPI)

li-;-i,

--|-iil

8 (UPI)

(Rex Features, UPI)

INS12

—

Cpl.

Hughes 3 Para making

friends with

local

children on April 8,

2003.

UMM

QASR,

March 25

(UPI)

Iraq,

— K Dog,

a bottle-nosed dolphin from Commander Task Unit,

water

leaps

out

front

in

of of

Andrew

Garrett

training

near the

the Sgt.

during

USS

Gunston Hall, operating in the Arabian Gulf. (U.S. Navy, Rex Features, UPI)

BASRA,

Iraq (UPI)

a group of

Iraqi

— Soldiers of 3 Platoon, Number

men

1

Company

leaving the city of Basra to check their IDs,

soldiers or guerrilla fighters.

1

st

and

Battalion, the Irish

to

Guards, escort

ensure they are not fleeing Iraqi

The men were subsequently released. (Rex Features, UPI)

INS13

—

(DPI) A group of Iraqi males are detainea ;" "-- gateway to by soldiers serving with 3 Platoon, Number Company, 1 st Battalion, the Irish Guards. The soldiers manning the checkpoint on the bridge into and out of Basra are there to show a presence and to prevent Iraqi soldiers and militia leaving the city to possibly fight coalition forces. These men were suspected of being soldiers attempting to gain entry into the city. They were released, as no proof could be found. (Rex Features, UPI)

BASRA,

Iraq,

March 28

the city of Basra

1

HMS Ark March 28

Royal,

(UPI)

—

Fol-

lowing the tragic deaths of seven aircrew officers of

849

Squadron

Flight early in the

A

morn-

March 22, a repaceremony for three of the seven was held onboard HMS Ark Royal on March 28, ing of

triation

2003. Leading the cere-

mony was

the Rev Tudor

Bottwood, RN, the bers of pall

A

mem-

Flight acting as

bearers

alongside

officers of the ship's

com-

pany. (Rex Features, UPI)

IRAQ/

April

2003

—

A dead Iraqi soldier lies on the side of a road as members 74 pass by in Iraq on April 3, 2003. (Rex Features, UPI)

(UPI)

Construction Battalion

— A family of

BASRA,

Iraq (UPI)

pany,

Battalion, the Irish

1

st

Iraqi civilians

Guards,

ing small-arms fire from Iraqi positions

Basra when

seek the help of a soldier serving

to locate their other child, in

Basra. The family

caught up

were part

Naval Mobile

Number 2 Com-

the panic caused

by incom-

column of people

fleeing the

in

of a

v/ith

of

it and the soldiers manning the checkpoint came under small-arms fire from two Iraqi hundred meters away. The Irish Guards were trying to give protection to the local civilians as well as ensure that no Iraqi military or militia slipped through the checkpoint disguised as ordinary civilians. After returning small-arms fire and bringing in artillery fire on the two positions, the soldiers were able to allow free access across the checkpoint. (Rex Features, UPI)

city of

positions several

UMM

QASR,

Iraq, April (UPI)

— Damaged and defaced by unknown

as a testimony to the deep-seated distaste for the

2003. (Matthew Jones/Rex Features

CAMP PENNSYLVANIA, Assault) Seifert

mourning the

w js

killed

INS16

in

Umm

—

Soldiers of the 1st Brigade,

Qasr, Iraq,

in

April

101st Airborne Division (Air

Capt. Christopher Seifert at a memorial ceremony at

when a grenade was thrown

(Rex Features, UPI)

residents, this billboard stands

Hussein regime

UPI)

Kuwait (UPI)

loss of

Saddam

into

a sleep

tent.

The attack

left

1

Camp

5 other

Pennsylvania.

soldiers

wounded.

$19.95/ Higher

in

CURRENT AFFAIRS/MILITARY HISTORY

Canada

Martin Walker, United Press International's chief international correspondent, has collected some of the best writing on the exents leading up to the Iraq War, detailed descriptions of combat operations of each day of the war, and firsthand accounts of the conflict's immediate aftermath. Walker presents the war precisely as it was reported b\' the world-renowned UPl correspondents. Illustrated with world-class photojournalism, this volume ^'U preserve forever the drama of this historic undertaking.

"UFFs gripping account of the Second Iraq War

.

.

.

was

written

under the

lash of the deadline. Yet it passes every test of accuracy and prescience. In Martin Walker's skillful compilation, UPI's reports and analyses become simply historx' but historv' xixidh' told and shrewdly judged." From the foreword b\' Margaret Thatcher V

—

—

the chief international correspondent for United Press International. He worked for twenty-five years with the London Guardian and is a regular broadcaster on the BBC, National Public Radio, and CNN. His numerous books include Waking Giant: Gorbaclieu and Perestroika, The Cold War: A History, and America Reborn.

Martin Walker

is

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