Newer Articles: After Aug 1, 2003
US displays bodies of Saddam sons
July 25, 2003 - Because of doubts among the Iraqi populace, the U.S. military has allowed news crews to show pictures of the dead bodies of Saddam's sons. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld said,
- "It's important for the Iraqi people to see them, to know they're gone, to know they're dead and to know they're not coming back."
- Source:BBC
Pentagon: Saddam's sons killed in raid
July 22, 2003 - Saddam Hussein's sons. Uday and Qusay, were killed in a firefight at a residence in the Iraqi city of Mosul. A tipster alerted U.S. forces that the brothers were in the building.
- A U.S. official told CNN that Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, Saddam's personal secretary, who was captured last month, helped identify the bodies.
The bodies were easily recognizable, but DNA tests will also be conducted to verify their identity.
- Source:CNN
- Tests 'show Saddam's sons died' - BBC
Bush and Blair Defend Iraq Intelligence
July 18, 2003 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair was enthusiastically recieved by the U.S. Congress. In a later press conference with President Bush, he reaffirmed his belief that British intelligence was correct about Iraq trying to obtain uranium from Niger. He said:
- "We stand by that intelligence and one interesting fact ... in case people think the link between Iraq and Niger (search) was invention — in the 1980s we knew for sure that Iraq purchased some 200 tons of uranium from Niger,"
The White House insists that all intelligence agencies agreed that Saddam Hussein was trying to reconstitute his weapons program.
- Source:Fox
'Saddam tape' scorns WMD claims
July 17, 2003 - An audio tape, supposedly from Saddam Hussein, was aired in Dubai (UAE)on the 35th anniversary of the seizure of power by the former Iraqi leader's Baath Party. It claims that the U.S. and British claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction were just lies, fabricated to justify their attack on Iraq.
- He praised Iraqi inhabitants of towns where US troops have repeatedly come under attack, and branded Iraqi officials appointed by the coalition - including the newly established Iraq Governing Council - as "servants" of the American occupier.
- Source:BBC
British Stand By Intelligence Reports
July 13, 2003 - John Kinsella says you don't have to be a "blind defender of George Bush" to stand by him during the current media storm, fueled by the political left. Here is what the President said in His State of The Union address: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
- The President's election-year detractors are claiming that Bush lied to the American people. But even now the British say that their intelligence was correct! Kinsella says,
- Ok, maybe I am thick, but if the British continue to stand by the accuracy of the intelligence, even now, then I can't see how Bush citing a British intelligence report that the British still defend can be construed as Bush 'lying' to the American people in the State of the Union speech.
Not only was the President's statement a truthful one, but if it had been left out, the total impact of all the other evidence he gave about Iraq would have still led to the same conclusion about the need for intervention.
- Source:OmegaLetter
History Channel Records the Brutality of a Regime
July 7, 2003 - A trio of shocking documentaries about Saddam Hussein and his sons were shown yesterday on the History Channel. “The Horrors of Hussein,” “Saddam Hussein: The Butcher of Baghdad,” and “The Sons of Saddam,” showed in graphic detail that "Saddam Hussein’s worst weapon of mass destruction was himself."
- Hussein's own mother tried to kill him in her womb, and would have nothing to do with him after his birth. A fan of Hitler and Stalin, Saddam Hussein became the most accomplished administrator of terror of his generation. There was apparently no limit to his inhuman methods, including...
- ... grisly anecdotes of torture to induce false confessions -- with husbands forced to watch the raping of their wives, parents the gouging out of their children’s eyes, or the horrific image of a baby flung into a wall to shatter its skull.
- Source:NewsMax
- 'Increasingly likely' Saddam is alive - The Scotsman
Saddam's sons 'fled to Syria'
June 21, 2003 - According to Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, a former top Iraqi official who has been captured, he, and Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, left their father after the war began, and fled to Syria.
- The three men later returned to Iraq after being expelled by the authorities in Damascus, according to reports in the Washington Post and New York Times.
- Source:BBC
New Evidence Backs View That Saddam Alive-NY Times
June 20, 2003 - A secret U.S. military group, known as Task Force 20, is leading the search for Saddam Hussein, who is believed to still be alive in Iraq. Intercepted communications in Iraq lead them to believe his aides are still trying to protect him.
- The United States said on Wednesday it had captured one of Saddam's closest aides, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, who was often at the side of the deposed Iraqi ruler. Mahmud now faces tough interrogation on the whereabouts of Saddam.
- Source:New York Times
US hunts down 'Saddam loyalists'
June 13, 2003 - In an effort to stop renegade resistance fighters from attacking U.S. troops, there has been a prolonged assault on what the US calls a "terrorist" camp 150 km north-west of the Baghdad. So far at least 70 Baath Party loyalists have been killed in the operation.
- Source:BBC
- Saddam hunt to start in earnest - BBC
Bush: US, Allies 'Have Prevailed' in Iraq
May 2, 2003 - President Bush visited the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln yesterday, and spoke to the crew. He said that the U.S. and its allies have prevailed in the armed conflict in Iraq, and he thanked the U.S. military for "a job well done." He stopped short of claiming victory because there is still work to do there.
- Bush noted that "the transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done, and then, we will leave. And we will leave behind a free Iraq."
- Source:CSN News
Rumsfeld: U.S. Expects a Fair Democracy in Iraq
April 22, 2003 -
- The United States expects an eventual government of Iraq to be a democracy where the rights of minorities are guaranteed, not a theocracy run by clerics such as in neighboring Iran, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says.
Rumsfeld envisions a democratic self-government for Iraq, allowing freedom of religion, free speech, and respect for ethnic differences. The majority of Iraqis are Shiite Muslims, and many of them are calling for an Islamic republic similar to Iran, but
Rumsfeld says that such a government would not be truly democratic.
- The Defense Secretary also said that the U.S. will only stay in the country long enough to establish such a government, and has no interest in establishing military bases there.
- Source:Fox
Saddam in Iraq, Opposition Leader Says
April 21, 2003 - The head of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmad Chalabi, says that his group has been tracking Saddam Hussein and his sons inside Iraq, but have not been able to catch up with him yet.
- Source:Fox
- Saddam 'alive and in Iraq' - BBC
Iraqi Finance Minister Captured
April 19, 2003 - , Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi, Saddam Hussein's finance minister and deputy prime minister is the fifth high-ranking member of the regime to be captured. The others are Saddam's lead science adviser, Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi, who turned himself in, Watban Ibrahim Hasan and Barzan Ibrahim Hasan, two of Saddam's half brothers, and Samir Abd al-Aziz al-Najim, the Baath Party Regional Command Chairman for east Baghdad.
- Source:Fox
Officials meet to plan post-Saddam Iraq
April 15, 2003 - With major combat finished in Iraq, U.S. officials are meeting Tuesday at Ur, near the southern city of Nasiriya, to plan steps toward establishment of a new Iraqi government.
- State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the United States wants to establish an interim Iraqi authority "as soon as possible."
- Source:
Bush issues new warning to Syria
Apr. 14, 2003 - It appears that many Iraqi Baath party officials and military leaders are escaping to Syria. President Bush warned the Syrians not to harbor these fugitives.
- Asked whether Syria could face military action if it does not turn over Iraqi leaders, Bush said: “They just need to cooperate.”
- Source:MSNBC
- - Ha'Aretz
POWs Rescued!
April 14, 2003 - All seven U.S. POWs were rescued yesterday. They seem to be in good health, but had feared they would be killed.
- The rescued prisoners are: Sgt. James Riley, 31; Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30; Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23; Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21; and Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23 -- of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, and Apache helicopter pilots Ronald Young Jr., 26; and David Williams, 30.
- Source:CNN
Mosul Falls, Leaving Tikrit as Final Key City
April 11, 2003 - Iraqi troops in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, surrendered to the U.S. Army. Military attention has now turned to Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, and the last major holdout of Saddam's fallen regime.
- U.S. war chief Tommy Franks, in a statement read to American troops in Baghdad, said "the Saddam regime has ended," and American forces would remain in Iraq until a free government is in place.
- Source:Fox
Marines find underground nuke complex
Apr. 10, 2003 - U.S. Marines have found a vast underground complex of warehouses and bombproof offices underneath the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission's Al-Tuwaitha facility.
- "I've never seen anything like it, ever," said Marine Capt. John Seegar. "How did the world miss all of this? Why couldn't they see what was happening here?"
Weapons inspectors have been in part of the complex before, but were evidently never allowed into the rest of it. At least 14 buildings have high levels of radiation according to the Pittsburgh daily.
- Source:WorldNetDaily
Baghdad falls to US forces
Apr. 9, 2003 - The U.S. apparently has freedom to enter any part of Baghdad, and Saddam Hussein's regime seems to have lost control of the city. People from the city have been congregating in the al-Fardus square in front of the Palestine Hotel, where they have toppled a huge statue of Saddam.
- Source:BBC
Fighting Continues After U.S. Tries to Kill Saddam
April 8, 2003 - After learning about a meeting with Saddam Hussein, his sons, and other top officials in a residential area of Baghdad, An Air Force B-1B bomber dropped four 2,000-pound GPS-guided "bunker-buster" bombs on the location.
- "We had credible info that indicated there was a regime leadership meeting yesterday," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said Tuesday during a Central Command briefing. "Time will have to tell how effective that particular strike was.
It is not yet known whether or not Saddam was killed in the attack.
- Source:FOX
- Strike Targets Saddam - Washington Times
- Later assessment: Saddam Alive? Saddam survived attack on building say British intelligence sources
- Guardian Unlimited
- Saddam Dead? Saddam seen at site - Washington Times
Al-Jazeera reporter killed
April 8, 2003 - Al-Jazeera reporter, Tariq Ayoub was killed in a missile attack in Baghdad. An Al-Jazeera broadcast stated that the U.S. strike was a deliberate attack against the network.
- However, Pentagon officials adamantly maintain U.S. military forces "absolutely did not" target Al-Jazeera.
- Source:CNN
Body of 'Chemical Ali' found
April 7, 2003 - A spokesman for the British military said that they have found the body of Ali Hassan al-Majeed at his residence in the city of Basra. The infamous general was known as "Chemical Ali" because of his 1988 poison gas attack on Halabja, in northern Iraq, that killed thousands of Kurds.
- Source:CNN
U.S.: Forces rolling into Baghdad
April 5, 2003 - U.S. ground troops and tanks performed reconnaissance missions into the heart of the city of Baghdad, taking out the spotty resistance they encountered.
- U.S. officials said the Army's V Corps moved into the city from the south. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force came in from the southeast.
Embedded reporters travelling with the troops were able to send live TV pictures of the incursion.
- Source:CNN
Exclusive: 3 CIA assets killed in Baghdad
April 5, 2003 -
- Three Iraqis who aided the CIA in the March 20 attempt by the United States to kill Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were executed this week by Iraqi counterintelligence, former and serving U.S. officials told United Press International.
The three had been recruited by the CIA in 2000, after the the first CIA paramilitary teams secretly entered Baghdad to do undercover work. Two of the three were reportedly shot, and the third bled to death after having his tongue cut out.
- Source:UPI
Broadcasts suggest Saddam is alive
April 4, 2003 -
- Source:MSNBC
U.S. seizes airport outside Baghdad
April 4, 2003
- Source:MSNBC
U.S. POW rescued in 'classic joint operation'
Apr. 2, 2003 - Jessica Lynch, the 19 year-old female POW captured Mar. 23, was dramatically rescued in a night raid by U.S. special forces from a hospital near Nasiriya that doubles as a military post.
- "It was a classic joint operation done by some of our nation's finest warriors who are dedicated to never leaving a comrade behind," said U.S. Central Command spokesman Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks.
The task was achieved by a joint force composed of Army Rangers, Air Force pilots, combat controllers and Navy Seals.
- Eleven dead bodies were also recovered, but it is not yet known if any of them are other POWs killed or captured at the same time that Jessica Lynch was taken.
- Source:CNN
U.S. forces sweep closer to Baghdad
Apr. 2, 2003 - American troops have crossed the "red zone" [thought to be dangerous because of chemical weapons], and are now less than 20 miles from Baghdad. The First Marine Expeditionary Force virtually destroyed the elite Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard near Al Kut. Two other Republican Guard divisions are also under severe attack.
- Source:MSNBC
- US forces claim Iraqi rout - BBC
Battle of Babylon Rages Near Ruins
Mar. 31, 2003 - As Coalition forces advance toward Baghdad, fighting broke out with Republican Guards near the ancient site of Babylon. Archaeologists worldwide are concerned for the safety of museums and hundreds of archaeological sites in the area that is rich in Biblical history.
- Source: N.Y. Post
- Saddam’s land houses rich Babylon history - Statemans' Journal
NBC's Peter Arnett: War plan has failed
Mar. 31, 2003 - Peter Arnett, a key correspondent during the first Gulf War for CNN, has been reporting this war for "National Geographic Explorer" and NBC. In an interview for Iraqi TV, he claimed yesterday that the U.S. war plan has failed and there is growing opposition in America to the conflict in Iraq.
- Source:WorldNetDaily
- NBC, MSNBC fire Peter Arnett - MSNBC
U.S. Central Command Says No Battlefield Pause
Mar. 29, 2003 - According to the U.S. Central Command, there is no "pause" in military operations.
- Earlier, U.S. military sources in central Iraq (news - web sites) said troops had been ordered to pause in their northward push on Baghdad.
- Source:Yahoo: Reuters
- U.S. Orders Troops 'Pause' 4-6 Days - NewsMax
Other Developments
- Mar. 29, 2003
- Rumsfeld: Saddam beheads defectors - WorldNetDaily
- 'Silkworm' Suspected in Kuwaiti Blast - Highmark Funds
- Al-Jazeera: News channel in the news - BBC
Suicide bomb kills 4 U.S. soldiers
Mar. 29, ,2003 - According to military sources, suicide bombers in a car have killed four U.S. soldiers near the central Iraqi town of Najaf.
- "A vehicle with two people in came to a checkpoint. The people were dressed in civilian clothes and the car exploded," Col. Frank Thorp said.
- Source:CNN
Top U.S. official: Iraq has executed some POWs
Mar. 28, 2003 - Officials are appalled at the extent of Iraqi war crimes. Iraq evidently killed some Prisoners of War, and have denied the Red Cross access to other POWs. They have terrorized and killed their own citizens, including hanging one woman who waved to U.S. troops.
- Iraqis have used civilians as human shields, stored weapons in schools, set up command posts in hospitals and pretended to surrender only to open fire.
- Source:CNN
Army Troops Parachute Into Northern Iraq
Mar. 27, 2003 - About 1,000 U.S. Army paratroopers dropped onto a Kurdish-held airfield in Iraq. The airfield is less than 30 miles from the Turkish border. From this point, the northern part of Iraq can be controlled.
- Source:Fox
Arab media go to war
Mar. 27, 2003 - The war in Iraq is very unpopular in the Arab world, partly because of the new satellite full-coverage news stations from that area. Qatar's al-Jazeera is the foremost of these Arab media outlets, but there are several others, all of which show live graphic reports from the war.
- Source:BBC
Marines discover Iraqi 9/11 mural
Mar. 26, 2003 - U.S. Marines have discovered a mural in the Iraqi military headquarters in Nasiriya depicting a plane crashing into a high-rise building, reminiscent of the 9-11 attack in New York.
- Source:CNN
Iraqi force heads south from Baghdad
Mar. 26, 2003 - U.S. ground forces are within 50 miles of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Intelligence sources for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force indicate that Republican Guard units, including a convoy of at least 1,000 vehicles, are on the move, directly toward the Marines.
- Source:MSNBC
Iraqi Divisions Orders to Use Chemical Weapons
Mar. 25, 2003 - According to NBC Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski, intelligence and Pentagon sources are saying that they have intercepted communications that indicate that the Republican Guards are authorized to use chemical weapons as U.S. troops near the city of Baghdad.
- Source:NewsMax
U.S. cites progress in war
Mar. 24, 2003 - In a breifing for reporters at Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar, Gen. Tommy Franks, showed video clips and gave other evidence that coalition forces have made rapid and dramatic progress toward their objectives in the war.
- Source:CNN
Saddam speaks, exhorts troops
Mar. 24, 2003 - A message from Saddam was aired on Iraqi TV today. In an apparent tape recorded message, he praised his troops for their resistance and encouraged them to fight on.
- But he was vague in describing the U.S.-led military campaign aimed at toppling him from power and said nothing that would establish the precise time the tape was made.
The message could have been recorded before the beginning of the hostilities because he commended the commander of the 11th Iraqi Brigade in Basra, who surrendered along with many of his troops in the early hours of the war.
- Source:MSNBC
- SOS to Moscow to save Saddam? - Intercept indicates dictator in desperate need of surgeon - WorldNetDaily
Iraqis inflict U.S. casualties, take prisoners
Mar. 24, 2003 - Eight Americans were killed and five others, including a woman, were captured by Iraqi forces when their supply convoy took a wrong turn and was ambushed by the Iraqis. The incident was aired on Iraqi television, including graphic pictures of the dead and questioning of the POWs.
- A huge chemical factory, possibly designed to create weapons of mass destruction, has been discovered by U.S. forces in the Iraqi city of Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad.
- Source:Reuters Alert Net
Coalition Presses for Surrender of Basra; Battles Toward Baghdad
Mar. 22, 2003 - Coalition forces are pressing for the surrender of Basra, a city of 1.3 million people in southern Iraq. Precision guided bombs and missiles took out governmental and military targets in Baghdad, while sparing civilian populations infrastructures and utilities in the city. Reliable sources claim Saddam was taken away in an ambulance.
- "The lights stayed on in Baghdad, but the instruments of tyranny are collapsing," said British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon.
- Source:Fox
The Arab Press on the War and News from Iraqi Television
- Mar. 21, 2003 - Selected translations from Arab media. Some blame Saddam for Iraq's plight. Most are antagonistic toward the U.S.
- Source:The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
8,000 troops surrender
Mar. 21, 2003 - Saddam's 51st Division gives up en masse
- In addition to hundreds of individual troops surrendering to the U.S. forces as the "shock and awe" campaign was waged, one whole Iraqi division accepted defeat in Basra, southern Iraq.
- Pentagon sources have said Iraq's 51st Division, which consists of 8,000 troops, has surrendered en masse to coalition forces.
- Source:
Weblogs - History in the making
Reporters' Log: War in Iraq
- Mar. 22, 2003 - Impressions and personal experiences from BBC reporters.
- BBC
Battle playbook: 1st 48 hours
- Mar. 21, 2003 - General: 'Clearly we're moving towards our objectives'
- Source:WorldNetDaily
Weblog: A Nation at War—and on Its Knees
- Mar. 21, 2003 - American Christians pray for peace, justice, and wisdom...
- Source:Christianity Today
‘Shock and awe’ under way
Mar. 21, 2003 - Intensive bombing of selected targets has begun in Iraq. Correspondent Peter Arnett said that the strikes were far larger than what he had seen in the 1991 Gulf War.
- Massive cruise missile strikes took out dozens of buildings in Baghdad and across Iraq on Friday as the Pentagon began its promised “shock and awe” aerial campaign.
There is speculation that the attack may not be as intense as originally planned, because there are attempts to conduct surrender talks with senior Iraqi officials. If these talks fail, the bombing may increase to "full-throttle."
- Source:MSNBC
- Rumsfeld Already Negotiating Surrender - NewsMax
U.S. Thinks Hussein, Sons Were In Bunker
Mar. 21, 2003 - Analysists have strong evidence that Saddam and at least one of his sons were in the bunkers that suffered the first missile attacks yesterday. Saddam may have been killed or injured. The video tape message from him could have been one of several recorded by him before the war began.
- Source:Washington Post
- Witnesses reportedly saw Hussein carried out on stretcher after strike - WorldNetDaily
Updates and Reactions to Iraq Strike
- Iraq Fires Missiles Toward U.S. Troops - Yahoo
- Thousands of Iraqi Troops Appear Ready to Surrender - Fox
- Protests Flare Across Globe as U.S. Strikes Iraq
- Reuters
- War draws condemnation - BBC
- Blix criticises US 'impatience' - BBC
- Russia's Putin Calls for End to U.S. Action in Iraq - Yahoo
- Coalition of willing grows
The Iraqi Threat For Israel
March, 2003 - Information from Israel's IDF about Iraq's history, involvement in two Gulf Wars, and how it threatens Israel and other Middle East countries. It gives information about Iraq's missiles, unconventional weapons, and its blatant violations of human rights.
- Source:Israeli Defense Forces
Bush gives order to attack Iraq
- Mar. 19, 2003 - 10:53 PM EST (0353 GMT) - The opening action of the conflict was not the expected massive attack, but surgical strikes by Cruise Missiles against "selected targets of military importance." Pentagon officials said it was
- a "decapitation attack" early Thursday morning to take out Iraqi President Saddam Hussein even before the planned start of the war.
It is not yet known whether or not the strike was sucessful.
- Source:CNN
- United States Launches War Against Iraq - Fox
World waits as Iraq deadline expires
- Mar. 19, 2003 - 8:00 PM EST (0100 GMT) - Massive troop movements, some missile fire, and a few Iraqi defectors mark the passing of the deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq.
- The White House has said it hopes the war with Iraq will be swift, but has warned the American public to "be prepared for loss of life".
- Source:BBC
Troops poised to attack Iraq
- Mar. 19, 2003 - U.S.-led troops have taken positions near the borders of Iraq, and Iraq's Parliament has rejected US demands that Saddam Hussein and his sons go into exile. This could mean that the war will begin before the 48-hour deadline for Saddam's exile is up this evening.
- Pentagon officials have indicated that hostilities will begin with an intense air campaign. This could be followed very quickly by troops on the ground, according to the US army's vice-chief of staff, General John Keane.
- Source:BBC
Earlier stories leading to this war
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