[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by &Passionate: *
Well still waht Bush is gonna say is gonna be the final word.
They have been talking about regime change and disarmament.......
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We will see what daddy's boy says in his speech in a few minutes. I just hope he can pronounce everything correctly this time...
Why is Bush frowning when he speaks?
Iraq Freedom-Operation name
Only there to remove a threat and give control to the Iraqi people -Bush
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by little human: *
Why is Bush frowning when he speaks?
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Because he cannot read from the teleprompter properly. Did you see him clowning around on tv, before the speech? :)
Oh please…
Anti craft fire is visible in the city
waht a speech..
There was a rumour that Tariq Aziz was gonna flee or was shot dead doing so but he came out to meet the press clarifying it...:o
^ yeah :-/ and its been heard that Saddam might be addressing the nation too
kya baandar…i mean banda…hay 
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by little human: *
There was a rumour that Tariq Aziz was gonna flee or was shot dead doing so but he came out to meet the press clarifying it...:o
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Yes, more American propoganda that fell flat on it's face.
UK news reports are now saying is that the British army sources are saying that no orders have been given yet for a GROUND attack. This war may go more slowly than the propoganda has been predictiing...?
But note Bush did not specifically mention "regime change" or Saddam by name? Unless I heard him wrong?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Malik73: *
UK news reports are now saying is that the British army sources are saying that no orders have been given yet for a GROUND attack. This war may go more slowly than the propoganda has been predictiing...?
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I presume GROUND attack will come much later. After Iraqis have been pounded from the air sufficiently to minimize the risk of death of a GI Joe.
If I remember correctly, in the first Gulf war, the GROUND troops didn't set foot in Kuwait till the 60th day of the air offensive. Isn't that so?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Faisal: *
I presume GROUND attack will come much later. After Iraqis have been pounded from the air sufficiently to minimize the risk of death of a GI Joe.
If I remember correctly, in the first Gulf war, the GROUND troops didn't set foot in Kuwait till the 60th day of the air offensive. Isn't that so?
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The entire Gulf War lasted 42 days, and they launched the ground attack on Day 38. But your premise may be correct.
question in case somebody knows:
where r u guys getting ur latest news updates from?
cnn isnt updating and they r heavily biased anyway i hate cnn
and whats up with their audio and video news media clips..? they dont play...
is there any good website to get the most up to date and relatively unbiased coverage from?
appreciate the help
irem
I went to cnn.com and launched cnn radio.. the link is right there, below the main news about Iraq. And ofcourse its biased. Its CNN. But they played the whole speech and everything.
By the way, they are saying that the first strike was kinda unplanned, as they may have fired on some important surprise target. The real bombing hasn't started and probably won't start for another 18 hours.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by irem: *
question in case somebody knows:
where r u guys getting ur latest news updates from?
cnn isnt updating and they r heavily biased anyway i hate cnn
and whats up with their audio and video news media clips..? they dont play...
is there any good website to get the most up to date and relatively unbiased coverage from?
appreciate the help
irem
[/QUOTE]
The UK News Networks - BBC, ITN and Sky News. Plus Gupshup of course. :)
Faisal bhai - thanks, did that and listening to it now 
Malik bhai - thanks bbc is hecka slow waisay so i gave up…but gupshup rules 
waisay we will never really find out the truth abt the Iraqi casualties 
specially from these kafir CNN and BBC
The War begins!
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/19/international/worldspecial/20WIRE-IRAQ.html
Anti-Aircraft Batteries Open Up in Baghdad
By DAVID E. SANGER with JOHN F. BURNS
WASHINGTON, March 19 - President Bush ordered the beginning of a war on Iraq tonight, and his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said at about 9:45 p.m. Eastern time that American forces had begun to disarm Iraq and would depose Saddam Hussein.
Shortly afterward, Mr. Bush told the nation in a televised address that ``this will not be a war of half-measures.‘’
``We will accept no outcome but victory,‘’ the president declared.
The announcement of the start of the war came 10 minutes after word of the attack came from Baghdad, where the American airstrike began, just before first light at 5:35 a.m. local time on Thursday. The first signs were an air raid siren followed by antiaircraft fire and loud explosions over the city that appeared to be bombs. The antiaircraft fire appeared to be ineffective, striking at low altitude over the city.
At least one impact was visible about a half mile from the Rashid Hotel in central Baghdad, throwing a great cloud of dust into the air.
The initial round of explosions took place over about 10 minutes and was followed by a lull. The first traffic of the day racing down the highway appeared to be drivers fleeing the attack.
``The opening stages of the disarmament of the Iraqi regime have begun,‘’ Mr. Fleischer said in a brief news conference on television tonight.
The deadline for President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq expired tonight as American troops massed on Iraq’s southern border, awaiting the order for the invasion plan that Mr. Bush and his war council completed only this afternoon.
In his address tonight, Mr. Bush called Mr. Hussein an enemy who has ``no regard for the conventions of war and the rules of morality.‘’
The president sought to reassure Iraqi citizens, even though their country had come under attack. We have come to Iraq with respect for its citizens,'' he said. We have no ambitions in Iraq.‘’
Earlier, Mr. Bush formally informed Congress, and then world leaders, that he was ready to depose Mr. Hussein by force. In a seven-page message to Congress, he argued that force was now the only way to adequately protect the national security of the United States'' and that topping the Iraqi government was a vital part’’ of a broader war against terrorism. The message was required under a statute passed last fall explicitly authorizing war against Iraq after the president determined that a diplomatic solution was impossible.
As he completed the legal formalities, Mr. Bush was clearly embarked on one of the country’s most ambitious military ventures since Vietnam, and on a war his administration began planning over a year ago. There are a lot of us,'' said one of his more hawkish senior advisers, who have been waiting for this day of liberation for years.‘’
Mr. Bush had given Mr. Hussein and members of his family until shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern time today to leave the country in order to forestall an American-led attack. But there was no discernible sign that the Iraqi leader was even thinking of leaving, despite an offer of asylum from Bahrain.
As the deadline passed tonight, Mr. Bush was eating dinner in the living room of the White House residence with his wife, Laura. He received a call from Andrew H. Card, the White House chief of staff, and asked Mr. Card if there was any evidence that Mr. Hussein had left Iraq. There was none, Mr. Card told him, according to Mr. Fleischer.
The disarmament of the Iraqi regime,'' Mr. Fleischer told reporters tonight, will begin at a time of the president’s choosing.‘’
Even as punishing sandstorms swirled around the Army troops massed in Kuwait, the engineering battalions that will be in the vanguard of the invasion force - breaching berms and clearing minefields - were already on the move. Special Operations forces were reportedly already deployed inside Iraq, shaping the battlefield for the larger invasion force to come.
American and British warplanes flew bombing missions tonight against a dozen Iraqi artillery and surface-to-surface missile positions in southern Iraq, wiping out placements that could threaten advancing troops.
Roughly 17 Iraqi border troops surrendered along the border, and were taken into custody by Kuwaiti forces. A few administration officials seized on the defections as an early indicator of the mass defections they hope to see when the fighting begins.
But others in the administration warned against overconfidence, cautioning that toppling Mr. Hussein and the protective apparatus that has kept him in power for more than three decades is a far riskier enterprise than was ousting his forces from Kuwait 12 years ago in the Persian Gulf war.
Mr. Fleisher cautioned that Americans ought to be prepared for loss of life.'' He noted that while the White House sought as precise, short a conflict as possible,‘’ the unknowns - from how American, British and Australian troops would be received to the elements of weather, accident and so-called friendly fire - were numerous.
The notification to Congressional leaders, sent to Capitol Hill late on Tuesday night, provided the most detailed legal justification yet for military action.
Mr. Bush stayed largely out of sight today, save for a brief meeting this morning with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the secretary of homeland security, Tom Ridge, to review New York City’s needs to prepare for any new terrorist attacks. The White House later said it would go to Congress for a special appropriation bill to pay for the war and homeland security.
Washington was eerily quiet, but there were isolated voices of dissent. Today, I weep for my country,'' Senator Robert C. Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat and the war's biggest critic in the Senate said. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent, peacekeeper. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.‘’
The breach with Europe continued to widen. As Mr. Bush tried to convince Congress that the attack on Iraq would advance the war on terror, France’s foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said the war would spawn more terrorism. The German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, said, ``Germany emphatically rejects the impending war.‘’
Former Gulf War 'hero' pilot John Nicol is saying on ITN News that so far this seems to be only one limited attack on a "target of opportunity" against some Iraqi leadership formation. The American News network NBC is reporting that Saddam Hussein himself was the target...