Iraqi troops are not proving quite the push over that American propoganda has long been predicting, in fact American troops are facing fierce Iraqi counterattacks in town after town in southern Iraq. In Umm Qasr, Nasiriya and Najaf where the American advance ssems to have been halted.
There are claims that US forces have killed 77 Iraqi civilians in Basra alone, which if true would show the callous disregard the American’s have for Iraqi cvilian lives.
Iraqis mount stiff resistance
US-led forces have been encountering stiff pockets of resistance as they press ahead towards the Iraqi capital Baghdad. In one of the longest-running challenges so far in the conflict, air strikes were called in on the port town of Umm Qasr to overcome about 120 Iraqis - including suspected elite Republican Guards - firing against US forces. US aircraft have also bombed Iraqi positions in Nasiriya further north where an estimated 500 Iraqis - using tanks and mortars - stopped US marines trying to secure a route through the town. Coalition forces say they have advanced half-way to the Iraqi capital but were involved in clashes near the holy town of Najaf in the desert just 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the city.
In Baghdad, senior Iraqi officials have been holding news conferences, praising the Iraqi “heroes” and vowing to punish the “mercenaries” once they reach towns. At least 77 people have been killed in the southern city of Basra and 366 wounded, they said. Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said Iraqis had captured 35 American prisoners of war, and promised to produce them for the television cameras later on Sunday. But US officials say none of their soldiers have been seized.
Live war
The final hours of the battle for Umm Qasr were shown live on television. They showed tanks and then a US marine Harrier jet bomb the building where the Iraqis were holding out and firing from the compound stopped. It is not known how many Iraqis were killed. The battle had been going on for more than 36 hours after US forces secured the harbour - Iraq’s only deep-water port. Coalition forces have so far been unable to use the port. Iraq’s Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf praised Iraqi “heroes” at Umm Qasr saying US and UK “mercenaries” were in for “shock and awe” - using the coalition term for the tactics being used in the war against Saddam Hussein.
**US says Iraq has not fired any Scud missiles so far - and US forces have found no caches of weapons of mass destruction. **
Baghdad ‘haze’
Baghdad has been spared intensive bombing, with explosions reported intermittently, the latest just after 0600 GMT near the city centre. Large numbers of US troops are moving towards the capital in a three-mile-long column from Basra. The BBC’s Rageh Omaar says the city is shrouded by a choking black haze from Iraqi fires lit to confuse the coalition planes. But US forces have been halted by Iraqi troops about 70 km (45 miles) south-east of Najaf after about two hours of fighting. Iraqi television said the local Ba’ath Party leader had been killed in the fighting, near the town of Najaf. It was the closest ground fighting to Baghdad since the war began on Thursday. Minister Al-Sahaf said 106 civilians had been injured so far in Baghdad.
Malik, this cant be true!!!!!
They said 3 days ago that Umm Qasr and Basra was under coalition control? ZNN anchors were getting a hard-on just talking bout it. Where did this "stiff resistance" come from?
By day four some were happily predicting the US forces would be in Baghdad, and we are in day four, and the US forces cannot even fully capture/control the port town on Umm Qasr which is only 1 km from the Kuwaiti border. I guess the US forces are to busy shooting down UK planes and throwing grenades at their own barracks in Kuwait?
Maybe this is S-day as Tommy Franks said: shameful.
The initial assasination attempt on Saddam and VP didnt materialise either.
Hmm and the troops havent reached Bag Dad yet!
In one of the longest-running challenges so far in the conflict, air strikes were called in on the port town of Umm Qasr...
Umm Qasr is a very strategic port - it is where 3500 tonnes of food and humanitarian aid used to arrive every day under the 'off' programme (until the invasion forced a halt of the programme); control of the port will be perceived rather vital for both Iraq and the US.
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*Originally posted by 5Abi: *
Maybe this is S-day as Tommy Franks said: shameful.
The initial assasination attempt on Saddam and VP didnt materialise either.
Hmm and the troops havent reached Bag Dad yet!
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Indeed it seems so. US shoots down UK fighter plane, American soldiers are pinned down in towns across southern Iraq, and now we have Rumsfeld admitting that American soldiers are missing in Iraq. Did you see the crowds in Baghdad searching the Tigris for downed American pilots - does that look like a welcoming crowd for the US army? :)
As Nadia said, why is it that US troops are always involved in the friendly fires? Canada and now UK? Hows this news being received at home in UK !? Yah i saw the live feed from BBC from Umm Qasr, even tho they had tanks and marines there, they called out aerial attack on that particular compound. Not sure if they gained control of the area yet.
The BBC reporter even pointed out that this small resistance put up by handful Iraqis has pinned em down. Even the 7th-cavalry encountered some resistance.
BBC News Flash reporting that 50 American soldiers have been killed or injured in fierce fighting in Nasiriya, while CNN's Alession Vinci is reporting that 10 US soldiers are missing, and an armoured vehicle is burnt out.
Yeah the Iraqis are sandbagging, they are not going out in the open and confronting the Americans like the first Gulf War, they let the forces pass them by and then set up ambushes. The Americans havent engaged with their front line troops yet. Its mostlly conscripts and irregulars. Besides that Iraq has a fairly tough Anti Aircraft defence system. But they have not deployed Surface to Air Missles and seem to be focussing on using Anti aircraft gun. Otherwise they would have managed to down a few more US aircraft. (although they SAM sites would be attacked almost straight away.
Yeah the Iraqis are sandbagging, they are not going out in the open and confronting the Americans like the first Gulf War, they let the forces pass them by and then set up ambushes.
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That sound so like guerilla war tactics, which the American's did not expect at all...
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*Originally posted by 5Abi: *
Malik, this cant be true!!!!!
They said 3 days ago that Umm Qasr and Basra was under coalition control? ZNN anchors were getting a hard-on just talking bout it. Where did this "stiff resistance" come from?
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Pure BS!
They have only got some small towns, they arae having a hard time currently taking over umm Qasr and even the BBC correspondent said that if they are having a hard time controlling Umm Qasr, Imagine how hard would it be to take over Baghdad and Basra.
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*Originally posted by 5Abi: *
Rummy was on CNN! Looked confused? Frowning?
Propaganda scheme isnt working?
The regime is not in disarray as the psyops thought!
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I agree, I want them to get reveng for all the death in Afghanistan and the last Iraq war, its time for more stiff lip from us.
While our eyes are focued upon the American prisoners, let’s give a second’s thought to those who were never given the luxury of signing up for this invasion.
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Meanwhile, the International Red Cross has warned of a humanitarian emergency in Basra.
A spokesman told the BBC that water and electricity supplies to the city had been cut off for the last 48 hours.
Coalition planes carried out bombing raids overnight on remaining Iraqi forces in Basra. The Iraqi Government said 77 people were killed in the bombing.
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*Originally posted by Nadia_H: *
A spokesman told the BBC that water and electricity supplies to the city had been cut off for the last 48 hours.
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Just yesterday, couple of commentators were praising the presicion of the Allied bombing since Baghdad still has power and water. IMO as the war progresses and if the US suffers any setbacks more utilities will be destroyed. The only thing I am certain that the Allies won't destroy is the oil wells.
The Allied forces can stop most of the resistance by dropping a few bombs from miles above. All they would have to do is remove their troops and start the bombing. All resistance will be dead in a day.
IMO the reason they are not doing this (as yet) is because of the world perception and the pitch of the anti-war movement.
I am amazed at the resilience showed by the Iraqis. I had not expected this show of resistance.
Considering the Allied losses so far, IMO they will not be in a hurry to deploy ground forces in any country for some time to come.
Iraq says 77 civilians have been killed by US-led forces seeking to seize the southern city of Basra. Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf says most of deaths were caused by cluster bombs. The figures have not been independently verified. Iraqi television has reported that four people have been killed in air strikes on Tikrit, the hometown of President Saddam Hussein.
And Iraqi officials say three people have died and more than 200 people have been injured in the four days of air strikes on the capital Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the US has denied a claim by Baghdad that Iraq had shot down five planes and two helicopters since the start of the invasion by US, British and Australian forces.
The Battle for Umm Qasr is still raging - 4 days into the war, in a town only 1 km form the Kuwaiti border, reports are coming in that US forces have been repulsed from Basra.
There has been renewed resistance from Iraqi forces at the port town of Umm Qasr, where US Marines are involved in a fierce battle with squads bolstered by members of Saddam Hussein’s special forces. Just one day before US officials said allied forces had secured the deep water port.
A small number of Iraqi soldiers fired machine guns, including a heavy 50mm calibre gun, from a building around 300 metres from the US Marines. The Marines thought they may have solved the problem by firing a Javelin missile into the house but the resistance continued from other positions. US tanks - which had been firing 50mm rounds and artillery at buildings - retreated at speed as an air strike was called in. Earlier, allies captured the airport of the southern city of Basra and took a bridge on the approaches to the city. Iraq says 77 civilians have been killed and 366 wounded in Basra. Fighting has blocked the advance of a US column in the southern city of Nassiriya Coalition forces have also bombarded Tikrit, the home town of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. An Iraqi satellite channel says four civilians were killed in the strikes.
This war is in its forth day. Before the war is over the U.S. could lose dozens to hundreds to thousands of more troops, this is war. This sacrifice was known going into such a battle as liberation doesn't come cheap. It's up to the Iraqi forces what happens, are they willing to die for a brutal dictator? One thing is certain and that's the final outcome of this war.
