All Iraq conflict discussion in here plz

[4me2]

BUGS FOUND IN EU SITE

Electronic bugging devices have been discovered at offices used by France and Germany in the building where European Union leaders are due to hold a summit from Thursday.

EU spokesman Dominique-Georges Marro, head of the EU council press service, said these were not the only delegations affected and it was not known who had planted the devices.


"I can confirm that in the course of regular inspections, interception devices have been found...which do not only affect France and Germany," he said.

This partially confirms a report in the French newspaper Le Figaro, which said the United States was behind the espionage.

Leaders of the 15 EU nations are scheduled to hold a summit meeting Thursday and Friday in the sprawling Justus Lipsius building which houses the secretariat of the EU council of ministers.

The EU's regular meetings of EU ministers are held there.

Foreign ministers from the bloc met there Tuesday and EU finance ministers were to hold talks Wednesday.

The building also houses the offices of Javier Solana, the EU's high representative for foreign and security policy.


http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...084178,00.html

[4me2]

U.S. Planes Bomb West Iraq After Being Fired On

Wed March 19, 2003 07:17 AM ET
ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Gulf (Reuters) - Warplanes from the USS Abraham Lincoln bombed Iraqi positions on Wednesday after coalition aircraft patrolling a no-fly zone were fired on by Iraqi forces, a top admiral said.
"There were yesterday four firings against our aircraft flying in the southern no-fly zone," Rear Admiral John Kelly told reporters aboard the Lincoln.

He said U.S. forces had responded by bombing "a series of targets" he described as "command and control" positions in the western part of the no-fly zone early on Wednesday morning.

U.S. and British warplanes have been patrolling the no-fly zone for more than a decade under the terms of Operation Southern Watch, set up after the 1991 Gulf War.

Pilots aboard the Lincoln say they have been fired on with increasing frequency in the no-fly zone in recent months.

Kelly said Iraq was moving surface-to-air missile systems and other weapons around the country in an apparent effort to avoid them being targeted if the United States attacks.

With less than 24 hours to go until a U.S. deadline expires for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face war, Kelly said U.S. intelligence was reporting increased movement of troops, aircraft and weapons in Iraq.

He said Saddam appeared to be "desperately trying to figure out how to counter an overwhelming force coming against him."

"We're seeing some fortifications that were built over the last month or two months being occupied. Mostly we're seeing high-value targets, surface-to-air missiles, moving in an effort by them to increase their survivability," Kelly said.

"He continues to reposition his forces. We continue to use our intelligence gathering abilities to adjust to this and to be prepared."

Kelly said Iraq's tactic of moving its weapons could backfire as movement often gave away the position of targets, and fragile equipment could be damaged by hurried transfer.

"It costs him energy, it costs his people fatigue," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=2406030

[J@CK£L]

WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.WAR.

in many ways i am for this war.

1 For what they did in september.
2 I hate saddam hussain Cuz he iz a big ed.
3 He should not have any chemical or biological war heads.
4 He is a wanted man by in many contries.
5 He i a terrorist that needs to be captured or killed.

My reasons against war.

1 It will cause war between blacks and whites all over the world.
2 I always thought that there is many ways in which to treat this problem.

I have always knew since september that usa and uk will strike back. The day that happened i was in so much rage cuz my mate was goin to america that day. I didnt hear from him for 3 days. His flight was cancelled cuz of what happened. He and his family was not bothered but wud you?.

[4me2]

Originally posted by J@CK£L

My reasons against war.

1 It will cause war between blacks and whites all over the world.

How on earth do you come to that conclusion ? or are drugs involved ?

We are going to war with Iraq and not Jamaica !

[dingle_666]

Originally posted by 4me2
How on earth do you come to that conclusion ? or are drugs involved ?

We are going to war with Iraq and not Jamaica !

well he means fights and rios with muslims, but i wont go into this

[4me2]

Originally posted by dingle_666
well he means fights and rios with muslims, but i wont go into this

after reading the rest of his post Im not so sure thats what he means at all.

[CzarJunkie]

@J@CK£L, you ain't George W's b@stard son from his relationship with Jordan r u?

[4me2]

Its started :


WARPLANES ATTACK IRAQ


US warplanes are attacking artillery stations in southern Iraq, the Pentagon has said.

Sky News correspondent David Graves, in Washington, said the Pentagon said it was concerned the artillery units may have chemical or biological weapons which could be used on US and UK troops on the border with Kuwait.

He said: "The Pentagon said warplanes have been and are now in action over southern Iraq."

More follows . . .






Last Updated: 19:56 UK, Wednesday March 19, 2003

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...084275,00.html

[Gavin M]

http://www.politicalhumor.about.com/

enjoy

[dingle_666]

well best of look troops i hope they can return safely with minimun casualties

[WTD]

Just hope all the UK and US guys fighting together come home safetly

[4me2]

A bit of satire to take the tension out of the situation:



SADDAM: I WOULD ACCEPT EXILE IN FRANCE

‘Not the Diplomatic Solution I Meant,’ Says Chirac

Moments after U.S. President George W. Bush used a nationally televised address to demand that Saddam Hussein go into exile, the Iraqi strongman surprised his country and the world by saying that he would in fact accept exile: in France.

“After careful consideration, I have decided that it would make everyone’s life a lot easier if I just moved to a chateau outside of Paris,” Saddam said, sporting a French-style beret and smoking what appeared to be a Gitane cigarette. “I’m packing my bags tonight. Au revoir, l’Iraque!”

President Bush, told of Saddam’s relocation plans moments after the Iraqi President went off the air, expressed amazement that his ultimatum had been accepted so quickly.

“What??! He wasn’t supposed to – I mean, wow, that’s great news,” Mr. Bush said.

But in France, Saddam’s decision to relocate to the Parisian suburbs seemed to raise more questions than it answered, as French President Jacques Chirac said he was “incensed” that the Iraqi madman had unilaterally decided to move himself and as many as twenty thousand Saddam Hussein look-alikes to the French capital.

“When I said I wanted a diplomatic solution, this was not the diplomatic solution I meant,” Mr. Chirac said. “I meant a diplomatic solution that didn’t require me to do anything.”

At U.S. CENTCOM headquarters in Qatar, General Tommy Franks said that Saddam’s relocation to France would require only modest changes in the U.S. war plan.

“Fortunately, our long-range stealth bombers can reach France without refueling,” General Franks said.

http://www.politicalhumor.about.com/....asp%3Frec=540

[jjatlas]

here we go, bombing started 2.45 am gmt

state radio in bagdad taken over by american broadcasts

[BFG]

the bombs are dropping as we speak, they are pinpointing military targets, and according to the american intelligence agency they are going straight for saddam's palace.

the americans are broadcasting in arabic on their national radio, stating "this is the day you have been waiting for".

they allegedly dropped 2 Million leaflets saying 'keep away from military targets' - don't think they'll be as effective as the bombs, but there you go - maybe in one large bundle there's a bit of weight in 2 million flyers...

[Yazmon]

Iraq has just hit Kuwait with two missiles.

And so it begins....

[4me2]

Iraqi families watch bombing unfold


Fareed Sabri: Watching the conflict unfold live on TV

Fareed and Zaynab Sabri would love to return home. But all they can do is watch live pictures from Baghdad which show their country is being bombed again.

They, like the rest of the exiled Iraqi community living in the UK, can only wait for a time when, perhaps, they will be free to help rebuild their country.

But as bombing began, Fareed, Zaynab and their two young daughters, channel-surfed between the BBC and Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera to get the latest.

Twelve years earlier, Fareed had done the same - watching solidly for four days as the then war unfolded.

Like many exiled Iraqis, the Sabris face real moral dilemmas over the war.

On the one hand, it may remove the man responsible for their forced absence. On the other, they believe it will bring more suffering to their compatriots.

Backgrounds

Fareed, now in the digital photography business, arrived in the UK as a university student in 1982 and graduated in computer engineering.
The Iran-Iraq war prevented his return, as did the 1991 Gulf War and the subsequent deterioration of conditions in the country.

He became a British citizen in 1999 and he sends a great deal of his income to his mother, two brothers and three sisters.

Since being granted a British passport in 199 he has felt safe enough to enter Iraq twice.

Zaynab has effectively been exiled since she was a teenager. Her father is a prominent politician who fled in 1980.

The family were eventually given asylum in Britain after their past followed them wherever they tried to settle in the Middle East.

"When I was applying for university in Jordan all they seemed to be interested in was my father," she says.
"We became increasingly worried that we were not safe anywhere in the Middle East.

"You become wary of speaking to strangers or of giving anyone any kind of information about yourself.

"Today in Britain we feel far safer. This is a free country."

Fareed has tried to get through to relatives in Baghdad all week but when he can't he knows it's because the phone lines have been cut by the Iraqi government.

"When I did get through, they were terrified. They just sounded very, very sad," he said.

Everyone of these phone calls is a strain as it is impossible to talk openly.

In the last couple of weeks, their relatives have dug a well and started work on a trench. They have been stockpiling what food and fuel they could find.

"When we last spoke they were totally resigned to the war," said Fareed. "From their experience of the last time, the first thing to go is the electricity and the water purification."

Mixed feelings

Fareed and Zaynab had no hesitation in saying war would not solve Iraq's problems.

The question is - at what cost?" said Fareed.

"If America had supported the Iraqi people [in 1991] they would have finished it. But they didn't and the sanctions have crippled our people.

"People are extremely cynical at American motives because they know the end of Saddam will come at a very heavy price.

"If this is about democracy then why has America ignored the United Nations? If this is about freedom then why does the US support some of the most backward regimes in the Middle East? Why is there no equal treatment for the Palestinians?

"Every time America gets involved it comes with its own agenda and makes problems worse."

Contrasting views

Many Muslims in the UK are vehemently opposed to the war because of what they regard as double standards.

But their views contrast sharply with some of the Iraqis at home whose unfiltered views are known. Many say they will welcome the Americans. Doesn't this prove the exile community is out of step?

"There is a saying in Arabic - show someone death and he will accept fever," says Fareed. "The Iraqi people are desperate because life is so difficult."

The nightmare scenario for the exiles is for a post-Saddam Iraq to collapse into ethnic strife.

They fear the three main groups - the majority Shias, politically dominant Sunnis and the northern Kurds will begin settling scores which will fracture the nation.

This, believe Fareed and Zaynab, would make it even harder for people like them to ever return home.

"There will always be those who seek vengeance. But ordinary people only want to live their lives.

"I have been here for 20 years and my daughters go to school here.

"But in Baghdad we have a large family home, paid for by my income here, that we never see.

"Most Iraqis are not in the UK through choice. They would always want to return home. But I think that whatever the Americas do in the coming days it will still be impossible for many to do so."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2862207.stm

[4me2]

US missiles target Saddam


The strikes began at dawn

US President George W Bush has launched war on Baghdad, vowing to "disarm Iraq and to free its people".
Mr Bush delivered a live television address shortly after explosions rocked the capital at 0534 local time (0234 GMT), signalling the start of the US-led campaign to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

US military sources have told the BBC that five key members of the Iraqi regime, including Saddam Hussein, were targeted in the first attacks.

It is not known whether the targets were hit and what damage might have been caused.

But shortly before Baghdad air raid sirens sounded the all clear for a second time at 0600 GMT, Iraqi TV broadcast what it said was a live speech by Saddam Hussein.

"I don't need to remind you what you should do to defend our country," he said.

"Let the unbelievers go to hell... you will be victorious, Iraqi people."

Saddam Hussein is known to have several body doubles, but correspondents familiar with the Iraqi leader say they believe it to be him.

China has condemned the US attack, saying that the war was a violation of the UN charter and of international law.

Early stages

BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the attack that was carried out was on a much smaller scale than had been expected for the opening of the conflict, and it had probably been mounted at short notice when US military planners spotted a good opportunistic target.
The F-117s were probably already in the air, loitering beyond the air defences of central Iraq, ready to move in if required, our correspondent says.

President Bush gave his order for the first strikes on Baghdad after being told by the CIA that it believed it knew the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein, the Washington Post reported.

CIA director George Tenet said he believed the Iraqi leader was having consultations with advisers in a suburban house in southern Baghdad, according to the newspaper.

Speaking from the Oval Office, President Bush said American and coalition forces were in the "early stages of military operations" and had struck "targets of military importance".

He promised a "broad and concerted campaign" and said the US would prevail.

But, he warned, the campaign could be "longer and more difficult than some predict".

As dawn broke in Baghdad, anti-aircraft artillery peppered the sky as deep, heavy thuds were heard in the outskirts of the city.

'Limited thing'

The same target, in the east, is reported to have been hit three or four times.
US officials said 2000-pound (900-kilogram) precision-guided bombs were dropped from F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter-bombers.

More than 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles were also fired from six US Navy vessels, including two submarines, stationed in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, officials said.

French news agency AFP quoted a Pentagon official as saying the first strikes were "a limited thing - it ain't A-Day," referring to the planned massive air campaign.

A BBC correspondent in Baghdad said anti-aircraft guns were in action for about 15 minutes, after which the city became quiet again.

After the first strike, a large pall of black smoke was seen in the south of Baghdad.

At about the same time as the strikes began, the US military appeared to take over a frequency of Iraqi radio with an Arabic-speaking presenter announcing: "This is the day we have been waiting for."

Our correspondent in Baghdad says the timing of the attack is unusual - coming as it did in daylight.

He says traffic remains normal and people are beginning to appear on the streets.

There have also been reports of exchanges of artillery fire on the Iraq-Kuwait border.

The BBC's Tim Franks, who is northern Kuwait, says British troops stationed there have gone on alert after hearing what sounded like two artillery shell explosions.

Troops and reporters have been ordered to put on gas masks and protective suits.

Deadline passes

The attack on Baghdad began after President Bush's 0100 GMT deadline for Saddam Hussein to go into exile or face war expired.
As the deadline approached, US-led combat troops in the Gulf - numbering about 150,000 - took up battle positions for an imminent invasion of Iraq.

A British military spokesman in Kuwait says no order has yet been given to the US and British troops who are waiting on the Iraqi border.

But UK Defence Minister Geoff Hoon said on Thursday that British forces were on "very, very high" state of alert and that it would not take long before the attack on Iraq escalated.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/2866969.stm

[4me2]

Originally posted by Yazmon
Iraq has just hit Kuwait with two missiles.

And so it begins....

just confirmed they were conventional weapons and landed in the desert.

[4me2]

Troops on biochemical weapons alert

British forces have gone on a chemical and biological alert in northern Kuwait after explosions were heard.
Thousands of soldiers across the UK division were told to put on protective gear including gas masks and run for cover, during alerts in the Kuwaiti desert after 0730GMT, according to BBC correspondents.

A British Army spokesman said this was a real alert. But there was no sign of any gas in the area.

Lieutenant Colonel Sean Tully, spokesman for divisional headquarters in northern Kuwait, told the BBC: "This wasn't a drill.

"It was a timely reminder there is a real threat out there.

"It could have been a real live chemical attack."
BBC correspondent Tim Franks, reporting from the region, said this was believed to have been the first suspected chemical or biological attack alerts of the war.

"We heard a couple of thumps which might have been artillery and shouts of gas, gas, gas.

"We put on our respirators (gas masks) and ran to the nearest bunker and put on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons suits."

He continued: "There is no evidence that there is an attack.

"The army is erring of course on the side of caution. I assume this is going to be the pattern for several hours if not days."


Military prepared
There has been suggestions that mortar fire was heard near the border with Iraq prior to the alerts.

BBC correspondent Hilary Andersson, who was still wearing her gas mask as she reported, said: "I heard a loud explosion off in the distance just before the first alert happened.
"If there were any chemical or biological agent they would have to be carried in on something.

"One way of carrying it in would be on a missile.

But she said any connection between a possible mortar attack and the alerts were unconfirmed.

"This is not a practice. This is a real alert", she said.

She said soldiers carried their gas masks with them at all times and were prepared to put them on within nine seconds of an alert.

And military leaders would go into battle dressed in the full protective clothing if necessary.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2867491.stm

[ABCMan]

the 2 missiles fired at kuwait were both shot down by the new generation patriot systems. the first took 3 patriots, the second took one, like playing duck hunt with a blunderbuss on a duck farm