News:
The United States has suspended a training programme for Iraqi dissidents in Hungary, without explaining why.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2905881.stm

I hope this isn't a repeat, but this media outlet is reporting 9 marines killed while attempting to rescue their comrade.

http://www.borderlandnews.com/war/stories/20030331-94562.shtml

From the London Times:

"The SAS has arrested four busloads of suspected suicide bombers and would-be fighters in Iraq’s western desert.
The men, who are being held as prisoners of war, came from various Arab countries but all carried Syrian passports."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-631677,00.html

Syria gives passports to suicide bombers

I hope that IS a repeat!

Perhaps they are indeed Syrian citizens.

BBC World Service reports: CENTCOM says battle for Baghdada has begun; Republican Guard engaged in outskirts of the city, about 70 km south of the city.

[ed. note: that would put the engagement somewhere near Karbela or Najaf, which last I heard isn't anywhere near the outskirts of Baghdad.]

Main ground offensive on Baghdad to come "within 48 hours" according to this London Times story.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-631778,00.html

US troops poised for the 'big push' on Baghdad

Minor story, sorry if it's been mentioned before. Apparently he was called up for duty, but it doesn't say if he was going to Iraq (although you could infer it):

Marine reservist refuses to serve

Here ya van watch some of the streetfighting in Hindiyah

http://streams.planet.nl/cgi-bin/reflector.cgi?source=195.121.7.100&type=wmv&dir=planet&subdir=neos&stream=010403straatgevecht_low&title=Planet.nl&sitestat=p.str.neos&logo=planet&logourl=logo/planet

Network TV all just announced Centcom briefing coming up shortly. It's 2 a.m. there - Gen. Brooks to make brief announcement - Unusual live appearance at this hour.

CNN reporting huge battle taking place near Karbala...any information on this?

Also awaiting an on camera statement from Brooks in Doha...related to this battle?? Time will tell.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/04/01/sars_new030401

2 more SARS death in Toronto, raising total to 6 out of a total of 130 cases so far in Canada.

Last night, I thought I heard CBC say that the Canadian government said it will invoke the Quarantine Act if the provinces cannot get the situation under control. However, I cannot find a url for that today.

(The Quarantine Act gives the government broad emergency powers, including the authority to force quarantined persons to remain in their homes, as well as to prevent unauthorized persons from coming into contact with quarantined people. Think of it sort of as a Riot Act without the guns, and you'll probably have a good picture.)

Saddam: Dead or Alive?

Reports of Saddam Hussein's death are (again) greatly exaggerated

Saddam Hussein has had more false death reports than Paul McCartney.

It happened again last week. Rumors circulated that Saddam had collapsed while watching a New Year's Eve military parade in Baghdad. Matt Drudge mentioned the rumors on his Web site. People sent e-mails to me asking about it.

Then the story fell apart. News reporters at the parade saw no collapse. The people making claims about the incident turned out to not even be inside Iraq. Of course the fact that the Iraqi government is so closed and secretive allowed the story to spread without direct refutation for a few days.

There are also persistent reports that Saddam Hussein has cancer and is in pretty bad shape. These stories, along with the death rumors, fuel speculation about a potential power-struggle inside Iraq. Will Saddam's sons, Uday and Qusay, fight over leading Iraq? Will a violent civil war result?

Saddam Hussein took power in 1979. Unless Hussein really DOES die in the next few days, George W. Bush will become the fourth American presidentto face off against the Iraqi strongman.

Dateline: January 9, 2001 Source: About.com

Somethings NEVER change!

Republican guards attacking US forces in a surprise attack in Karbala. US forces getting hit hard in major offensive. Prey for all involved.

BBC World Service: reports from town of Hillah indicate as many as 33 civilians may have been killed during a bombing attack by coalition aircraft. Some reports say it could have been a cluster bomb (treat that part as suspect).

Grumpy,

What is the source for this? (I hope this isn't like the 1000 vehicle convoy... or actually, considering the casualties, I hope it *is* like the 1000 vehicle convoy)

Seymour Hersh will be discussing the Rumsfeld/Pentagon fights over the war plan tonight on NPR's "On-Point" call-in program, 8pm EST. You can listen through WBUR (Boston) or your local station.

http://www.wbur.org

Hersh's article is:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030407fa_fact1

Republican guards attacking US forces

Is this "on", or "by"? CENTCOM is claiming the Medina division's combat capability has been reduced by (pick a number) 35%, 50%, 97%, and is being reinforced from the Hammurabi division.

If the Medina does not effectively exist anymore, any US offensive should just brush it aside, and it could not possibly mount an attack.

Should we assume massive reinforcement of an essentially non-existent division or another little white lie?

CentCom briefing in 2 minutes

U.S. Troops Seize Najaf, Overwhelmed Iraqi Fighters Retreat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4297-2003Apr1.html

I was watching a CNN embed reporting from an A-10 base. He interviewed the airman checking the loading of a bomb which dispensed a payload of scores of hand grenades. Sure sounds like a cluster bomb to me.

Globex stock market trading higher as soon as centcom announced briefing in 2 mins.

Still no briefing going on from CentCom..any minute msnbc said.....msnbc is also mentioning that at this moment a massive battle is going on in the area of Karbala. No details available yet.

CNN Pentagon correspondent has implied this Centcom briefing is about personnel- POW's maybe?

MSNBC doesn't know a damn thing..am watching them live over the internet now :)

Does anyone know who the senior US offical is in the following:

"We are not going to do anything other than ensure that this regime goes away," a senior U.S. official told the Citizen yesterday. "If that means there will be a lot of casualties, then there will be a lot of casualties."

Reminding reporters at war headquarters there were nights during the Second World War when "we'd lose 1,000 people," he said: "There will come a time maybe when things are going to be much more shocking."

(source)

Raven,

Canada's "Quarantine Act"
http://www.canlii.org/ca/sta/q-1/

Hope it doesn't come to this.

Capitol Hill sources say it is POW developments.

Meanwhile, Reuters bulletin:

AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - A U.S. military official said Wednesday U.S. forces were engaged in major fighting with the Iraqi Republican Guard near the southern town of Kerbala, a key city on the way to the capital Baghdad.
"This is the big battle," the U.S. military official at Central Command forward headquarters told Reuters.
Asked if the fighting represented a much anticipated new push toward the Iraqi capital, the official said: "It well could be."

The attack on Baghdad has begun?

I think we will hear that for many more days, as, in my mind, the attack will begin when it is in artillery range, not before!
What does it matter if they are 60 or 40 km away?

/Mattias

From that WaPo article mrmoa posted:

"Hundreds of curious civilians, many of them smiling and waving, lined the narrow, dusty streets... Shortly before 2 p.m., Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st, drove in an armed convoy up a rocky escarpment into Najaf, urged on by clapping Iraqis who gestured impatiently for the Americans to press deeper into the city center."

Shame that the Americans aren't being greeted very warmly in Iraq.

anyone got a streaming link for the Centcom briefing?

turn on a tv.

something is going to come out of qatar...so i saw a few minutes ago.

interesting URL - Weblogs and Diaries from Embedded Journalists -
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/features/iraqcoverage.html#embeds

Chemical Ali may have been caught and killed.

Am watching for the first time MSNBC...gee..looked at the intro of the news...now i know hwy the Americans (hopefully not all) are pro-war..it's just like a hollywood-movie what they are showing....entertainment it is..don;t they realize that people's lives are on steak ?? People actually dying over there..it aint a movie NBC..so don't make it look like one.

the 1000 vehicle convoy

The final word from CENTCOM on this is that it was a glitch in JSTAR caused by salt kicked into the air by the sandstorm.

That claim was made after the salt cloud was attacked twice from the air, and twice by ground units.

Salt in the Euphrates valley? uh huh

From Yahoo! News/Reuters

"Big Battle Ongoing at Kerbala -U.S. Official,"
11 minutes ago

AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - A U.S. military official said on Wednesday U.S. forces were engaged in major fighting with the Iraqi Republican Guard near the southern town of Kerbala, a key city on the way to the capital Baghdad.  

"This is the big battle," the U.S. military official at Central Command forward headquarters told Reuters.

Asked if the fighting represented a much anticipated new push toward the Iraqi capital, the official said: "It well could be."

Kerbala is 68 miles southwest of Baghdad.

Reuters reporters traveling with invading U.S. and British troops earlier said a pause of several days in their advance toward Baghdad -- under heavy bombardment since the war started 13 days ago -- appeared to be over and armor was moving again.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=2&cid=578&u=/nm/20030401/ts_nm/iraq_kerbala_dc

The US military... we bomb more salt clouds before 8 am than most coutries bomb all day.

OK, that was weak... back to the news.

Is Sean Paul AWOL? Seems like news is picking up, but no update in an hour and a half.

clapping Iraqis who gestured impatiently

They only want the battle to move out of their towns so they can get back to finding something to eat.

Pro war Americans didn't get that way watching MSNBC. Most of the ones I know got that way watching the UN.

"Don't they realize people's lives are on steak?"

I think you meant "at stake," Raymy.

Shimon Peres sees war widening to include Iran, Libya, and Syria; possibly lasting 5 or 6 years.

http://www.counterpunch.org/burston03222003.html

Where's SP? I'm dyin' here.... I need a fix! It's getting dark, I can't see...

FIFA suspends Iraq's Olympic qualifier at home to Viet Nam.

Martin: thats a pretty bad misquote on your part. The article doesnt say what you claim it does.

Last seen fixing the sitmap

tnx for the correction, JSH..English aint my native language :) Am doing the best I can though.

Granmere,

Well, if a tv-channel is bringing news over a war on TV as if it's a movie...sorry, but that jist sucks in my opinion. That aint propriate (probably worng written). At least now I understand why Gulf War II is also named The Media War.

They're saying it's going to be good news -

hot of the press - yeah April 2 cuz they are
in Australia.....
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/31/1048962700708.html
The toll - killed, missing, captured

April 2 2003

The number of estimated dead, missing and captured since the beginning of the Iraqi conflict:

- Casualties: Among US troops, 51 dead, seven captured, 17 missing, according to the Pentagon and family members. Among British troops, 26 dead, none missing or captured.

- Deployed: 290,000 coalition forces are deployed in support of combat operations. Close to 100,000 US troops are now in Iraq and 100,000 more forces on the way.

- Iraqi troops: estimated 350,000.

- Iraqi deaths: No estimate of military casualties. Iraq says at least 653 civilians have been killed since the war began.

- Iraqi prisoners of war: More than 4,500, according to the Pentagon.
A British tribunal released 35 civilians who had been swept up among them.

- Oil: More than 600 oil wells and three oil refineries are under coalition control.

Sources include US Central Command, the Pentagon and British Ministry of Defence.

To correct Martin, the Counterpiece article had Shimon Peres saying this:

"The war in Iraq is just the beginning," Peres told Israel Channel One Television. "Problems of the first magnitude can be expected therafter, as well: Iran, North Korea, and Libya."

I didn't see a mention of Syria.

Counterpunch = treat as suspect. (And I say that as a card-carrying anti-Bush librul.)

Shimon Peres sees war widening

Shimon Peres is IMO rather optimistic. There is a very real chance, if the war widens, that one or more of the governments of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt could face massive unrest, leading to Islamic revolutions.

turn on a tv.
something is going to come out of qatar...so i saw a few minutes ago.

what will happen in qatar, explain. and in which channel?

ouch, australia is getting mean re excercising democratic rights:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/01/1048962761755.html
Violence expected as marchers defy police
By Brad Norington and Amanda Morgan
April 2 2003
Police are prepared for a head-on confrontation with anti-war

protesters in the streets of Sydney today after refusing a permit for a march because of "violence and damage to property" during a similar event last week.

SP is dead.
Some say it was a coalition weapon, but FOX swears it was caused by wayward Iraqi anti-aircraft fire.

SP, we hardly knew ye...

Newsflash:

SP arrested for saying "Bush is an idiot, Bush is an idiot"

After a brief trial, SP was found guilty and sentenced to 26 years in prison: 1 year for insulting the President,and 25 years for revealing a state secret.

(Treat as suspect :)

Counterpunch reprints stuff from other sources, along with opinion pieces from a bunch of high profile commentators. It is not "treat as suspect" - it's individual documents need to be evaluated on their own merits, either by source (NYT reprint?) or on the basis of the credibility of the individual providing the opinion.

Sean-Paul we miss you! I hope you're getting well deserved rest or a great meal or a drink. We really appreciate what you're doing! Since you haven't been posting I've been trying to find out things on my own and it's no fun.

On the Qatar briefing:

CNN is reporting that Gen. Brooks will announce the "retrieval of American military personnel."

Retraction...
Sources have reported recently on the untimely demise of SP. Those reports have been determined false. There has been no contact with SP in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Sources now consider SP MIA. Search parties have been deployed. Stay tuned for further details

oops: US jet falls off aircaft carrier
A an anti-submarine aircraft veered off the USS Constellation's flight deck and into the Persian Gulf after landing early today. The two pilots ejected into the water and were rescued by helicopter, US military officials said. ...
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/01/1048962714505.html
(a few paragraphs down.....)

SP: Got to dig out an old modem, just in cases like this... we're completely dependent on TA! ;)

Unconfirmed reports note that SP has now been sighted. However, this may be of one of his many known doubles. We are working to verify.

BBC is reporting that journalists have been called for a special night briefing which the Coalition has said should be beamed live. Local time in Doha is almost 3 am - same as in Finland

BBC is speculating that this may be to announce the end of Saddam Hussain.

Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

Re: Counterpunch. There's nothing wrong with pointing out that the publication has a particular point of view (hostile critics might even term it a bias). This doesn't totally de-value it. We can still read it, and evaluate what it says. However, we shouldn't pretend that Counterpunch, its editors, or its authors don't have a strong point of view and an equally strong agenda.

They'll be announcing that Umm Qasr has been secured...

30,000 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division

Could someone email me the orbat of a typical US mech inf division?

This isn't all combat troops, or else it's as big as 3 normal divisions in anyone else's army.. ie. big as a traditional army corps.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre (from the Pentagon) reported that the 3rd Infantry Div. and the Marines outside of Baghdad are fully engaging two divisions of the RG. Not probing attacks, the real thing.

Juan, don't you think CNN, FOX, BBC, etc have a particular point of view? do you know of any media outlet that reports neutrally (as in NO opinion/bias). i can't think of one and i research media for a living ....

Good discussion here on the BBC on "checkpoints"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2907049.stm
with reference to how Israelis set them up in the Occupied Territories, and the consequences for the occupied. Also, a note from BBC's Peter Hunt on why the US trotted out Gen. Myers to give an "apology", rather than keep to the "self-defence" meme.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/2003/reporters_log/default.stm

Your poll was a little, shall we say, limited on the left side of the house. Liberal doesn't quite catch it for those of us outside of the US. Frankly Liberal Americans are usually barely left of center in other countries.

What ever happened to good old terms like leftist, or socialist, or progressive, or marxist, or anarchist, or syndicalist?

To remember the days of the clockmakers of Jura...

The Medina and Baghdad divisions seem quite far from the actual city of Baghdad according to BBC's map - but can't tell the distance. Is there another map somewhere that shows it better?

Raymy: English aint my native language :) Am doing the best I can though.

You're doing fine, Raymy. I understand what you are saying. I'm sure you're doing better in english than most of us could do in your language. Better than many posters are doing in their own native english, i'm sorry to say. ;-)

Here's one source who tenatively predicted the war would go the way it has:

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2003/031703a.html

look: Proved: Deaths in Iraqi marketplace were caused by American missile
Codes on a foot-long shrapnel shard came from a weapon manufactured in Texas by Raytheon

http://www.independent.co.uk/

The poll doesn't include "socialist" as a choice. I realize you yank-types have difficulty sometimes distinguishing between liberalism, socialism, and for some who won't be named, communism, well...

:)

If there is a big offensive happening in Karbila now, coupled with the "taking" of Najaf and stepped-up attacks on other cities such as Nassiriya, score one for the Russian intelligence. I thought it odd that 3 days ago they were talking about imminent massive attacks on all fronts while the media outlets in the USA spoke of "strategic pauses" lasting up to 2 weeks. Looks like we're getting a whiff of the ol' disinformation campaign.

BBC is speculating that this may be to announce the end of Saddam Hussain.

Followed by a live speech by Saddam on Iraqi Television, probably ;-)

"Thank you for voting! It will help us plan our editorial direction"

Are you saying you are going to slant your news commentary towards whatever part of the political spectrum gets the most votes?

Hmmm...

Guardian: source of that market missile was
Raytheon:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/dailybriefing/story/0,12965,927233,00.html

Breaking news from the Command Post (http://www.command-post.org/):

"MSNBC and FoxNews reporting that CENTCOM will announce shortly that American POWs have been rescued. It appears that the POWs are the crew of the Apache that went down last week."

let me know what's going on with centcom briefing - cannot watch tv at this moment. thx

CNN-TV crawl: F-14 crash, SW Iraq; successful bail and recovery of both crew.

Ankara has refused the US permission to launch rockets over Turkish ground..BBC World just mentioned.
I believe Powell is in Turkey at the moment or somebody else who thinks he's important from the US :)

Another outside the US, and I would consider liberal to be further right than I would place myself. And I am far far right of my most radical socialist days. It is amusing to see a poll where Liberal is as far left as it goes.

Can someone tell when/if the troops & equipment originally planned to invade Iraq through Turkey are now on the ground and functional in Iraq?

Or are they still en route?

Similarly if this is the big fight.. how many of our guys are involved..? Anybody?

PS to Prophet, oh yes, here's to the clockmakers of Jura! Thanks for that.

birgit,

Unfortunately, a proof is only as strong as its weakest link. In this case, that weakness is obvious: With shards of weapons all over Baghdad, how do we know where this shard originated? We don't. Chances are it was dropped onsite by the regime post-self-inflicted damage.

Proved nothing, birgit. This was reported yesterday, and even some of the anti-war folks pointed out the shard could have come from any of the several thousand weapons that have hit Baghdad, and placed or claimed to have come from the market site by the Iraqi military.

Gee, let's believe what the Iraqi's claim at face value. Sorry, we must be skeptical of both sides, not just the one we agree with!

Why the poll? Idle curiosity? Market research?

From the Guardian, background on the origins of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory System, as it began in Guangdong province of China.
The Chinese government tried to minimize social disruption by minimizing reports of the epidemic.

The Chinese are still blocking WHO (World Health Organisation) specialists, who are waiting to travel to Guangdong, to assess the extent of the epidemic there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,927392,00.html

Re: Counterpunch, yes, that was apparently a reprint, so judge the author on his own terms. Sorry.

(The only Counterpunch pieces I was familiar with were from the print version and by one of the editors - and on more than one occasion they got facts wrong where I had personal knowledge of the events. So I just don't trust them with facts on events where I have no personal knowledge.)

Re: political poll. In large tracts of the world, "liberal" means right-wing, or at best centrist...

Juan: you don't understand. Counterpunch *reprints* pieces. If it reprints a New York Times article, that is exactly as credible as the article was before they reprinted, no more, no less. And if they run an opinion piece by Robert Fisk, that's as credible as Robert Fisk is. (And they don't do editorials as far as I have seen.)

So it makes no sense whatsoever to talk about Counterpunch's credibility - every item they run has to be evaluated independently. That can be painful, but that's the peril of aggregation services.

What Peres said in article:

"The war in Iraq is just the beginning," Peres told Israel Channel One Television. "Problems of the first magnitude can be expected therafter, as well: Iran, North Korea, and Libya."

and then:

"Asked if that meant America might then be facing as many as five or six years of war at this point, Peres replied, "That is very possible. I don't know how long it will take, but the problem is a global one, and it will not end in Iraq, even if a new regime is instituted - say a regime like Jordan's, not a democracy, but orderly and responsible rule.""

I suppose I should have said he sees the war as *possibly* lasting 5 or 6 years, but I figured those interested in that level of detail would read the thing.

I posted this in an earlier thread and I think it got missed by some. As long as the market bombings have come up again...

The AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile is made by Raytheon. Here is a little information on it that is consistent with Fisk's description of the blast damage in Baghdad:

From the Federation of American Scientists

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/agm-88.htm:
Warhead Section. The warhead section is designed to inflict sufficient damage on the target antenna and waveguide system to force an inoperative condition. It also ensures complete destruction of the HARM Missile guidance section.. The AGM-88A, and AGM-88B warhead section contains 25,000 pre-formed steel fragments, an explosive charge, a fuze, and a fuze booster. The AGM-88C utilizes an improved warhead section containing 12,845 tungsten fragments and an improved explosive charge which provides greater overall lethality.

From a US Navy site:
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/factfile/missiles/wep-harm.html
If you scroll down to the bottom, the warhead is described as "blast fragmentation, warhead weight 150 lbs." This would be consistent with a small crater relative to those made by the larger guided bombs (500-2000 lbs).

"Editorial slant"?

Methinks SP is getting in a little late jab in honour of this special day.

I'll know I'm wrong if the updates start to come exclusively from guardian.co.uk and counterpunch.org....

re proof: that was the headline, not me....i just wrote "look:"

and if someone already posted it, sorry, hadn't checked the Independent for a couple of days...just grabbed it and ran, will try to check more next time....but there are sooo many in soooo many languages...

the shard could have come from any of the several thousand weapons

Still, you have to admit that shrapnel/debris from some distance away has a much lower probability of being found there than debris from a weapon that actually detonated there.

(Rummy, you blew it: you should have announced that it was carried in by hand from another site.)

if we're going to be so logical about this bomb on the market, what are the odds it's an american missile?

something like 7,000 to 1?

i doth think the lady protests too much...

William Shakespeare

On the poll:
I am more then moderately left, but far from liberal. In fact if you'd be a liberal here (Holland) you're probably be seen as centric-right. In the end I voted liberal after all, though I'd rather have an option "green" or simulair.

It makes the poll a bit US centric like this...

birgit,

You wrote:
Juan, don't you think CNN, FOX, BBC, etc have a particular point of view? do you know of any media outlet that reports neutrally (as in NO opinion/bias). i can't think of one and i research media for a living ....
Posted by birgit at April 1, 2003 06:55 PM

Since I was responding to the Counterpunch thread, I didn't mention other news sources. Of course I totally agree with you that there's no fully objective news outlet. However, you must agree that CNN and MSNBC are different kinds of news outlets than Counterpunch is. I generally don't go to read Counterpunch for the kind of news reports that I go to CNN or MSNBC to get. And it's not about ideology, either; the same goes for Fox News.

AL Jaz live - Baghdad under heavy arial attack right now. Huge explosions.

check out Yahoo maps...I was looking for the desert place and out of no where the hindustan times...

if we're going to be so logical about this bomb on the market, what are the odds it's an american missile?

something like 7,000 to 1?

Those odds are way too high, I would say. I don't think we'll ever know for sure, but based on the scant evidence we have, the second marketbombing would seem to be caused by a stray coalition missile.

Wow - what a press conference!

sorry, i'm so stupid, it should have read
i think the lady doth protest too much...

sorry but what are urls of russia intel websites?

Well that's certainly good news...but the good General didn't tell us anything that we didn't already know....a POW HAS BEEN RESCUED

Russian intel site (English translation):

www.aeronautics.ru

Russian intel site (in Russian):

www.iraqwar.ru

re. trusting the media, kerbala/karbala seems to move depending on what you read. AP always report it as '50 miles south of baghdad', reuters as '68 miles south...'. which? 18 miles error on a claim of 50 would be way off.

Does anyone know where the POW was?

Will,

Maybe it depends on what part of Baghdad you measure from... city center or city limits. I imagine a 5,000,000-person metropolis could easily have an 18-mile radius.

The market bomb argument is interesting but focuses only on the immediate cause of the casualties. In the judgment of history, I think that the US will have to be regarded as the "proximate cause" of the casualties, since it was the party which went to war voluntarily. I believe the Pope made this point a few weeks ago, warning that there is a heavy moral responsibility which rests upon those who take up arms when there are any possible alternatives. Of course, Rumsfeld would probably echo Stalin and ask: "How many divisions has the Pope?"

Danny,

You wrote:
Juan: you don't understand. Counterpunch *reprints* pieces. If it reprints a New York Times article, that is exactly as credible as the article was before they reprinted, no more, no less.
Posted by Danny at April 1, 2003 07:14 PM

I kindly ask that you refrain from posting condescending comments containing useless lectures aiming to "teach" those who you clearly think are less smart than you how to evaluate a re-printed NYTimes article. (For goodness' sake, do you think anyone here is _not_ able to do what you prescribed?) Finally, last time I checked, the CounterPunch website contained original content.

POW news to cover up the fact that RG is repelling the 3ID around Karbela.

I think that poll is a little too limiting or at least the terms are not defined well enough, especially for an international audience. For instance, I consider myself politically "conservative", as I support small and non-intrusive government, and, in many cases, a return to older principles of government (that have been changed in the constitution or by judicial interpretation). Yet, I am a "social liberal", and I emphatically oppose, and am frightened by, many of the policies of the "right", whether it be Bush & Co., most of the Republican party, or the "religious right". So, I do not support socialist policies, such as a "liberal" or one on the "left" would, I do not support most of the policies of the "right" or of recognized "conservatives", and I hold many views that are certainly not "centrist", and deviate on both sides of the recognized political spectrum.

Can someone tell when/if the troops & equipment originally planned to invade Iraq through Turkey are now on the ground and functional in Iraq?

The troops from 4ID that various reports have just recently disembarking in Kuwait are a major part of that force, but I think there was at least one other division slated for that job. Not sure which, though, so can't say what they are doing now.

"RG is repelling the 3ID around Karbela."

srd do you have any reports on this or is this intuition?

Jean-Paul, I 'voted', classifying myself as 'conservative'.Being over 50, the terms and definitions seem to have changed radically these days, what was 'conservative' may now be libertarian, socialist, even liberal..I don't much care for small constraining boxes..
So I'd ask you,( or those who come here), to 'define' what each of these definitive words mean.

I appreciate your efforts on this site.
Perhaps links to some of the sources from which you post this news could be given?

BBC World Service Far East reporter reports possible case of Dengai fever in SE Asia. I didn't catch where but I got the impression the reporter was referring to Guandong province, China.

Thank you for voting! It will help us plan our editorial direction./

Huh? A week ago I made this site my homepage. Told others about its unbiased coverage of this epic event and the epic devotion being cast upon it by some French-Texan down in San-Antone. Staked some degree of my (modest) reputation on it.

Sean-Paul. I (we) know this is a blog. But remember - you have a chance to make it more.

Jim Scott
Hamilton, OH

Why are people whining about editorial direction?

Editorial policy is a far cry from a policy of slanting any news that is reported. If SP is gonna carry this forward after the Fourth Crusade is over, he will need an editorial policy. He can be a g-d raving Marxist for all I care, so long as the actual news is reported fairly.

"marshlands"? Those wouldn't be "quagmires", would they? ;-)

I didn't know there were any marshlands left after Saddam drained them in retaliation for the '91 uprising. (One of the less well-known petty vengeances enacted upon the "marsh Arabs" of southern Iraq)

SP:

I think the results of the poll would be interesting. I'm curious what spectrum of people are making use of your invaluable service.

Start Quote:
30,000 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division

Could someone email me the orbat of a typical US mech inf division?

This isn't all combat troops, or else it's as big as 3 normal divisions in anyone else's army.. ie. big as a traditional army corps.
Posted by raven at April 1, 2003 06:54 PM
End Quote:

Raven, US and most wester divisions are larger than they used to be.

While divisions used to be the smallest self supporting (eg have all the rear area, support, and supply services) formations (yes, I know there were regimental combat teams, but these were battelfield expedients) thats no longer true.

Nowadays, bridage sized units (about regimental in size) are typical units of manuver.
US divisions are triangular in nature containing 3 brigades. Each brigade is also usually triangular, containging 3 battalions. Now brigades in the field may have additional attachments, making a force almsot 1/2 as large as a typiucal WW2 division.

My moderm OOB is a bit rusty, but IIRC, the 3rd infantry is 2 mech infantry brigades and one armor brigade, 3 battalions of tube artillery and maybe a battalion of MRLS (rockets). Dont quote me on all that, Im a bit rusty.

Iraqi divisions tend to be smaller due to lack of trained personnel and equipment. My (5 year old info) indiocates that Iraqi divisions range from ~8000 to 12000 troops. Regualr army divs are towards the lower value while RG and Special RG units towards the higher figure.

Mad Dog

Stalin, that old cynic said:

The death of 20,000,000 people can be a statistic and the death of one person, a tragedy.

i am so good at these quotes tonight!

"Suicide squads and other Iraqi fighters still control the residential areas of Umm Qasr"

Go Iraq!!!!
I look forward to being told by the British that the city has been taken... again. I'd still like to know just how big this place is though. Is it really tiny or is it the size of Southampton?

I picked "other". I really have no idea what I would be called but none seemed close.

"He can be a g-d raving Marxist for all I care"

Yeah, that's closer but still not it. ;)

The Counterpunch piece identifies the author as a writer for Ha'aretz. So I guess assign it whatever credibility you would assign to Ha'aretz. I personally don't picture Ha'aretz misquoting Shimon Peres.

I find unbelivable stupid that the americans see themselves as a kind of freedom fighters for the iraquis when all they are doing at the moment is killing inocent people.
People are thristy and hungry NOT because Sadam has make them like that (in the short term anyway) but it is because the bloody american bombs are bombing the hell out of all the iraq infrastructure!!
Shame on America! I can not possible believe that a person with a clear conscience can support this murderers

Herman

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