-Caveat Lector- Sun 6 Apr 2003 show images
http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=402572003 Blair in grim warning of bloddy battle for Baghdad BRIAN BRADY COALITION troops face a long and bloody battle to take Baghdad and sweep Saddam Hussein from power, Downing Street warned last night. Despite yesterday’s lightning attack by US armour on the Iraqi capital, in which 1,000 defenders were said to have been killed, officials in London and Washington tried to play down expectations that the war was all but won. Allied commanders still believe Baghdad will have to be wrested from Saddam district by district in a string of engagements with potentially heavy casualties on both sides. Last night, there were reports that Iraqi fighters, tanks and artillery were blocking the main roads into Baghdad as darkness fell. Members of Saddam’s ultra-loyal Fedayeen militia were prowling the streets and manning heavy machine-gun positions. A spokesman for Tony Blair said: "No one underestimates the difficulties that remain, or pretends that the job is done. "We’ve been saying all the way through that there won’t be one battle for Baghdad, but a series of engagements. "There will be more loss of life. We have to acknowledge that." Officials also revealed new intelligence reports from Baghdad, which they claimed showed Saddam’s regime had been rocked by internal tensions. The Prime Minister also sought to increase the pressure on the Iraqi president, with a call for the people of Baghdad to turn against him and support the coalition invasion. His spokesman claimed the end of Saddam would be hastened "if the people on the ground see the speed of the advance and recognise that this time, unlike 1991 [after the Gulf War], we are there to see it through". There was surprise and delight on both sides of the Atlantic that US forces had been able to move deep into Baghdad. Commanders said the incursion, which left dozens of Iraqi tanks smouldering in the streets, was intended to send out a powerful psychological message to the city’s defenders that US forces could move with impunity. Last night, coalition forces were cranking up the pressure on Saddam. Dozens of US attack jets, air controllers and unmanned spy planes were put on 24-hour alert over Baghdad to provide close support for American troops fighting in the city. Elsewhere in the country, fierce fighting was reported as Allied forces tried to flush out and finish off Iraqi troops. Soldiers from the ‘Screaming Eagles’ 101st Airborne Division made a sweep through the central city of Kerbala, 70 miles south of Baghdad. US Air Force officers said US warplanes had successfully dropped 2,000 pound bombs on three targets in the city: a Republican Guards barracks, the Kerbala headquarters of the ruling Ba’ath Party and an ammunition depot. Early yesterday, shortly after the US tanks entered Baghdad, US troops took the headquarters of the Medina division of the Republican Guard at Suwayrah, 35 miles south-west of the capital, without firing a shot. Meanwhile, US special forces seized the main road between Baghdad and Saddam’s birthplace, Tikrit. And in the south of Iraq, two coalition jets attacked the Basra home of ‘Chemical Ali’, General Ali Hassan al-Majeed, with laser-guided weapons after a tip-off that the notorious commander was inside. British troops were waiting for orders to begin the final assault on the city. Ministry of Defence sources said the Americans’ approach to Baghdad was a ‘copy’ of the British strategy for Basra, where forces launched quick strikes on Iraqi forces before withdrawing. The MoD insisted that the ongoing operation to take the whole of Basra under control would continue in tandem with the action in the capital, but military chiefs have agreed that the battle for Baghdad will remain an American operation. "Our sphere of influence will remain the south of the country and I don't see that changing in a hurry," one defence source told Scotland on Sunday. "But the moment of truth is nearing for the Americans, when they have to decide how exactly to take on Baghdad.’’ The rapid military progress around Baghdad and the rest of Iraq will also provide a welcome backdrop for President George Bush when he flies into Belfast tomorrow for a meeting with Blair. The leaders will discuss a post-war settlement for Iraq as well as the latest efforts to secure peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. But Downing Street admitted that the two sides had still not agreed on the central issue of the role the United Nations will play in the restructuring of Iraq. You must rattle the enemy's joints, terrify and defeat them The Bush administration is resisting British demands for the UN to be given a "central role", largely due to its failure to support the military campaign. The decision to award billions of pounds worth of construction contracts to American firms before the fighting has stopped has also caused friction between the two main coalition allies. Blair will argue strongly for UN oversight of the post-Saddam reconstruction, and a multi-lateral peace conference, in line with the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the Taliban, in order to involve the international community in plotting a way forward. Blair’s spokesman said: "Contracts is obviously one of the issues. The Americans are well aware of our view on it." Meanwhile, British troops in Basra have uncovered possible evidence of the brutal nature of Saddam’s regime, including the suggestion that he has been withholding vital supplies including baby food from his poverty- stricken people. Soldiers from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment found thousands of tonnes of provisions stockpiled in a secret warehouse. The supplies, which also included sugar and tea, were verified as proceed from the Food for Oil programme. Colleagues in southern Iraq uncovered the remains of hundreds of people in a makeshift morgue in southern Iraq. Capt Jack Kemp, of the Royal Horse Artillery, said the 200 coffin-sized boxes "contain bags, each labelled, and there's human remains inside the bags". Experts said the remains, which also contained strips of military clothing, may have been the victims of an earlier war. Iraq’s information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf yesterday read a statement from Saddam Hussein on state television, which urged the Iraqi armed forces and ordinary citizens to step up attacks to defeat the US-led invasion. "The criminals will be humiliated. You must inflict more wounds on this enemy and fight it and deprive it of the victories it has achieved," it said. "You must rattle their joints and terrify them and speedily defeat them in and around Baghdad." The statement said that as the invaders were concentrating on Baghdad, their grip on other parts of Iraq was weakening. "The enemy finds itself lost," Sahaf said. "Every time he finds the walls of Baghdad impenetrable he directs more force against it." Meanwhile, three Iraqis who provided intelligence information that helped the United States try to kill Saddam Hussein have been executed, according to US sources. The men are thought to have taken part in operation run by America’s Central Intelligence Agency, which provided crucial targeting information for the missile and bombing raid on Saddam and his sons. The "decapitation" attack, which marked the beginning of the war, was launched on March 19 in an attempt to avoid a full-scale conflict. US government sources said that Iraqi counter-intelligence had killed the three agents this week. Two were shot and the third bled to death after his tongue was cut out, it has been claimed. The sources said Iraqi agents had provided "priceless information" - relating to the telephone system and details of one of Saddam’s bunkers at Dora Farm in Baghdad - in the operation, which involved the elite Delta Force and other special forces units. American intelligence had learned the fate of the men from their forces on the ground in Iraq, the sources claimed. The war had been scheduled to start on March 21, but after receiving information about a brief window of opportunity to wipe out the Iraqi leadership, US President George Bush ordered the strike on 10.15pm, US time, on March 19. The attack was thought to have wounded Saddam and have killed his son Qusay who was being groomed as Saddam’s successor. This article: http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=402572003 War with Iraq: http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=518 Websites: Ministry of Defence - Operation Telic http://www.operations.mod.uk/telic/index.htm US Central Command http://www.centcom.mil/ UNMOVIC http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/ UN - Office of the Iraq Programme http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/ UN News Centre http://www.un.org/News/ FCO - Policy towards Iraq http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394374 US Dept of State - Iraq Update http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/ Iraqi Presidency http://www.uruklink.net/iraq/ Iraq Watch http://www.iraqwatch.org Forwarded for your information. 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