Thursday, March 20, 2003

 
Top White House Anti-Terror Boss Resigns

Bush has denied time and again that his unwarranted invasion of Iraq would detract from the truly legitimate "War on Terror". As is usual, he has been contradicted by a person who knows more about the issue than he could ever hope to.

The Right Wing, Sun Myung Moon-owned UPI reports:

"The top National Security Council official in the war on terror, [Rand Beers], resigned this week for what a NSC spokesman said were personal reasons, but intelligence sources say the move reflects concern that the looming war with Iraq is hurting the fight against terrorism."

"[…] Several sources close to [Beers]…and other current and former intelligence officials, described a broad consensus in the anti-terrorism and intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq would divert critical resources from the war on terror."

"Hardly a surprise," said one former intelligence official. "We have sacrificed a war on terror for a war with Iraq. I don't blame Randy at all. This just reflects the widespread thought that the war on terror is being set aside for the war with Iraq at the expense of our military and intel resources and the relationships with our allies."

"A Senate Intelligence Committee staffer familiar with the resignation…confirmed that frustration is widespread in the anti-terror establishment and played a part in Beers' decision."

Of course, this "broad consensus in the anti-terrorism and intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq would divert critical resources from the war on terror" affirms once again that Bush is a lying bastard willing to risk the safety of you and your children so that his oil buddies can have "open oil supplies" and Poppy can reap some revenge. It also miffed Administration officials who, once again, have been called on another despicable lie. So incensed were they that Condoleezza Rice tried to fish out an "ulterior motive" so that she could demonize Beers as a "peacenick, appeaser, commie, pinko, Anti-American piece of trash." Not this time Condy.

"…National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice [asked] Beers twice during an exit interview whether the resignation was a protest against the war with Iraq. The source said that although Beers insisted it was not, the tone of the interview concerned Rice enough that she felt she had to ask the question twice."

Yeah right! I can hear her now, "Pleeeeease, please say your protesting war. Please." Pitiful.

And, as if that weren't enough, the article went on:

"This is a very intriguing decision (by Beers)," said author and intelligence expert James Bamford. "There is a predominant belief in the intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq will cause more terrorism than it will prevent. There is also a tremendous amount of embarrassment by intelligence professionals that there have been so many lies out of the administration -- by the president, (Vice President Dick) Cheney and (Secretary of State Colin) Powell -- over Iraq."

"Bamford cited a recent address by President Bush that cited documents, which allegedly proved Iraq was continuing to pursue a nuclear program, that were later shown to be forgeries."

"It is absurd that the president of the United States mentioned in a speech before the world information from phony documents and no one got fired," Bamford said. "That alone has offended intelligence professionals throughout the services."

Amen Brother!

Join our mailing list!

posted by Thomas Ball 3:13 PM

 
Combat Report - March 20, 2003

-- SOURCES --

1049 GMT - The state Iraqi News Agency (INA) said U.S. and British planes attacked Basra airport early this morning. It also reported air attacks against military and non-military targets in the cities of Kut and Anbar.

1045 GMT - Iraqi troops have set fire to 15 oil wells in the city of Basra, according to Kuwaiti TV.

1042 GMT - Three U.S. Patriot missiles in Northern Kuwait intercepted an Iraqi al-Samoud missile before it hit U.S. troops poised to enter Iraq, according to Ha'aretz. The al-Samoud missile was not carrying a chemical warhead and no casualties were reported.

0928 GMT - Ten Iraqi civilians were injured March 20 in southern Baghdad due to the U.S. air raids on the Iraqi capital, an Iraqi official at the Ministry of Information announced, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

0907 GMT - Iraq fired two missiles March 20 at about 0730 GMT into northern Kuwait where they landed without causing damage, according to France Presse news agency. It could not be confirmed if the Iraqi missiles had been intercepted by U.S. Patriot missiles.

0744 GMT - U.S. forces already are operating in western Iraq in an effort to prevent possible Iraqi SCUD missile attacks against Israel, according to Ha'areetz.

0741 GMT - More explosions were heard on the outskirts of Baghdad several hours after a first strike by U.S. cruise missiles in what Pentagon officials called a "decapitation strike," according to Reuters.

0620 GMT - A fuel depot was attacked in western Iraq near the Jordanian-Iraqi border. MSNBC reported that five people are dead, but the report could not be confirmed. It also was not clear which side launched the attack.

0611 GMT - A CNN reporter embedded on the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Eastern Mediterranean reports that aircraft on that carrier are engaged in routine takeoff and landing drills, and are not obviously participating in attacks on Iraq. Apparently, the USS Harry S Truman, also in the Eastern Mediterranean, is similarly uninvolved in current operations.

0607 GMT - Russian TV channel Rossiya reports that U.S. forces, presumably Marines, have begun the storm of Umm Qasr, a seaport city near the northern Iraq-Kuwait border. The information is unconfirmed. It is doubtful that U.S. forces have attacked the city without due artillery and aerial bombardment. Rather, there likely are continued skirmishes between U.S. Marine reconnaissance units, trying to prepare the ground for the coming Marines' landing and Iraqi defenders who spotted and engaged the U.S. scouts.

0606 GMT - Six U.S. Navy vessels -- including two submarines -- fired cruise missiles at Iraq during strikes on March 20, U.S. Navy Lt. Whit DeLoach said. The missiles flew over Saudi Arabian airspace because Turkey had not given overflight rights to the U.S. military. The vessels involved included the cruisers USS Cowpens and USS Bunker Hill, destroyer USS Milius and attack submarine USS Cheyenne, all in the Persian Gulf, and the destroyer USS Donald Cook and submarine USS Montpelier in the Red Sea.

0552 GMT - Reports coming out of Iraq indicate long-range artillery fire has erupted on Kuwait-Iraq border. A UAE television crew reports that U.S. 155 mm artillery pieces have opened fire on unidentified Iraqi positions. It is unclear whether this is in preparation for a ground attack, but that is unlikely.

0544 GMT - Monte Carlo Radio reports that Iraqi forces have begun setting oil wells along Iraq-Kuwait border on fire.

0511 GMT - Haaretz reports eye-witnesses say they have heard artillery fire near the Iraq-Kuwait border.

0508 GMT - F-18s taking off from the USS Abraham Lincoln are reportedly armed with bunker-busting bombs.

0506 GMT - Thousands of Iraq's 51st Mechanized Division and the 11th Infantry ''appear ready to capitulate" to U.S. forces in southeastern Iraq, U.S. military sources said March 20. According to Haaretz, more than 20,000 Iraqi soldiers are prepared to surrender.

0500 GMT - Further information from the Pentagon states that the Tomahawks involved in the strike against Baghdad were launched from three ships -- a destroyer and a submarine in the Red Sea and a cruiser in the Persian Gulf.

0433 GMT - The 3rd Infantry Division's 7th Cavalry Regiment is reportedly positioned to lead the division's advance into Iraq, when the order is given.

0425 GMT - Pentagon officials say F-117s involved in the attack on Baghdad dropped 2,000-pound GBU-27 laser-guided, bunker-penetrating bombs on a target of opportunity in Baghdad.

0414 GMT - U.S. strategic bombers, presumably B-2s, attacked targets in Iraq's southeast region close to the Iranian border town of Arvand Kenar, Russian RIA-Novosti reports. Stratfor sources in the Russian military say that the target was a site for Iraqi surface-to-surface missiles. Damage from the attack is unknown.

0412 GMT - Russian military sources have told xxxxxx that Saddam Hussein likely was not in the areas bombed by the United States. They also say personnel in the targeted facilities were in bomb shelters, so it is unlikely that more than a few junior officers were killed. But the sources say that one or two missiles missed their targets and might have led to civilian casualties. The sources speculate that some targets were struck because of intelligence given to the United States by Iraqis who recently defected; they also speculate that the United States did not have an opportunity to verify the intelligence and struck in order not to miss an opportunity.

0404 GMT - An MSNBC report states that Saddam Hussein has been confirmed as the target of the early coalition airstrikes against Baghdad.

0402 GMT - Coalition airstrikes have killed and wounded several people, CNN reports.

0354 GMT - A third air strike hit Baghdad at 0335 GMT, Agence France Presse reports. The third strike also targeted an area southeast of the capital.

0342 GMT - Pentagon sources say today's strikes in Iraq were against multiple targets -- at least one in Baghdad and one south of the city.

0334 GMT - Pentagon sources say today's strike involved more than two dozen cruise missiles fired from ships in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf as well as from F-117 fighters.

0329 GMT - The U.S. military appears to be broadcasting on the main frequency of Iraqi state radio, Ha'aretz reports.

0323 GMT - Pentagon sources say that the strike involving F-117 fighters was aimed at a site where Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders were believed to have been staying.

0311 GMT - U.S.-led airstrikes against Baghdad began at dawn March 20 with a sound like jets roaring through the sky -- which also could have been Tomahawk missiles -- and Iraqi anti-aircraft guns opening fire while air raid sirens sounded throughout the city. Reuters reported that the blasts seemed to be coming from the southern suburbs of Baghdad.

0307 GMT - The cruise missile attack in Baghdad was against "a leadership target" that has been known of for some time, according to the Pentagon.

0305 GMT - A second explosion has occurred in the opening attack on Baghdad at approximately 3:05 GMT.

0300 GMT - Ground forces have not yet jumped off from their positions in Kuwait.

0258 GMT - Pentagon sources report that a U.S. cruise missile struck a target of opportunity in Baghdad early March 20.

0147 GMT - xxxxxx sources in Arbil, Iraq have reported that approximately 100 Iraqi soldiers have surrendered to Kurdish Democratic Party forces.

0145 GMT - Hundreds of armed members of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and security forces reportedly took positions behind sandbags and in foxholes throughout Baghdad on March 19. However, nearly half of the Baath loyalists had departed by the time the U.S. deadline arrived.

COMBAT REPORTS - March 19 2003 (Last half of day)

-- SOURCES --

2354 GMT - Iraqi army units have completed mining Baghdad's Saddam Hussein Airport and all roads around it, Stratfor sources in the Russian military report late March 19. All traffic to and from Baghdad and the airport is blocked by Iraqi Republican Guard units, effectively sealing both the capital and its airport. The mining is meant to prevent a sudden air assault by U.S. forces on the airport. Military history has documented cases in which attackers have landed on the enemy's central airports to paralyze the resistence. During the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1969, Soviet troops landed at all major Czechoslovakian airports and air bases and prevented the opposition from taking off by parking their aircraft between their planes.

2213 GMT - U.S. F-117 stealth fighter-bombers took part in attacks on Iraqi artillery and short-range missile launchers on March 19, MSNBC reports.

2133 GMT - The BBC has broadcast video footage of weapons trucks driving up to B-52 bombers at the Fairfield air base in the United Kingdom. The news agency reported the planes have been loaded but have not yet departed.

2125 GMT - U.S. and British warplanes are targeting "Iraqi systems" in southern Iraq as part of allied air activity in the "no-fly" zones, a spokesperson from Britain's Ministry of Defense said. The Pentagon confirmed that U.S. warplanes had conducted multiple strikes in southern Iraq on March 19, striking anti-aircraft artillery, air defenses and surface-to-surface missile systems.

2109 GMT - MSNBC is reporting that U.S. aircraft have bombed Iraqi short-range missile sites.

Join our mailing list!

posted by Thomas Ball 7:51 AM