http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml
Coalition Aircraft Target Iraqi TV
March 25, 2003
CBS) A series of explosions along with the sound of low flying aircraft was heard early Wednesday in Baghdad, and the U.S. military said coalition aircraft struck the Iraqi state-run television.
Smoke was seen next to the information ministry and the Iraqi TV building.
The signal from Iraqi Satellite TV, which broadcasts 24 hours a day outside Iraq, went off the air around 4:30 a.m. local time Tuesday.
Iraq's domestic television service was not broadcasting at the time.
At the Pentagon, a U.S. military spokeswoman said coalition aircraft struck the Iraqi state-run television channel. Damage assessment was not complete.
In other major developments:
In heavy fighting Tuesday, the Pentagon said the U.S. Seventh Cavalry killed between 150 and 500 Iraqis after being attacked by rocket-propelled grenades near An Najaf in central Iraq. There are no reported American casualties.
Sandstorms swirled across Iraq much of the past day, holding back U.S. Army and Marine forces, now within 50 miles of Baghdad. There were reports the storms were calming a bit Wednesday morning.
British reports say residents of the southern city of Basra have been rising-up against forces of Saddam Hussein who were firing mortars at them. British forces are hoping to take advantage of the uprising to secure the key southern city.
American investigators want to know why a U.S. fighter jet fired on a U.S. Patriot missile battery in Iraq. No casualties were reported in the second incident involving Patriot batteries apparently failing to distinguish between friendly and hostile targets.
President Bush requested $74.7 billion in supplemental funding for the war through June. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is due in Washington Wednesday to confer with Mr. Bush.
U.S. forces sealed off 36 bunkers earmarked as potential sites of weapons of mass destructions at an Iraqi air base outside An Nasiriyah, military police said.
A top American commander says about 500 Iraqis have been killed in the last two days by the Third Infantry Division's tanks and mechanized units as they sweep through southern Iraq.
Central Command says coalition forces have destroyed six jammers — which Russian firms are suspected of selling to Saddam — that Iraq used to try to knock U.S. missiles off course.
The first remains of American troops killed in the war in Iraq are back home. The bodies of two Marines were flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Tuesday morning.
CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts, traveling with the Marine 7th Regiment on the road to Baghdad, said Tuesday's sandstorm reduced visibility down to about five feet. By that time the commanders sent out the order for all the vehicles to stop – tanks, armored personnel carriers, Humvees, trucks – all at a standstill because of the storm.
The weather also thwarted relief efforts. Thunderstorms hit the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, slowing efforts to get the port open to ships carrying medicine and other provisions.
Despite the adverse weather, the U.S. still fired about 90 cruise missiles Tuesday, and Navy and Air Force jets were scheduled to fly 1,400 missions.
American officials issued fresh cautions Tuesday about the possible use of chemical weapons by Iraqi troops, although no weapons of mass destruction have yet been found by advancing coalition forces.
Asked about reports that Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad have been given authority to use chemical weapons, Secretary of State Donald H. Rumsfeld cited "scraps" of intelligence suggesting that the closer the 3rd Infantry gets to the capital, the greater the danger.
Rumsfeld also cautioned that the war had a long way to go. "We're still, needless to say, much closer to the beginning than to the end," he said.
Still, President Bush forecast victory during a visit to the Pentagon. "The Iraqi regime will be ended ... and our world will be more secure and peaceful,” he said.
Details were sketchy about the situation inside the southern city of Basra, Iraq's second-largest with 1.3 million residents. British journalists reported that residents were staging an uprising against pro-Saddam forces and that Iraqi troops were firing mortars at them.
A senior British commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Wall, said “We don't know the scale” of any revolt, but added, “Of course we would be very keen to capitalize on it.”
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and others have warned of a possible humanitarian crisis in the city. The International Red Cross said during the day that it had begun repairs at a war-damaged water-pumping station serving the city.
At its headquarters in Rome, the World Food Program announced Tuesday it was launching its biggest appeal ever for emergency aid to feed Iraqis for about six months.
"We expect that we will be asking for over $1 billion," spokesman Trevor Rowe said. "We anticipate that this could well turn into the largest humanitarian operation in history."
Thus far in the campaign known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, Americans said they had taken more than 3,500 Iraqi prisoners. There was no accurate death toll among Iraqi troops or civilians.
American losses ran to 20 dead and 14 captured or missing. The remains of the first two to die were flown overnight to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
A total of 20 British troops had also died, including two killed Monday by friendly fire.
The U.S. Central Command announced the capture of an Iraqi military hospital used as a military staging area. Officials said Marines confiscated more than 200 weapons and stockpiles of ammunition and more than 3,000 chemical suits with masks, as well as Iraqi military uniforms. The Marines also found a T-55 tank on the compound
Coalition Aircraft Target Iraqi TV
March 25, 2003
CBS) A series of explosions along with the sound of low flying aircraft was heard early Wednesday in Baghdad, and the U.S. military said coalition aircraft struck the Iraqi state-run television.
Smoke was seen next to the information ministry and the Iraqi TV building.
The signal from Iraqi Satellite TV, which broadcasts 24 hours a day outside Iraq, went off the air around 4:30 a.m. local time Tuesday.
Iraq's domestic television service was not broadcasting at the time.
At the Pentagon, a U.S. military spokeswoman said coalition aircraft struck the Iraqi state-run television channel. Damage assessment was not complete.
In other major developments:
In heavy fighting Tuesday, the Pentagon said the U.S. Seventh Cavalry killed between 150 and 500 Iraqis after being attacked by rocket-propelled grenades near An Najaf in central Iraq. There are no reported American casualties.
Sandstorms swirled across Iraq much of the past day, holding back U.S. Army and Marine forces, now within 50 miles of Baghdad. There were reports the storms were calming a bit Wednesday morning.
British reports say residents of the southern city of Basra have been rising-up against forces of Saddam Hussein who were firing mortars at them. British forces are hoping to take advantage of the uprising to secure the key southern city.
American investigators want to know why a U.S. fighter jet fired on a U.S. Patriot missile battery in Iraq. No casualties were reported in the second incident involving Patriot batteries apparently failing to distinguish between friendly and hostile targets.
President Bush requested $74.7 billion in supplemental funding for the war through June. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is due in Washington Wednesday to confer with Mr. Bush.
U.S. forces sealed off 36 bunkers earmarked as potential sites of weapons of mass destructions at an Iraqi air base outside An Nasiriyah, military police said.
A top American commander says about 500 Iraqis have been killed in the last two days by the Third Infantry Division's tanks and mechanized units as they sweep through southern Iraq.
Central Command says coalition forces have destroyed six jammers — which Russian firms are suspected of selling to Saddam — that Iraq used to try to knock U.S. missiles off course.
The first remains of American troops killed in the war in Iraq are back home. The bodies of two Marines were flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Tuesday morning.
CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts, traveling with the Marine 7th Regiment on the road to Baghdad, said Tuesday's sandstorm reduced visibility down to about five feet. By that time the commanders sent out the order for all the vehicles to stop – tanks, armored personnel carriers, Humvees, trucks – all at a standstill because of the storm.
The weather also thwarted relief efforts. Thunderstorms hit the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, slowing efforts to get the port open to ships carrying medicine and other provisions.
Despite the adverse weather, the U.S. still fired about 90 cruise missiles Tuesday, and Navy and Air Force jets were scheduled to fly 1,400 missions.
American officials issued fresh cautions Tuesday about the possible use of chemical weapons by Iraqi troops, although no weapons of mass destruction have yet been found by advancing coalition forces.
Asked about reports that Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad have been given authority to use chemical weapons, Secretary of State Donald H. Rumsfeld cited "scraps" of intelligence suggesting that the closer the 3rd Infantry gets to the capital, the greater the danger.
Rumsfeld also cautioned that the war had a long way to go. "We're still, needless to say, much closer to the beginning than to the end," he said.
Still, President Bush forecast victory during a visit to the Pentagon. "The Iraqi regime will be ended ... and our world will be more secure and peaceful,” he said.
Details were sketchy about the situation inside the southern city of Basra, Iraq's second-largest with 1.3 million residents. British journalists reported that residents were staging an uprising against pro-Saddam forces and that Iraqi troops were firing mortars at them.
A senior British commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Wall, said “We don't know the scale” of any revolt, but added, “Of course we would be very keen to capitalize on it.”
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and others have warned of a possible humanitarian crisis in the city. The International Red Cross said during the day that it had begun repairs at a war-damaged water-pumping station serving the city.
At its headquarters in Rome, the World Food Program announced Tuesday it was launching its biggest appeal ever for emergency aid to feed Iraqis for about six months.
"We expect that we will be asking for over $1 billion," spokesman Trevor Rowe said. "We anticipate that this could well turn into the largest humanitarian operation in history."
Thus far in the campaign known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, Americans said they had taken more than 3,500 Iraqi prisoners. There was no accurate death toll among Iraqi troops or civilians.
American losses ran to 20 dead and 14 captured or missing. The remains of the first two to die were flown overnight to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
A total of 20 British troops had also died, including two killed Monday by friendly fire.
The U.S. Central Command announced the capture of an Iraqi military hospital used as a military staging area. Officials said Marines confiscated more than 200 weapons and stockpiles of ammunition and more than 3,000 chemical suits with masks, as well as Iraqi military uniforms. The Marines also found a T-55 tank on the compound
