The end-of-war discovery of Iraqi atrocities and crimes against humanity has begun:

British Forces Discover Boxes of Human Remains

We haven't declared victory yet in Iraq, but this doesn't appear to be a worried president:


WASHINGTON, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was issued today by the
White House Press Office:

Q: Do you have any information on how the President is spending his day?

A: Yes, the President started his day at Camp David with an 8:05 AM phone
call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He then had his intelligence
briefing at 8:20 AM. The President then participated in a secure video
teleconference with members of his War Council, including Vice President
Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz, Secretary Powell,
Deputy Secretary Armitage, General Meyers and General Pace. Secretary Card,
Dr. Rice and Director Tenet participated in the meeting at Camp David. That
meeting began at 8:50 AM and concluded around 9:15 AM. At 10:00 AM the
President participated in a telephone call with President Jose Maria Aznar of
Spain. The calls to President Putin and President Aznar are part of an
ongoing series of calls between President Bush and world leaders involving a
variety of matters, including Iraq. Following the call with President Aznar,
President Bush exercised at the gym. He will continue to monitor world events
throughout the day. The President hopes to have time this evening to watch
portions of the NCAA men's semifinal basketball games. He is, of course,
hoping for a final game between one team which wears blue and another which
wears orange.

Chemical Ali is either dead or homeless.

Are you going to believe what you see, or what I tell you? Part II

Fox News Channel's Neal Cavuto just aked commentator/Newsweek columnist Eleanor Clift if she thought the war was going well (as video of U.S. troops sweeping into Baghdad rolled on the other side of the split screen.)

"No," she said.

Today's Wall Street Journal online publishes a well-written piece by Clark S. Judge: PR Lessons From the Pentagon

As the Pentagon has demonstrated so aptly, the essential strategy for becoming the standard of truth when no one believes you is to open your operations to the kind of risk that no one would take if he were planning to lie. Spin is out of the question. Good or bad, the story is there for the reporter to see. In a company criticized for, say, global labor practices, this would mean opening overseas factories to unscheduled media visits. In this war, it means embedded reporters.

Or put another way: Sunshine is the best antiseptic.

From all appearances, Fox News Channel's Greg Kelly was the first embedded journalist to cross into Baghdad with Coalition forces last night - reporting the news, as it happened, live during the Greta Van Sustern show. Kelly noted that prior reports had said he and his embed unit were first near Baghdad, then on the outskirts of Baghdad. "Now, we're in Baghdad," he added.

There's a scene in the movie "Chicago" where a wife comes home to find her husband in bed with two women. When she confronts the husband, asking how he could jump into bed with two women, and wait there for her to catch them with her very eyes, the husband completely denies it.

"Are you going to believe what you see, or what I tell you?" the husband asks.

I thought of that this morning, when I red this graf in the NY Times:

Even as American military officials were reporting the move into Baghdad, the Iraqi information minister held a news conference in the capital, telling reporters that Iraqi forces had routed the United States-led forces at the airport and were in control of the facility. He promised reporters that the government would arrange a bus tour of the airport later in the day.

Oh, and the wife wound up shooting her husband and his two girlfriends.

This is a little late, and I was going to avoid bringing this up, but Michael Barone's remembrance of Daniel Patrick Moynihan - that he was a Democrat who worked for Nixon and Ford, and that he always spoke his mind, regardless of consequences - brought this story back:

As a young reporter for The Times Herald-Record of Middletown, I was assigned to cover a Democratic fundraiser where Moynihan was the keynote speaker. He delivered his speech, met privately with a reporter from a competing newspaper, and then, on his way out of the event, I tried to stop him and ask him a question or two on whatever event of the day was in the news. He breezed past me, telling me he was late and declining to answer any of my questions. I got back to the news room and wrote a story about the event in a very sarcastic tone.

Two days later, I was working in one of The Record's outer bureaus when I was told I had a phone call. "Someone from some senator's office," I was told. I thought perhaps a state senator, not a U.S. senator. Not Moynihan.

Well, it was Moynihan. I forget his exact words. I first thought he called to complain about my sarcastic (and slightly snotty) story. I was wrong. He called to apologize for blowing me off. I was all of 23, 24 years old, working for an upstate New York newspaper (a nobody) and he was Senator for Life from New York. He was sincere, too. He felt badly. I was so dumbfounded that I didn't even ask him the questions I had for him two nights earlier. I thanked him for calling and we hung up.

I don't know what the moral of this story is, if there is any. But the world is with one less honest, forthright and humble person today.

There's a growing sense that Saddam Hussein is dead or dying. But evidently, he and his supporters continue to act out monstrous acts to this day, according to Central Command:

Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar -- Last night approximately 18 km southwest of the Hadithah Dam in Iraq, a civilian vehicle approached a Coalition checkpoint. A pregnant female stepped out of the vehicle and began screaming in fear. At this point the civilian vehicle exploded, killing three Coalition force members who were approaching the vehicle and wounding two others. The pregnant female and the driver of the vehicle were also killed in the attack.

Daniel Henniger in today's Wall Street Journal writes on the difference between members of "the youth culture" and young adults who simply choose to grow up and contribute to society:

Even antiwar protests now get reduced to a kind of goofy joke, as with the recent "Puke-In for Peace" in San Francisco, featuring forced vomiting by some protesters. Or wearing a big smile and a baseball cap to accept an Oscar and insult the President of the United States. This is infantilism. This isn't protest by people concerned about what is going on over there; it's about drawing attention to them, to "me."

The latest word from the Gallup people is that support for the war is holding steady - with about 7 in 10 Americans favoring the use of force against Iraq. The biggest change in backing for conflict now, as opposed to 1991, is that blacks are much less likely to support it now than then:

The biggest single shift in war support among the groups analyzed is for blacks, whose support for the current war effort (29%) is less than half what it was in 1991 (59%). By comparison, whites have shown just a modest drop in support.

Another interesting note: If you live in the East, you're much less likely to support military action against Iraq than if you live in the Midwest or West. And if you're liberal, you're way less likely to support the conflict.

What does this mean? It means that most Americans back what the President has done.

John Kerry's call for "regime change" in the U.S. government - he says that President Bush essentially created a diplomatic mess on the path to war - had a much different tone than what he said right after Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched. Here's the statement Kerry put up on his web site right after the start of the conflict:

"It appears that with the deadline for exile come and gone, Saddam Hussein has chosen to make military force the ultimate weapons inspections enforcement mechanism. If so, the only exit strategy is victory, this is our common mission and the world's cause. We're in this together. We want to complete the mission while safeguarding our troops, avoiding innocent civilian casualties, disarming Saddam Hussein and engaging the community of nations to rebuild Iraq."

Please, please. Read Happy Fun Pundit.

In its interview yesterday of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the Arab television news organization Al Jazeera appeared to lobby for some sort of official condemnation of the U.S. and coalition forces for taking military action to disarm Iraq. Here's a series of questions, verbatim, asked by the Al Jazeera interviewer:

"I know that on many different occasions in the past you were asked, not to apportion the blame, but basically just address the issue of whether you think the Americans were responsible for this war, the French were responsible for this war, the Iraqis were responsible for this war, and I am hoping to get a more categorical answer from you this time."

"Okay, now you wouldn't apportion the blame…"

"Would you say that this war is a legitimate one? Does it have the cover of legitimacy from your Organization?"

"Therefore, because you are saying that the Council did not endorse this war, would you condemn it?"

"But does that mean that you do condemn it or not?"

"But after your meeting a few days ago with the Arab Group here at the United Nations, you came out and you called on all the belligerents, and then you stopped, and you said the belligerents, the coalition and the Iraqi Government. Does that signal a change in your attitude?"

One would suppose that, at this point, it's irrelevant what the U.N. thinks or what Annan thinks. Coalition forces are doing the work the U.N. was afraid to do. That Annan would give an interview to the same organization that aired the Iraqi horror videos of executed U.S. POWs might underscore the fact that, for a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and supposedly the world's most important diplomat, he's been an abysmal failure and is essentially clueless.

The reports of embedded journalists in Iraq may be fewer in the coming days:

USE OF THURAYA PHONES DISCONTINUED
CAMP DOHA, Kuwait -- Recent intelligence reporting indicates Thuraya satellite phone services may have been compromised. For this reason, Thuraya phones use has been discontinued on the battlefields in Iraq.

The phones now represent a security risk to units and personnel on the battlefield. This impacts the more than 500 Thuraya phones that were being used by U.S. Forces in the CENTCOM area as well as the media traveling with units in Iraq.

Howard Dean has a blog.

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

FROM HOWARD DEAN

For all you net folks, I can't thank you enough for all you did!!! You raised over three quarters of a million dollars for the campaign on the net, which I'm pretty sure is a record for this stage of any campaign. Thank you all! We can and will take our country back!! Howard Dean

The Command Post has an interesting graphic that shows who provided weapons to Iraq between 1973 and when they launched their attack on Kuwait in 1990. The U.S.S.R. came in first, supplying 57 percent of Iraq's weapons imports during that time, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. France provided 13 percent of Iraq's weapons, China 12 percent.

Interestingly, according to the report, the U.S. provided 1 percent of Iraq's arms, which would rebut the anti-war movement's mantra that "we're the ones" who armed Saddam.

The Gallup people say President Bush continues to see a strong approval rating. They say it's part of a typical "rally effect" that our country sees during times of international conflict, but it also shows that more people give him better marks for even non-war issues including the economy:

The start of war also had a positive effect on how Americans view Bush's handling of the economy. Approval increased from 44% in the last pre-war poll, conducted March 14-15, to 52% in a poll conducted just over a week later. The current reading shows a slight drop to 49%, but still above the pre-war level.

Nicholas DeGenova, the assistant professor from Columbia University who said he hoped for "a million Mogadishus" for American troops, has now been condemned on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Yesterday, here is what Rep. John Sweeney, R-New York, had to say in the well of the house:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to condemn anyone who feels it
is proper to slander the great young men and women who are risking
their lives for our great nation. It is tragic enough that doubts
abound about the integrity and motivations of many of our military
actions in the eyes of the people of this country, but to advocate the
killing of our military personnel is outrageous.
Sadly, Mr. Speaker, this is a very grim and unfortunate situation
which has raised the ire of myself and countless others from all walks
of life. I am speaking about an assistant professor at Columbia
University, Nicholas De Genova, who stated that he hoped ``there would
be a million Mogadishus,'' which means he hopes millions of young
American soldiers are shot, mutilated, and paraded through the streets;
all of which are war crimes. He then went on to say, ``The only true
heroes are those who find ways to help defeat the U.S. military.''
It is this type of outlandish anti-American sentiment I stand to
condemn. It is my belief that anyone who states such absurdities is
speaking in support of terrorism and is going against everything for
which the United States stands.
As the War in Iraq continues, it is more important to support our
troops. In an all voluntary military, it is imperative we demonstrate a
commitment to supporting our military personnel at every turn by
reinforcing the values they hold, not by attacking them and questioning
their character and certainly not by advocating killing them. We must
fight anyone who attacks those who stand side by side as one to fight
and die if necessary to secure our most sacred virtue, our freedom!

Ralph Peters in his column today in the New York Post:

The ultimate technology in this war hasn't been a smart bomb, but the American soldier. Again.

The reporting is quick and breathless now that Coalition troops are knocking on Baghdad's front door. With all that, both victory and tragedy could rule the day:

April 3, 2003
Release Number: 03-04-34


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


POTENTIAL BAGHDAD BOMBING CAMPAIGN BY IRAQI REGIME
Statement from U.S. Central Command Director of Strategic Communications Jim Wilkinson:

“U.S. Central Command has reliable information that the Iraqi regime may be planning to begin anonymous bombing campaigns in several Baghdad Shiite neighborhoods in an attempt to falsely accuse the Coalition of this destruction for propaganda purposes. This action would represent just the latest chapter in a long history of aggression against innocent Iraqis by a regime that uses violence, torture, murder and hunger as tools of terror and control.”

-30-

Today's Juxtaposition, part II

"We've been overseas for several weeks and have been reading and following the news accounts of our governments' position. The anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is astounding. While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost." - The Dixie Chicks.

Pfc. Jessica Lynch, rescued Tuesday from an Iraqi hospital, fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers after Iraqi forces ambushed the Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company, firing her weapon until she ran out of ammunition, U.S. officials said yesterday.

Lynch, a 19-year-old supply clerk, continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds and watched several other soldiers in her unit die around her in fighting March 23, one official said. - The Washington Post.

Looks like the troops have made it to the George W. Bush International Airport.

Glenn Reynolds/Instapundit points out this Wall Street Journal story, which notes that as Web traffic declines at the major news sites, it's actually increased at some Web logs.

Instapundit, Reynolds notes, has been registering more and more page views and that shouldn't be surprising. In just two weeks, the blog community has - by appearances - seemed to coalesce around a major news and historical event: the war. With the 2004 presidential campaign around the corner, and almost a year of campaigning on the calendar, it's not hard to figure out that blogs will both impact, and be impacted by, that. (Can you imagine the dirty campaigning that will go on in the blogosphere?)

Gary Hart has a blog as he considers whether or not to jump into the presidential campaign. Other candidates will have blogs as well. Political reporters will have them. Pundits (of the instant and not-so-instant) variety will have them.

If Glenn Reynolds thinks that 160,000 page visits a day is a lot of traffic now, wait until the run-up to the John Edwards-George Bush debates in a year and a half.

One of the scariest, televised moments fo the Iraq conflict happened this morning at about 1:30 a.m., when Dr. Bob Arnot, reporting on the war for MSNBC, gave a live account of the 1st U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force under fire by the Iraq Special Republican Guard.

As he spoke into the phone (there was no live video, only audio as the screen showed Arnot's photo superimposed over a map of Iraq), you could actually hear the bullets ripping and whistling over his head. Normally a low-key, unsensational correspondent, Arnot cursed as he and the unit came under heavy fire. MSNBC has an account of Arnot's report, as well as some audio, on its site. Juxtaposed against Peter Arnett's "interview" with the Iraqi military earlier this week, it makes Arnot's bravery all the more visible.

Just when you thought that two-bedroom co-op in Maui was within reach:

New Census Data Rank Hawaii Near Top in Key Demographic Indicators

...According to the survey, Hawaii home values are more
than double the national median of $127,000 increasing nearly
$20,000 in a 12-month period.

The CDC has updated its guide sheet on SARS.

Symptoms:

In general, SARS begins with a fever greater than 100.4°F [>38.0°C]. Other symptoms may include headache, an overall feeling of discomfort, and body aches. Some people also experience mild respiratory symptoms. After 2 to 7 days, SARS patients may develop a dry cough and have trouble breathing.

But, despite all the press: In the United States, there is no indication of community spread at this time.

Working to stave off total irrelevance, Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector Hans Blix mocked the U.S. budget for Operation Iraqi Freedom and said he still wasn't sure Iraq maintained stockpiles of bio and chemical weapons.

In an article posted at the U.N. web site, Blix said: “The $64 billion question – that's what the war is costing at the moment I’m told, – that question is: are there any weapons of mass destruction?”

He added, though: “There is one factor that makes it less difficult for the US to find them than it was for us. And that is that as the country becomes liberated from the secret police, people may not fear speaking."

The U.N. web article also reported:

Mr. Blix noted that when UNMOVIC tried to interview scientists or other personnel, there was also the risk that if they could displease the authorities they would be in trouble and therefore would be restrained. “Now if they don’t feel that there’s such risk, then they may speak more freely,” he said. “That might lead them, the Americans and British, to any secret storages, if there are any.”

Gallup is out with the media's approval ratings. (See my April 1 post).

While I'm not surprised that the overall approval of the media has dropped since the Iraq war began, I am surprised at who's unhappy with its coverage. Says Gallup:

Interestingly, those Americans who support the war with Iraq are most likely to rate the media coverage positively. At the same time, war supporters are also the most likely to have downgraded their views of news coverage since the war began, suggesting that this group is most sensitive to how the war is being portrayed.

In any event, President Bush's approval ratings (about 69 percent) seem to be higher than the media's (where 52 percent rate war coverage as "excellent.")

Lots of good detail in a USA Todaystory this morning on President Bush's work routine and interaction with his White House team. It basically squares with the recent books by Bill Sammon and Bob Woodward on the president. Interestingly, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was interviewed and provided some interesting color on his working relationship with Bush.

Looks like coalition troops are rounding up more and more of the bad guys:

April 1, 2003
Release Number: 03-04-13


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


1 MEF ROOTS OUT PARAMILITARIES, DESTROYS SEVERAL BA’ATH PARTY HEADQUARTERS

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM – 1st Marine Division conducted a series of raids and limited objective attacks into more than six towns and villages Monday in the central Iraq area to liberate the local populace from Saddam Hussein and hunt down paramilitary forces.

Local villagers cooperated by providing the Marines information on the whereabouts of key Ba’ath Party leaders, documents, weapons caches, and intelligence on regular army and paramilitary operations.

The Marines provided the villagers with humanitarian rations and medical assistance.

Forget "oil for food" programs. The Marines have started a "corrupt, murderous Ba'ath Party member" for food program.

American Airlines is reporting a dropoff of almost 5 percent in "passenger miles" for March. It's hard to find anyone but the most hardened road warriors who are traveling for business, and those who do have to worry about not just bringing home trinkets as souvenirs, but SARS as well.

It's Spring Forward time already. Not that any of us needed that extra hour of sleep.

A lot of the traffic to this web log lately has been coming from people who want to look up information on Brigadier General Vincent Brooks.

The Chicago Sun-Times and Orlando Sentinel have also written stories on the man who has become, in many ways, the face of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"This is the big battle."

So much for the operational pause...

The current intellectual, anti-war theory du jour was that the U.S. and coalition forces underestimated the strong feelings of Iraqi nationalism that would spark civilians to rise up and oppose efforts to wipe out Saddam Hussein and Sons.

"Saddam has ... deftly played to his countrymen's ancient and strong feelings of Iraqi nationalism, Arab pride and Islamic fervor," writes Joanna McGeary at CNN/Time.

"...When it comes to manipulating the minds of his countrymen, Saddam Hussein is a malevolent genius. He understands intimately the intricacies of the Iraqi psyche: the tribal loyalties, the stubborn sense of national pride, the painfully learned distrust of America’s promises and, above all, the power of fear," writes Melinda Liu in Newsweek.

"On the other side, the Iraqi regime has used both its ancient history and American support of Israel in appealing to the nationalism of its people to resist an invasion by an outside power. It is as yet unclear which argument is succeeding, although early indications are that the American invasion has stirred up enormous animosity," writes James Webb in the New York Times.

And then there's what's actually happening.

"There were several successful delivered raids against regime death squad locations in Ba'ath Party headquarters. These also, like with the special operations forces, were assisted by local populations, who are increasingly willing to provide information against the regime. And examples include the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force conducting attacks near Ad Diwaniyah and As Shatra (sp), which is just north of An Nasiriyah. Approximately 100 tribal men joined with coalition forces in these attacks and resulted in the captures of enemy prisoners of war, weapons, the destruction of bunkers, and the removal of explosives from a bridge -- and there were no friendly casualties," said Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, in a briefing today at Central Command in Qatar.

Dennis Kucinich might not be the most attractive candidate the Democrats are fielding, or the richest, or the most consistent, or the least shrill. But he's the only major candidate for his party's nomination in 2004 who says he supports the right to strike. In fact, he's got the only coherent issues paper that sets out a fundamental support of organized labor that goes beyond raising the minimum wage.

If Al Sharpton is successful in fracturing the African American vote, organized labor could make a difference in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Of course, no one will listen to Kucinich on labor, the economy or other vital issues of concern to Americans if all he wants to talk about publicly is how evil the war is.

Working for the Census Bureau can be difficult, bureaucratic aggravation. Especially when you have to travel to Hawaii to see how the locals perform in a Tsunami drill.

"Census data serve as the foundation for emergency planning,
preparedness and evacuation," (Census Bureau Director Louis) Kincannon said. "They provide an
accurate population and housing count for any given area,
allowing officials to plot effective evacuation routes based on
where people actually live and where they work."

And it's even more vital when they live and work in Hawaii. No word on whether Kincannon will attend the Disneyworld First Aid and Employee Safety course in May.

Nothing like checking out the Congressional Record online, during a war, to scope out the matters of serious concern under review at the Capitol:

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on an issue that I have
addressed in this Chamber on a number of occasions, cockfighting.

Walter Cronkite has chided Peter Arnett, saying in a Times op-ed piece that the former CNN-MSNBC-NBC-AP-National Geographic reporter hung himself "with a rope of his own weaving" in giving an interview to Iraqi T.V. that was highly critical of U.S. military planning, and in which he praised Iraqi resistance.

Cronkite stayed largely silent when his successor at CBS News, Dan Rather, provided a softball interview platform for Saddam Hussein in the days before the war, and Cronkite himself lashed out at President Bush about the war in a speech the day before it started.

As President Bush's approval ratings climb higher and higher, I'd rather not hear what the media's approval ratings are.

The tragedy of today's incident, in which U.S. soldiers shot at a vehicle with 13 Iraqi civilians and killed 7 - after the civilians refused orders to stop at a check point - will provide a lot of fodder for the next few cable news cycles.

It will be interesting to see if they also include in the coverage an exchange, at an earlier Central Command briefing, between a Canadian reporter and Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks that led the normally cool-and-collected Brooks to seethe an answer through clenched teeth.

The question: "How many times would you say Iraqi civilians have been killed after being targeted by coalition soldiers because there was the threat they might be suicide attackers or they were driving where they should be and didn't stop?"

The answer:

"I think first the degree of sensitivities out there is a heightened awareness. We always knew that there were threats of suicide bombers. We'd seen things that have been reported, just like these reports of thousand coming in that want to be suicide bombers. So we certainly know that in a regime that is linked to terrorism that terroristic practices might be exhibited.

"Whether we look for that in every case, different story. And that's something that's determined on the ground. But I can certainly say that there's a heightened awareness to it...

"I think as we see additional threats on the battlefield, as it relates to civilians, we will still encounter them in the right way that we want to, that is in a way that does not brutalize, that tries to protect as much as possible. I don't have any numbers that I can give you in terms of cases where coalition forces have attacked civilians. I'm not aware of any where we've deliberately -- I'm certain that we have not deliberately attacked civilians under any circumstance.

"Whether we've had true civilians, noncombatants, innocents caught up inside of a firefight where someone is pushed out in front of an irregular force, that I cannot say. I know the regime would like to have that number escalate beyond count. We see that even today, actions that are ongoing as we speak. Along a bridge in the north between Karbala and Al-Hila (ph). Irregular forces trying to get across a bridge that's rigged for demolition. They know it's rigged for demolition; they did it. And pushing women and children in front of them. One woman tried to break contact and escape, and as she ran, she was shot in the back and thrown into the river.

"So the encounters with civilians out there are certain. We know they're going on. We're not targeting them. No one's killing more Iraqis right now then the regime."

As scary as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is, it's worth nothing that it seems to have been largely quarantined to China, Hong Kong and Singapore, according the latest tally published on the Center for Disease Control web site.

William Safire has a number of intriguing observations and "snap judgments" about the war so far. Among them:

Most effective turnaround of longtime left-wing lingo: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's labeling of Uday's paramilitaries as "death squads."

On Fox News Channel, Rumsfeld also urged an interviewer to put himself into the shoes of the Iraqi regime: Coalition forces have taken their port city, secured their oil wells, targeted the regime leadership, and surrounded their capitol city with the most ferocious fighting force in the world - in just ten days.

So basically, what it took Saddam Hussein and his serial rapist sons almost 30 years to build has begun completely falling apart in a week and a half.

Looks like we hit the Baghdad Trifecta:

March 30, 2003
Release Number: 03-03-98


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


HISTORIC BOMBER PACKAGE STRIKES BAGHDAD
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM - Last night, for the first time in military history, multiple B-1, B-2 and B-52 long-range strike aircraft targeted the same geographical area at the same time as part of a single strike package.
After launching from separate bases, the bombers simultaneously struck leadership and command and control targets of the Iraqi regime in Baghdad using precision munitions.

Battle damage assessment is ongoing. Coalition aircraft target only lawful military targets and go to great lengths to minimize civilian casualties and collateral damage.

-30-

While Coalition forces are now, apparently, showing the intensity most expected, at least one observer says the Iraqi army is showing the mettle they were expected to display:

"So far, most Iraqi soldiers are showing the same sorry fighting skills we saw during Desert Storm in 1991: hiding, running or waving white flags.," says Col. David Hackworth (ret.).

Who says the French aren't amusing?

When your "Je suis avec stupide" shirt gets a little threadbare, you may want to add this to your wardrobe.