Updates on War in Iraq

New Developments on the war in Iraq: Oil Fields ablaze in southern Iraq. Turkey opens airspace to U.S.. US Forces 3rd Infantry Fire Heavy Artillery at Southern Iraq. The schedule has been accelerated due to infrastructure destruction. CT: Explosions and heavy anti aircraft fire heard in Baghdad. We'll continue to update as new information warrants.

Comments

Where's the best info on the war?

[floppy ears]

Serious question: where are y'all getting your info on the war? I'm talking in depth stuff like tactics, maps. Not just the CNN bs, but real stuff like great terrain maps and discussions of the weaponry.

May free speach and free thought live on

[Ghoser777]

Even though half my students are against the war and the other half are for, they all are interested, involved, and informed. I've been grilled by my students with better questions than I have been by adults. There's a healthy population of students who want to protest the war, and a healthy bunch who see this war as something really important. Logarithms, exponentials? No, today, my students showed me that they can care about something, and I have nothing but confidence that some day my students will be critical thinking adults that make a difference in this country.

May free speech continue to live, in spite of the attempts of the far right to silence it, and the far left to exploit it.

F-bacher

The political bent is amazing...

[artemis67]

Taco posts a message about the 3 or 4 oil wells that are on fire, but the big story is here.

Quote:

A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said military intelligence was picking up signs and "circumstantial evidence" that Saddam and his senior leadership were either incapacitated or out of communication with battlefield commanders. It was too early to say if they were killed or wounded.

"We are seeing no coordinated response to our first attack," the official said. "It's little things here and there. Some individual commanders are hunkering down while others are launching small attacks and setting fires."

Military officials "believe it is significant that there is a lack of coordination and significant resistance to what we did," the official added.

Granted, it's too early to be so optimistic, but surely the lack of any battlefield coordination in Iraq after an attempted hit on Hussein is a bigger story than the 4 oil wells that are on fire.

Ask the Iraqi's

[krysith]

I ran across this blog from a resident of Baghdad. Apparently, music websites aren't scragged by Iraqi security. It's not media coverage, but it gives a certain perspective you won't find in the media.

http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/

I worry that I might be perhaps causing trouble for the guy, but I figure if he put it on the web he wants people to see it.

Transformer Optimus Prime is in the "war"

[chimpo13]

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=382 8

There's a picture of both Optimus Primes (Optimii Prime?) on the site.

National guardman changed his name to a toy

CUYAHOGA FALLS -- A member of Ohio's 5694th National Guard Unit in Mansfield legally changed his name to a Transformers toy.

Optimus Prime is heading out to the Middle East with his guard unit on Wednesday to provide fire protection for airfields under combat.

"On Sunday, we were awarded as the best firefighting unit in the Army National Guard in the entire country," said Prime. "That was a big moment for us."

Prime took his name from the leader of the Autobots Transformers, which were popular toys and a children's cartoon in the 1980s.

He legally changed his name on his 30th birthday and now it's on everything from his driver's licence, to his military ID, to his uniform.

"They razzed me for three months to no end," said Prime. "They really dug into me about it."

"I got a letter from a general at the Pentagon when the name change went through and he says it was great to have the employ of the commander of the Autobots in the National Guard."

Prime says the toy actually filled a void in his life when it came out.

"My dad passed away the year before and I didn't have anybody really around, so I really latched onto him when i was a kid," he said.

Re:Advice to troops

[TopShelf]

Whatever else you may say about the Brits, they have some awfully fine orators. Just flip back and forth between C-SPAN coverage of our Congress and the Prime Minister's question time in the House of Commons to get a comparison that puts our legislators to shame...

The Inspections are Working!

[VivianC]

Funny how the US Marines sitting still in the desert have already seen more banned SCUD missiles than the inspectors found in six months of active searching!

Hey! Just give peace a ch... INCOMING!!

Re:but Saddam

[gid-goo]

Well, lets start with the dossier that Powell submitted to the U.N., it's a fake.

Remember that bit of evidence linking Iraq to nuclear weapons, oh yeah, it's a fake as well.

Those "great" tips our folks have been giving the inspection team? All that cool intel we have about trucks with mobile labs and sneaky shit going down, ummmm, it's garbage.

Shit, I could spend all day doing this. Our government has been busted time after time. They are liars. Period. However, now that we're at war, I support our folks over there fighting. Our president is a complete bullshit artist and his team of jackasses will, hopefully, go far far away after the next election. But I hope the people on the ground and in the air do what they have to do and get home safely.