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Date Posted: 21:38:10 04/07/03 Mon
Live TV From The Information Ministry Shows No US Troops
US Commando Raid On Government Complex A Debacle
4/7/03 1:33:17 PM
UPI
Baghdad, Iraq -- [LSN: An additional note for viewers: Notice the absence of live TV
broadcast from all these places where there are supposedly US troops. The only images we've seen of the US at Saddam International or in various "palaces" are taped -- no live reports, despite the embedded journalist. At Saddam, for instance, we keep seeing tape apparently taken
from some vehicle, heading down what we're told is the exit ramp away from the airport's terminal, at a high rate of speed, showing the English-language letters of the airport -- what does that prove? That the US fled the airport at a high rate of speed? Be critical in watching US TV, because the US is lying more than it ever has in any conflict except World War II -- a product of the Zionist control over this war.]
Commentary: Baghdad -- Is it over yet?
By Claude Salhani
From the International Desk
Published 4/7/2003 10:31 AM
LONDON, April 7 (UPI) -- As President George W. Bush flies to Northern Ireland Monday to meet with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair for the second Anglo-American war summit in as many weeks, the much-anticipated battle for Baghdad is under way -- well, sort of.
The fog of war has blurred events in this quasi-Orwellian conflict from its very beginning -- which you might recall was not quite the "official" start of the war. The war, so to speak, jumped the gun.
The initial attack by U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles on Baghdad came in the early hours of March 20, triggering the commencement of hostilities. But barely moments after the "start" of the war meant to topple Saddam Hussein and his ruling Baath Party, putting an end to their 30-year absolute grip of power on the country, the White House informed the world that this was "not the start of the war."
This was not the "shock and awe" campaign promised by the Pentagon. That was to come later on. The initial attack was "a target of opportunity." A brief apercu of what was to come.
And so it continued.
Saddam was dead. No, he was alive. Every time the coalition bombed one of his palaces or bunkers he kept popping up on Iraqi TV. But was it truly him, or was it one of his many doubles?
We missed him, said the coalition, but we got his son, Uday. But then we see Uday on TV, too. It could have been old footage, reply coalition spokesmen.
On Sunday Iraqi television aired tape showing Saddam meeting with his top officers and Uday. Call it insane, but I could swear Uday looked dead. He was motionless, looked sickly pale and his eyes appeared shut. The camera made sure not to linger on him, focusing instead on a smiling Saddam.
The psychological war was in full swing.
The port of Umm Qasr was "taken," only it was not. Then it was. Iraq continued to deny that it was. Basra had fallen, yet resistance continued apace and more than two weeks into the war, British troops were still not inside the city. It was only on day 18 that British soldiers were firmly inside Iraq's second-largest city.
Throughout the last 19 days of war, the Anglo-American "coalition" (we have yet to see the Australians in action) exchanged artillery shells and strong-worded communiqués with Iraqis loyal to Saddam Hussein.
The artillery exchanges were simple enough to comprehend. An incoming shell was just that. But what was harder to make sense of, were the claims and counter-claims by coalition spokesmen and Iraq's ubiquitous minister of information.
As I sit at my desk typing this report, I have two television sets on either side of me. One is tuned to al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite channel based in Qatar, and the other to Britain's Sky News. Both are broadcasting live from their correspondents in the field.
Sky reports that the Americans "own much of Baghdad." They quote U.S. sources saying that American troops occupy several government buildings in central Baghdad. We see footage of American tanks and armored personnel carriers driving along what are clearly the banks of the Tigris River. We see U.S. troops standing under the giant crossed swords in Saddam's favorite parade grounds. I know the place well, having been there during the previous Gulf War 12 years ago. There is no doubt this is Baghdad.
At the same time I turn to my left and on al-Jazeera is their Baghdad correspondent, also live, chatting nonchalantly with Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, the Iraqi information minister. They stand in the street outside the ministry building. There are no Americans in sight.
"There," says al-Sahhaf, "you can see, there is nothing going on."
Meanwhile, gunfire and artillery is clearly audible in the background. A thick haze of yellowish-orange smoke blankets the background, rendering visibility impossible beyond just a few yards, adding to the fog of war and the strangeness of this battle. The live image beamed by Sky News looks somewhat like a cross between Rembrandt's "Stormy Landscapes" and the "River Scene with Vessels Becalmed" by Jan Van de Cappelle.
Bizarre? Yes, and it gets stranger.
Al-Sahhaf tells a gaggle of reporters clad in protective flak vests and combat helmets standing outside the press office in the heart of Baghdad that "U.S. forces learned a lesson last night they will never forget.
"We slaughtered them and will continue to slaughter them," says the Iraqi minister.
I turn my head slightly to the right and on Sky News I see Iraqis surrendering to American soldiers. I see Iraqi prisoners of war squatting on the ground with American soldiers pointing their guns at them. I see Iraqis jumping into the river to escape American gunfire. I see burning Iraqi tanks and vehicles. I see dead Iraqis.
Events move rapidly in war, so it is quite possible that in the few seconds I have been watching Sky News the American forces could have advanced some more.
A quick turn to the left and al-Sahhaf is still there, defiantly stating that the Americans will be vanquished. Does this man live on a dream planet, or does he know something no one else does? We have not really seen much of the dreaded Republican Guards or the Special Republican Guards. If the Iraqis are holding them back, now would be the time to commit those troops. The war, it would appear, is running out of time.
Yet Al-Sahhaf insists that Baghdad is "secure and great."
Not according to Sky.
Much as this war started, so it continues.
-0-
(Claude Salhani is a senior editor with United Press International.)
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