 |
Thursday,
March 27, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
IRAQ WAR DIARY POW’s family holds vigil for safe return Iraqi diplomats even more lonely |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Air patrols resume in NY
Pak for fresh UN initiative on Iraq Pak test-fires Abdali missile
|
|
IRAQ WAR DIARY Kuwait City, March 26 Gen Barry McCaffrey has said the US-led force in Iraq risked as many as 3,000 casualties in the battle for Baghdad and Washington had underestimated the number of troops needed. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was asked this question at his press conference in Washington yesterday, had gone on record saying that fresh contingents of troops were arriving in the battle zone practically on a daily basis. Gen McCaffrey said Mr Rumsfeld had misjudged the nature of the conflict and made a mistake by not sending more troops to start the ground offensive. He feels that the US-led forces faced “a very dicey two to three-day battle” in their surge towards Baghdad and the conflict was bound to acquire brutal and dangerous ramifications if the Iraqis actually fight. Missile attack Iraq fired a missile into Kuwait yesterday — 15th such missile attack since the start of the war on March 20 — but a Patriot anti-missile battery shot it down. Kuwaiti defence officials said the Iraqi missile had appeared headed in the direction of the Ali Al Salem airbase, west of Kuwait City, which was used by Anglo-American warplanes as well as Kuwait’s
Airforce. Alert sirens were sounded in the city during the missile attack at about 1 pm GMT and the all-clear signal followed soon after. Unusual march Marches do take place in war times, invariably in protest against the war. But the march by some 300 Kuwaitis here yesterday was rather unusual as it was in support of the war against Iraq. The demonstrators marched along the country’s main coastal road, holding aloft banners and shouting pro-war slogans. One banner read: “Kuwait doesn’t forget what Saddam did to people during the invasion.” The demonstrators were holding not just Kuwaiti flags but American and British flags too. The Americans here are pleased with an overwhelming support they are getting from the Kuwaitis. Counsellor in the US Embassy here John Moran said the embassy telephone system was virtually paralysed yesterday as it got hundreds of calls from Kuwaitis expressing support to the ongoing war in Iraq. Saddam’s strategy Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is known to be a master strategist. He has the reputation of using his own countrymen as cannon fodder for enemy forces to shame the world and make the enemy stop short of a final offensive to overthrow him. This is what happened at the later stages of the 1991 war when he ordered his mechanised columns to take on the enemy without the air cover. The inevitable happened and the coalition forces had some target practice on the Iraqis sitting ducks. It came to be known later on that Saddam had deliberately done so to invoke the shame factor. Precisely the same thing happened as international news channels flooded the drawing rooms across the globe with pictures of the Iraqi soldiers getting slaughtered at the hands of the coalition forces. America had to halt its military operations soon thereafter. Now also, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding itself in southern Iraq where the local people — mostly Shias — are facing acute shortage of food, water and even petrol. This may just be the beginning of Saddam’s “shame factor” theory. |
|
POW’s family holds vigil for safe return Alamogordo, March 26 Relatives and friends of 23-year-old US Army mechanic Joseph Hudson have gathered at the modest home of his Filipino-American mother Anecita every day since they learned over the weekend that Hudson had been captured. “My son looked absolutely scared and confused,” said Ms Anecita Hudson, who first saw footage of her son’s capture on a Filipino station on cable TV. “Only the president has all the power to bring him back,” she told reporters, holding a photograph in her lap of the son she said loved bowling, fishing and cars. “My son was alive and that’s how I want him to stay.” On the dusty street where Ms Anecita Hudson has a home near Alamogordo, a far from affluent town in southern New Mexico, relatives and friends mill about on cement walkways and lounge on outdoor couches, worrying about Hudson’s safety. His wife Natalie and their five-year-old daughter have also come to the house. They live near Fort Bliss Texas, about 90 miles (150 km) to the south, where Hudson, who joined the army so his family could have a better life, is stationed. ‘’It is really getting bad over there. No one wants war. It is just a bunch of killings and gruesome stuff, but we just need to support our troops. It is all we can do,’’ Mrs Natalie Hudson said. “Our daughter knows something’s wrong. But she’s not really understanding,’’ she added. Film of Mr Hudson and four other captured soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company taken by Iraqi television has been broadcast around the world. Some stations, though not in the USA, have also shown film taken at the same time of up to eight bloodied corpses. The US military has reported 12 members of the 507th missing in action after they apparently took a wrong turn near the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya.
Reuters |
|
Iraqi diplomats even more lonely Rome, March 26 Among those new chores, carried out in rooms with peeling wallpaper and frayed carpets, are stamping passports himself and typing some of his own letters. The 49-year-old All Shooker cuts a lonely figure on a big tan leather couch in Baghdad’s embassy to the Vatican, which was not affected by the Italian order. Even before the outbreak of the current war, Iraqi diplomats in Italy were rarely seen on the diplomatic circuit. Now, the winds of war have made it even more difficult to be Baghdad’s man in Rome. “If I’m invited to a reception or
something, I’ll have to go with my own car and won’t have a place to park. There are a lot of little difficulties,’’ he said.
Reuters |
|
|
Anti-war protests flare up
Sydney, March 26 US fast-food restaurants and diplomatic missions were a particular target of the mainly student-led protests against the USA, British and Australian involvement in the war. In the worst clashes, three police officers were injured when the police came under a hail of makeshift missiles, including chairs, stones and golf balls, hurled during a student-led demonstration in Sydney. The police arrested 14 youths in the clashes, which officers said had been provoked by Middle Eastern protesters as the noisy rally marched to Prime Minister John Howard’s Sydney office. The police said there had been deliberate attempts to taunt officers and provoke violence among 2,000 school and university students, including primary school pupils as young as 10. Many of those blamed for the violence were Arabic youths wearing Palestinian-style headscarves, they said. A protest in Melbourne was marred by scuffles with the police when 1,500 students sat in front of police cars and officers, and a march by 500 students in Brisbane ended with the arrest of a man in his 20s for allegedly assaulting an officer. The South Korean police hauled away at least 30 demonstrators from outside the US Embassy and over 10 more from a downtown Seoul McDonald’s where anti-war activists targeted US symbols of power and commerce. US symbols were also targeted in Indonesia where protesters urged a boycott of US and British products. In central Java, atleast 3,000 persons rallied at Cilacap, urging the government to break relations with the USA and calling for a “comprehensive boycott” of US goods. And 2,000 Islamic students held a similar protest in Semarang. In Yogyakarta, at least 150 protesters massed outside two Kentucky fried chicken restaurants, while in the capital Jakarta 200 students rallied at the British Embassy and 40 students threw red paint and eggs at the window of the US Express building.
AFP |
|
|
Air patrols resume in NY New York, March 26 The helicopters and Cessna Citation II jets, from the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, began round-the-clock patrols on Monday, the bureau said.
AP |
|
|
Pak for fresh UN initiative on Iraq Islamabad, March 26 Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and French and German Ambassadors to Islamabad, Mr Yannick Gerard and Mr Christoph Brummer respectively, condemned the war in Iraq at a function here yesterday. While Mr Kasuri said the US action was “deplorable”, Mr Gerard termed it as “unjustified and illegal”. “At this time of anguish and dismay for the people of Pakistan over the situation in Iraq, we have already deplored the initiation of military action against Iraq,” he said. “We believe that United Nations must continue to play an important role in the current crisis in Iraq. We need to address urgently the gathering storm of a humanitarian crisis,” Mr Kasuri, who was the guest of honour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Elysee German-French Treaty at a reception hosted by the French and German Ambassadors, said. US Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powel also took part in the function. “We believe that the Security Council must uphold international legality and do so on a non-selective basis. It must implement all Security Council resolutions whether they be on Iraq, Palestine or Jammu and Kashmir. It is only in this spirit of non-selectivity that the principles of international law can acquire legitimacy and support worldwide,” Mr Kasuri said. “Pakistan and Germany are committed to promoting multilateralism, international law and world peace,” he said. Mr Kasuri also lauded the Elysee Treaty, signed 40 years ago between France and Germany by General de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer, bringing in lasting peace to Europe. “The success of the Elysee Treaty offers a unique example to other countries of the world, to create similar institutions of regional integration,” he said.
PTI
|
|
Pak test-fires Abdali missile Islamabad, March 26 “Pakistan has test-fired its nuclear-capable short-range missile Abdali,” Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan said. “Pakistan had given prior information to India about the test, however we were not informed about India’s test”, he was quoted as saying by the official media here. Responding to questions about the Prithvi test, he said “the test has come as a surprise to us. We were not notified about the test in accordance with the MoU signed between the two countries.” Officials of the Indian High Commission here said Pakistan had informed about its missile test yesterday. However, they were not aware of India informing Pakistan about its missile test. “It has to be verified in New Delhi,” an official of the Indian High Commission said. Abdali missile has a range of less than 200 km and can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads. Prithvi, too, is a short-range missile. It was, however, not clear why Pakistan opted to test-fire Abdali, which was test-fired late last year during a series of missile tests. With its range of around 200 km, it was considered to be an India-specific missile.
PTI |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In
video: US
Secretary of State Collin Powell says he is proud of the accomplishments of the coalition forces in the ongoing war, but warns of difficult days ahead.
(
