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| Iraq |
| Basra ?Ã…Â’nowhere near under allied control?Ã…Â’ |
| 2003-03-28 |
| The besieged city of Basra is "clearly nowhere near" under Allied forces' control, a British officer admitted today. Colonel Chris Vernon also revealed five days of fighting had made it impossible to get aid into the area. A ship laden with hundreds of tonnes of food and essential supplies for the people of Basra today docked in the nearby port of Umm Qasr. But Col Vernon warned: "Basra is clearly nowhere near yet in our hands and we have no way at the moment of getting humanitarian aid into Basra." He was confident the city would eventually fall, but could not say how long it would take. "Not easy, no time lines on it," he said. Hopes had risen that aid would finally be delivered to 1.5 million civilians trapped in the city as a British Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship arrived in Umm Qasr. The Sir Galahad - carrying 200 tonnes of food and 100 tonnes of bottled water - has been delayed for several days because of Iraqi resistance in the town and mines in the channel approaching the dock. Civilians trying to flee Basra were shot at by Iraqi militias today, another military source claimed. |
| Posted by:Murat |
| #9 ... this is how he plans to force us to enter Baghdad. This, and .. I think no other reason... is why our forces have held off on approaching Baghdad. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-03-28 20:04:19 |
| #8 Don't comment this fucking guy. He's obviously a moron. Obviously a islamofascist. It's funny, go to all the problems in the world. Kashmer, Chechnya, Afgan, New York, Palastine, Philipines, Kurdistan, you name it. What's the link, Islamofascism. The world isn't at war with the Islamofascist the Islamofascist are at war with the world. Just don't read his crap and don't comment on it. |
| Posted by: George 2003-03-28 11:56:53 |
| #7 sniff, sniff, that made me cry, liberalhawk. Unlike the peace activists who pretend to cry for these people while cheering their oppressors, I'm not ashamed to wish that each one of those brutal oppressors gets as good as they have given. It's impossible to imagine the horror that the Iraqi people have faced for so many years. If I'm ever in their position, I'd like to think that the people of the free world would care enough to fight for me too. I need to "turn this war off" for awhile. These stories are really bringing me down, and there really isn't much I can do about it but hope and pray for their freedom. |
| Posted by: becky 2003-03-28 11:50:27 |
| #6 eyewitness account from the Times of London: "The crowd was halfway across the concrete and steel span of the bridge when the mortar rounds started falling on the Basra side, men, women and children screaming as they ran to escape machine gun fire coming from the Iraqi positions. A thousand people, maybe more, running for their lives. A young woman falling, hit by shrapnel, as a pick-up truck broke cover and charged forward, the machine gun mounted on its roof spewing bullets at the crowd. On the British side, a tank lurched forward, the gunner training his sights on the truck a few hundred yards ahead. One shot and the truck was blown apart, the three people in it killed in an instant. Around the British positions, mortar shells were falling, the Black Watch firing back. The crowd had made it safely across the bridge, hands raised as they ran towards the British troops, ducking for cover as the British guns moved round to cover their escape. They began moving along the road in the direction of al-Zubayr. They may take shelter there or camp out in the countryside around. A young woman, badly hurt, was plucked to safety by a British vehicle and driven back across the lines. Others were also injured and medics rushed to tend their wounds. Then came the clatter of rotor blades and two Lynx helicopters appeared, hovering over to the right, just visible between the concrete pillars holding up the bridge. " |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-03-28 11:21:31 |
| #5 It is not a claim from Al Jazeera, but an English paper |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-03-28 10:43:46 |
| #4 I have not slipped it Ptah, I only regard every claim from the British with sceptism these days, evenso Blair. |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-03-28 09:15:12 |
| #3 He's slipping, missing that last line.... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-03-28 08:35:02 |
| #2 "Civilians trying to flee Basra were shot at by Iraqi militias today, another military source claimed. " Thank you Murat, for reminding us what this war is about. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-03-28 07:58:35 |
| #1 "Civilians trying to flee Basra were shot at by Iraqi militias today, another military source claimed. " Thank you Murat, for reminding us what this war is about. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-03-28 07:58:20 |