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| Iraq |
| Cargo planes swarm north |
| 2003-04-01 |
| Just a short snippet from the NY Daily News, but don't you think that except for the Kurd/Ansar asskicking, it's been very quiet up north? Too quiet? About 10 huge cargo planes an hour - packed with heavy armor, trucks, Humvees and troops - landed at a makeshift northern Iraq airstrip controlled by U.S. troops over the last 24 hours, officials said yesterday. The steady stream of planes included C-17 Globemasters, big enough to carry an Abrams tank, and C-130s. The giant planes hit the airstrip, disgorged their load and were back in the air in 30 minutes, officials said. Hummmm, this was a pretty good sized airstrip, wasn't it? A few miles away yesterday, coalition war planes pounded Iraqi positions to aid U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters as they seized territory in preparation for an advance by coalition troops. A key mission for the troops in northern Iraq will be to ensure that the Iraqi regime doesn't sabotage oil fields. Hoshiar Zebari, a leader of the governing Kurdistan Democratic Party, said limited U.S. ground operations have begun around the oil-rich, northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. Far fewer Iraqi troops were visible outside Kirkuk than in recent days, indicating that the enemy may be retreating toward Mosul, the largest northern city. Reporters near Kirkuk estimated that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's army had pulled back 20 miles since Thursday and now occupies only the innermost of three defensive lines around the city. Sammy has been pulling forces from other areas to re-enforce the RP on the southern defenses of Baghdad. Hummmmm? |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 But isnt keeping 1st ID supplied by air going to be very difficult? But then we have 1: Powell visiting Turkey 2: Activity in western Iraq 3: Geraldo's Road(?) Sounds like the supply for 1st ID is being dealt with. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-04-01 16:20:23 |
| #6 I think monty Python explained it best, "Run away!" |
| Posted by: Doug De Bono 2003-04-01 13:50:04 |
| #5 Big Red 1 is on its way. 72-96 hours to fully airlift a medium brigade into theater, depending on how many tank battalions they try to lift (Mech Bde = 1 tank Bn 2 Inf Bn, Armor Bde = 2 tank Bn 1 Inf Bn). |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-04-01 13:44:13 |
| #4 I saw a comment somewhere about the 1/63 Armor being deployed. That's from the 1st Infantry Division. |
| Posted by: Hiryu 2003-04-01 13:16:14 |
| #3 Another tidbit, culled from several stories: Paratroopers seize control of an airfield near Bashur in northern Iraq. Troops from the U.S. Army¹s 1st Infantry Division are flown there with tanks and other military equipment needed to wage war. The movement of the C-130s is constant as the huge transport planes arrive from Saudi Arabia, land at the Harir airfield and return to Saudi Arabia for reloading and refueling. U.S. commanders at the Harir airfield in Kurdish territory, where 1,000 U.S. paratroopers landed last week, say 1 million pounds of gear are coming in each day, along with a steady flow of troops. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-04-01 12:51:14 |
| #2 It's been even quieter out west. What's out there? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-04-01 12:45:36 |
| #1 Two questions: 1) which division is being deployed; 2) when do they start moving against the Iraqis. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2003-04-01 11:20:17 |