New Trend Magazine (www.newtrendmag.org)

[Biggest Islamic web site in the U.S.]
P.O. Box 356, Kingsville, MD 21087.
Phone: 410-435-5000.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are not necessarily shared by editorial committee.
Responses (positive or negative) up to 250 words are welcome.
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[Badi Ali, Greensboro, NC reports the two following items]
Al-Jazeerah TV Airs Two U.S. Massacres: One of Kurdish Islamists, other in Basra

March 22: At 7 A.M. (Eastern Standard Time), Al-Jazeerah TV showed the results of a U.S. air attack on civilians who could be the families of Islamic Kurds in northeastern Iraq. It appears that U.S. jets fired missiles and bombs into a compound and surrounding homes near the Sulaimaniya area. The area is under control of the Kurdish Islamic movement known as Ansar al-Islam.

The result of the bombing attack was the death of 59 Kurdish Muslim civilians. The graphic footage aired by Al-Jazeerah showed burned bodies, hands torn off bodies, heads torn off bodies. The grisly scene was horrifying even for the hardened Al-Jazeerah reporter who seemed about to break down.

According to Al-Jazeerah, the U.S. fired 70 missiles in this attack..
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Ed. Comment: U.S. media has refused to show the Al-Jazeerah footage. American TV channels have limited themselves to saying that missiles have been launched at the Al-Ansar fundamentalist Islamists who are suspected of links to Al-Qaida. CNN Headline News showed a two second view of the massacre which showed a few bodies being taken away but did not say that they were civilians or that the dead number 59.
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SECOND MASSACRE AIRED BY Al-JAZEERAH: 50 Killed in U.S. Air Attack on Basra

The second massacre in Basra clearly showed civilians killed in a U.S. bombing raid. One photo of the killings which I (Badi Ali) have circulated is so horrifying that people can't bear to look at it. It shows a two year old child killed in the attack with his skin peeled off (could be napalm.) . Four members of one family were killed.
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Ed. Note: The U.S. media have refused to show the Al-Jazeerah footage of the massacre in Basra. One interesting comment was made by the MSNBC reporter (afternoon of March 22) that she had seen Al-Jazeerah footage of people killed in Basra but that it was "too graphic to be shown" on MSNBC.
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Attack on Elite 101st Airborne's Command Post in Kuwait: 16 wounded, 11 seriously
Attacker Said to be U.S. Muslim soldier

According to U.S. news reports, there was an attack on the Brigade headquarters of a segment of the 101st Airborne Division stationed in Kuwait. The attacker hurled three hand grenades and then opened light arms fire. Sixteen officers are reported wounded in the attack. Of these 11 are said to be seriously injured and have been evacuated.

The attacker is reported to be an American Muslim soldier stationed in the same area. He has apparently been shot in the leg. Only one channel (according to our viewers) showed a glimpse of the attacker. He seemed to be White. [After a flurry of initial reports, it appears that the Pentagon has decided to suppress the information pending inquiry.]
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American and Iraqi Perceptions of the War: Confusion Utterly Confounded.

The U.S. version is as follows:
1. After three days, the U.S. "wave of steel" has halted about 100 miles inside Iraq after meeting relatively more determined Iraqi resistance.
2. The U.S. still expects Iraqis to surrender.
3. Unfortunately the "8000" Iraqi troops of the 51st Division who had been reported to have surrendered are nowhere to be found. Now the Pentagon says, only its commander had surrendered, but he too has not been shown to any of the 400 "embedded" journalists with the U.S. forces.
4. Umm Qasr (the tiny town on the coast) was repeatedly reported captured by the U.S. but by the evening of March 22 it was clear that "pockets of resistance" still existed there.
5. Basra was reported captured several times. By 9 pm (EST) March 22 the media finally admitted that Basra had not been captured but U.S. troops had bypassed it and taken the airport.
6. Further north the U.S. has reportedly crossed the Euphrates at one point over an intact bridge.
7. Heavy bombing of Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk is going on and it is hoped that the Republican Guard units will surrender after such a heavy pounding.

IRAQI PERCEPTIONS:
1. Saddam Hussain is alive and well.
2. The Information Minister came on Iraqi TV during the heaviest bombing of Baghdad to condemn U.S. aggression.
3. No Iraqis troops have surrendered. Those dozen or so shown repeatedly on U.S. TV were civilians. A few have been captured after they ran out of ammunition. [Our reporter says this may not be entirely true. Small numbers of Shiite soldiers have probably surrendered.]
4. Saddam Hussain, Tariq Aziz and others appeared again on TV on March 22, quite jovial in an official meeting.
5. Foreign Minister Sabri has been able to travel out of Iraq via Syria to attend an Arab meeting. This would not be possible if the regime were falling apart.
6. Iraq has won a diplomatic victory in that important countries of the world refused to accept the U.S. demand to close down Iraqi foreign missions.
[The UN is strangely silent. It appears that Kofi Annan is working with the U.S. But on March 22, Indonesia demanded an emergency meeting of the UN to stop the U.S. assault.]
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2003-03-23 Sun 09:55ct