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A DAY OF DEFEAT IN IRAQ: Iraqis Fight Back,
Inflict Heavy Casualties
Umm Qasr is Still in Iraqi Hands: 150 Iraqis
Holding out Against
U.S.-British
Juggernaut
Tommy Franks Faces Disgrace and Removal: Fidayeen
Capture 12 U.S. Troops
[In war time, it is difficult to know what
is going on. New Trend's
purpose in reporting the war is to read what both
sides say so that our
readers are not misled by propaganda. We are
always open to correction - Ed.]
The 4th day of the ground war seems to
have gone badly for the U.S.
The facts seem to be as follows:
1. An Iraqi garrison of only 150 is holding on in
Umm Qasr which was reported
captured on Day One.
2. Basra has not been captured. U.S. air raids on
Basra have killed numerous
civilians.
3. The U.S. offensive has been halted by heavy
fighting at Nasiriya.
CNN
admits "heavy" U.S. losses at Nasiriya.
4. A guerrilla attack by Iraqi Fedayeen has
captured 12 U.S. troops. Of these
five were shown on Iraqi TV and Al-Jazeerah.
[The U.S. is upset by the Iraqi capture of U.S.
troops. First the U.S. said
the report was not true. When the POWs appeared
on
Al-Jazeerah
TV, the U.S.
condemned it as a violation of the Geneva
Convention. The U.S. anger is
getting a lot of response in the world
media.
The
U.S. showed Islamic
prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in very degrading
conditions which drew protests
from human rights groups, some critics say. The
U.S. has also been showing
Iraqi prisoners in humiliating postures which
makes critics wonder why U.S.
is criticizing the Iraqis for showing prisoners.]
[Our reporters say that the footage on
Al-Jazeerah showed U.S. troops in bad
shape, dispirited and confused. Also, Al-Jazeerah
showed U.S. troops killed
in the fighting with gaping wounds. ]
[New Trend notes: The U.S.
media
have not shown
horrific pictures of
civilians, Islamic Kurds, killed in northeastern
Iraq in U.S. missile attacks,
as well as civilians massacred in Basra by U.S.
bombers. After withholding
those pictures, the U.S. is protesting pictures
of U.S. troops captured by
the Iraqis. Without Al-Jazeerah, the American
people would have never known
that 12 Americans are in Iraqi hands. What's the
point of sending 400
journalists into the war zone when basic
information is being withheld, our
observers ask.]
5. The American Muslim who attacked the 101st
airborne's officers has been
identified as Asan Akbar (original name Mark
Kool). The fuzzy pictures shown
on
MSNBC
indicate that he is African-American,
not White as we had
incorrectly reported earlier.
6. U.S. reports indicate that there was a LARGE
EXPLOSION near the U.S.
Central Command HQ in Qatar. Al-Jazeerah says
these were gas containers which
supply the U.S. base. It's not clear how the
explosion was caused.
ANALYSIS: American Commander Tommy Franks seems
to have made a mistake by
launching troops into Iraq in the hope that the
Iraqis won't fight. The
Iraqis might have used disinformation in making
the American commander think
that a surrender was imminent. If Iraqis don't
surrender and the U.S. does
not achieve a quick breakthrough, the American
forces could be stuck in
Iraq's desert. Saddam Hussain seems to have
learned from the Islamic
resistance in
Afghanistan.
His tactics have
become flexible, with
mujahideen
going out in small numbers with RPGs to attack
American and British forces.
Also, the Iraqis let the powerful U.S. tank units
pass and then attack the
softer units which follow. The Iraqi fighters
seem to have imbibed Islamic
values and motivation, following Saddam's move
towards Islam in 1991.
The Iraqi leadership seems to be intact.
Izzat Ibrahim, Vice President,
gave a press conference today. He was earlier
rumored to have been killed in
the Wednesday attack by the U.S.. He is the one
who recited
Qur'anic
verses
during the OIC meeting and called the Kuwaiti
representative a "monkey" of
the U.S. government.
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2003-03-24 Mon 08:23ct