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.
Names will be withheld on request.
----------------------------------------------------------
DAY FIVE: Stalemate: British Troops Forced to Retreat: Basra Without Water, Electricity
Unusual Iraqi Resistance Without Air Cover

[The following is a summary of the way the war seemed to be going on Day 5. It is based on U.S., British, Iraqi and overseas reports. We are open to correction. -Ed]

1. Umm Qasr is still in Iraqi hands. [CNN March 24, 11 pm, EST, March 25 in Iraq]. The saga of the defense of Umm Qasr is becoming part of Islamic lore.

2. Saddam is almost definitely alive. His latest speech referred to the defense of Umm Qasr.

3. Heavy Fighting continued at Nasiriyah. The Iraqis are holding the U.S. forces there.

4. An American tank column has bypassed Iraqi defenses and has approached Kerbala, only 50 miles from Baghdad.

5. The air assault on Iraqi positions continued along with still lingering U.S. hopes that the Iraqis would surrender.

6. British troops RETREATED from Basra after running into heavy Iraqi resistance.

7. Water and electricity to Basra have been cut off by the siege and the city could soon face a serious situation.

8. POWs have become a serious issue in the U.S. after Iraq showed two more Americans (pilots) captured by the Iraqis. The two airmen were from an Apache helicopter downed by an Iraqi farmer named Ali Ubaydi with a Kalashnikov rifle.

9. Syria is threatening to go to the world court as it sees the U.S. attack on a civilian bus carrying Syrians out of Iraq as a war crime. [Five Syrian laborers were killed and 10 injured in the attack by a U.S. jet fighter.]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2003-03-27 Thu 10:36ct