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.
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DAY 20: U.S. Probes in Baghdad Meet "Stubborn" but poorly armed Resistance Systematic U.S. Effort to Wipe out Arab & Alternative Media Coverage: 3 Journalists Killed
1252 Iraqi Civilians Killed 5000 injured in bombing till now [Abu Dhabi TV]

April 8, 2003:

1. Fighting continued at Saddam International Airport. The Iraqis at the airport shot down a sophisticated U.S. Warthog jet fighter. The pilot bailed out. [The U.S. announced that an F-15E went down in the Tikrit area and its two airmen are missing.]

2. Two U.S. tank columns entered Baghdad's outskirts, with air support and met stubborn resistance from lightly armed Iraqi militias. It appears that Iraqi weaponry is poor and unsuited to fight heavy tank columns.

3. According to the BBC, President Saddam Hussain was PROBABLY NOT KILLED in the U.S. strike on a Baghdad restaurant in which 4 bunker buster bombs were used.

4. Heavy fighting is going on at Hilla, 40 miles south of Baghdad.

5. Fighting continues at Kerbala

6. Parts of Basrah have been captured by the British but other parts are under Iraqi control.

4. The most important event of the day was the U.S attack on Arab and other media outlets in Baghdad. i. Aljazeeraah TV's outlet was hit with two missiles. One of its reporters, Tarek Ayyub, was killed.
ii. Abu Dhabi TV's outlet was not only hit repeatedly but was surrounded by U.S. tanks for almost the entire day.
iii. Palestine Hotel which houses the entire foreign media group was hit point blank when an American tank opened up on it. Two foreign journalists here were killed and three injured.

Following the three SEPARATE attacks on the media, the U.S. started an elaborate spin campaign to claim that U.S. forces had come under fire from the media outlets and had to respond. The journalists on the spot ridiculed these claims.
[Comment: Middle eastern observers say that the attacks on the media are part of the U.S. campaign to shut down coverage of U.S. atrocities against Iraqi civilians. The number of civilian casualties in Baghdad is rising steadily as the U.S. uses B-52s and B1s within this city of five million. The U.S. earlier tried frantically to bomb out Iraqi TV. CENSORSHIP is a favorite tool of the Zionists who control the U.S. media. If the other side is not heard, even the silliest Jewish propagandists like Steve Emerson can have their day on MSNBC.]
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AL-JAZEERAH REPLIES TO THE U.S. MISSILE ATTACK

Al-Jazeerah's representatives made the following points:
1. It was a "deliberately" targeted attack by the U.S. aimed at destroying Al-Jazeerah's outlet.
2. The offices were CLEARLY MARKED in huge letters.
3. There were no military targets there.
4. There was absolutely no question of anyone firing from the outlet at the Americans
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THE TANK OPENING FIRE ON THE JOURNALISTS WAS PHOTOGRAPHED BY ABU DHABI TV. The tank kept firing , forcing 25 Abu Dhabi journalists to remain hidden in the basement. [ABU DHABI REPRESENTATIVE POINTED OUT THAT NO TARGETS OTHER THAN THE MEDIA OUTLETS WERE HIT in the U.S. attack.]
[Comment: Attacks on unarmed, well-marked journalists are war crimes which should be tried by the international court in the Hague.]
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OBITUARY OF AL-JAZEERAH REPORTER TAREK AYUB: He had recently performed the Hajj, got married a couple of years back, his wife gave birth to a daughter who is now one year, two months old. Tarek's mother mourned her son on TV and condemned America's crimes against the Arab and Muslim peoples. His father also spoke and shamed the Arab rulers for their inaction while a nation which is part of the Arab and Islamic family is being bullied by a cowardly superpower.
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2003-04-09 Wed 18:20ct