On Sun, 06 Apr 2003 12:12:16 -0400 John Mage <jmage at panix.com> writes:
> FWIW - as to accuracy of iraqwar.ru - Al Jazeera
>
<http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/index.asp?cu_no=1&lng=0&template_id=
1&temp_type=44>
> has been running a story with the headline "The battle for Saddam
>
I also found this story on the Al Jazeera web site: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The battle for Saddam International Airport
Lawrence Smallman
US and Iraqi forces continue to battle for control of Saddam International Airport. Both sides claim it in its entirety, but both claims appear dubious. No one can use it, which suggests that there is still a lot of fighting to come and that control is split.
"Relying upon God, our brave people were able to expel the invaders from Saddam International Airport and they are now surrounded by our troops in a small place in Abu Ghraib," an Information Ministry official said yesterday. Abu Ghraib is a district near to the airport.
"Our ground missiles and artillery hit at the enemy concentrations and the enemy suffered destruction of weapons and several fatalities and wounded soldiers. The battle will continue until they are expelled completely," he said.
Luke Baker, of Reuters, reporting from south of the Iraqi capital, quoted US military sources as saying their forces remained in control of the airport. But they said they had come under heavy artillery fire from north of the airport.
A US military spokesman, speaking to AFP from Baghdad airport Saturday, scorned claims that it was still under Iraqi control, saying the only Iraqi troops he had seen in the facility were "dead or captured".
Major General Victor Renuart told reporters in Qatar that the airport is in remarkably good condition considering the action to capture it. Embedded journalists on the ground say that at least part of the airport complex is under US control.
The United States also claimed today to have positioned 7,000 troops at Saddam International Airport and is moving quickly to establish a small military base there, a military official told Reuters.
Colonel John Peabody, commander of the Engineer Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, said US forces were massed at the airport, 20 kilometres southwest of the centre of the Iraqi capital and that a combat engineering unit would go there to clear debris, carry out repairs and prepare the runway.
However, there is as yet no conclusive proof that the US has taken the airport completely. Last night, the Iraqi Information Ministry claimed to have forced US troops out of the airport complex.
Misinformation is commonplace at this time. Iraqi non-regular and regular forces are still holding positions in the cities of Samawah and Nasiriya where the US claims total control.
In any event, military analysts believe that the ease with which US troops rolled into the airport, which has been rendered unusable, suggests that it does not feature prominently in Iraqi military plans.
"The occupation of the airport is not of major military value. The advancing forces cannot use this airport, which is 15-20 kilometres off Baghdad unless they occupy the capital. The victory is more a political or media success than a military one," said General Mohammed Bilal, commander of Egyptian forces during the 1991 Gulf War.
"You should expect in the coming two days an intensification of British attacks on Basra , which they have designated a politcal and military priority...The British will apply new and effective tactics on Basra to put an end to speculation about their inability to occupy it."
"The fall of Baghdad will not be as easy as some anlaysts expect...Comparatively, Basra is a smaller city than Baghdad with a smaller population and poorer defences. The concern for the US is that its troops will have to burn every part of Baghdad in order to occupy it, and in doing so undermine their claims to be liberating the Iraqi people."
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