Pentagon: 3 Months in Iraq Cost $14B

[Ideal08]

Originally posted by Steeltrap
Be strong, Soror, for your girls. They need you.

Soror, TRUST, that is the ONLY thing keeping me here.

Carla, thanks for the hug, girl, I needed that! I wish you were really here.

[CrimsonTide4]

Air Raid Sirens, Planes Heard in Baghdad
2 minutes ago

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Anti-aircraft fire and explosions were heard across Baghdad after air raid sirens went off in the capital at dawn Thursday.

An American-led invasion force of 300,000 troops awaited the order to strike. U.S. and British forces massed in the Kuwaiti desert close to the Iraqi border, giant B-52 warplanes were loaded with bombs and Tomahawk missile-carrying ships were in position, all awaiting an attack order from Bush.


The deadline came at 8 p.m. EST, which was 4 a.m. Thursday in Baghdad, its population shrunken in recent days by an exodus of thousands of fearful residents.


"The disarmament of the Iraqi regime will begin at a time of the president's choosing," said his press secretary, Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), moments after 8 p.m. "The American people are ready for the disarmament of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). They understand what's at stake. The military is ready, the nation is ready and the cause is just."


Just after the deadline, White House chief of staff Andrew Card informed the president that intelligence officials had no information that Saddam had left Iraq (news - web sites).


Saddam's regime gave every appearance of digging in.


In the minutes after the deadline, Iraqi TV showed footage of a pro-Saddam march Tuesday in Baghdad, with members of the crowd chanting pro-Saddam slogans, some brandishing rifles and carrying pictures of Saddam.


"We are dedicated to martyrdom in defense of Iraq under your leadership," a loyal Iraqi parliament assured the Iraqi dictator, and armed members of the ruling Baath party deployed behind hundreds of sandbagged defensive positions in Baghdad.


Even so, 17 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to American GIs during the day, eager to give up before the shooting started.


Bush met periodically throughout the day with his top aides at the White House and sent formal notice to Congress that reliance on "further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone" would not suffice to counter "the continuing threat posed by Iraq."


Fleischer, said the nation "ought to be prepared for the loss" of American lives once the military effort begins to depose Saddam and recover weapons of mass destruction.


Aides said the commander in chief would decide on timing based on the advice of his military commanders.


More than 25 protesters were arrested outside the White House, part of a larger group of demonstrators that chanted, banged drums and carried signs that read, "Stop the War on Iraq."


It seemed unlikely in the extreme.


Along with the U.S.-led force approaching 300,000 troops massed in the Persian Gulf region were 1,000 combat aircraft and five aircraft carrier battle groups. The United States claims the public and private support of 45 other nations in a coalition to topple Saddam. But only Britain, with about 40,000 troops, was making a sizable contribution to the military force.


In a run-up to war, U.S. aircraft also dropped nearly 2 million leaflets over southern Iraq with a variety of messages, including, for the first time, instructions to Iraqi troops on how to capitulate to avoid being killed.


Hundreds of miles away, at an air base in England, crews loaded bombs aboard giant B-52 combat aircraft.





Apart from the desire to capture weapons of mass destruction, Bush's submission to Congress said a military attack could lead to the discovery of information that would allow the apprehension of terrorists living in the United States. An attack, it said, "is a vital part of the international war on terrorism."

Despite deep divisions at the United Nations (news - web sites), Bush also claimed "the authority — indeed, given the dangers involved, the duty — to use force against Iraq to protect the security of the American people and to compel compliance with United Nations resolutions."

The diplomatic wheels turned still at the United Nations where foreign ministers were meeting in the Security Council at the request of the French and Germans, prominent critics of the American military operation.

"This is a sad day for the United Nations," said the organization's secretary general, Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said. "I know that millions of people around the world share this sense of disappointment and are deeply alarmed."

Bush abandoned diplomacy on Monday, and administration officials blamed French intransigence for the lack of consensus on a new Security Council resolution that would have given Saddam an ultimatum.

The signs of imminent conflict were abundant.

Israel ordered its citizens to start carrying their gas masks to work and to school. And hundreds of Israeli residents fled Tel Aviv, fearful that Iraq would launch missiles against their seaside city, as happened in the 1991 Persian Gulf War (news - web sites).

Royal Jordanian — the only commercial airline with regularly scheduled flights to Baghdad — said it was canceling them in anticipation of war.

And Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) offered a dual-edged analysis. He blamed Iraq for the approaching military conflict. But he also said he hoped that "different international forces will realize the dangerous repercussions of any military action on the safety and stability of the Middle East region."

Another country in the region, Bahrain, publicly offered exile to Saddam "in a dignified manner that should not be seen as undermining Iraq's position and capabilities."

"It's the last-hour chance and we hope that Iraq will accept this offer to avoid war," Information Minister Nabil al-Hamer told The Associated Press.

Exile for the Iraqi leader "is absolutely unthinkable," said Saadoon Hammadi, speaker of Iraq's parliament.

"He will be in front of everyone. He will fight and guide our country to victory."

[CrimsonTide4]

U.S. Launches Iraq War, White House Says
4 minutes ago 9:54P.M. EST


WASHINGTON - The United States launched war against Iraq (news - web sites) on Wednesday. "The opening stages of the disarmament of the Iraqi regime have begun," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said.

[Wonderful1908]

I wonder what God is thinking, this has to make him sad.
I will continue to pray, thats all I can do at this point.

[Koss28]

I was listening to the Tom Joyner Morning show today and Al Sharpton was on. He pretty much ripped Bush a new one but he did bring up one key point. "This is what our voting apathy has brought us." If we don't vote and get politically involved in some way, we can't complain. Sad but true...

[D.COM]

The media keeps talking about if the first bombing killed Saddam and his officials, etc. I REALLY hate it when the media keeps "assuming" or "hoping" that that is what happened. JUST SAY THE FACTS! If they DID NOT kill him, then DON'T KEEP talking about it LIKE IF IT DID HAPPEN! The media are the SAME people who said that Bin Laden may have been killed, blah, blah, blah, and then what happened? He's still alive....you see? You get people's hopes up or begin rumors. It's NOT that easy to just go over there and kill a "leader."

Here are some thoughts I found on this war (not necessarily MY views):

[Confucius]

D.Com,

The cartoons may not be your views but they are mine. I just pray to God that this war will be quick and that not many soldiers or Iraqi citizens die.

[D.COM]

Right...I said MAY not be my views because I did not want to get into the topic too much. Maybe I should say MAY or MAY NOT be my views instead. I just thought the pics were funny and were a good depiction of most people's point of view.

[DELTABRAT]

George W. Bush

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC

Dear Governor Bush:

So today is what you call "the moment of truth," the day that "France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table." I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths

I would like to share with you:

1. There is virtually NO ONE in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war. Trust me on this one. Walk out of the White House and on to any street in America and try to find five peoplewho are PASSIONATE about wanting to kill Iraqis. YOU WON'T FIND THEM! Why?
'Cause NO Iraqis have ever come here and killed any of us! No Iraqi has even threatened to do that. You see, this is how we average Americans think:
If a certain so-and-so is not perceived as a threat to our lives, then, believe it or not, we don't want to kill him! Funny how that works!

2. The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you -- are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction. We know what the real issues are that affect our daily lives -- and none of them begin with I or end in Q.

Here's what threatens us: two and a half million jobs lost since you took office, the stock market having become a cruel joke, no one knowing if their retirement funds are going to be there, gas now costs almost two dollars the list goes on and on. Bombing Iraq will not make any of this go away. Only you need to go away for things to improve.

3. As Bill Maher said last week, how bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? The whole world is against you, Mr. Bush. Count your fellow Americans among them.

4. The Pope has said this war is wrong, that it is a SIN. The Pope! But even worse, the Dixie Chicks have now come out against you! How bad does it have to get before you realize that you are an army of one on this war? Of course, this is a war you personally won't have to fight. Just like when you went AWOL while the poor were shipped to Vietnam in your place.

5. Of the 535 members of Congress, only ONE (Sen. Johnson of South Dakota) has an enlisted son or daughter in the armed forces! If you really want to stand up for America, please send your twin daughters over to Kuwait right now and let them don their chemical warfare suits. And let's see every member of Congress with a child of military age also sacrifice their kids for this war effort. What's that you say? You don't THINK so? Well, hey, guess what -- we don't think so either!

6. Finally, we love France. Yes, they have pulled some royal screw-ups. Yes, some of them can be pretty damn annoying. But have you forgotten we wouldn't even have this country known as America if it weren't for the French? That it was their help in the Revolutionary War that won it for us? That our greatest thinkers and founding fathers -- Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin,etc. -- spent many years in Paris where they refined the concepts that
lead to our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution? That it was France who gave us our Statue of Liberty, a Frenchman who built the Chevrolet, and a pair of French brothers who invented the movies? And now they are doing what only a good friend can do -- tell you the truth about yourself, straight, no b.s. Quit pissing on the French and thank them for getting
it right for once. You know, you really should have traveled more (like once) before you took over. Your ignorance of the world has not only made you look stupid, it has painted you into a corner you can't get out of. Well, cheer up -- there IS good news. If you do go through with this war, more than likely it will be over soon because I'm guessing there aren't a lot of Iraqis willing to lay down their lives to protect Saddam Hussein. After you "win" the war, you will enjoy a huge bump in the popularity polls as everyone loves a winner -- and who doesn't like to see a good
ass-whoopin' every now and then (especially when it 's some third world ass!). So try your best to ride this victory all the way to next year's election. Of course, that's still a long ways away, so we'll all get to have a good hardy-har-har while we watch the economy sink even further down the toilet! But, hey, who knows -- maybe you'll find Osama a few days before the election! See, start thinking like THAT! Keep hope alive! Kill Iraqis -- they got our oil!!
>
>Yours,
>
>Michael Moore

[2Tuff2Quit]

Just to let you all know, I am watching ABC news and they just said that one of the helicopters that was carrying 16 Americans soliders over there as well as 4 crew members, just crashed. It is used by the army and other services over there. They say that it is highly possible that all were killed. They do not know why or what caused the helicopter to crash. This would be the first American casualties.

[D.COM]

There have been a number of helicopter crashes in this war, the hunt for bin Laden, and others.

I heard on the news that this helicopter crash was not because of "hostile fire", but because of the age of this type of helicopter...they are looking into "upgrading" this type of "transport chopper."

Umm...hello??? It's 2003 and we are using some "old" machinery and engineering? We have the latest bombs, missiles, etc...but don't have the latest equipment that CARRIES HUMANS/LIFE on board? Am I missing something?

We only seem to learn AFTER making mistakes...urrgghhh.

[mo_mo17]

Originally posted by D.COM
There have been a number of helicopter crashes in this war, the hunt for bin Laden, and others.

I heard on the news that this helicopter crash was not because of "hostile fire", but because of the age of this type of helicopter...they are looking into "upgrading" this type of "transport chopper."

Umm...hello??? It's 2003 and we are using some "old" machinery and engineering? We have the latest bombs, missiles, etc...but don't have the latest equipment that CARRIES HUMANS/LIFE on board? Am I missing something?

We only seem to learn AFTER making mistakes...urrgghhh.

Or the propaganda machine has started. In other words any excuse--including old run down equipment--for why one of our copters went down is better than the possibility of retaliatory military action by the Iraqis. The last thing the Bush administration needs is American casualties stemming directly from Saddam's military. So I'm thinking it just wasn't an old plane that caused the crash......

[D.COM]

Good point.

I keep getting reminded of how "crazy" this world is. Media, different people, crime, happiness, education, success, depression, struggles, money issues, etc.

I am surprised how technology allows us to "virtually experience" on TV what some soldiers are seeing or what reporters are hearing...kind of reminds me of the movie "Wag the Dog," but this is reality.

With all the "world tensions" now with the disagreements of some nations and North Korea, I PRAY that we do not have a nuclear disaster or WW III. Nuclear weapons should have never been created. Poor planet.

At the end of the "busy" day, I say my prayers and fall asleep - only to face another chaotic day (God willing).

(sigh) C'est la vie!

[CrimsonTide4]

Arab TV Shows Captured American Soldiers
1 hour, 6 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!


By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press Writer

DOHA, Qatar - The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera aired footage from Iraqi television Sunday of interviews with what the station identified as captured American prisoners, and also showed bodies in uniform in an Iraqi morgue that it said were Americans.


Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld told CBS that if they are indeed coalition soldiers, "those pictures are a violation of the Geneva Conventions."


There was no confirmation that the prisoners were U.S. troops, or if they were, what unit they were attached to. Two of the prisoners identified their unit only as the 507th Maintenance; there is a 507th in both the Army and the Air Force.


The U.S. Central Command had no comment.


A senior defense official said Pentagon (news - web sites) officials did not know precisely how many Americans had been captured. The official declined to identify the unit involved so as not to cause panic among soldiers' families.


The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said he thought fewer than 10 soldiers were missing in southern Iraq (news - web sites) and that military officials were trying to account for them. "Beyond that, we don't know," Gen. Richard Myers said on "Fox News Sunday."


Rumsfeld noted that under the conventions governing prisoners of war, "It's illegal to do things to POWs that are humiliating to those prisoners."


In the Al-Jazeera broadcast, four bodies could be seen lying on the floor of the room.


The station said they and the prisoners were captured around Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates northwest of Basra.


The British Ministry of Defense refused to comment about a BBC report that four were killed and 50 wounded during eight hours of fighting in Nasiriyah.


Al-Jazeera later showed footage of what appeared to be a fuel or water carrier parked alongside a highway and a body in uniform with full gear and still wearing a helmet lying behind the carrier.


In the Iraqi television footage, at least five prisoners including one woman were interviewed separately. Two were bandaged. They spoke American-accented English.


One of the men, sitting up, was being interviewed by an unseen person holding a microphone labeled "Iraqi TV." The prisoner spoke in English and at one point said: "I'm sorry. I don't understand you."


The narrator provided an Arabic translation, but it was possible to hear some of the comments in English.


The prisoners looked terrified. One captive, who said he was from Kansas, answered all his questions in a shaky voice, his eyes darting back and forth between and interviewer and another person who couldn't be seen on camera.


Asked why he came to Iraq, he simply replied "I come to fix broke stuff."

Prodded again by the interviewer, he was asked if he came to shoot Iraqis.


"No I come to shoot only if I am shot at," he said. "They (Iraqis) don't bother me, I don't bother them."

Another prisoner, who said he was from Texas, said only: "I follow orders."

A voice off-camera asked "how many officers" were in his unit.

"I don't know sir," the man replied.

Another prisoner, who also said he was from Texas, was lying on an elaborate maroon mat. The camera panned from his feet to his head, showing one of his arms as injured and lying across his chest.

Iraqi TV attempted to interview him lying down, at one point trying to cradle his head so it would hold steady for the camera. The eventually helped him sit up, but he seemed to sway slightly.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U.S. Military Says About 10 Soldiers Missing
2 hours, 9 minutes ago Add Politics to My Yahoo!



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday that some of its soldiers could have been captured during the fighting in Iraq (news - web sites) and about 10 service personnel were missing.


U.S. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said no more than 10 soldiers were unaccounted for in southern Iraq, but a defense official said the exact numbers were unclear.


The defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the missing American personnel probably were members of a maintenance unit that was part of U.S. forces in southern Iraq. The official declined to be more specific.


"The numbers were rough. We don't know whether it was 10, 11, 12, eight, nine," the official told reporters.


Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked if he believed there were any American prisoners of war. "There could be," he said.


Iraqi television has shown footage of what it said were four dead U.S. soldiers and five prisoners who said they were American.


Rumsfeld said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that showing pictures of the prisoners violated the Geneva Convention.


On the "Fox News Sunday" program, Myers said Central Command was searching for the missing American soldiers.


"They are trying to account for the soldiers that are reported missing and beyond that we don't know," Myers said.


Asked how many soldiers were missing, and from where, he added, "Less than 10 we think."


"Somewhere in southern Iraq," Myers said.


Rumsfeld said he had heard that an allied aircraft was missing, but he had no information about claims by Iraq that two Western pilots had been forced to abandon their aircraft over Baghdad.


Asked whether any Western planes are missing, he said "There has been a report of an aircraft that's missing."


Rumsfeld did not clarify if he was referring to a U.S. or British plane.


British officials confirmed on Sunday that one of their Tornado strike aircraft was downed by a U.S. missile near the Kuwait border and that the two-man crew was missing.


The U.S. military said later that it had no reports that any Western warplanes were missing over Iraq.

[Gina1201]

Did anyone else hear about the grenade attack on some if the US troops? It turned out that it was one of our own. They showed a picture of the person in charge for the attack. It was an African American sergent. The news stated that he is a Muslim and they believe that this is what brought on the attack. Does anyone else have info on this topic?