From the World-Wide Resourses of the Western Australia Reserch Senter(*) OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #30 =============================== In the Run-Up to World War III, Reliably Reporting the News Relevant to Extreme Right-Wing Democratic Socialists Everywhere (validated for RiteThink(tm) by the Office of Our Man in Can-berra). Visit Our Home Page At: http://www.chickenhead.com/loserscopes/ See the Undeniable Evidence At: http://www.evil-doers.org/evidence Kindly Archived At: http://www.kymhorsell.com/OIL/ Iraqi Body Count: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Selecting latest news stories and other data for you... ------------------------------------------------------------ I think the coalition has to play the central role in leading the way forward. -- US Sec of State Colin Powell, Brussels, 3 Apr 2003. Translation for the frogs: bugger off -- it's ours. I don't think there are any particular points of disagreement. -- AUS For Min Alex Downer, 3 Apr 2003. Translation for the Yanks: Roger wilco. Some may have gone back to their homes... some are ready to fight another day... some are dead through combat action... some have been captured... some are flat unaccounted for. -- Brig Vince Brooks, daily briefing, 3 Apr 2003. Explaining to reporters where the Rep Guards have disappeared to. I'm afraid that's an historic problem with Iraq. -- For Min Alex Downer, 4 Apr 2003. Describing how the Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish politicians will not be embracing each other immediately. If he's found or not is almost irrelevant. -- Colin Powell, 4 Apr 2003. Speaking after Saddam apparently goes on a walk in Baghdad. This time we won't abandon you. -- Brit propaganda cartoon, nr Basra, 4 Apr 2003. Showing friendly armed Brit trooper shaking hands with local. Propaganda is a dirty word for us. -- Brit propaganda cartoonist, nr Basra, 4 Apr 2003. Didn't want to have his face on TV. In Iraq, we will need whatever sized force is required. -- Gen Peter Pace, Dep Ch of Joint Chiefs, Meet the Press, 6 Apr 2003. Explaining why 100,000 troops are enough to control Iraq. It's too early to say what the effect will be. -- Dr Paul Wolfowitz, Dep Def Sec, Meet the Press, 6 Apr 2003. Explaining that his plan to change the structure of the Middle E has been carefully thought through. We are not occupiers, and not colonisers. -- Dr Paul Wolfowitz, Dep Def Sec, Meet the Press, 6 Apr 2003. Stressing his plan's about regime change! And only 10,000 US troops are needed to maintaining the change in Afghanistan. ---------------------------------------- Fri, 04 Apr 2003. Cigarettes killed 72 miners Floods, mudslides in Indonesian island claim 45 lives 22 killed in India Israel accused of "exploiting" war 3 killed in fighter crash Iraqi officials scoff as invaders eye Baghdad US troops storm Baghdad airport US forces fight off tanks Brit troops set up camp in Basra The tomato regime Clinton backs troops but urges friendly persuasion RAN sends out special mine clearing equipment Air chief fears urban warfare US soldier mistaken for Iraqi shot dead War commanders report 3 deadly accidents Special forces slip into Baghdad during blackout Syria still helping Iraq: Rummy Wives, children of Uday aides killed by coal'n bombs Fleeing civilians hamper Allies US network says buses of Iraqis fleeing Baghdad 9,000 Iraqis now POW's, says Brit Baghdad's fall may not be end Watchdog slams Iraqi treatment of journalists Powell offers role to UN -- on his terms War delays recovery: World Bank Fresh signs buildup to war took its toll $bns voted in airline welfare 20 "Taliban" killed in fresh Afghan offensive Looking for 2nd bomb suspect: Phil Flu investigations 3 Canadian children on SARS list in Vic US must ditch "inferiority complex": Murdoch Hollow threats to combat terrorism Downer tackles N Korea crisis Downer's mother receives hate mail Aussies will get some Vic farmers qual for assist Credit card medicine Crossbow attack injures 2 schoolgirls Global plan needed to stem cancer tide Russia avoids space station closure for time being CBR reviews sex slave policing Payout stripped from quadriplegic Markets Continuous war news Beijing. CIGARETTES KILLED 72 MINERS! China says workers smoking cigarettes in a gas-filled put sparked a massive underground blast that killed 72 coal miners in the country's NE last m. The Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper says open cigarette packs were found on the bodies of 2 dead miners at the Mengnanzhuang mine. The paper says the find shows that mgt of the coal mine was "extremely chaotic". The paper says a short circuit disabled the mine's ventilation system before the blast, causing a dangerous buildup of coal gas. Floods, mudslides in Indonesian island claim 45 lives Jakarta. At least 45 people have been killed after torrential rainstorms caused floods and mudslides on the mountainous eastern Indonesian island of Flores, officials said. As of Thu local time, a total of 30 people had died in the central district of Ende, district chief Paulinus Domi said. He says all but one were residents of Ndunga village which was hit by a mudslide early Mon. The other was a fisherman caught in a storm on Wed. Around the eastern town of Larantuka, mudslides killed 10 people and swept away 81 homes early Wed, district rep Kunradus Liwo said. 3 people were killed by a mudslide in Sikka district on Wed, a policeman said. In Besar island off the N coast of Flores, 2 people were killed and 2 others missing after a mudslide hit the area. Poverty-stricken Flores island is prone to natural disasters. 5 people were killed last wk when a cliff collapsed on them after they fled their homes during an earthquake. 22 killed in India Amritsar. 3 KILLED IN FIGHTER CRASH! An Indian AF fighter jet has crashed in a civilian area in the N Indian state of Punjab, killing a family of 3 and injuring 5 others. Police say the MiG-23 hit 4 houses and set them on fire on the outskirts of Ludhiana, a city 260 km S of New Delhi. The pilot ejected safely. The cause of the accident is unknown, although India's aging MiG fleet is prone to accidents. In the past 6 y, the govt has reported more than 100 crashes that have killed more than 50 pilots. Guwahati. 22 KILLED IN INDIA! Police in NE India have found the bodies of 22 tribal people abducted by militants from a rival group. A police rep in the state of Assam says the bullet-riddle bodies were recovered from thick forests in Cachar, in S Assam. More than 30 Dimasa people from 3 remote villages were kidnapped during a night raid on Wed. Police suspect a local militant group, the Hmar Peoples Conference, is behind the massacre. Assam has been plagued by separatist and tribal unrest for over 20 y. Israel accused of "exploiting" war Tel Aviv. Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat today accused Israel of using the war in Iraq as cover to attack the Palestinians. His comments came after 4 Palestinians were killed in a raid on a Gaza Strip refugee camp, a suspected Hamas leader was shot dead in Nablus and a teenager killed by an Israeli army patrol late last night in Qalqiliya. One of the men in the Gaza Strip refugee camp, nr Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border, died when an Apache attack helicopter fired on Palestinian fighters shooting at Israeli soldiers, the Israeli army said. The 3 others were killed in an exchange of gunfire. 7 people were also wounded in the clashes, doctors and witnesses said. The army said the raid was meant to uncover weapons-smuggling tunnels under the border. None were discovered, but 4 soldiers were wounded when a bomb went off under a tank. In the W Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops this morning shot and killed Khaled Rayyan, 28, a suspected Hamas leader, who was hiding in a relative's house with his wife and child. Mr Rayyan was killed when he tried to attack the troops with a pistol, his wife, Salam, said. Israeli troops searching for Palestinian militants in Qalqiliya late last night shot and killed a 14-yo Palestinian when he opened his door to look at troops outside, witnesses said. The army said the boy tried to run away from troops, and was shot after he ignored calls to stop. Israel denies Palestinian claims that it has taken advantage of world attention on Iraq to wage excessive force, saying its actions have been steady and targeted against militants. The latest clashes came after Mahmoud Abbas, the recently named Palestinian prime minister, met yesterday with political leaders in the Gaza Strip to discuss the formation of his new cabinet. Mr Abbas, who is widely known as Abu Mazen, also met recently with leaders of Islamist militant groups in Gaza, in an effort to persuade them to end, at least for a period, attacks against Israelis. Israeli security officials met for the 1st time in m with Palestinian security officials, according to Ribhi Arafat, a Palestinian commander. 2 meetings took place last Tue and Thu, in Israel nr the Gaza border, he said. The Palestinians asked for Israel's eventual withdrawal from the W Bank, while the Israelis asked for an end to attacks, Mr Arafat said. Under interim peace accords, the Palestinian Authority is supposed to control about 40% of the W Bank. But in a series of incursions launched in reprisal for suicide attacks, the Israeli military has gradually re-taken most of the areas -- incl all but one of the main Palestinian cities and towns. A rep from the Israeli def min'y would neither confirm nor deny that the security meetings took place. Both sides are under internat'l pressure to find a way to end the violence and resume peace talks. Iraqi officials scoff as invaders eye Baghdad Baghdad. Iraq remains unbending, at least verbally, in the face of coal'n forces besieging Baghdad from the air and the ground. The capital will "swallow whole" the invading forces, says Maj-Gen Hazem Al Rawi. He told Iraqi satellite television the city's walls are mighty and, in his words, "filled with men, weapons and chivalry". Since the war started 2 wks ago, Iraq has repeatedly claimed it has been beating back coal'n advances and even bogging down ground troops in battle. US Marines reportedly are fighting for control of Baghdad Airport, 20 km from the city centre, and the capital itself is under renewed air bombardment. [This report came from the morning the airport was captured]. US troops storm Baghdad airport Baghdad. (AFP) US troops have captured part of Saddam Internat'l Airport, 20 km SW of Baghdad. In the village of Furat, nr the airport, dozens of Iraqis incl some civilians have been killed in what witnesses say was a barrage of US artillery and rocket attacks. Capt Michael McKinnon of the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Div says the US has "seized a foothold". "US troops control about a 3rd of the airport," he said. US planes have bombarded the airport amid Iraqi anti-aircraft fire but fighting on the ground appears to have stopped, with only sporadic gunfire being heard, Capt McKinnon said. US officers at the airport say coal'n troops met little resistance. But they came under RPG and mortar attacks as they made their push towards the strategic goal, according to correspondents travelling with them. Iraqi officials say their forces have captured 5 US tanks, one helicopter and either seized or killed their crews during fighting nr Baghdad airport. They say the Iraqis made their gains around the village of Radhwaniyah, near the airport. The officials say Iraqi television will show footage of the captured equipment but gave no more information. More than 1,000 US troops from the 1st Brigade were active in and around the airport, US officers said, but had not taken the terminal or any other buildings in the airport. Master Sgt Russ Carpenter, a US air force liaison officer on the scene, says F-15E and F18 fighter jets dropped "smart bombs" as the 1st Brigade attacked the airport from the ground. The air strikes hit "at least 40, and that's a conservative estimate" Iraqi armoured personnel carriers, artillery pieces and tanks, Master Sgt Carpenter said, adding that they also hit Iraqi anti-aircraft guns but did not take all of them out. US military sources says positions of Saddam Hussein's crack Republican Guard troops inside the airport were also bombed. Maj Gen Buford Blount, commander of the 20,000-strong 3rd infantry division, says US troops are within 15 km of downtown Baghdad and control the S approaches to the capital. Iraqi officials put the death toll in and around Furat village at 83 but this could not be independently confirmed. Reuters correspondent Nadim Ladki said more than 120 people were wounded in the attack on the village, which lies between the airport and the Iraqi capital. US forces advancing on the Iraqi capital launched an assault on Baghdad's main airport on Thu evening, military sources said. Fawziya Kazem, who was being treated for head injuries at Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital, said: "US warplanes came and hit our house." Another patient, Ali Zubaei, said: "This is an area inhabited by innocent people. To hell with Bush. Iraq will be victorious." Iraq is said to be moving elements of Republican Guard divisions south to defend the city but they have so far not attempted a full-scale battle with US forces. Iraq's Information Min has denied the coal'n is making the headway it claims nr Baghdad, or anywhere else in Iraq. The Min, Mohammed al-Sahaf, says the Iraqi military is inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders. [This speech was given the morning before the attack began]. Nr Baghdad. US FORCES FIGHT OFF TANKS! US troops fighting for Baghdad airport have fought off a counter-attack by Iraqi tanks, destroying 5 and a number of armed pick-up trucks in a fierce firefight. Reuters corresp Luke Baker says he saw a number of Iraqi vehicles mount what was effectively a suicide charge on the Americans. The attack happened in an are that the US forces had previously considered secure. Brit troops set up camp in Basra Basra (AP). For the 1st time since war began, Brit troops established camp Thu inside the S city of Basra, where fierce battles have raged between the Brit, Iraqi fighters and residents who oppose Saddam Hussein's regime. Brit soldiers, deployed outside Iraq's 2nd-largest city for more than 2 wks, crossed the Shatt al-Basra waterway, a 45-foot-deep man-made canal nr the S city limits. Infantry accompanied by armoured personnel carriers, tanks and helicopters rumbled over Bridge 4, the most direct route into the city. By nightfall, an undisclosed number of troops from the 1st Battalion Irish Guards were a few miles from the heart of the city of 1.3 mn, according to Brit pool reports. Iraqis soldiers and militiamen, who previously kept Brit forces at bay with daily barrages of rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, fled outlying positions, lighting oil trench fires as they went, said coal'n military officials. Brit Royal Engineers fought to extinguish the smoky fires along the south, which obscured the city from advancing coal'n troops. Iraqi soldiers dug similar ditches outside Baghdad, filled them with oil and set them ablaze before running away. Maj Tom Scott said Thu that Royal Engineers were "trying to basically put the trench out and cut the supply of oil into the trench." Basra, nr the rich S oilfields, is also strategically important because it is connected by a web of footbridges and canals that empty into the Shatt al-Arab river, which flows to the Persian Gulf. Members of Saddam's Fedayeen militia and his Baath party have been fighting Brit troops since last wk. Early reports said Shiite residents were also battling Saddam's soldiers inside Basra. Residents were without water and electricity as the killing raged on. Brit troops had been stationed around Basra while American-led troops pressed toward Baghdad. Insisting they were not surrounding the city, Brit troops did not attempt to occupy it because of intense Iraqi resistance -- and because they weren't sure how they would be greeted by Basra residents. But some advancing Brit soldiers said Thu they had been welcomed by people in Basra -- who hoped the fleeing Iraqi soldiers signified a regional trend. The Brit entry into the city followed a coal'n leaflet campaign depicting a Brit soldier shaking hands with an Iraqi man. The leaflets promised the Brits wouldn't betray the Shia this time. The tomato regime Nr Basra. On the dusty and wind-torn flats that lead into Zubayr, a market town nr Iraq's 2nd largest city Basra, local farmers can often be seen tending to their tomatoes. The tomatoes are large and sweet, rendered bright red with natural fertilisers. Each morning, wooden carts pulled by donkeys and laden with these ripe tomatoes make their way into the town centre. The tomatoes of S Iraq are famed in the region for their taste. And the farmers here, unused to modern agriculture methods, diligently raise their plants to face the sun. Watching the field men work, and eventually tasting their produce, one realises the benefits of natural farming. The farmers, for the most part, are fascinating in their indifference to our presence. As we roar by in armoured vehicles, spitting up large clouds of dust, the farmers seem to pay no mind. 3 wks ago, the tanks darting past their fields would have been those of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Similarly, the farmers would have ignored them also. Their latest neighbours have provoked no curiosity. As the war in Iraq builds to a crescendo, with campaigns in both Baghdad and Basra at its centre, these farmers remain unaffected by our arrival. For nearly 50 y, perhaps longer, they have diligently tended fields and harvested their tomatoes. We see them walk around abandoned Iraqi tanks. Soon, perhaps, they will walk round the rubble left behind by coal'n forces. Politicians, wars and all the trappings of W democracies are beyond them. In that way, they enjoy a more fulfilling version of freedom. Zubayr's tomato farmers have come to expect nothing from the Ba'ath party: they have no interest in accepting what we, the coal'n invaders, have to offer them. As W conglomerates line up to "civilise" the countries at the heart of the American-defined "axis of evil", containers of W branded goods will soon land at the nearby Basra Internat'l airport. I hope the farmers will reject their contents in favour of their own lifestyles. This is undoubtedly a dilemma in the forthcoming rebuilding of Iraq. The farmers of Zubayr, for example, do not use toothpaste -- they are accustomed instead to using the herbal wood, sakh, favoured by Muslims in this part of the world. The benefits of sakh are multiple, and well documented. Similarly, they have had no need for soap, TV's, cars, pesticides and tractors. That may rapidly change as the west imposes its values on them. And while the elder generation of Zubayr's farmers will undoubtedly flinch at such modern accoutrements, their offspring, unfortunately, may not display such a strong affection for history. It would be a nightmare to return here in 30 y time to find it littered with shopping centres, cafes, US tourists and electrical goods shops. Life here has always managed to survive the onslaught of invading armies in the past. To some it might appear medieval. To others it possesses a certain harmony. Still, as we drive past each morning, in a sandstorm of motorised rumbles and English chatter, the farmers continue to ignore us. They have yet to come forward and ask for aid. They have yet to stop our tanks and our trucks to plead for modern medicines. Instead, they are concerned with their own economic survival. Life revolves not around politicians, non-govt'al organisations, "shock and Awe" or the legal machinations of the UN. There are more pressing matters in hand. Namely, the prompt delivery of those delicious, plump red tomatoes to the bustling local market. Clinton backs troops but urges friendly persuasion Miami. The US should use the power of friendly persuasion to defuse hostility in the world, former Pres Bill Clinton said today, describing the Bush administration as relying foremost on the power of the military. Clinton took care from the start of a 40-minute address at the University of Florida to avoid direct criticism of the sitting Pres's war with Iraq. Indeed, Clinton told the crowd of 9,000 that it is essential to support not only US troops but also their leader at war. RAN sends out special mine clearing equipment Canberra. The Royal Navy had rushed an AUS-developed mine clearing system into service nr the Iraqi port of Umm Qsar, the AUS Def Force said today. ADF rep Brigadier Mike Hannan said AUS Navy clearance divers working in the area noticed the Royal Navy using the equipment, which was still in the scheduled testing phase. The equipment is known as SWIMS -- Shallow Water Influence Mine Sweeping Systems. Air chief fears urban warfare Canberra. The war in Iraq would drag on for some time if coal'n forces became involved in urban warfare, the Royal AUS Air Force chief Angus Houston said today. "I would hope that the regime sees the hopelessness of the cause and capitulates in the short term but if it doesn't there could still be a lot of hard fighting to go," he told ABC radio US soldier mistaken for Iraqi shot dead Nr Baghdad. A US serviceman mistaken for an Iraqi soldier has been shot dead by his own troops in central Iraq, the US Central Command announced early today. "A V Corps soldier was killed by friendly fire at approximately 4.30 pm (2330 AEST)" today in central Iraq, the statement said. "The soldier had been investigating a destroyed enemy tank when he was mistaken as an enemy soldier and fired upon by friendly forces operating in the area." War commanders report 3 deadly accidents Washington (AP). American forces in Iraq had 3 deadly accidents, 2 of which may have been caused by friendly fire, officials said Thu. Defence Dept officials said they were looking into the possibility that one US fighter jet was downed by an US Patriot missile and that a 2nd jet fired on Army ground forces. Statements on the 2 accidents followed word that an Army Black Hawk helicopter went down over central Iraq on Wed, killing 6 soldiers and injuring 4 and leaving one missing. Officials said Thu it was unclear what brought down the helicopter, which was hovering above a firefight between US and Iraqi forces. All the cases were being investigated. The Pentagon reported that the number of US service members killed in action since the war began March 20 has risen to 53, of which 41 were hostile deaths. The others were the result of accidents or other non-hostile circumstances. The number of troops missing is 16 and 7 are prisoners of war. The death toll does not incl the 6 killed in the Apache crash because the Pentagon has not formally announced the number or identities. An operation was under way to find the pilot of a US Navy F-18C Hornet downed over Iraq late Wed, Iraq time. It was flying a mission from the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, and missile firings were reported at the time nr where it was lost. One Army soldier was killed and several were injured or missing after a possible friendly fire accident in which an F-15E Strike Eagle fired on ground forces. It happened Wed night nr Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, officials said. In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, 36 of the 148 American dead were killed by their own comrades. This time, friendly fire has caused 5 of 27 Brit deaths. Dozens of US troops have been injured by their own forces, and the military is still investigating the combat deaths of 9 Marines near Nasiriyah on Mar 23. Special forces slip into Baghdad during blackout London. US and Brit special forces slipped into Baghdad during a blackout and have begun covert operations incl an assessment of the threat posed by Iraq's elite Republican Guard, the Brit press said today. The electricity cut at about 9pm local time last night coincided with a major incursion by SAS and US special forces personnel into the Iraqi capital, newspapers in London said. Iraq is now 4 hrs ahead of GMT. The Guardian, quoting military sources in Qatar, said that dozens of Brit and US special forces teams poured into Baghdad after the power went down. "Power went off in most of Baghdad for the 1st time since the start of the conflict, as military sources said that special forces were active in the city," said The Financial Times. Syria still helping Iraq: Rummy Washington. US Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld said today he believed Syria had ignored US warnings and was still providing supplies to Iraq. "We have seen that Syria is continuing to conduct itself the way it was prior to the time I said what I said," Rumsfeld told a news conference. Last wk, Rumsfeld told reporters the US would hold the Syrian govt responsible for reported shipments of materiel, incl night vision goggles, to Iraq, calling them hostile acts. Wives, children of Uday aides killed by coal'n bombs Baghdad. The wives and children of close aides to Pres Saddam Hussein's elder son Uday were killed by US-Brit missiles on a farm N of Baghdad, relatives said today. Two missiles yesterday slammed into a farm in Ishaqi, about 80 km N of Baghdad, killing the 2 families, they said. Uday's 2 aides were not at the farm at the time of the bombings. The 2 men are Acyl Tabra, 1st VP of the Iraqi Nat'l Olympic Committee chaired by Uday, and Bashar Hisham, another member of the board, the relatives said. Fleeing civilians hamper Allies C Iraq. Iraqi deserters and civilians were flooding out of Baghdad by the busload today and surrendering to US forces advancing on the Iraqi capital, said a US television reporter travelling with the Marines. "There are so many people on the road now that it's impossible to further conduct military operations and so our unit has stopped now and set up a hasty prisoner of war compound," said ABC correspondent Mike Cerre. Reporting from central Iraq, south of Baghdad, with the 1st Marine Division, Cerre said US support aircraft had counted more than 60 buses filled with Iraqis fleeing Baghdad. US network says buses of Iraqis fleeing Baghdad C Iraq. Iraqi deserters and civilians are flooding out of Baghdad by the busload and surrendering to US forces advancing on the Iraqi capital, a US television reporter travelling with US Marines said. "There are so many people on the road now that it's impossible to further conduct military operations and so our unit has stopped now and set up a hasty prisoner of war compound," US ABC correspondent Mike Cerre said. Reporting from central Iraq, south of Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division, Mr Cerre said US support aircraft had counted more than 60 buses filled with Iraqis fleeing Baghdad. "What is stopping us now is the flood of deserters and civilians, on buses, trucks, taxicabs and whatever they can catch a ride on, trying to make their way south to their families or US forces to surrender" he said. US ABC TV showed grainy television footage of scores of Iraqis walking toward US forces with their hands up. The footage also showed several large touring buses on the road. 9,000 Iraqis now POW's, says Brit London. More than 9,000 Iraqis had been taken prisoner of war by US-Brit troops, Brit Def Sec Geoff Hoon said. He told Parliament Brit forces now held key suburbs of Iraq's 2nd city, Basra, and would foray further into the city when they judged the time to be right. He said UK servicemen were focused on winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people as much as military action. Baghdad's fall may not be end Washington (WashPost). Many observers of the war with Iraq anticipate that the battle for Baghdad will be the culminating event, and it may in the end be so from an American perspective. But in the Iraqi leadership's view, it may be only the end of a 1st stage in a greater Iraqi plan. Gen George Patton said the only way to truly get to know an enemy is to fight him. After 2 wks some patterns have emerged that indicate the Iraqi plan may differ from the US world view. A conflict with Iraq has been war-gamed countless times in the past 12 y. Iraqi use of asymmetric "dirty tricks" has been a feature of virtually every game I have been associated with. These tactical actions should have come as no surprise. The question is how to turn asymmetric tactics into a coherent strategy. The assumption that Pres Saddam Hussein is looking at the battle of Baghdad as a glorious last stand is inconsistent with his character. There is likely to be a greater game afoot. Saddam is an admirer of Ho Chi Minh. He has also studied the US debacles in Lebanon and Somalia. He and his staff have had 12 y to think about how to fight. This is how I believe he thinks. Begin with a desired strategic end state. I believe he views the war as an opportunity to defeat the Americans and hijack leadership of the anti-W wing of the Arab and Muslim world from Islamic fundamentalists such as Osama bin Laden. Against overwhelming US and Brit conventional military superiority, he must develop a 3-pronged strategy. Phase one assumes eventual defeat in a conventional war. If defeat is inevitable, he must make the most of it. Anwar Sadat of Egypt reclaimed a measure of Arab pride in 1973 in a war that, while lost tactically and operationally, was fought with enough skill to regain an Arab sense of honour and pride lost in 1967. The next precept is to make the conventional phase last as long and be as bloody as possible for the coal'n. The final sub-phase will be to attempt to turn Baghdad into an Arab Alamo, making "Remember Baghdad" a battle cry, for future generations and the rest of this war. At this point Saddam will go into hiding or exile, portraying himself as having led a glorious struggle against imperialism and vowing to continue. If he uses chemical weapons, I am wrong. There will be no sanctuary. The 2nd phase is a protracted guerilla war against the occupation (or liberation). The Ba'ath party has seeded the pop'n centres with cadres designed to lead a guerilla movement. This is not a last-minute act. Americans have overrun facilities that have been in place for some time. The war will be an attritional struggle against occupying forces and any Iraqi interim govt. The strategic objective is to tire the coal'n, which will turn Iraq over to the UN. Phase 3 aims to amass enough semi-conventional power to overwhelm the UN and interim govt -- a combination of Black Hawk Down and the 1975 N Vietnamese offensive that crushed S Vietnam. A success would transform Saddam into a darling of the Arab world; a high-risk strategy, for a high-risk kind of guy. I write this to suggest that the US be prepared to react to an enemy game plan that may be different from its own. Watchdog slams Iraqi treatment of journalists Paris. Media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) has accused the Iraqi Govt of showing contempt for foreign journalists. 100s of journalists are in Iraq to cover US-led bid to topple Pres Saddam Hussein, either working from Baghdad, "embedded" with US and Brit forces or on their own. The Iraqi authorities monitor reports by journalists working in Baghdad and insist they are accompanied at all times by official minders, who decide where they may or may not go. In a letter to the Iraqi interests section in France, the Paris-based RSF described the attitude of Iraqi authorities to foreign journalists covering the war as "scandalous, contemptuous and hostile". "Guided bus tours organised by the authorities are insufficient and do not meet the minimal criteria of media freedom we expect," RSF Sec-Gen Robert Menard said. On Tue, a Brit-born reporter for the US magazine Newsday and 3 photographers from Denmark, Peru and the US arrived in Jordan after being detained in an Iraqi prison for about a wk and interrogated. They were made to sign statements before being released and taken to the border. The Iraqi authorities have also expelled reporters working for the Qatar-based Arabic-language channel Al Jazeera and the US CNN from Baghdad. Several more, incl 2 AUS journalists and an interpreter, are being detained by authorities in a Baghdad hotel. Powell offers role to UN -- on his terms Brussels (The Guardian). Europe and the US yesterday took a 1st step towards healing bitter divisions over Iraq but failed to agree on a precise role for the UN once Saddam Hussein has been overthrown. Colin Powell, the US Sec of State, told 23 European foreign ministers in Brussels that Washington wanted a "partnership" with the world body, though he made it clear that Washington and its allies, who had expended money and lives on the war, would make the key decisions. France, Germany and Russia insist the UN must be the key player, with the US wanting an interim administration run by US officials and Iraqi advisers. The Brit position, as so often, lies between the European mainstream and the US. One Brit diplomat said: "We're not getting recriminations of the 'you bombed it so you rebuild it' type we had at the last EU summit. People are talking seriously." Mr Powell signalled a wish for reconciliation after wks of furious exchanges, especially between the US and France. But some EU govts doubt whether he can win arguments against hawks like Donald Rumsfeld, the US def sec, and Dick Cheney, the VP. Brit believes UN backing is vital to ensure internat'l financial institutions share the reconstruction burden. George Robertson, NATO's Sec-Gen, also sought to emphasise the positive, talking of the "unbreakable bonds" which held the old and new continents together. Mins discussed a possible role for NATO but made no decisions. Significantly, however, no objections were raised, not even by France or Germany, which triggered a crisis in Feb by refusing to defend fellow ally Turkey in the event of an attack by Iraq. Diplomats said govts were looking at the experience of Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan as they ponder arrangements for Iraq. In Kosovo, military matters are run by the NATO-led K-For, which is mandated by the security council, while civilian affairs are run by the UN, with a big role for the EU. George Papandreou, foreign minister of Greece, which holds the union's rotating presidency, said a European-US consensus was now emerging. "The importance we place on the UN role is recognised by the US," he said. "Obviously the UN itself has not yet had this discussion, but it's very important in our transatlantic relationship to make this a point of consensus rather than a point of division." War delays recovery: World Bank Paris (AFP). The Iraq war was delaying a global recovery just as the authorities run low on ammunition to stir growth, the World Bank warned yesterday. The war had cast a shadow over the economic and political landscape for m, said the Bank's Global Development Finance 2003 report, drawn up in the run-up to combat. Economic growth would be sluggish even if the Iraq war was resolved quickly. World economic output was expected to expand 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.7% growth last y, it said. Growth in rich countries was set to rise to 1.9% this y from 1.4% last y. In developing countries, growth would accelerate to 4% in 2003 from 3.1%. Industrialised nations had boosted fiscal stimuli and cut interest rates, cushioning the world from an even sharper slump, the bank said. These measures, however, had also deepened deficits. The US current account deficit had expanded to an unprecedented 5% of annual GDP. Policy makers now had less space to cut taxes, boost spending or lower interest rates. Fed Reserve policy makers would probably hold US interest rates steady at a 4-decade low for the rest of 2003 if growth rebounded, as expected, the report said. The European Central Bank had more room to cut rates and could trim rates slightly in the 1st half of this y. The Bank of Japan, which had no more room to lower short-term rates, was expected to step up its already aggressive approach to add liquidity. Central banks must be alert to the danger of deflation, particularly because it could increase the cost of servicing debts. Next y, world economic growth was forecast to pick up to 3.2%, with the rich countries growing 2.9% and the developing countries growing 4.7%. The world growth potential had been boosted by the lowering of barriers to cross-border trade and financial flows, investment in people, and improved productivity, the bank said. Fresh signs buildup to war took its toll Washington (Reuters). Dismal data spilled out of Europe and the US on Thu as US forces closed on Iraq's capital, but the Internat'l Monetary Fund stoutly maintained a US recession is unlikely. The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits last wk reached the highest level in nearly a y and the US service sector shrank unexpectedly in March as the build-up to war and the start of fighting in Iraq took an economic toll. Nor was the news out of Europe much better although the European Central Bank held interest rates steady, saying it was impossible to know the economic future right now. A survey suggested the euro zone services sector was contracting while a separate report showed German unemployment jumped to a 5-y high last m. However, the gloomy US numbers had some economists looking for further rate cuts from the Fed Reserve, particularly if the closely watched employment report on Fri shows an unexpectedly large slide in nonfarm payrolls. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast, on average, that payrolls slid 29,000 last m. The unemployment rate was seen rising to 5.9 percent from 5.8% in Feb. The IMF put on a brave face saying the chances of the US economy falling back into recession have dropped to just 15%, according to leading economic indicators. Some economists said the numbers made the case for a further interest-rate cut by the Fed stronger. Fed officials have stressed it will take time to gauge the real health of the economy amid the fog of unease about the war. The European service sector contracted as well. The Reuters eurozone services purchasing managers' index for March fell further below the 50 level that divides growth from shrinkage to 47.7 from 48.9 in Feb. The survey followed one on Tue showing manufacturing was also shrinking in the euro zone, after the index stuck its head above the magic 50 level in Feb. A parallel services sector survey in Brit showed that it shrank last m for the 1st time since Dec 2001 with the index of business activity covering everything from restaurants to software consulting at 49.0 in March. The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, whose Feb survey had given a reading of 50.2, blamed the fall on continuing uncertainty about the short to medium term outlook. While the news was grave across Europe, it was particularly so in Germany. The German purchasing managers' index hit a 6-y low at 43.3, and the jobless figures showed 4.414 mn Germans were out of work, the highest since Feb 1998. The jobless rate now stands at 10.6%. Meanwhile in Asia, govts trying to steer their economies through a global downturn exaggerated by the war in Iraq have an additional scourge to contend with -- disease. But Southeast Asian trade ministers, meeting in Laos on Thu, said the economic impact of the flu-like SARS would be short term. The disease which originated in S China and has now killed 80 people, most of them in Asia, could however hurt tourism, they admitted. Washington. $BNS VOTED IN AIRLINE WELFARE! The US Congress has approved more than $A5 bn in aid for the country's airlines over objections from the Whitehouse. Airlines are still reeling after the Sep 11 attacks and facing more losses due to war in Iraq. The $multi bn plan in the Reps and a slightly larger proposal in the Senate cleared the respective chambers easily as components of separate leg'n for Iraq war spending. The Bush Admin has called the price tag of each plan "excessive". 20 "Taliban" killed in fresh Afghan offensive Kandahar (AFP). Pro-govt militia forces killed 20 suspected Taliban in a new offensive in S Afghanistan while US warplanes pounded extremists holed up nearby. "Following the interrogation of suspects captured in the operation N of Kandahar we could identify a new base in the Haba mountains," said Gul Agha, governor of the S province of Kandahar. "We launched a raid on this base, 20 Taliban were killed and 3 of our soldiers were killed in the fighting." Last wk Agha launched operations against suspected Taliban N of Kandahar city following the murder of Red Cross worker Ricardo Munguia. Meanwhile US warplanes bombed a group of 40 suspected Taliban fighting Agha's forces in the adjacent Torghar mountains, a military rep told reporters at Bagram Air Base N of Kabul. The dozen Special Forces troops and around 250 soldiers loyal to governor Agha Thu cleared the suspected Taliban dug in at the mountains N of the town of Spin Boldak on the border with Pakistan. An Afghan soldier was evacuated with a gunshot wound to his abdomen but there were no reports of US casualties. Kandahar was the heartland of the hardline Taliban militia until it was ousted by US-led forces in late 2001 following the Sep 11 attacks masterminded by al-Qaeda leader and Taliban "guest" Osama bin Laden . At Bagram a de-miner lost his right foot while working on the east side of the base Wed afternoon. The de-miner, who worked for Ronco Consulting Corp -- a de-mining firm contracted by the US military, was in a stable condition. Meanwhile, Chapman Air Field in Khost, eastern Afghanistan, came under attack from 3 suspected rockets Wed night. There were no injuries or damage. US and Afghan pro-govt forces frequently come under attack from suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. Some 11,500 coal'n troops, incl 8,500 US forces, are engaged in hunting down al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants, mostly in S and E Afghanistan. Davao. LOOKING FOR 2ND BOMB SUSPECT: PHIL! Philippines police say they're looking for a 2nd man who may have been involved in a bombing that killed 16 people and injured 55 in the S city of Davao. Police have put out the sketch of 2 suspects, 1 described as a man in his mid-30s with close-cropped hair and the other a man about 25-27. The sketches have been based on a description given by an 11 yo boy who was among the victims of the bombing. Guangzhou. FLU INVESTIGATIONS! A team of internat'l scientists in S China are seeking clues as to how SARS started and spread as new deaths from the flu-like illness are reported. The WHO specialists plan to spend the weekend in Guangdong prov interviewing doctors, visiting hospitals and going to the town where the first case surfaced in Nov. Team rep Chris Powell says provincial officials have provided info indicating new cases of SARS are diminishing in the region. 3 Canadian children on SARS list in Vic Melbourne. 3 children from a Canadian family are being treated at MEL's Monash Medical Centre as probable sufferers of SARS. A 3-yo girl was the 1st to show symptoms and undergo tests. She was transferred from Shepparton in the Goulburn Valley last night after arriving from Toronto for a visit with her grandparents. The girl's siblings, aged 18 m and 6 y, also are under observation, says Monash Medical Centre director of infection control Stephen Blaimey, who described all 3 as probable SARS cases. "They have overnight developed symptoms to suggest that they may also be involved with this illness as well," he said. "At least one of them is febrile [feverish]. There are some chest X-ray changes as well and of course they have the history of contact [with the disease]." US must ditch "inferiority complex": Murdoch LA. AUS-born media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has shown true US patriotism by declaring that it was important that the world learned to "respect" America. Referring to the US people as "we", Mr Murdoch said the public was far too worried about what the rest of the world thought of the US's declaration of war on Iraq. He said he believed Americans had an "inferiority complex" about world opinion and that Iraqis would eventually welcome US troops as liberators. "We worry about what people think about us too much in this country. We have an inferiority complex, it seems," he said at the Milken Institute Global Conference yesterday. "I think what's important is that the world respects us, much more important than they love us," added Mr Murdoch, who is AUS but took American citizenship in 1985 to get around ownership rules that barred foreigners from owning TV stations. Mr Murdoch, who is based in NY, said a long war could heavily influence the US and global economies, while creating political instability in the Middle E and elsewhere. He suggested a decisive US effort for a quick end to the conflict would be better than a protracted battle. Mr Murdoch also warned that the world should be prepared for more terrorist attacks. Mr Murdoch has been a staunch supporter of war and has given several interviews in the run up to the attack on Iraq expounding his beliefs. All of his newspapers back the war, which he believes is the only way to rid the Middle E of Saddam Hussein. In his SYD Daily Telegraph earlier this y, he said he thought "Bush is acting very morally, very correctly, and I think he is going to go on with it". Hollow threats to combat terrorism Canberra. A scar has appeared on the face of AUS democracy, literally. Eyesore lines of white plastic barriers cut crookedly across the grey granite and green grass vistas that sweep up and over the roof of Fed Parliament House. The freedom to stroll on the grassy roof and look down through the glass skylights of the parliamentary chambers, intended by the architects to be symbolic of our egalitarian democracy, is now limited to those who take security checks inside the building and ascend to the roof by an internal lift. The barriers are an anti-terrorist measure, ordered on the advice of the security agencies after AUS forces went to war in Iraq. How they would stop a determined terrorist is difficult to say. They look more like the acts of vandals than a security measure, flimsily constructed and protected by a single security officer with a 2-way radio. These barriers are one of the few domestic manifestations of the consequences of our involvement in the war in Iraq. They appeared 2 wks ago in spite of the Govt's insistence that there was no evidence AUS faced an increased threat of terrorist attack because of the war. In marked contrast to the US and Brit, where security agencies have assessed that the military actions being undertaken by US and Brit forces in Iraq have increased the risk of retaliatory action by terrorist groups on targets at home and abroad, AUS's security services have advised the Govt there is no such danger for AUS. Just how and why this is so has not been explained. Despite the relatively small military contribution to the war, knowledge of AUS's involvement is widespread. It has been noted regularly by Saddam Hussein's regime and it has been venomously taken up by Islamic anti-war protesters in our region. It beggars belief that this knowledge has not fuelled anti-AUS sentiment among the fanatics most inclined to use violence to seek revenge for AUS's military alliance with the great US infidel. When the war is over and community fears linked to the war subside, you can be sure the leg'n will come back and the Govt will try to use it to show Labor is soft on terrorism. Meanwhile, the Govt has gambled that there will be no terrorist attacks on AUS soil or AUS targets elsewhere. It is cynical, high-risk politics. But it seems to be working. Downer tackles N Korea crisis Washington. AUS has floated the prospect of a regional security agreement between the US, N Korea and other NE Asian nations as a way of defusing the crisis that has Pyongyang poised to build and possibly sell nuclear weapons. The move by For Min Alexander Downer, in Washington for talks with the Bush administration, came as the UN Sec Council announced it would consider on Apr 9 N Korea's decision to withdraw from internat'l nuclear arms agreements. Relations between S and N Korea have reached their lowest point since the nuclear crisis erupted in Oct with S Korean Pres Roh's decision to send non-combat troops to the US-led war in Iraq being condemned as a "criminal act" by Pyongyang, which has also criticised joint S Korea-US military exercises which ended on Wed. Mr Downer suggested one way of convincing N Korea to scrap its nuclear programs could be with a regional agreement. While the Bush administration has signalled it may be prepared to put some kind of non-aggression agreement in writing, it has said it would be unlikely to win support from Congress for a treaty. But Mr Downer pointed to some encouraging developments that he believed could lead to talks between the N Koreans and the US in a small multilateral group involving 2 other countries, China and Russia. "Whether it would involve S Korea and Japan, or a country like AUS, that would be more questionable," he said. This fits with a little-reported comment last wk by the US Assistant Secretary of State for east Asia, James Kelly, to a Congressional hearing when he said there were signs N Korea might be easing its insistence on direct talks with the US. Downer's mother receives hate mail Adelaide. For Min Alexander Downer today confirmed his mother had received hate mail since the start of war against Iraq. "She's a bit upset about it," Mr Downer told ABC radio. "She's an extremely vigorous and strong woman, but she's 78. She's not a political person at all even though she's my father's widow and my mother. "She rang me about it and she was pretty upset." Canberra. AUSSIES WILL GET SOME! For Min Alex Downer says he's confident Aussie companies will snare some lucrative Iraqi reconstruction projects, despite US insistence it will oversee all post-war reconstruction. US Sec of State Colin Powell told Washington's EU allies the US -- and not the UN -- would have the "dominant" role in Iraq's reconstruction. Powell's comments clash with the view in EU capitals that Iraq's recon must be guided by the UN. Canberra. VIC FARMERS QUAL FOR ASSIST! Almost 7,000 Vic farmers have qualified for drought assistance after a ruling by fed ag min warren truss. Farmers in 31 drought-affected shires and 4 regional centres in Vic's Wimmera, NE, C and CE regions will be able to gain assistance. Mr Truss says he was satisfied a prima facie case had been found for the areas to gain Exceptional Circumstances assistance. Canberra. CREDIT CARD MEDICINE! State and terr'y health mins say Aussies will have to swap their Medicare cards for credit cards to pay for doctors' visits under possible changes to the public health system. Following a meeting in SYD, the ministers called on Fed Health Min Kay Patterson to return to the negotiating table to resolve problems with Medicare before the May Budget. Latest figures show that fewer than 70% of GP visits are now bulk-billed, down from a peak of 80.6% in 1996/7. Crossbow attack injures 2 schoolgirls Newcastle (Newcastle Herald). It was the day terror came to the playground. Students at a high school N of Newcastle watched appalled as a youth who smuggled a crossbow and petrol bombs on to the grounds shot 2 girls before class yesterday. 16-yo Tamara Sharp, a y 10 student at Tomaree High, nr Port Stephens, collapsed to the ground with blood pouring from a chest wound after the arrow passed clean through her body. The bolt then struck the Salt Ash teenager's friend, 16-yo Courtney Bennett, in the legs. It went through one limb and embedded itself in the other, pinning the 2 together. Other students leapt on to the youth to try to prevent him re-loading the crossbow. They said he had thrown a molotov cocktail against a wall of the science block where the girls were sitting and was attempting to light the fuel as they struggled with him. Last night Tamara was in a serious but stable condition at John Hunter Hospital after escaping death by centimetres, the arrow missing vital organs in its path. Courtney was in a satisfactory condition after she underwent surgery to remove the arrow. Police would not comment about a so-called "hit list" containing students' names that was allegedly found nr the scene. But DS Peter Fox said it "did not appear to be one of those random-style attacks on students". A boy, 16, will appear in Worimi Childrens Court, Broadmeadow, this morning on 4 charges, incl attempted murder. Global plan needed to stem cancer tide Geneva. Cancer rates could soar by 50%, or 15 mn new cases per y by 2020, a World Health Organisation (WHO) report released that called for a global strategy to stem the rise. Despite the grim forecast backed up by a litany of trends and unhealthy lifestyles that promote the disease, the report carried a message: things could be different. Fighting some of the main cancer-causing agents -- tobacco consumption and infections, and promoting healthy diet could head off a 3rd of new cancer cases while another 3rd could be cured by early detection and treatment, it said. The report cited smoking as a key example, noting "tobacco consumption remains the most important avoidable cancer risk". "In the 20th century, approximately 100 mn people died worldwide from tobacco-associated diseases," it said. It said half of regular smokers are killed by their habit, and that smoking rates were "particularly worrying" in Central and Eastern Europe, developing and newly industrialised nations, and among youth worldwide who are picking up the habit younger and younger. Worldwide, cancer prevention activities should be focused on 2 main areas -- tobacco use and diet, Dr Rafael Bengoa said, who heads WHO's management of non-communicable diseases section. Such factors accounted for 43% of all cancer deaths in 2000, or 2.7 mn deaths, and 40% of all new cancer cases, which totalled 4 mn, he said. Studies suggest that simple measures, like encouraging consumption of 500 grams of fruits and vegetables per day, could help cut new cases of cancers of the digestive tract by up to 25%, the report said. It also advocated testing for early detection, notably of cervical and breast cancers in women, to successfully treat tumours that in 2000 alone were responsible for 12%, more than 6 mn, of the estimated 56 mn deaths worldwide from any cause. In many countries, more than a quarter of all deaths are due to cancer, said the IARC, based in the central French city of Lyon. It said rising cancer rates were due to a steadily aging pop'n and the prevalence of smoking but also "the growing adoption of unhealthy lifestyles". The report singled out the dangers of "the W lifestyle" with its fat-rich diet and little exercise, warning: "Obesity is spreading epidemically throughout the world." Poverty also played a role. Russia avoids space station closure for time being Moscow. Russia's space chief has said he has secured govt funds to avoid moth-balling the $95 bn Internat'l Space Station this y, but said the outpost's long-term future was still uncertain. Russian Soyuz and Progress craft have become the only means of sending up cosmonauts and servicing the orbiting station since the US space shuttle Colombia disintegrated in Feb, causing the US shuttle fleet to be grounded indefinitely. Russia, hard-pressed for funds, has been lobbying Washington to fork out more cash to help keep manned flights running. But Washington has baulked at the request for foreign policy reasons and niggles over whether Moscow had carried out its launch obligations under the program. An official said the govt's agreement to dispense money ahead of schedule had doubled the agency's funds for the 2nd quarter and would allow it to carry out all the launches planned for 2003 as well as start building spacecraft for the next y. But additional funding would be needed in the future to keep the station permanently manned, he said. On top of that, Russia needs $250 mn to develop its part of the ISS station over the next 3 y. Since it was 1st manned in 2000, the station has been managed by permanent crews of Russians and Americans. Currently, the ISS is operated by 2 US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut, in orbit since Nov. CBR reviews sex slave policing Canberra. Fed Justice Min Chris Ellison has ordered a review into the policing of sex slavery after revelations of widespread trafficking and problems between law enforcement agencies tackling the trade. Sen Ellison said yesterday there was "still room for improvement" in combating the "appalling trade in human beings". After the review, he would write to the Australasian Police Mins Council with "some proposals about improving the nat'l response to this issue". His promise came as stringent new leg'n outlawing sexual slavery was introduced into the WA parliament. WA A-G Jim McGinty said the criminal code offence was created and introduced into parliament yesterday following reports in The AUS of exploitation in other states. The AUS has revealed there may be 1000 "contract women" in the country at any one time. Brought here by organised syndicates, enslaved and exploited, they are forced to work off huge debts by having sex with 100s of men. The fed Govt insists that as most women know they are coming to AUS for prostitution, they are not technically being trafficked. But a UN protocol AUS has signed defines trafficking far more broadly as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception". Immigration Min Philip Ruddock said there would be no internal investigation into the case of Noi, a Thai woman who claims immigration officers refused to listen when she tried to tell them of her plight. Nor would he ask if the officers knew the precise definition of trafficking. "We are not there to investigate the crimes," Mr Ruddock said. "I don't expect my officers to know all the nuances of an offence." Payout stripped from quadriplegic Sydney. A man who dived into a Bondi sandbar, was rendered a quadriplegic and successfully sued a local council for $3.7 mn, has had his damages stripped from him on appeal. The NSW Court of Appeal found yesterday that Guy Swain, who inspired the NSW Govt's crackdown on public liability payouts, was not entitled to the money because Waverley Council was not negligent. Mr Swain, 28, dived into a sandbar located between lifesaving flags while swimming at the beach in SYD's east in 1997. But judges David Ipp and Kenneth Handley held that the council was not liable because "there was no evidence that could sustain a finding of negligence on the part of the council in the placement of the flags". Chief Justice James Spigelman dissented on the decision, saying Mr Swain should keep the damages. Justice Ipp wrote a report last y advising the NSW Govt to make a raft of amendments to public liability laws, incl placing a cap on damages payouts. After Mr Swain was awarded the damages by a judge and a jury of 4, Prem Bob Carr held a press conference at Bondi Surf Life Saving Club, announcing laws to rein in insurance payouts. During the Court of Appeal case, lawyers for Mr Swain played video footage of Mr Carr, arguing their client faced a bias because of the publicity following his case. Mr Swain's solicitor, Hugh Macken, said he was considering seeking leave to appeal the case to the High Court. Mr Swain has been ordered to pay the council's costs. Sydney (close). MARKETS! The All Ords closed up 25 pts (0.8%). The banks were all up, but News was down 0.4%. The Nikkei also closed up a similar amount. Wall St closed down 0.5% this morning. The AUD is trading around 60.10 US c. Gold is down to $US322/oz. Oil is also down 2% to $US28.20/bbl. {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS 6 pm A US soldier has been shot dead when he investigated a burned-out Iraqi tank, S of Baghdad. He was mistaken for an Iraqi irregular. Kurdish leaders have declared the N front "open". But both Mosul and Kirkuk are believed to have 10s of 1000s of Iraqi Rep Guards still dug-in. Iraqi villagers hit by Coal'n missiles have been brought to hosp in Mosul. 18 were killed in airstrikes around the area. Kurds say they have 1 civilian death and a number of injuries from Iraqi shelling. Brits have taken control of a factory compound just outside Basra. The complex was used to fire mortars on Brit troops at a nearby checkpoint. There's not much left of it, now. In the W outskirts of the city they found Chemical Ali's villa. And an empty garrison nearby. There was a big sandpit map, complete with model tanks. PM Howard says he's getting regular telephone calls from Bush and also Blair. They tell him how the war is going and suggest things for him to tell the Aussie public. The PM says there is no place for AUS in post-war Iraq. He says the US should take command and transition to a civilian puppet govt ASAP. The PM said Bush had "highest praise" for Aussie armed forces. Aussie reporters have complained they get more info from the Pentagon about Aussie SAS troops than they get from the Canberra daily briefings. The Malaysian media has reported the Israeli For Min in AUS has thanked AUS for the protection SAS troops are giving Israel in the W desert of Iraq. The ANU briefing today asked Aussies to think about what that says about the way AUS is being profiled in the region. In Jenin, 1000s of Palestinians marched to pay respects to Iraqis who defended Jenin in 1948. 100 Iraqis died. It's the anniversary of the 1st Israeli incursion. As they marched, Israel came into Jenin again. CMO Richard Smallwood says there is "no SARS in Australia". What he meant -- while there are 6 suspected cases, there has been no transmission of the disease in AUS. 4 children are presently in MEL hosp with suspected SARS. A 3 yo Singapore boy was taken to the Royal Children's late today. 3 Canadian children at the Mon Med Cent are making good recovery. A rep at Monash said they didn't have confirmed SARS. This may be a tautology. There is no diagnostic test yet. From tomorrow the fed govt will station teams at all airports. This comes after suggestion by the shadow health min. The Fed Health Min had rejected the idea yesterday, and told the shadow Min to mind his own business. 7 pm Coal'n forces are tightening the noose around Baghdad. They are trying to isolate the capital and the regime from the rest of the country. Heavy air bombardment around Baghdad is continuing. US ground forces are consolidating their positions in the SE. 1st Marine Div is 40 km from Baghdad. 3rd Div is coming from the SW. After heavy fighting, much of the int'l airport is under control. 300 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the fierce battle o'night. There's now a push to the S outskirts of the capital. 3rd Inf arm is on its way. They have experienced short and fierce artillery barrages on the way. But the Iraqis were soon in tatters as Americans edged their way to Baghdad. They invading forces took 100s of POW's. 500 Iraqis were killed. There's speculation the blackout is probably associated with US covering special forces ops. Overwhelming force of the Americans made this a military mismatch. Many US cluster bombs have killed another 18 people in the S of the city. N of Baghdad, the search for Saddam goes on. In Tikrit a palace was raided o'night. No-one found. But some docs were removed. Most likely, he's in Baghdad -- besieged just like the mns he claims to lead. Cox & Thomson. On the road to Baghdad. It's a morning for war. We had a nasty awakening -- Rep Guard calling. The US artillery opened up. Capt Phil Bragg launched an artillery then an infantry attack against the enemy. They moved off. So the column moved on toward Baghdad. Our artillery and armour are leapfrogging their way N. The column keeps finding civilians who try to surrender. No-one has uniforms. A US soldier tells the reporters he wants to see more explosions. He doesn't like his job just firing the canon. Maybe when he gets to Baghdad, he says, he'll see what happens at the other end of the artillery fire. Along the way, they see the charred remains of resistance. Burning tanks and mortar trucks. Civilians in the small towns along the way appear to welcome the invaders. Peter Lloyd. Helicopter gunships fly above the Brits as they fought to a new position, just inside Basra. But an all-out assault on the enemy in the city may be days away. We're based in a compound littered with Iraqi bodies. Nearby, Iraqis are confused who is in charge. A hosp dir has a picture of Saddam on his wall. It's his President, he says. But this is Iraqi Liberation! The Brits took the picture down and smashed it, trying to eliminate the cult of personality that will not be tolerated by the West in a free Iraq. The S of Iraq is far from secure. Chopper gunships over Nasiriyah conduct lightning raids on traffic travelling in the area. Anything suspicious. They found men with a large sum of money. This is suspicious. The Brits think it's bribe money to make locals attack the Coal'n forces. S of Basra, Royal Marines played soccer with the locals. The Marines lost. They don't care, as long as they win the war. 9.30 pm Fighting continues at the airport. Iraq is sending in re-enforcements. The Coal'n say they control 80% of the place. And they say they're in full control of the S outskirts of the city. Residents of Baghdad are getting little rest. The allies say they have 9,000 POW's. In Basra, the Brits have made gains. US troops have entered Najaf after support from the Grand Ayatollah Sistani. He issued a Fatwah saying Shias should not resist Coal'n forces. There's been a clash nr Mosul, at a "strategic junction". In Baghdad, the US is calling on Iraqis to rise up against their Pres. More tanks and infantry have moved in o'night to the airport after a devastating wave of air strikes. The Rep Guard in the S has vanished. In Washington, Don Rumsfeld says the snr Iraqi leaders now have no way out. There's nothing like cornering an enemy that is supposed to have WMD! But other leaders are invited to surrender, he says. Previously he's indicated there will be war-crimes trials for everyone. Iraqi TV has shown new pictures of Saddam outlining his strategy to the top leaders. But it's not live. Saddam has called on Baath party activists that can't fight to stand aside for others that can. On the streets of the capital there's fear. Armed civilians and regime supporters are preparing for street-to-street fighting. Reporters talking to those men on the streets find they are ready to defend themselves. But they are even more mis-matched than the Rep Guard have been. They are lightly armed militia and no match for the array of firepower coming up from the S. Americans tonight are waiting for re-enforcements. The backup was held up by large number of surrendering soldiers, down S. Gen Myers says Baghdad is now irrelevant and no longer controls the country. It's probably the opening salvo before declaring a new govt is operating, somewhere else in the country. Or, perhaps, from Washington. 9.40 pm 2,500 Rep Guard have given themselves up to Coal'n forces nr Kut. The war is over for them. An embed with US forces nr the S approaches of Baghdad. On the rd 2 men were shot when they refused to stop at a checkpoint. One was shot in the chest. The other was shot in the eye. US medics are giving them first aid. They are now POW's. 9.45 Baghdad. Paul McGeough (ABC). Civilians are not arming themselves, despite news of Americans approaching the city and in residence at the airport. In the S there was organised resistance. My hunch is that's what will happen here. There is no sign of the Rep Guard or other regular units. We still don't know what caused the blackout last night. The Americans deny it was them. The power is back on now. There is presently no moon, and the oil smoke which continues to shroud the city means it's absolutely black after dark. Each side can watch the other in the darkness. The food sit'n is OK, with oil-for-food before the war providing rations for several m to city residents. Some have sold their food. It's the only income they have. Shops still have some food in them. So it's a little while before we get to crisis point. There's vegetables, eggs and milk. There have been no deliveries into city since the start of the war. It's now just a waiting game to see what will happen next. 10 pm There's been another suicide bombing. Centcom said a van has exploded NW of Baghdad, killing 3 soldiers, a pregnant woman and the driver. 2 other soldiers were reported injured in the attack. The incident happened at a checkpoint nr the Haditha dam, NW of Baghdad and 130 km from the Syrian border. Gen Brooks said the van approached the checkpoint, and a woman got out showing obvious signs of distress. As troops approach, the van exploded, killing the woman and 3 soldiers. Centcom has admitted the Coal'n has used cluster bombs nr civil areas. The admission reportedly comes after claims from Iraq and Iraqi TV showing soldiers disarming the weapons nr towns in N and C Iraq. The claims were initially down-played or denied by Coal'n military officials. Cluster bombs can be delivered in many ways. Rockets shown arcing into the night sky in images from embeds were one form. The weapons have been used outside several towns incl Basra, Nasiriyah, and Hillah. 100s of civilians were injured at Hillah, and dozens killed. Experts say each bomb can contain up to 100 bomblettes. About 16% of the bomblettes don't explode -- at least, not at first. They are generally brightly-coloured, which attracts children. And it's a deadly attraction. Aid organisations estimate about 1,600 Iraqi civilians were killed in GWI by cluster bombs. 11 pm Gen Brooks says the Coal'n will go into Baghdad, not just sit on the outskirts. Analysts say the US will separate combatants and non-combatants, and "eliminate" the former. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS ---------------------------------------- Sat, 05 Apr 2003. Continuous war news Bolivia landslide claims at least 117 17 drown in ferry sinking 2 killed in bldg collapse More US troops to airport Soldier charged with murder Boxes of explosive white powder Non-conventional war Iraq claims suicide attack Mass die-in in MEL Food aid into Iraq Mines still plague Iraqi port Red Cross waiting for Iraq Israel arrests 5 bombers Serbs arrest 2 assassins Cubans rescue 40 hostages Volcano warms up: Phil PM has no return date RAAF has return date UN slows withdrawal from Timor More SARS Medicos watching airports Hunt for SARS passengers More farmers on welfare Child porn gets 10 years Vic market goes solar Continuous war news {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS Midnight. IT IS DAY SIXTEEN. And the war coverage has stopped on local TV. Looks like the victory is to be declared without live pix. 1.30 am Embeds say the US is tightening its grip on the S approaches to the Iraqi capital. US units are approaching the city from the S and SW, with some fire fights reported in both areas. In the SE, US forces are still battling with Iraqi troops at the airport, which was earlier renamed to Baghdad Int'l. The Americans say they have almost all the airport in their control. The Iraqi Info Min has acknowledged [!] US troops are at the airport, but he says they are have now been cut off from Coal'n forces for 8 hrs. He says Iraq will now "take non-conventional action" to defeat them. Iraqi forces will use "a kind of martyrdom operation", he says. He emphasised Iraq would not use WMD. 1.50 am France, Germany and Italy -- all anti-war -- have called again for the UN to be immediately given a C role in running post-war Iraq. 2.20 am (US) ABC embed headed toward Baghdad says his group has taken some casualties as Iraqi irregulars continue to harass the column. Richard Engel. Baghdad went into blackout last night. And the power is still off. Witnesses describe chaos with people trying to leave the outskirts and move to the C of the city. The outskirts are filled with Baath party members, Fedayeen and Rep Guards. Reporters were told to leave the area, with some Fedayeen saying they were looking to kill Americans. The local newspapers don't mention the blackout, but says "victory is assured". There is only running water for a few hrs a day, when generators are on. The US still claims they are not responsible for the power outage. To the E of the city, Marines are now engaging the Al Nida Rep Guard div. American forces have again killed other Americans. An F-15 dropped a bomb on US troops yesterday. 3 dead and 6 injured. A hummer rolled into a canal nr airport. Both occupants drowned. A US soldier inspecting a burned-out Iraqi tank was shot by other Marines who thought he was an Iraqi. US cmdrs are now saying the immediate plan is to completely surround the capital and not to go in. Contradicts prev reports. Troops will move to the N edge of the city soon. 2.33 1000s of boxes of "white powder" have been found at an ind'l site, S of Baghdad. There were also documents in Arabic. It was found Fri. A military cmdr told (US) ABC it's "clearly a suspicious site". [Prelim chem analysis found it was explosives]. There's a new story about the rescue of Jessica Lynch. After the prev story was blown by her parents, the new spin concerns an Iraqi named "Mohammad" who saw her being beaten by an Iraqi regime thug. [This was later re-written as "slapped in the face by the man guarding her"]. He promised to help her, and went to inform Coal'n forces. He trudged for hrs 10 km through the desert. They asked him to go back to the hosp, which he did. He overhead doctors planning to amputate her leg. He talked them out of it. After she was rescued he asked for an American flag. He's now under US protection. [I wonder how much of this will turn out to be true]. 3.15 am Centcom says 9 of the 11 bodies recovered from a hosp in C Iraq are believed to be American. This is exactly the opposite of prev reports. Mike Cerre. Says his unit is the most N'ly Marine unit. 5th Marines. Says they've been under fire for 5 hrs. Many casualties have been taken. An ammo dump blew up nr them, injuring many. They've now reached a secure area after fighting up the road for the last 30 km. In Baghdad. Richard Engel says there are jets overhead. Civilians are trying to leave the city. The scene around the airport is "tense". Things on the edge of the city have "broken down", he says. Power is still out. People fell the "corner has turned" in the battle for the city. 3.30 am The "control" situation at the airport has flip-flopped a couple times. At present, it's supposedly "under control" for the Coal'n. Marines at the airport are going through bunkers and clearing them out. Centcom says Rep Guards are now responding, but it's too late. The US owns the airport. Kurdish leaders say they will not accept military rule in Iraq. US special ops teams are watching all roads into Baghdad, calling in air strikes when they see anything like enemy. 3.45 am Centcom says 23,000 sorties have been flown in the war so far. Centcom says at least 55 Americans have been killed, 7 are POW, and 16 are MIA. 27 Brits have been killed. The US has developed a bomb that renders chem or bio weapons useless. 58 of them have been deployed to the Gulf. In the US support for war is holding steady at 73%. Expectation for many casualties has fallen to 75% from 83% a wk ago. German Chancellor Schroeder has called for the removal of Saddam Hussein in a speech to Germany's Parliament. 4 am Some Rep Guard units are reportedly moving S of Baghdad toward advancing Coal'n forces. More explosions have been heard around Baghdad. Centcom says it's hit Saddam's palaces and the Iraqi AF HQ. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS Chima. BOLIVIA LANDSLIDE CLAIMS AT LEAST 117! Rescue teams have given up on hope of finding survivors of a landslide that buried the Bolivian mining town of Chima, killing at least 117 people. Vladimir Rojas, rep for the Civil Def Corps, says rescue workers acknowledged it's now impossible to find survivors. He says the problem health workers face now are possible outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever. Govt officials say they've found 17 bodies of the 117 that are believed to have been buried in the mass of mud and rubble. Ahmedabad. 17 DROWN IN FERRY SINKING! 17 people have drowned when a boat carrying Hindu pilgrims on a R in W India capsized in strong winds. Police say 42 pilgrims were in the boat when it overturned late yesterday on the Narmada R, 250 km S of Ahmedabad, Gujarat state's main city. A total of 25 swam to safety, and rescue teams recovered 17 bodies. Rescue and fire brigade workers searched for several hrs before the bodies were found nr where the Narmada runs into the Arabian Sea at the Gulf of Cambay. Rawalpindi. 2 KILLED IN BLDG COLLAPSE! At least 2 people are dead and 30 injured after a building under construction collapsed nr the Pakistani capital. Rescue workers say the toll could rise higher as an unknown number of people were trapped in the debris of the 5-story bldg in a business district of Rawalpindi. The private TV stn GEO says at least 40 were thought to be trapped. Another rescue official says the blgd had not been completed, but shops were already open on the grnd floor. Baghdad. MORE US TROOPS TO AIRPORT! US forces have called in 100s more troops to reinforce Baghdad airport and have hammered targets E of the city. Meanwhile, Iraqi TV has shown what is says is Pres Saddam Hussein being cheered in the streets. US warplanes have roared over the capital attacking targets and drawing renewed AA fire in the SE. US artillery has poured down on the E, leaving parts of the city and its outskirts glowing orange in the 17th day of the war. Ft Campbell. SOLDIER CHARGED WITH MURDER! A soldier from the 101st Airborne has been charged with murder after a fragging in Kuwait killed 2. Ft Campbell officials say Sgt Hasan K Akbar was charged on Mar 25 with 2 counts of premeditated murder and 17 other counts of attempted murder under military law. Akbar was returned to the US last Fri and is being held at an undisclosed military facility. He's the only person charged in connection with the attack on officers' tents that killed 2 and wounded 14 others. Nr Baghdad. BOXES OF EXPLOSIVE WHITE POWDER! Hot on the trail of suspected WMD, US troops S of Baghdad have found 1000s of boxes of white powder, nerve agent antidote and documents written in Arabic on chem warfare at at ind'l site. A snr US official familiar with the initial testing of the white powder says it appears to be an explosive. VERRRY SUSPICIOUS! Col John Peabody, engineer brigade cmdrs of the 3rd Inf, says the materials were found at the Latifiyah ind'l complex, 40 km S of the Iraqi capital. Baghdad. NON-CONVENTIONAL WAR! Iraq has threatened to use non-conventual acts against US-led forces who have seized Baghdad airport. Info Min Mohammad Saeed al-Sahaf says "martyrdom operations" and other tactics will be used, but has explicitly denied Iraq will use WMD. He's said Iraq will commit the acts on forces around Baghdad -- something that will be a great example for the mercenaries. Baghdad. IRAQ CLAIMS SUICIDE ATTACK! Iraq says a suicide bombing NW of Baghdad yesterday that claimed 3 US soldiers was a suicide attack carried out by 2 women. Iraq's official INA agency says 3 Coal'n soldiers, a pregnant woman and her driver were killed by the car bomb last night at the checkpoint nr Hadithah Dam, about 200 km from the capital. INA says the martyr operation brought the destruction of 9 armoured vehicles with their teams on board. Melbourne. MASS DIE-IN IN MEL! Anti-war protesters are staging a mass die-in on the steps of MEL's Parliament House tomorrow in a defiant stance against the war in Iraq. 100s of people are expected to take part in the Vic Peace Network's silent protest at noon. Participants will lie down on the step of parliament in a bid to portray civilians killed in war-torn Iraq. Latest estimates say between 500 and 700 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war. Silopi. FOOD AID INTO IRAQ! The UN has sent its 1st food shipment into N Iraq, establishing a vital humanitarian corridor as supplies dwindle in the conflict-hit region. A rep for the UN agency says 23 trucks carrying 575 tonnes of wheat flour from the WFP have passed through the Habur border gate into Iraq. At the same time, the UN children's fund sent 10 trucks from neighbouring Kuwait carrying water and medical supplies to towns in S Iraq under US-led forces' control. Canberra. MINES STILL PLAGUE IRAQI PORT! French TV has shown mines still bobbing in the waters off the Iraqi deep-water port of Umm Qasr. There are suspicions they have been laid by Iraqi forces within the past few days. Meanwhile, Aussie clearance divers say they need another 2 or 3 days before they can give the go-ahead of grain and humanitarian aid ships to berth in the port of Umm Qasr. ADF rep Brig Mike Hannan says the divers, working with Coal'n forces around the key Iraqi port, have now completely cleared mines from berths in the old port. He says this should allow access of the larger grain ships and other humanitarian assistance ships into the port. Geneva. RED CROSS WAITING FOR IRAQ! The Red Cross says it's seen more than 3,000 Iraqi POW's, but has yet to receive permission from Iraq to visit the American prisoners they are holding. The ICRC says most Iraqi POW's are registered in S Iraq. Centcom says Coal'n forces are now holding more than 4,000 Iraqi POW's, and the Red Cross acknowledges it has probably not seen them all. [Strangely, American papers say 9,000. They may still be factoring in that "division" that allegedly surrendered in the first days of the war]. There are no definite numbers for US POW's held by the Iraqis, but 15 Americans are missing. [Another 7 are listed as POW's]. Tulkarem. ISRAEL ARRESTS 5 BOMBERS! Israeli forces have captured a top Islamic militants after emptying a W Bank refugee camp of most of its men, a tactic which drew complaints from Palestinian officials and human rights groups. 27 yo Anwar Aliyan was the head of Islamic Jihad's military wing in the town of Tulkarem. Witnesses say he surrendered at his hideout in the local refugee camp. The army says he and 4 others who were also arrested were planning a car bombing. Belgrade. SERBS ARREST 2 ASSASSINS! Serbian police have arrested 2 close associates of former Yugoslav Pres Slobodan Milosevic over suspicions they are linked to a crime clan accused of murdering PM Zoran Djindjic. Borisav Mikelic and the former dep chief of Serbian secret police, Molorad Bracanovic, are being held with 3 lawyers allegedly linked with the so-called Zemun crime clan. Reports also say theat arrest warrants have been issued for Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic, as well as their son, Marko. Havana. CUBANS RESCUE 40 HOSTAGES! Cuban commandos have rescued about 40 people held hostage on a ferry by an armed group seeking passage to the US. A govt statement on state TV announced the end of the hostage drama, which followed efforts by Pres Fidel Castro to negotiate with the hijackers. The statement says the hijackers have been captured and the hostages rescued unharmed without a shot being fired. Cuban Special Brigade elite forces moved in to end the hijacking after 2 women hostages jumped into the water, distracting their captors. Manila. VOLCANO WARMS UP: PHIL! The Philippines' most destructive volcano has spewed a column of ash 1.5 km into the sky in the 2nd sign of renewed activity in less than 1 m. There's no immediate sign of a major eruption, but the Philippine Inst of Vulcanology and Seismology has repeated a warning for the public to stay away from Mayon volcano. The volcano lies about 340 km SE of Manila. The institute says increases in Mayon's activity recently indicates the liklihood of a sudden ash explosions from the mtn. Canberra. PM HAS NO RETURN DATE! Gen Dick Myers, Chair of the Joint Chiefs, says AUS's crack SAS have secured Scud missile pads in W Iraq. He says the SAS units will remain in the area to keep it secure, indicating they will not be used in the urban assault on Baghdad. Gen Myers says SAS units in W Iraq will have to stay in place for some time. Elsewhere, PM John Howard says Aussie troops may get bogged down fighting the war in Iraq and he can't give a definite date for their return. Canberra. RAAF HAS RETURN DATE! AUS's F/A-18 Hornet's might soon begin returning home after def officials say their role in the conflict is diminishing. AUS has a flight of 14 of the ground attack fighters in Iraq and they have now flown more than 80 missions against military targets. But RAAF chief Air Vice Marshall Angus Houston says as Iraq's land forces move closer toe the heavily-populated areas of Baghdad, the role of strike aircraft is diminishing. NY. UN SLOWS WITHDRAWAL FROM TIMOR! The UN Sec Council has voted to slow the withdrawal of UN troops from E Timor because of continued security problems and recent attacks. Res 1473 was adopted unanimously at Sec-Gen Kofi Annan's request after the resurgence of violence by pro-Indon militants. There are nearly 4,000 blue helmets in Timor. The res passed today will leave 2 batns deployed nr the line of demarcation with Indon W Timor. Toronto. MORE SARS! Canadian health officials have reported 9 more possible cases of SARS. The report brings to 187 the number of cases nationwide. Canada, where there have been 7 deaths from the disease, is the hardest-hit outside Asia, where SARS is believed to have started last Nov. The majority of cases remain in Canada's largest prov, Ontario, where 149 possible cases have now been recoded, up 3 from yesterday. Canberra. MEDICOS WATCHING AIRPORTS! Doctors and nurses will be at major Aussie airports from today to boost protection against the deadly SARS disease. Fed Health Min Kay Patterson says that with 7 suspected cases in AUS, she's adopting a suggestion from the shadow Health Min and professional will be on call at airports to provide advice and assess possible cases. Sen Patterson says airlines will also begin making on-board health announcements about SARS. Melbourne. HUNT FOR SARS PASSENGERS! Qantas staff are continuing to contact 310 passengers who shared a flight from LA with 3 children with suspected SARS. The airline staff have begun telephoning passengers on flight QF094 from LA to MEL in a bid to warm them to watch out for symptoms of the disease. Cleaners, maintenance staff, pilots and flight attendants who had contact with the aircraft are also being alerted. The flight touched from in MEL last Sun at 8.45 am. Canberra. MORE FARMERS ON WELFARE! Another 9,000 farmers have qualified for federal drought assistance as more evidence emerges that the big dry continues to hurt vast swathes of the bush. Ag Min Warren Truss has found prima facie cases for welfare and interest subsidies to 7,000 farmers through N and C Vic, and almost 2,000 im WA. It brings the total able to claim fed welfare to more than 15,000, with several 1000s more expected to gain help in coming weeks. Canberra. CHILD PORN GETS 10 YEARS! People who use the Internet for child porn will face up to 10 y jail under new laws to be introduced by the fed govt. Justice and Customs Min Chris Ellison says downloading or transmitting child porn will become a fed offence. This means fed authorities will have to power to investigate, prosecute, and punish anyone using the Internet to trade in child pornography. The change means electronic trading in child porn will be treated in the same way as physical trading under the Customs Act. Melbourne. VIC MARKET GOES SOLAR! A scheme sure to send shivers through the nuclear ind'y will see the Queen Vic Market move to solar power this weekend. A plan will see the vast roof area of the market sheds turned into a giant energy collector. The array of PV cells will generate enough electricity to supply 1/3 of the market's power needs, or enough for 63 average homes. Over the last few m 1,300 solar panels have been installed on the roofs of 2 of the market buildings, across 1,700 sq m, to create the largest inner-city installation of solar collectors in the S hemi connected to an electricity grid. {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS 6 pm Saddam has made a defiant appearance in the streets of Baghdad. It was a few small steps for him, but a giant leap for the regime, say reporters. He was soon swamped by loyal subjects, chanting and kissing his hands. Analysts say he was surrounded by blood rels who would not demean themselves by appearing with an imposter. On the images, columns of black smoke can be seen in the background. It was made within the past 2 wks. Later, there was a televised address from the Pres, praising the farmer who shot down an Apache chopper with his rifle. A relaxed-looking Saddam Hussein was shown on state TV, doing a street walk. He was mobbed by 100s of supporters. Surrounded by Baath party officials and military figures, he seemed unconcerned about being in the open. He even had time to stop and kiss a baby. It's maybe the strongest hint yet he survived the initial move to "decapitate" him. Intel analysts have looked at the images. It may or may not be him, according to whom you talk to. But Centcom says it doesn't now matter if Saddam is dead or alive. Elsewhere, the Iraqi Info Min says the Coal'n is in for a "big surprise". In the Baghdad mosque the imam, holding an AK-47 in one hand, called for jihad. SBS TV. US Tanks have entered the capital. Most of Baghdad is still without power. Tanks from 3rd Inf are securing the airport. They're trying to move loads of dirt left on the runway. One of the grounded Iraqi airliners was hit -- only smoldering ruins are left on the runway. Reporters were in it yesterday, being shown by the Iraqi Info Min that US forces were nowhere in sight. There was Iraqi resistance at the N gate of airport, say US cmdrs. But it was smashed by US firepower, say embeds. O'night, 500 Iraqis tried to defend the airport, and most were killed. SBS says 320 Iraqi soldiers are dead. The marines say it was a walk-over. More Iraqi soldiers in buses have been seen headed out from the city to the airport. The Iraqis say the airport won't be in Coal'n hands for long. The Info Min said Iraq will launch a guerilla war and martyr operations. He says many have offered themselves up for suicide missions. Iraqi TV showed women who did the suicide op at a checkpoint yesterday. They are holding assault rifles, and swearing on the Q'ran to kill their enemies. The footage was also show on Al Jazeera. In the SE there is evidence elements of the 1st Marines are within artillery range. They say they took out the Al Nida div of the Rep Guard. Other marines on SE prong of the pincer were shown resting. They were receiving their 1st letters from girlfriends and wives. The most dangerous days may be ahead. US sp forces are reportedly in the city already, gathering target info. The 4 km long runway at the airport is bomb-scarred, but will be quickly repaired. There are several wrecks of Iraqi Airline planes littering the runway. In the SE, US convoys had to fight through a number of ambushes. There was a 5 hr battle in an ind'l zone on the edge of Baghdad. 2,500 Rep Guard have surrendered. The Pentagon says the Rep Guard was 6 div but is now missing 2. The Medina and Baghdad divs are gone. Some elements may be wandering around, said Gen Myers. There was another o'night airstrike on Baghdad. Centcom says "substantial forces" have penetrated almost to the C of Baghdad. They have been engaged in "sporadic fighting". They moved through Rep Guard positions. There is no word on what the object of the mission was. Centcom says it has advanced on Saddam's positions of power. Iraqi militia are seen dug-in in Baghdad subs. They are a woefully inadequate defence for the city. But they say they will fight to the death. Civilians are now under threat of becoming casualties of war, caught in the cross-fire. In N Iraq, bombing of Mosul is continuing. Bombing of enemy positions nearby is also continuing. US troops are finding significant enemy resistance. US exped forces and more than 10,000 Kurds are going up against stubborn Iraqis showing plenty of fight. The US was trying to capture a key bridge, and finally have it. Reporters say it's a feeling of success the Kurds are getting used to. The battle-scarred road shows what a fight it was. Injured civilians and Iraqi soldiers lay side by side in a local hosp. The casualties will rise in the coming days. The US is now putting pressure on Tikrit, Saddam's home town. In the S, Brit troops have arrested a man who they say played a key role in the execution of 2 soldiers. He's from a powerful and feared family with direct links to Saddam. He wasn't happy to be detained. Also in the S, soldiers have come across a makeshift front line -- complete with cardboard artillery and tanks. Now under Coal'n control, the hunt for enemy troops continues in Najaf. Locals are now ready to turn on the regime. Outside Basra people have started putting another war behind them. 200 weapons have been handed in. The electricity and water is back on, schools open, and even the local barber has opened up. Brit radio plays Arabic music for the locals. They also tell the 1.2 mn people that Saddam's rule is over. A 2 yo Vietnamese boy from Sunshine is reportedly suffering from SARS. He's the 4th patient in MEL. All the most suspicious cases in AUS are in Vic, and all are children. Reports say children are being treated with antibiotics [!]. The toddler was rushed to hosp late this afternoon, showing symptoms of the disease, incl a 40 deg temp. He was recently O/S. Passengers arriving at MEL airport are using masks. On a flight from HK they said almost everyone was wearing them. Even reception staff are wearing them. Med staff also at the airport also walk around wearing their masks. There are now 80 deaths from the disease world-wide. Many more are expected. The airline in HK issues face masks. Some passengers refused to remove them even after arriving in MEL. One said she was keeping hers on because she had travelled in a bus with people from Singapore. 8 people were assessed at the airport today. All were cleared. An official says it is very frightening really. Last wk she started to panic a little bit. Red Cross official in Baghdad. Roland Huguenen. It's a very strange feeling. Something is about to happen, but we don't know what. I hope the civilian population will be OK and not come into the crossfire. I've had some contact with local people. I've also talked with colleagues in various parts of the city. The people are worried about what's going on at the city edge. No-one is driving out there, it's too dangerous. They feel trapped in a big city, knowing something is going on but not what. Constant bombing is causing casualties among civilians. No-one has shelters to go to. Houses here don't have basements. They sit on the ground floor of their homes. When hearing firepower coming closer you feel worried about your safety. Nr Basra, cmdrs say they will bide their time before a major assault. They are trying to gain the psychological upper hand. They say there are small pockets of resistance. They have penetrated shanty towns and ind'l subs on the outskirts of Iraq's 2nd city. There is no word when the big assault will begin. Cmdrs describe the situation as "contained". They say 1000 remaining Fedayeen and guerrillas are in Basra. They were gunning down civilians early this wk, say cmdrs. They are relatively quiet at present. Beside the military presence here, there's messages being beamed in from a desert military radio stn, proclaiming to the citizens of Basra it's the end of the Saddam regime. A psych ops centre is creating leaflets to be dropped over Basra. The message is "place your trust in the Coal'n and rise up against Saddam". We tell the truth, say the psych ops boys. They bristle at the term "propaganda". We want to retain credibility with the Iraqi people, they say. The hearts and minds campaign is reportedly gaining ground. Cmdrs say worship has begun again in Basra. The schools are open. The water and light are back on. But they sometimes get things wrong. In Al Zubayr -- they said 2 men they arrested were wanted in connection with the execution of 2 Brit soldiers. But that was later retracted because the families of the dead soldiers have been told they were killed in combat. 40 km E of Mosul. The fighting is continuing. Kurds and Iraqis are fighting on foot or from civilian vehicles. We've just found an injured Iraqi solder by the side of the road. He's groaning, in shock, but he's lucky compared to others. Just m away at least 4 have been killed by airstrike on a truck. [Picture of burned bodies dangling out door of bombed and burning ute]. Kurdish villages have been greeting us with chants of "America, America". Warplanes and bombers continue to target Iraqi positions in the N. The Iraqis continue to pull back into Mosul and Kirkuk. The Kurd-held town of Arbil has both injured civilians and Iraqi soldiers in hosp. On the Turk/Iraq border there may be another front opening up. Kurds say Turkey has shelled Kurd villages and their lines. But the Turkish For Min, Gul, has denied that, saying it's a rumour from people not worried about the consequences of their words. Aid is about to go out from the other side of the border. Turk truck drivers say they are scared about going into a war zone. But they know the people over the border need the aid. A Cobra chopper has crashed in the desert of S Iraq, killing its 2 pilots. The military says it was an accident and not the result of enemy action. The toll so far is 67 Americans killed and 27 Brits dead. There's been a small anti-war protest on SYD Harbour today. About 100 boatloads of protesters converged on the water side of Kiribili House. They came on yachts, rowing boats and surfboards. They voiced anger at the war. Police vessels stood by, but there were no arrests. China has made an official apology to the WHO for not reporting initial infections of SARS. In HK the GDP growth is expected to be cut 1% due to the outbreak of the disease. China is expected to reduce 1/2% as a result of SARS. In Singapore the govt will keep schools closed until mid next wk. But they say infection rates there are down "dramatically". New US job figures show the war is not the only thing to worry about. 108,000 jobs were killed on the nation's payrolls in Mar. It's 3 times the forecast by most economists. The 5.8% unemployment rate remains unchanged because most have given up on finding work. 10,000 were laid off from airlines in the fortnight since war began. There is low business confidence. Analysts now believe the job market won't revive even if there is a quick end to the war. In 1991, victory saw markets rise to dizzying heights. But that looks unlikely this time. 8.4 mn Americans are looking for work. 1/4 were sacked in the past 2 y. Wall St was subdued today. Even news of headway in the war was overshadowed by economic news. The Dow was up a modest 37 pts (0.5%) to 8,277. But the Nasdaq was down about 1%. 7 pm There's been a Coal'n recky into the S subs of Baghdad in the last 2 hrs. US sp forces are also said to be in control of the rd between Tikrit and the capital. Video phone images show US tanks rolling on roads un-opposed in the S of the city. A US tank cmdr has been shot dead, and other marines wounded while driving close to the C of Baghdad. Coal'n troops are also attacking from the E of the city. On the SW outskirts, a battle continues for the airport. It's an icon of the regime. It strikes an important emotional chord for the regime, if they can't control this, said a soldier. In a teaching hosp nr the airport, the mortuary is filled with victims of the US attack. The Iraqi Info Min is still at his post. "Tonight they will see an unconventional surprise", he told reporters at a briefing. In C Baghdad some residents have reportedly called for American tanks to knock down a statue of Saddam. But just a block away the Americans could face a big battle. Saddam's walk around the streets of Baghdad. Experts say from the moles and birthmarks of Saddam that were visible in the pictures, that it's him. It's unclear exactly when. In the background there are the burning oil fires on the edge of the city. But that's been going 10 days or more. If true, it's Saddam's first public appearance in 3 y. In a TV speech shown shortly afterward, Saddam talked about the downing of a US helicopter, congratulating the farmer that supposedly shot it down with his old hunting rifle. There still isn't proof that Saddam is alive. But it may suit the regime that confusion about Saddam continues. But the goalposts have moved anyway. They were calling for proof a couple of days ago. But that's changed. At the Whitehouse, mouth Ari Fleischer said the regime's days are coming to an end. Pentagon mouth Vic Clarke said whatever is left of the regime now realises they have less control of the country. Colin Powell said it didn't matter whether Saddam was dead or alive. In either case, US troops would liberate Iraq. "If he's found or not is almost irrelevant", said Powell. The men accused of involvement in the execution of 2 Brit POW's. They were pointed out to Brit forces by a local. They may have got it wrong, or it may be a revenge thing. Only a couple of doz anti-war protesters turned out on SYD harbour today. They left a yellow peace sign painted in the lawn of The Domain. There is concern that phone-tapping in AUS is gathering info about anti-war protesters and the Islamic community. It has not been directly denied by the NSW police. Meanwhile, the NSW govt says there has been only a small increase in discrimination complaints since the start of the war. Some Islamic groups say it's because of fear in the community. They say there are increasing attacks. 9.30 pm Up to 30 Coal'n tanks, Bradleys and other vehicles have moved into the C of Baghdad. 1000s of Iraqis have been killed in fierce fighting between the Coal'n and Rep Guard during an incursion into the C of the capital. Doz of Iraqi vehicles have been reduced to smoking ruins. The Coal'n remains in control of the airport, even though Iraq says they have been expelled. Earlier they said they had surrounded the airport. But the Marines report continuing resistance out there. There are also fierce battles in the suburbs of Dora and Yarmauk. There is still no sign of the "non-conventional" counterattacks warned of yesterday by the Info Min. Another comm centre was knocked out this morning in the city. Some people seem calm. Others are ready for a showdown, yelling at reporters. Many Iraqis are fleeing the front lines as the Coal'n close in on Baghdad's outer suburbs. Brit forces outside Basra are waiting for the green light from Centcom before launching what they say will be a "major offensive" into the city. 9.47 pm S of Basra, the town of Az Zubayr. Brit soldiers say they've found 100s of human remains. Bundles of bones were found in miliary uniforms at an abandoned Iraqi military base. No other details were given. [Later, this was suspected to be part of the Iran/Iraq exchange of dead soldiers from the 1980s, which had re-started just before the present war broke out]. Malaysia has reported its first death from SARS. In HK, there have been 3 more deaths from the disease today. At lest 20 Coal'n tanks have reportedly entered Baghdad. Some citizens are lining the streets, applauding the convoy. Coal'n reinforcements have reportedly arrived at the Baghdad airport. 10.30 pm Embed with unspecified units. Moving in armoured column. In amongst the trees on this route we can see the fire of still-burning Iraqi positions. Iraqi officials maintain they are in control. The Info Min says Rep Guard are in full control at the airport. "Those mercenaries outside the airport were surrounded and are being pounded", he said. ITV reporter sees motorcycles mounted with rocket launchers moving around city. The action in Baghdad so far today. Centcom says it was another "opportunity" that opened up. The mission started out with just 7 or 8 tanks on a rec mission. They found very little resistance. A little gunfire, but nothing to stop them. They looked at citizens waving in the streets as an indication. They kept going into the city C. Unconfirmed reports are that 1 or 2 tanks reached the city C. There is no vision of that. Those tanks did come across gunfire. The Sp Rep Guard is stationed around the city. They tackled the tanks. There was serious fighting and resistance from the Iraqis. But US cmdrs say they are surprised at how little resistance they found. Reports of 20 tanks in the city have not been confirmed. Centcom says the operation is "on-going". We can see cars with Iraqi flags and sirens going tearing around the inner city in groups. On the outskirts, there is reportedly hand to hand combat against what Centcom says are "Arab fighters". These are apparently the volunteers from Egypt and Jordan we've heard about. In marshlands on the outskirts Marines say they used bayonets in some fighting. Some reports of "violent exchange" in C of city. The city centre was hit by heavy barrages o'night. The outer suburbs of Baghdad are poorer, and generally are not the key supporters of Saddam. If the US comes in from the N there might be more resistance. Centcom says they have seen the first "martyr missions" the Info Min warned of. Men dressed all in black have attacked US forces. No details. From Qatar, Ch 9 reporter. There are very confusing stories coming from here and from Iraq. Centcom has confirmed reports that US tanks are in C Baghdad. But this is the opposite of what the Iraqi Info Min said 2 hrs ago. He said Coal'n troops had been isolated. "We have defeated them, in fact we have crushed them", he said. He denied there was any activity in the subs of Dora and Yarmauk where tanks were supposed to be operating -- he offered to take reporters out there. Other reports say many have been killed in fighting in the suburbs. 10.40 pm Ch 9 reporter, Qatar. Centcom just held its daily media briefing, with no explicit mention of the action in Baghdad. They just gave a history lesson on the "liberation of Iraq" as they call it. The lesson ran from from day 1 of the war until today. But there was no mention of the ops within the city. The situation is confused. We have heard from eyewitnesses there are US troops in the streets in some area of the city. But some journalists have gone touring the city and say they see no US activity. But there is evidence of heavy artillery fire on the outskirts of the city. Perhaps once the operation is finished Centcom may say something. They gave us tidbits through the morning -- saying US have control of the airport and will send in more supplies and reinforcements by air. In Karbala there have been reports of civilians protesting against US troops moving into Baghdad. A suspected WMD site SE Baghdad is being dug up by Marines says Centcom. Centcom briefing. M-G Renault. The runways at Baghdad internat'l were disabled for normal use. We are not sure whether they are available for normal use. We have a substantial area to operate from. We don't know whether the airport will be a main base of operation. The airfield is secured to a good degree. There is still a threat from enemy troops and artillery. They have had no success in dislodging us. We will spend extra time on some locations on the field where may be booby traps. We are operating on the airfield with ease. We believe 1 of the runways will be operational soon. The obstructions were just dirt. The rest of the infrastructure at the airport is intact. The Iraqis were not expecting us, so they left it operational. There are 2 runways -- civilian on one side and military some distance away. We obstructed the military airfield ourselves -- because there were military aircraft over there. The Medina div of the Rep Guard is reported to be about 50 km SE Baghdad. At least 5 large explosions have rocked the area nr C Baghdad overnight, as the barrage from US planes and artillery continued. The US says it has no intention of invading Iran and Syria. ITN reporter in C of Baghdad. The Iraqi military is on the move. From the hotel we can see them. The news of the Coal'n forces in the city have spread. By lunchtime, police cars were seen with the Iraqi flag and pictures of Saddam. Guns were seen waving from cars. They stopped outside our hotel to get the message out they are still in control. On the Tigris banks some Iraqis have run back to their positions as explosions rang out in the distance. Earlier, we went out to the edge of the city in a bus. We saw a housing estate where we were told civilians were injured by cluster bomb attacks. They showed us the damage. [View of hole in a ceiling]. The man says he's fine and not scared -- he will fight the Americans. A short time ago we heard sounds of gunfire nr our hotel, just as we were giving a report. Briefing from the Iraqi Info Min. Those enemy in the airport. This force is destroyed. What is remaining is outside the fence of the airport. The Rep Guard is controlling the internat'l airport. Where are the mercenaries and villains? They are out of the airport in a nearby area, they are surrounded. Those racist mercenaries could not connect with the other troops in the nearby area. After, they were destroyed. Their bodies are many. Their equipment and several vehicles were destroyed. They are still trying to use artillery and RPG's to hit Rep Guard who are controlling the airport. Maybe in a few hrs we will take you reporters there, after we deal with the remnants of these troops. [Reporters are still waiting, days later]. W of Baghdad. CNN's Walter Rogers, embed with 7th Cav. We are presently in the W subs of Baghdad. Elements of the Rep Guard are being seen, trying to move out and attack us. We are only a small force. We are moving up the road at present. We are passing through an area where we had a major tank engagement yesterday. We killed 20 of their tanks here yesterday. Knowing that, we feared attack here again today. We sent out a rec and found 5 Iraqi tanks positioned up there again. But their drivers were napping. We opened fire and blasted them to smithereens. Their tanks have now been burning for hrs. We see 2nd-ary explosions from them periodically. On the other side of the rd 2 other Iraqi tanks were also caught napping. Amazing, since this has been hostile territory for days. Our 120 mm guns took them out. After that, we have taken up another position in the W subs. The intersection where we are is now in the hands of the US Cavalry. 11 pm The Iraqi military can still be seen moving around the C of Baghdad, moving around in trucks. They seem jubilant. Some trucks are trailing canon. Asked why reporters in Baghdad had not seen the tanks moving to the C of the city, Maj Gen Victor Renault said it was an operation conducted by 2 task-forces. They had been positioned S of the city, and conducted a raid through the city N to the Tigris and then going W to the airport. Why are you not seeing that from the C of city? In some parts of downtown London you can't see other parts of downtown London. I am comfortable I know where they were. It was a clear statement that Coal'n forces can move into downtown Baghdad. We can establish our presence where and when we need to. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS ---------------------------------------- Sun, 06 Apr 2003. Continuous war news Markets 80 killed in prison riot 12 die in factory fire 6 rebels killed in India US tours Baghdad, falls back US to start installing post-war Iraq administration Explosions in Baghdad US war toll hits 79 Bones found in S Iraq Do you want fire with that? Bomb injures mayor Thar she blows Arabs push for defence pact Aussie collateral NK says up yours UN Peace activists wounded in Jenin Aussie bites back 8th dies of SARS in Canada More Aussie SARS Another 6 SARS suspects Cameraman was spy? Die-in Died-in Continuous war news {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS Midnight. IT'S DAY SEVENTEEN. 2.30 am Baghdad. CBS says there is no evidence of US tanks in the city. Both CBS reporters and others have been looking around Baghdad. They've seen nothing. But Iraqis have been buoyed by the appearance of Saddam on TV. Police cars are still going around, signalling victory at the airport with their sirens and Iraqi flags. At the Pentagon, they're discouraging reporters from seeing it as "a completed operation". They say some US casualties were taken on this "brief mission". There was "fierce fighting". It was a clear statement of the Coal'n force's ability to move into Baghdad at a time of their choosing, said military officials. These kinds of operations will continue, said Maj-Gen Renault in Doha. The latest clashes with US forces nr the airport have involved both Rep Guard and irregulars. They were in small numbers, say the Pentagon. It's unknown how many Sp Rep Guard are in Baghdad. This is a critical figure, reporters say. The Coal'n is now consolidating its forces to the SE of the city where 2 roads meet. Reporters in Baghdad say they can hear noises from the SE and SW of the capital. The Pentagon says a new phase of the war is unfolding, with US air power now moving to a close air support role. Coal'n jets will start air patrols over Baghdad 24/7. CNN embed says one American tank has been knocked out by Iraqi fire. Another tank in the column is towing it back to the Baghdad airport. He also says many Iraqis are trying to surrender to his group as it tours the outer W and S suburbs of Baghdad. He says many civilian vehicles have been trying to attack his column, most were destroyed by return fire. As an unarmed man runs out of the undergrowth nr the motorway, the embed yelled at soldiers not to shoot. And they apparently obeyed him. The man continued to keep his hands in the air and eventually lay down on the side of the rd. The column continued on. CBS and the WashPost are remembering the 1st US reporter to die in war. Michael Kelly died in hummer accident Thu night. He was an embed with the 3rd Inf. There has been a report that a marine cmdr nr Baghdad has been relieved of duty. Centcom has no comment on the report. The Pentagon says 7 of the bodies found when Jessica Lynch was retrieved from a hospital nr Nasiriyah, C Iraq, are those of supply column members that went MIA at the time of her capture. NASA has been experimenting with "foam" fired at high speed at aluminium sheeting to see if they can explain how the Columbia accident may have happened. Airlines assure lawmakers in the US that bulletproof cockpit doors on aircraft will be installed by the Wed deadline. US forces have launched fresh attacks on the city of Karbala to protect the backs of US forces moving toward Baghdad. Reporters say Iraqi and Coal'n forces have been caught up in significant exchanges in the suburbs of Baghdad. CNN says despite other reports, some journalists have now seen Coal'n armour moving through Baghdad, nr the University. O'night, 2 large explosions rocked C Baghdad. Reporters in one hotel say something big landed only 100s of m from the Palestine Hotel. A US cmdr says about 1,000 Iraqis have been killed during exploratory operations by Coal'n tanks around the suburbs of Baghdad. The WHO says there are now 2,416 SARS cases world-wide. HK reports 39 new cases. 115 cases are now reported in the US. Malaysia and HK have also reported new cases. The world-wide death toll is now 89. In AUS, health officials have been given the power to detain anyone suspected of carrying the virus, even if they refuse treatment. The GG will sign off on the leg'n in the next 24 hrs. 8 am Iraq has paraded on TV the uniforms of what they say are captured US soldiers. The uniforms were held up to the cameras by armed irregulars, apparently in the suburbs of Baghdad. There were also jubilant scenes with irregulars and civilians armed with assault rifles dancing on what they say was a blasted US tank in the outer suburbs of the Iraqi capital. The US says the first stages of civil administration in Iraq will be installed in the S port town of Umm Qasr within days. 2 aid ships with 56,000 tonnes of wheat will also dock within 48 hrs. The US says members of the ruling Baath party are among 1,000 of people fleeing Baghdad to the W, to Jordan and Syria. They are trying to blend in with the fleeing civilians. 2 people have been injured in a bomb blast at a McD's restaurant in Lebanon. 8.20 Andrew Wilkie, former intel analyst. We've seen the US launching limited rec missions, probing the Iraqi defences. The US still hopes to get the regime to collapse from its own weight, or the civilian population to rise up, so it can avoid street to street fighting. The regime is in a very fragile state. But we're getting many mixed reports from the Pentagon and Centcom. First the US says there are "substantial forces in Baghdad" but then it says they've fallen back. This may partly be problems with embedded journalists. Reports say patrols have met little resistance. This may depend on which parts of Bagdad they were patrolling. The Iraqis have drawn back from some areas. There is also the possibility Iraq may be trying to prepare a trap. All we know is that limited rec missions are going through the suburbs. The US will rely on the intel they get back from sp forces in the area for further ops. Many of the people now fighting back are doing it for their own survival. Their lives depend on Saddam Hussein. If they are assured he won't survive, they will have nothing to lose. What constitutes victory for America? This is dilemma for the US -- how and when to declare victory. One of their priorities will be stop Saddam escaping. It will be difficult to claim victory if he gets out, or if sieges are still underway in Basra or elsewhere, or there are the possibilities of post-war insurgencies. 8.35 am Sunday Sunrise, Ch 7. PM John Howard has acknowledged that Aussies going to Gallipoli and other war sites O/S for ANZAC day are now facing a heightened risk of terrorist attack due to Australia's role in the war in Iraq. The PM also says he expected all along not to see chem or bio weapons until long after the war was over. There was circumstantial evidence of the children overboard kind to support the fact that Iraq still possesses WMD, he said. Because of US bombing there has been a lower civilian death toll in Iraq than in past conflicts. There have been "a number" he said, according to the Iraqi side. He denied the govt was down-playing that aspect of the war. We have tried through our [sic] targeting policies to keep casualties to a minium, Mr Howard said. While precision bombing in GWI was 10%, he said, estimates this time were 80% or more. The PM admits there was later found to be some discrepancies in past claimed bombing accuracy, but that didn't undermine what he said. Mr Howard said he couldn't say ahead of time what would signal the end of the Iraqi crisis, but he said he thought he'd recognise it when he saw it. He was too busy at the present time to think about the future, he said. 9 am An NBC report showed the operation at a CRASH unit -- the modern version of the old MASH. Within hrs of opening the hospital, that was set up in an abandoned and bombed-out building, more than 30 casualties arrived. Several were Marines that arrived beyond help. Some had been in an accident, but had then been attacked by enemy. Some had also been attacked on the way to the hosp. There were 100 casualties dying in the ward. The reporter said at its peak, 60 casualties arrived in 1 hr. Some of them were Iraqi civilians. They showed a 2 yo girl arriving. She looked bad. They operated in a room lined with plastic sheeting, but she was dead within hrs. The reporter said Iraqi fighters are sometimes brought in. There was a rumour that some that had been treated before went back out and started fighting Americans again. 9.30 am (AUS) ABC, commentating on what the Americans are now calling Operation Thunder Run. The Iraqis have been using the strategies of the Vietnamese [in what some still call "the anti-American war"], even using terms like "quagmire". In Baghdad, the US is testing the strength of Iraqi resistance, but are reticent to commit while they're still fighting in Karbala. It's unusual the Rep Guard has melted away. But small elements seem committed to raise the price of conquest for the Americans. They may be waiting for the mother of all battles. Or the regime may end up as a paper govt offering only token resistance in the coming wks and ms. There's a lot Iraq could have done o'night, but didn't. But that's consistent with what they've done elsewhere. How could they fail to blow up the bridges into the capital? There still could be very bloody fighting ahead, with individual guerrillas with shoulder-launched missiles fired at individual tanks or APC's. As for post-war Iraq, there doesn't seem to be an agreed position in the US on the settlement. There are various objectives. The UN probably has to be involved. How it can be avoided seems difficult. Parts of the US Admin only want it to run the aid. The Iraqi opp'n has credibility at the Pentagon, but very little recognition in Iraq. The aim of the US seems to be to have an Iraqi govt that is pro-Israel, or at least not anti-Israel. Parts of the US wants an Iraqi regime they can manage. You can't get an Iraqi democracy in short order. Some American commentators say Rumsfeld wants a "twofer" -- to get Saddam and also break the UN. The neo-cons and even Tony Blair want the world run by the US. "Thank God for the death of the UN, that chatterbox on the Hudson", wrote former Chief of the Def Comm'ee Dick Perle in The Guardian recently. The US seems ready to walk friendless in the world. The French and Germans might bring them up short with their "you broke it; you fix it" approach. Americans taxpayers might also have something to say about the Rumsfeld/Cheney/Perle agenda. America looks set to be unable to pay huge war costs itself. The discovery of a makeshift morgue in S Iraq may indicate on-going atrocities by the regime. It may relate to the 1991 Shia uprising in Basra, where maybe 50-100,000 died. Some reports say documentation shows horrific injuries were photographed prior to death. This is reminiscent of other regimes, who wanted to meticulously detail the victims of torture and summary execution. But the bodies, each in a cheap coffin, are years old. Many are in uniform. There is the possibility they are soldiers returned from Iran. Prior to the present war, Iraq and Iran has been returning war casualties from the 1980s. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS NY. MARKETS! The Dow closed up 37 pts (1/2%), to 8,277. The Nasdaq was down 13 pts. The FTSE was also up 43 pts (1.1%) to 3,814. London gold was up slightly to $US325/oz. Tegucigalpa. 80 KILLED IN PRISON RIOT! More than 80 inmates of a Honduran prison have been killed in a massive riot. Authorities say dozs more have been injured at the El Porvenir prison in La Ceiba, a port city 360 km N of the capital. They say the uprising began with a fist fight between members of 2 rival street gangs and escalated when other gang members set fire to mattresses and furniture in their cells. Some prison officials were hurt in the uprising, but exact numbers are not yet now. Ain't it a bitch when these small fist-fights escalate into global warfare? Beijing. 12 DIE IN FACTORY FIRE! At least 12 people have been killed and several more are missing after a factory fire in NE China. The China News Service says investigators have so far retrieved 12 bodies from the food factory nr Qingdao. It says the cause of the fire is not yet known. Official figures show 2,393 people died in fires in China last y, not incl forest and field fires. Guwahati. 6 REBELS KILLED IN INDIA! At least 6 separatists have been killed by security forces in India's NE state of Assam. Police say 4 heavily-armed rebels belonging to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom yesterday challenged a joint patrol of police and paramilitaries in W Assam's Bongaigaon district and were killed. They say the militants were on a mission to blow up the local oil refinery on the eve of the founding of the ULFA, which is fighting -- aren't they all -- for an indep homeland. Baghdad. US TOURS BAGHDAD, FALLS BACK! US forces have entered Baghdad, and claim they can move in and out of the Iraqi capital at will after fierce fighting has reportedly left about 1,000 Iraqis dead. Meanwhile, Pres Saddam has urged Iraqis to attack US and Brit forces across the country to relieve the pressure on the besieged capital. His speech has been read on state TV by Info Min Mohammad Said al-Sahaf. US to start installing post-war Iraq administration Washington. The US plans to install the 1st stages of a civil Admin to run post-War Iraq in the S port of Umm Qasr within days, a US official said. Members of the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) are scheduled to start operating in the port as early as Tue, the official said. "What we are going to start trying to do, even before the fighting is over in Iraq, is to move to the areas in Iraq that are relatively peaceful, places like Umm Qasr, and to start moving ORHA into Iraq," the official, who asked that his name be withheld, told Reuters. ORHA has become the focus of internat'l controversy. The US faces criticism for assuming the leading role in immediate post-war Iraq instead of the UN. US Secretary of State Colin Powell has rebuffed the nr unanimous demands from members of the EU and NATO to put the UN in the driving seat. Retired US General Jay Garner is set to make his media debut in Kuwait on Mon as the man whom the US has named to be Iraq's temporary post-war civilian administrator. Baghdad (4 pm). EXPLOSIONS IN BAGHDAD! Explosions and artillery fire have been heard in Baghdad before dawn, hrs after The Leader was shown on local TV kissing babies and telling people to martyr themselves for the regime. A corresp reports about 5 am local time explosions and artillery fire could be heard coming from the S, as well as blasts in the C centre. On the 17th day of hostilities yesterday, US troops rode tanks into Baghdad in a PR exercise to show the Iraqi people that Saddam no longer wields absolute power. They had to drag a broken tank back to the airport with them. Washington. US WAR TOLL HITS 79! The official US death toll in Iraq has risen to 79. The Pentagon says the names of 8 missing soldiers have been added to the list of KIA after their bodies were uncovered in a hospital graveyard and morgue. Pentagon rep Lt-Col Cynthia Colin says the toll incl 14 soldiers killed in war-related accidents. She says the tally of wounded is officially 154. Some suspect this is wildly under-stated, considering the high ratio of dead to wounded, which typically runs at 5 or 10 to 1. 8 military personnel are still MIA, and 7 are believed to be POW's. London. BONES FOUND IN S IRAQ! Brit forces is S Iraq say they've found boxes containing 100s of human remains in a warehouse nr Az Zubayr. They say there's no immediate indication of the nat'lities of the dead, and it appears they died some time ago. The Brit military says the estimated 200 "coffin-sized boxes" [aka cheap coffins] contain bags, each labelled in Arabic, holding human bones and some military uniforms. A rep says they can't speculate on where the bones came from. [An Aussie def commentator says Iran and Iraq had been recently exchanging the remains of soldiers killed in the Iran/Iraq war. The find has all the right hallmarks, down to the records of injuries and the military uniforms found with the bones]. Beirut. DO YOU WANT FIRE WITH THAT? A small bomb has exploded in a McD's restaurant in Lebanon. Police say it's the latest incident highlighting a rising anti-American sentiment in Lebanon due to the Iraqi war. Police in the N Beirut sub of Doralater discovered a car in the restaurant's parking lot filled with 55 kg of TNT. [I thought they said "small"?! Oh, right. It's LEBANON!] They say it didn't explode because of the failure of 2 of the 3 detonators, and the explosives were dismantled. Cotabato. BOMB INJURES MAYOR! A bomb at a bus terminal in the Philippines has injured the mayor of a town and at least 7 other people. Police say Vivencio Bataga, the mayor of Parang town in Maguindanao prov in the country's S, suffered a cut on his neck from shrapnel when the bomb went off this afternoon. Town council member Gaudencio Teves says the bomb was made from an 81 mm mortar and attached to a motorcycle parked nr a bench at the terminal. Rome. THAR SHE BLOWS! The volcano of the Italian Is of Stromboli has erupted, sending out a shower of rock but not injuring anyone. A rep at the nat'l volcano institute says a strong explosion occurred about 9.12 am local time. Stromboli has a pop'n of 450. Sanaa. ARABS PUSH FOR DEFENCE PACT! Yemen is pushing for the implementation of an Arab League pact that would see immediate Arab assistance to any member that came under attack. The Join Def Pact was signed by Arab League member states in 1950, but since then has remained just ink. Yemen's For Min Abu Bakr al-Kurbi says the Arab League's role should now be redefined so that all collective treaties, incl the JDP, are reactivated. Melbourne. AUSSIE COLLATERAL! The tiny Tasmanian town of Baghdad is under fire. Web surfers from around the world are threatening to overload the town's official web site as they try to get through to Iraq. The site's co-ordinator, Lorraine Bennett, says hits to the Baghdad Online Access Centre have doubled to 15,000 per day since the war in Iraq got underway. She says most of the hits are messages of support meant for the residents of some namesake town on the other side of the planet. Seoul. NK SAYS UP YOURS UN! N Korea has warned it will take the American approach if the UN passes any resolution against its suspected nuclear weapons development. The state's KCNA news agency says the issue is not 1 which should be discussed at the UN. The Sec Council is due to discuss the nuclear dispute today, but NK says its only dispute is with the US and it wants direct talks with the US govt. Jenin. PEACE ACTIVISTS WOUNDED IN JENIN! 2 foreign peace activists have been wounded, 1 of them seriously, during clashes between stone-throwing youths and Israeli army soldiers in the N W Bank city of Jenin. Medical sources say 24 yo American Barry Avery has suffered a serious gunshot wound to the face. And a 35 yo Danish man, Lasse Schmidt, has been wounded by shrapnel. The activists are from the Internat'l Solidarity Movement. Brisbane. AUSSIE BITES BACK! OK. For 150 y Australia has been assailed by imported foreign pests of many kinds, incl the 2-legged variety. While opening skirmishes in the counter-offensive have been paperbark gums dry up swathes of the Fla Everglades, reinforcements have now been sent to the front. Australia's humble redback spider has been making reckies into enemy positions and may be set for world-wide domination. Authorities say the little Aussie biter has been spotted across the world, from Japan to Belgium. Venom expert Dr Ken Winkle says authorities suspect the redbacks, or their egg sacks, have been air-lifted out with Aussie trade goods. Dr Winkle says Aussie spider experts are collaborating with Japanese officials to find a way to stop the venomous invaders in that country -- but so far the critters have fought back against all resistance. Toronto. 8TH DIES OF SARS IN CANADA! An 8th person has died in Canada from SARS. Ontario health authorities say the elderly person died in a hosp in the greater Toronto area, where all of Canada's deaths due to the disease have occurred. They say they're waiting for PM results to determine whether a person who died on Apr 1 of SARS symptoms may have been a 9th victims of the illness. Canada is the country worst-hit by the disease outside Asia, where it's believed to have originated. Sydney. MORE AUSSIE SARS! The fed govt says measures to counter the spread of the deadly SARS virus into AUS have ID-ed 8 suspected cases in the past 36 hrs. Doctors and nurses have been posted at internat'l airports to guard against the spread of the killer lung disease, which has now claimed 89 lives worldwide and infected at least 2,300, more than 1/3 are in HK. In AUS, only 1 case has been confirmed. But laws have been passed that will allow people ID-ed with suspected SARS to be detained and isolated. Sydney (4 pm). ANOTHER 6 SARS SUSPECTS! Another 6 airline passengers have been detained for medical checks at Aussie airports over the past 24 hrs under new measures to prevent the spread of the flu-like illness. CMO Dick Smallwood says all 6 cases have been cleared of SARS. 4 had landed at Perth and 2 at SYD. A total of 14 people now been ID-ed for medical assessment at airports since new quarantine measures were intro'd on Fri. Adelaide. CAMERAMAN WAS SPY? The Fed Govt and the family of murdered Adel cameraman Paul Moran have remained silent on claims he spent more than 10 y assisting an attempt to destabilise Iraqi Pres Saddam Hussein. 39 yo Moran was killed 2 wks ago by a suicide bomber while on assignment for the ABC in N Iraq. The freelance cameraman was 1 of 5 people killed in the N town of Sadiq when a suicide bomber blew up a taxi on Mar 22. Melbourne. DIE-IN! Anti-war protesters will stage what they're calling a Die-In on the steps of MEL's Parliament House today. 100s of people are expected to take part in the silent protest by the Vic Peace Network at noon. They'll lie down on the steps of Parliament House to represent civilians killed in Iraq. Melbourne (4 pm). DIED-IN! Anti-war protesters dressed as dead Iraqi civilians have staged a mass die-in on the steps of MEL's Parl House. Organiser Nora Sumberg says she's disappointed only about 50 people turned out for the Vic Peace Network's silent protest. Clutching a doll covered in red paint to symbolise a dead Iraqi baby, Ms Sumberg says she plans to organise similar protests in the future. She says she's also hoping to form a human peace symbol at the MCG before a football match, soon. {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS 11 am Children were among the injured when an appt bldg next door to an oil company took a big hit in bombing over Baghdad last night. The Red Cross says it's hard to tell among the 100s of casualties being seen at city hospital how many of them are civilians. 11.30 am BBC radio says although there are about 130 news agencies in Baghdad, none have seen US forces anywhere in what could remotely be called the C of the capital. Some reporters did a 50 km trip around the city and S suburbs and say they saw nothing. But there were reports that 2 Iraqi tanks were burning in the ind'l suburb of Darwa, about 8 km away. There are many injured from the 48 hr battle for the airport. There was also an unexplained period of gunfire in the grounds of a presidential palace in the city. At about that time, Saddam appeared on TV in a street walk. In a televised speech later, the Pres acknowledged there had been "some landings" by "a few" US troops inside Iraq. He said these landings were mostly on roads. "Their numbers are small", Saddam said, and he urged Iraqis to attack the enemy. They could be destroyed with the weapons Iraqis had, he said. Nr the airport, the city hospitals are under threat of being flooded with injured. 7.20 pm There has been more heavy fire reported nr the int'l airport. C Baghdad has also been rocked by large explosions during night time air attacks. The US is promising new raids into Baghdad. It's mostly a psy-op at this stage, say military officials. They want to show the public that the regime has lost control, even in the capital. Operation Thunder Run is now said to have involved 60 tanks. Apparently no-one saw or photographed the convoy. It was "a poke in the eye for the Iraqi regime", say US officials. The run came along Hgwy 8 in the S, and cut a 50 km arc through the subs. The 3rd Inf div also did high damage at the Medina Rep Guard barracks in the S of the city. A fuel unit caught fire, and the blaze destroyed their HQ. [Other reports indicate a cruise missile or 2 had hit the place, too]. The US have shown film of Marines at "Baghdad Internat'l". In the terminal, the power is out and the ceiling is caved in some places. Bombs have hit it. The film shows a neat 1-m wide hole in the concrete floor, where a bunker buster went through, to do its work much further down. The Marines have also made a beachhead in Saddam's private complex at the airport, complete with gold wash-basins and fixtures in the bathroom. The US says they are preparing for another run into the city tonight. But that's not been confirmed by Centcom. Elsewhere, a large column of armour is crossing the Euphrates. It's coming to reenforce the airport. ABC embed, Peter Lloyd, says there is word the US will encircle the capital tonight. It's hard to say whether this is accurate. The US says it has 7,000 troops at the airport. Another rec mission may be made soon. In anticipation, perhaps, the Iraqis have announced a 6 pm to 6 am curfew in and out of the capital. In Karbala, US paras have made progress into the city. Film showed a US tank opening up on a soccer field. Under the trees, Iraqi vehicles were destroyed. Apparently more troops caught napping. The US says they had 3 injured in an explosion on the way in. The town is reportedly US-friendly. But the desert heat is not friendly. Cooling out in a mosque, US forces found uniforms and a cache of weapons. In Basra, Brit Marines say they've made significant advances into the C of the city. They are raiding houses at night. Some of these are based on tip-offs from locals. Film showed young men in civvies, sitting in trucks and on the floor, many with hoods tied over their heads. They are Baath party members, say the Brits. Some of the men arrested are visibly shaking. Their wrists are bound with white plastic cable ties. It must be another hearts and minds operation. Some can barely move off into the trucks. They stumble. They are roughly handled by the Brits. They are the enemy! The hoods don't help. No-one says where they're going. A POW compound out in the desert, we presume. The Brits finally pulled down a big statue of Saddam guarding the main roadway. The statue came crashing down, but the Iraqis are left to clean up the rubble. It's symbolic, say the Brits. But maybe they didn't get the full symbology. (AUS) ABC embed, outside Baghdad. Many caches of arms continue to be found around the country . The strategy seems to have been that the Rep Guard would act as a mobile guerrilla force. But the Rep Guard, themselves, seem to have melted away. Marines have come across another cache here. It was pointed out by someone they say was a Rep Guard. He was arrested after he was found with a uniform in his bag. At the location, we found a complex of bombed-out buildings. It's a weapons school, says the cmdr. Uniforms are strewn on the ground outside the buildings. Along with dozens of aging AK-47's. The Marines check them, and pile them up. Less than 100. They also find old night vision equipment. One soldier says he'll try them out later, to see if they really work. There are dead bodies in the buildings. [The cameras don't show them]. After a few minutes, Marines also find 2 frightened small boys, trying to do a bit of looting. They're both aged 6-10 yo. One has wet his pants. They're pushed outside by Marines. A number of other civilians are gathering in the area outside. Men and women. Apparently the Marines want to have a word with them, too. Most seem as scared as the small boys. 7.15 pm BBC radio has just announced there's been another friendly fire incident. In the N Kurdish area of Iraq a US aircraft has apparently bombed a group of US special forces and Kurdish fighters. The group incl what is said to be a "snr Kurdish figure". The embed with the group says he was also injured in the attack. He says he's seen "a lot of bodies" on the roadway following the attack. He called it "a bad hone goal". 10.0 pm Ch 9. More details of the friendly fire incident in N Iraq have come through. The film shows a scene of devastation. A convoy of 8 to 10 civilian vehicles have been completely destroyed. Charred wreckage lies along a stretch of sealed rd. Cars seem to be facing in both directions on the rd. Some of the hulks are still burning. There are charred bodies in the vehicles. A reporter says there are bodies everywhere. There's so much wreckage they don't know how many dead there are. There was some important Kurd in the convoy. But no-one is sure who. Apparently there are no survivors. They don't know how many American troops have been killed. And they are not sure it's the work of an aircraft, let alone a Coal'n jet. There do not appear to be craters on the rd. It may have been a cluster bomb. Ch 9. On the heels of one incident, there is a report of yet another friendly fire attack. The Russian Amb and other Russian diplomats have been attacked, leaving Baghdad. They had been headed out to Syria. They had told US authorities they would travel on a certain rd, but the convoy came under attack. Apparently it was a Coal'n aircraft. The Russian govt says some diplomats have been injured, but the Amb is OK. At Centcom, Gen Brooks says the convoy has continued on its way to Syria. Basra. ITV embed. Brit forces are moving into Basra. There have been skirmishes on the outskirts with irregulars. We've fired rockets at some Iraqi armour. The order to move in was welcomed by the Brit troops. Tanks of 1st Fusiliers have started moving in. Intel received o'night said there was little resistance to fear in the city, so the whole company is moving. We'll be sleeping in Basra tonight. The Brits are pretty confident they will control the city in the next few hrs. Several 100 tanks are moving in. Many burned-out tanks are visible on the rd into the city. The Black Watch went in last night, over what we call Bridge 3. They are holding down the town. We are told there could be militias in bldgs and in the Uni. They found armoured vehicles in the city yesterday. But we don't expect to fight our way in. The general population won't rise up against us. They want the Brits to come in. The order to move in came out of the blue. We had expected to wait 2 or 3 days more. The big push has finally arrived. 11 pm Basra. Ch 9 embed. After 5 or 6 days of waiting the Brits have moved in heavily. They went in 3 to 5 km yesterday. We've now followed the lead of Coal'n forces in Baghdad. At dawn there was a heavy column rolling in on the main rd. Tanks are now returning from the city C. They have taken control of the centre. The tanks were supported by Cobras that took out specific targets. Fighter jets dropped precision munitions. 2 to 4 of them hit the city C. We understand the Brit cmd says there has been no major resistance. Many locals have, in fact, come out cheering. This is different from other cities. The Brits were smart and friendly before the attack. They launched a radio and leaflet campaign, saying we are not here to rule. Iraqis will manage the city. The Brits will have control in several hrs. Michael Usher, in Baghdad. This morning the 2 US groups that have been operating from the int'l airport received backup. A column of 2,000 Coal'n vehicles rolled into Baghdad to support the forces already at the airport. There was some resistance, but no major attack. There seemed to be no co-ordinated Iraqi forces. We now have have control of the airport. The US scouted the town out yesterday. They did a U-turn and came out again. But it was enough so the US can boast they can go into Baghdad whenever they want. Meanwhile, the Iraqi For Min said Baghdad is still under their control and they will now go and "chop the head off the rotten enemy". Baghdad. Loud explosions have rocked the city again tonight. We've heard that tanks have moved up from the S. They have moved off to the airport. Additional units have been assigned in the W subs. Marines are said to be poised to strike from the SE. There's a heat-wave in Baghdad, but the situation for the regime is hotter. The Iraqi Info Min is still denying the Coal'n is in control of the airport. In a much less convincing talk to some reporters than yesterday, he said the Rep Guard is in complete control out there. But he still isn't taking reporters to see for themselves. 11.30 pm Nr Mosul, Iraqi forces have mounted a counter attack against US sp forces and Kurdish fighters. The Iraqis are trying to prevent the oil town of Mosul from falling to the Coal'n. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS ---------------------------------------- Mon, 07 Apr 2003. {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS Midnight. IT'S DAY EIGHTEEN. 4 am NBC has announced that David Bloom was one of those who died on the US side in the early actions around Baghdad. He was only 39 yo. Bloom reportedly died of a pulmonary embolism. While I didn't catch the details (I suspect there aren't many, for mil reasons), the chief cause of PE is an embolism in the leg veins -- i.e. DVT. His death may be a result of his ride across the deserts of Iraq. Bloom was an embed with the 3rd Inf, riding "shotgun" for 2 wks across the S and C Iraqi deserts to the capital. When the embed program was announced by the Pentagon, he was one of it's most gung-ho supporters. But then, Bloom was an enthusiastic kinda guy. Stretching every deadline he ever met, some producers called him "Robo-reporter". Tim Russert called him "the bloomster". David said that was his 2nd-fave nic -- his preferred "Dad". Bloom is survived by a wife and 3 young daughters, incl twins. He rarely shut up about them. My heart goes out to his family. He will be missed. Bloom's is not the only sad story out of Iraq today. At noon yesterday, Iraqibodycount.com was saying the civilian death toll in the war was between 850 and 1,000. About 1/2 were children under 15 yo. But then, 1/2 Iraq's 23 mn population is under 15. There's been another "checkpoint incident". What was described as an SUV reportedly approached a US checked-point and refused to stop. Marines opened fire and stopped it, discovering later there were 8 tanks of gasoline in the back. The Pentagon now estimates 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the Thunder Run around Baghdad, yesterday. Centcom said in the the daily briefing that Marines have found what was described as a "terrorist training camp". NBC says they later found no specific links to terrorists, but there were signs of training. 4.30 am NBC's, Meet The Press. Interrogator: Tim Russert. Victim: Dep Def Sec Paul Wolfowitz. Wolf stressed that the evil Iraqi regime was forcing Iraqi men and women to fight. Said the horror was coming to an end. He down-played the presence of WMD, saying young men and women were in the middle of fighting a war. That was the main focus now. He said he'd never seen intel so unified and confident as over the question of Iraq's possession of Iraqi WMD. They would be found later. Was it Saddam on TV and in the Baghdad walk? Wolf was not conf that it was Saddam, but hoped Iraqis would soon realise the Pres was a brutal man whose regime was coming to an end. Once they realised he was on the way out they would stop fighting for the regime. What was the difficulty in taking Iraqi TV off the air? Now we're on the outskirts of Baghdad, we can broadcast our propaganda into the city more effectively, and block out the Iraqi TV. Civilian deaths? The regime had done lots of things to suck us into killing Iraqis. Talks with snr Iraqi officials? We are not having discussions with snr Iraqis. [This contradicts Rumsfeld]. But we are calling on any snr people to surrender. US intel. Tim read an article that said intel from Baghdad had dried up since the war began. Intel was described as "weak". Wolf said in a country where people's tongues were cut out it was difficult to get intel. How will we know we get Saddam? It's more important to dismantle the regime of fear. The regime needs to be dismantled, it's not just Saddam. When the fear goes away, that's when we'll know. [Wolf gave this same script for "When will be know when the regime is gone"]. What about the new Iraqi govt? Our goal is not to set up an alternative govt, but to move as quickly as possible to a govt that will represent the Iraqi people. It will take some time to get to that end point. What about stories Chemical Ali was killed in the bombing? Not confirm. His body guard? Could not confirm. There are many reports that come in. In 2002 Wolf said Iraq had the most pro-US pop in the Arab world. Tim reminded him of an old stmt. Wolf now says that it must be understood in the context of after the Nazis are gone. More and more of that's happening. What he said before will be the final result. There's ferocious fighting, let's not diminish the effort of our men and women. They are helping to free us from an enormous threat. Iraqis are fighting with guns to their back. That's what Saddam has created. What about comments it would be a "cakewalk"? I've always disliked the term. The Pres would not put lives at risk if there wasn't something important at stake. Why did we need 600,000 troops to kick Saddam out of Kuwait, but only have [after all troops arrive in some wks] 300,000 to take all of Iraq? If we'd waited we'd have lost the element of surprise. Who are the govts that are giving hope to the Saddam regime mentioned by Rumsfeld? Not important. Wolf denied it was French or Germans. The world should come together to help rebuild Iraq. That will be an inspiration to the Arab world. The world should look forward to that, and not back. Tim read a short article extract about the interim govt of Iraq. It would incl Iraqi opp'n elements, incl Ahmad Chalabi. Even as war continues, it said, it would be installed. That would be one way to turn int'l opinion to US favour. Wolf did not really agree. But we need an admin from day 1, that's a Coal'n responsibility. But we want govt to represent the Iraqi people. We want initially a bridge to that legitimate govt. We won't install someone as a govt, that would contradict our goals. The Iraqi govt won't be the choice of Americans, that would be anti-democratic. Jay Garner would report to Gen Franks, and Franks would get his instructions from the Pres. It was not the ultimate form of the Iraqi govt. Tim read an article about "Wolfowitz of Arabia" and the interim Iraqi govt presently working in Washington. Amusing but not accurate, said Wolf. The workers along the Potomac are only the provisional govt of Iraq. Could there be an anti-US Shia-dominated govt in Iraq -- could we end up with a democratically-elected Islamic fundamentalist govt? Democracy is democracy, they have their own judgements. We got kicked out in the Philippines after we encouraged democracy there [after we got tired of Marcos]. That is a good thing. The Shia of Iraq are not like the brutal Iranian Ayatollahs. Iraq can be an inspiration to the Arab world that Arabs can create [?!] a democratic govt. The old saying in Washington that Arabs (and Koreans before them) can't create a democracy is nonsense. We are an army of liberation, not occupation. Could predictions of the Iraqi war making 100 new bin Ladens, and more animosity toward the US, be true? We are in the middle of a war. After the war, things will be different. It's too early to say what the effect will be. Woolsey has said the US is involved in WW4 against the "fascists" of Iraq, Iran, and al-Qaeda. Comments? I reject the ideas. Islam needs to change. It is unfair to list all the things that the US is against. I've worked with Muslims. Iraq is a unique case. It's the only country that has ignored the UN for years. Saddam is the only leader that supported 9/11. NK said it is learning from Iraq. It learned not to submit to the imperialists. Especially it intends to keep nuclear arms. Comments? If Saddam had lived up to the conditions we imposed 12 ya, things would be different. We would not be where we are now. NK should give up its nuclear weapons. NK is diff from Iraq. Even Iran is different from Iraq. We can't allow such rogue nations to have nuclear weapons. It poses a threat to US security. The strategy dealing with each one must be tailored. What about Syria's assist to Iraq? Syria is doing bad things and it should be stopped. They will be held accountable. But we're fighting a war right now. They will need relationships in the aftermath. A lot of countries, incl Syria, will get the message. It's much better to come to terms peacefully with the int'l community. Will the American people be safer after the Iraqi war? Absolutely. It's the only reason to risk American lives to get rid of the Iraqi regime. We wont be 100% safe. But it was the best alternative available to us. NBC's, Meet The Press. Interrogator: Tim Russert. Victim: Dep Chair of the Joint Chiefs Gen Peter Pace. Pace said 1/2 of Iraq's tanks and vehicles have been destroyed. [Probably about the same in manpower]. He confirmed plans that would recognise the needed post-Saddam infrastructure. He also confirmed the mil want to turn off electricity for good reasons, but indicated the Baghdad power outage was not one of ours. Now that wholesale invasions of Baghdad has been dismissed by a lot of people, what will we do? A combination of airstrikes and moving on the ground to destroy enemy targets. We will get them to move so they are better targets. I will not talk about tactics we'll use in the city. Do we have enough men on the ground? The forces available to US cmdrs now are enough to do the job. Iraqi cmdrs have the possibility of doing the right thing and become part of a free Iraq. US forces are very well trained and will be as effective in the city as in the countryside. We have been incredibly successful. We should be proud of the young Americans and Australians [didn't mention Brits]. Are you happy with the plan? This plan was worked on for many many months. All of us knew it was the right plan, said Pace. Citing the flexibility of the plan, when it looked like we'd lose the oil fields Gen Franks was able to go in straight away. 2 former SU-era mil officials got high honours, awarded by Saddam. The 2 incl a SU Dep Def Min and a Gen who's an expert in air def. They left Baghdad only 6 days before war began. What about aid given to Iraq by Russia? Pace had not heard of that. Whatever advice they got is failing miserably. Wolf cut in, saying the Russians should not be involving themselves. Gen Shinskei told Congress we need several 100,000 troops to maintain peace. Comments? After we defeat Saddam it will take a certain sized force to allow the govt to rebuild and allow the Iraqi people to select the govt they want. All our leaders should be given our best advice. But in Afghanistan, which is larger than Iraq, we only have 10,000 there to maintain that regime. We want Iraq to get their own govt and police up and going. And so we can leave ASAP. In Afghanistan, Kabul is the only safe place. The rest of the country is run by warlords. Comments? The only part insecure is the SE border area. The rest is rebuilding. I am proud of the progress in Afghanistan. In Iraq we will need whatever sized force is required. What are your thoughts about using our mil in nation building? It's an important thing to do. One critic has said Rumsfeld has 2nd-guessed the mil at every turn. There was vocal criticism from Schwarzkopf, too. Comments? I was appointed on 1 Oct 2001. Daily I spend time with Rummy and Wolf. We have hrs of discussions. Every part of planning had input from field cmdrs, joint chiefs, and everyone else. We tell our bosses what we think. I look Wolf in the eye and give him my best advice. 6 am There's been another friendly fire incident. At least 18 people were killed when a US fighter bombed a convoy, SE of Mosul. The brother of the Kurdish leader was injured. 4 US soldiers were among the casualties. Kurdish officials say 45 people were also injured. 2 US jets over-flew the convoy, each releasing several missiles. As reporters examined the wreckage, another US jet was continuing to attack targets nearby. The Americans have launched an inquiry. Kurdish officials say no matter what the result, there would be no effect on their co-operation. In the convoy, there was a captured Iraqi tank that may have triggered the accident. Basra has been entered by Coal'n forces. There was patchy resistance. Anti-tank missiles destroyed resistance on the outskirts, then the marine commandos were called in. We came across a "degree of opposition", a mil rep said. The HQ of the Baath party was attacked, but it turned out to be abandoned. Then residents started looting the shops. The Brits said they would bring the sit'n under control. They are still looking for Chemical Ali. Bombs reportedly killed his body guard yesterday, but no-one knows where he is. Iraqi TV showed what it said was damage in the residential areas of Basra. It said the Brit attacks have resulted in the deaths of several civilians. There has been heavy fire in Baghdad o'night. The first aircraft has landed at the main airport, bringing in much-needed supplies. There were no details as to what type of aircraft, or how many. Several 1000s troops now call Baghdad Int'l home. Yesterday, they found missiles in the terminal labelled from France and bought this y by Iraq. Just outside Baghdad Americans found another big ammo dump. We have killed 50 of their soldiers, says the Iraqi Info Min. [The context was not clear in the AUS news report I saw]. Iraqi TV showed a captured US tank. They vowed to fight the Americans to the end. US officials say it could be longer than 6 m before an Iraqi govt is in place. A 30 yo woman is the latest SARS case in AUS. She's undergoing treatment in MEL after being brought in last night. She recently had a trip O/S. She's 1 of 5 at the Monash Med Centre. Victims incl an entire family in isolation. They were visiting from Canada. Docs hope they will be discharged today, and say they never had SARS. From today, people can be compelled into quarantine, assessment and treatment if they are have signs of the virus. The AMA's Dr Kerryn Phelps suffered a pulmonary embolism yesterday. She's now in hospital. The first sign of trouble was her failure to turn up at a press conf yesterday. Her partner says she's responding well to treatment. 6.30 am Gold is trading around $US324/oz, Oil is down 35 c and presently around $US28.38/bbl, and the AUD is steady and trading around 60.02 US c. Centcom says Iraqi authorities are mounting their defence of Baghdad using the city's hospitals and mosques to conduct military operations. 6.35 am Ch 9. Russian friendly-fire incident. A convoy of 25 were caught in what was initially reported by Russian journalists in the convoy as crossfire between US and Iraq forces outside Baghdad. 5 people were injured. The Russians were furious, calling in the US and Iraqi Amb's in Moscow. The US says it wasn't them, saying they had no scheduled operations in the area of the attack. They say it must therefore be an Iraqi operation. It's an Iraqi-controlled area, they say. 3 soldiers have died in the Brit assault on Basra. A US cmdr says the Iraqis are struggling to get 1,000 troops together to mount counter-attacks. 7 am The US says while Iraq controls most of Baghdad, the Coal'n controls all major routes out of the city. Heavy artillery fire is continuing in Baghdad. Puffs of smoke and debris can be seen occasionally, as a shell hits a target nr the C of the city. Reporters in the Palestine Hotel can see the shells landing from their position. 7.20 am SMH's Paul McGeough, in Baghdad. 1 US aircraft came in to the int'l airport at 8 pm local. Several more are expected overnight. They had expected to take days to patch the runway. The Americans haven't been seen around the city today. They made 1 incursion yesterday. But they've now pulled back to the airport and points beyond the outreaches of the city. No-one knows when their next visit will be. Maybe this afternoon. We expect them to be seen in the C ASAP. The US say they were amazed at how far they got. They met strong resistance and dealt with it promptly. Depending on who you read, between 2-3,000 died in the incident. We now see a lot of soldiers in the city. They are a mixture of Fedayeen, Rep Guard, and Sp Rep Guard. They are expected to be strong in their preparedness to fight. Unlike the regular army, which has largely disappeared. In Tikrit the rd is supposedly thick with Iraqi armaments. At some stage Saddam might fly up there for a last stand. The US also has large presence on the rd and are nr Tikrit. They're watching traffic on the rd. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS ======================================== (*) Who is responcible for W.A.R.S? A small group of dedicated sandgrubbers, bannana-lickers and 5th columnists on the run from support payments and sundry legalese in their home countries. Mention us at any Uncle Harry's Suburban Bunker and get a 10% discount on cop-killers! All speling macroizated for correctitood by Mcrosotf Speelchek. *** Have you seen my spare RPG's? ***