Posts from — March 2003

GO INDIA!!

In one of the first major victories for the Coalition of the Willing in Operation Iraqi Freedom, US Marines raised US flag over an Iraqi Port.

U.S. Marines raised the Stars and Stripes flag over the new port of Umm Qasr on Friday after taking the installation in the face of only light resistance
[Read more]

Following the taking of old Umm Qasr, came some more encouraging news for the Allies.

U.S. armored forces thrust deep into southern Iraq, meeting only sporadic resistance on Friday, and the United States said it still hoped to topple President Saddam Hussein without an all-out war.

The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division had advanced from Kuwait at least 90 miles into Iraq by early Friday, racing north toward Baghdad.
[Read more]

So, after the embarassing initial TLAM attacks on the first day (the “Targets of Opportunity” attack) that led to nothing worth the effort, today’s victories will give some hope to the war planners that the war might be over pretty quickly.

Well, at least we all hope that it does!

A warm welcome into the blogging world to my friend Ashwin.

That is not sun rising over the Baghdadi skyline. Instead, its an explosion at dawn that greeted the citizens of Baghdad who spent a sleepless night waiting for the inevitable.

WAR BEGINS!

President Bush ordered the beginning of a war on Iraq tonight, and his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said at about 9:45 p.m. Eastern time that American forces had begun to disarm Iraq and would depose Saddam Hussein. [NY Times registration required]

Here’s the report from Rediff on the same.

By the way, there are 11 Indians who have gone to Iraq to act as Human Shields against the American attack. Their reasons for doing so are quite misguided though!