.Report from the War on Terrorism Posted by Cinnamon Stillwell
¨ ¨ ¨ When the War on Terrorism began, President Bush warned America that this would be a war unlike any we’d fought before. It would be a lengthy and monumental struggle, not only against terrorism, but the backward pull of Fundamentalist Islam. Indeed, a battle between the ancient world and the West. This has been a difficult war for many Americans to grasp. The battlefield stretches across the globe, from the skyscrapers of Manhattan, to the caves of Afghanistan, and from discos in Bali to the deserts of Iraq. Victories in such a war are often illusive and losses not incurred at home, less likely to have the impact they should. The casualties of this war are both civilian and military, individuals and groups. Terrorist suspects are found in places as diverse as New York, Pakistan, and the cities of Europe. It would be much easier for Americans to follow and in turn to support this war, if our media presented it in more clear and focused manner. If the front page of every newspaper simply featured a list of recent successes and losses, it would help put it all into perspective. The purpose of the ''Report from the War on Terrorism'' is to fill this void. The information provided has been culled from various news sources and the report will be posted every Friday. 3/21/03-3/27/03
U.S. and Mexican officials are searching for 6 Iraqis who are currently at large in either the southern U.S. or northern Mexico. The 6 may have toxic materials requiring temperature controls, which could mean either biological or even radiological materials. The Iraqis sought to be smuggled into the U.S. by human smugglers who help illegal aliens enter the U.S. for a price. Officials said the plot was discovered with the help of tips from the public and undercover investigations related to border security and human smuggling. 9 Arrested in U.S. terror financing raid, 3/21/03: Federal agents arrested 9 people at businesses from New York to California that they allege were smuggling money abroad or selling fake passports in schemes that could aid terrorists. The arrests were led by the Operation Green Quest task force, made up of federal agencies including the FBI, IRS, Secret Service, Naval Intelligence Service, Coast Guard and Postal Inspection Service. To date, the task force has arrested 93 people and seized $11 million said to have been involved in terrorist financing operations. It has seized $24 million more in smuggled cash, most headed to countries with terrorist problems. Indonesia dismisses terror threat, 3/22/03: Police in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya have reacted angrily to an Australian warning that anti-Western groups may be planning a terrorist attack there, saying there were no signs of threat. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) today advised Australians not to visit Surabaya, where protesters yesterday picketed the US consulate and a McDonald's outlet in protests against the war. Malaysian police unearth missing terror cache, 3/22/03: Malaysian police have discovered a cache of ammonium nitrate they believe is the missing four tons of explosives that terror group Jemaah Islamiah intended to use against targets in Singapore, including the Australian High Commission. The ammonium nitrate was found buried in the grounds of a palm oil plantation in Muar, about 160km south of Kuala Lumpur, after the arrest of a JI suspect last week. The suspect, Mohamed Amin Musa, 29, is a relative of Taufik Adbud Halim, a Malaysian serving a life sentence in Indonesia for bombing a shopping mall and churches. The find solves one of the most troubling mysteries in the aftermath of the discovery of the Singapore plot, which authorities in Singapore and Malaysia foiled late in 2001 with sweeping arrests of JI members.
The HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter was on a medical evacuation mission when it crashed at about 1620 GMT, about 18 miles (29 kilometers) north of Ghazni, Afghanistan. The precise cause of the crash is under investigation. The Central Command statement did not say whether the medical emergency was in connection with Operation Valiant Strike, a mission involving members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in southeastern Afghanistan 24 Hindus massacred in Kashmir, 3/25/03: A group of about 8 to 10 armed men pulled upper-caste Hindus known as Kashmiri Pandits, out of their homes in Nadimarg, Kashmir and shot them at close range. The dead included two children. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian police said they believed the gunmen were Islamic militants. It was the biggest terrorist attack ever on Hindus in the Muslim-majority state. The massacre occurred a day after unidentified gunmen assassinated an Islamic guerrilla leader who was forced out of Kashmir's main rebel group after reportedly holding secret talks with the Indian government. Terror suspect sought in Tampa, Florida, 3/25/03: The FBI last week issued a worldwide alert for Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 27, a Saudi whose name surfaced after the capture in Pakistan of al-Qaida organizer Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. El Shukrijumah had lived in south Florida at the same time as Jose Padilla, a suspect in an alleged ''dirty bomb'' plot. Tampa police set up a perimeter in the area of South Dale Mabry Highway and Sevilla Street after a clerk and a customer in a Subway sandwich shop identified the man they saw as El Shukrijumah. President Bush is scheduled to visit troops and families of servicemen and women at MacDill, just a few miles from where the suspected terrorist was reportedly spotted. British bank firebombed in Ramallah in Iraq war protest, 3/26/03: Palestinians threw a number of firebombs at a Ramallah branch of the British Middle East Bank. Palestinian sources reported anonymous assailants targeted the bank apparently in protest against British support for the use of military force in Iraq.
An international Red Cross staff member was fatally shot by gunmen in southern Afghanistan, prompting the humanitarian aid agency to suspend operations across the country. Ricardo Munguia, a water engineer, was killed while on assignment with several Afghan colleagues in Uruzgan province, said Annick Bouvier, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). ''He was shot in cold blood by a group of unidentified assailants who stopped the vehicles in which the ICRC staff were traveling,'' Bouvier said.
Revised casualty report from Chopper crash, 4 Americans, 8 British.
The key Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, on the border with Kuwait, remains in Iraqi hands even though British forces take the al-Faw peninsula, on Iraq's southernmost tip. 2 U.S. Marines killed in ground combat in Southern Iraq. Bombing campaign launched against Baghdad. One of Saddam’s palaces is targeted. U.S. planes also strike at targets in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. 38 Iraqi soldiers surrender near the Kuwaiti border. Iraqi troops set 7 oil wells on fire. Coalition troops take control of all oil wells in Southern Iraq. Turkey sends 1000 troops into Northern Iraq. U.S. is unhappy with the action, fearing a conflict between Turks and Iraqi Kurds. U.S. missiles hit Ansar al-Islam terrorist base in Northern Iraq. 2 Royal Navy Helicopters collide over the Persian Gulf, killing 7 British soldiers. Iraqi sniper shoots and wounds U.S. soldier. Entire Iraqi 51st Army Division, 8000 soldiers, surrender to Coalition Forces. Coalition Forces advance north towards Baghdad. The U.S. communicates with Iraqi commanders and secretly designates buildings in Baghdad for defectors that will not be targeted by air strikes. Operation Iraqi Freedom, 3/22/03 Bombing campaign continues against Baghdad. Iraqi troops set oil containers on fire around Baghdad to obscure targets. Grenade attack wounds 13 U.S. Troops in command tent in Kuwait, kills one. A Muslim American U.S. soldier is questioned. Australian cameraman killed by suicide bomber in Northern Iraq, as well as 3 Kurds. Another journalist is wounded in the same attack. Ansar al-Islam is suspected. U.S. missiles aimed at Iraqi targets land in Iran, no casualties reported. 4-6 British journalists not embedded with the troops are killed, possibly by Iraqi troops. General Tommy Franks gives first public briefing. Operation Iraqi Freedom, 3/23/03 Coalition troops face toughest day of resistance: casualties and POW’s. Coalition forces are ambushed in An Nasiriyah in two cases. Iraqi troops stage a false surrender and then attack. A 6-vehicle Army supply convoy takes wrong turn and is attacked. An Nasiriyah: 10 American troops killed, 50 wounded, 12 missing, 5 taken by Iraqi troops as POW's. Iraqi TV and Al-Jazeera broadcast footage of captured POW’s, as well as graphic footage of dead American soldiers. U.S. accuses both of possible violations of the Geneva Conventions. President Bush demands that POW’s are treated humanely. American soldier in custody for grenade attack on U.S. troops identified as Sgt. Asan Akbar of the 326th Engineer Battalion. Before the attack, Akbar made anti-American comments. U.S. Patriot Missile battery mistakenly shoots down British Royal Airforce fighter aircraft, killing 2 soldiers. U.S. forces Northern front against Iraq builds. Ansar al-Islam continues to be targeted. Russian arms dealers equipped Iraq with supplies and electronic jamming equipment that are now being used to throw U.S. planes and bombs off course. 30 Iraqi troops, including a general, surrender to U.S. forces of the 3rd Infantry Division as they overtake a huge installation apparently used to produce chemical weapons in An Najaf, some 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Baghdad. Iraqi forces reposition missiles around the country, to target Coalition forces. British ITN TV news reporter killed in southern Iraq, possibly from friendly fire. Operation Iraqi Freedom, 3/24/03 Coalition forces push toward Baghdad. Apache helicopter shot down, 2 pilots taken as POW’s, shown on Iraqi TV. First British soldier killed in Southern Iraq. Allied forces mistakenly target civilian bus filled with Syrians, 7 killed. Heavy resistance continues in Basra and Umm Qasr. Bombing campaign continues over Baghdad. Operation Iraqi Freedom, 3/25/03 Final miles on the road to Baghdad, where the U.S. Army troops will face the Medina division of Saddam's Republican Guard. Sandstorms delay Coalition forces advance into Baghdad. They still come within 60 miles of the city. Umm Qasr, Iraq's only deep-water port, declared secure. Humanitarian aid deliveries can’t begin until the waterway is swept for mines. British forces stage a raid into Az-Zubayr, a Basra suburb, and capture a senior Baath party politician for the region, while killing 20 of his bodyguards. British forces in Basra encounter heavy fire, an estimated 1,000 pro-Saddam fighters, plus an unknown number of regular troops. Growing shortages of food and clean water and Iraqis using civilians as human shields. In the south, a pattern of deadly ambushes and ruse attacks by Iraqi militiamen in civilian clothes hampers the efforts of coalition forces, and sporadic fighting forces firefighters to withdraw from burning oil fields. Civilian unrest and violent uprising in Basra. Iraqi regime struggles to maintain control, denies uprising. Marines in An Nasiriyah secure a hospital being used as a military staging area for Iraqi forces, capturing about 170 unarmed Iraqi soldiers and confiscating over 3,000 chemical suits with masks, stockpiles of ammunition and military uniforms. US-led warplanes bomb targets in northern Iraq. US troops in control of a vast Iraqi air base, seal 36 bunkers, earmarked as possible sites of WMD. 2 British soldiers killed by friendly fire near Basra, when their Challenger II tank is mistakenly targeted by another Challenger crew. 500 Iraqis killed during a two-day sweep by the Army's 3rd Infantry Division past the city of Najaf. Allies launch air attacks on targets in the northern oil centers of Mosul and Kirkuk, as well as Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Troops making advances in eastern Iraq to help defend two main bridges over the Euphrates. American F-16 fires on US Patriot missile battery after battery's radar locks on the plane. No US casualties reported. Second such incident involving Patriot batteries apparently failing to distinguish between friendly and hostile targets. At least 20 US troops have been killed and 14 captured or missing since the operation began. 3500 Iraqi prisoners held by Coalition. American officials charge that Iraqis executed the Army mechanics captured on Sunday in Nasiriyah, probably in front of townspeople. Iraqi TV struck by Coalition bombs, stops transmitting. Operation Iraqi Freedom, 3/26/03 Second officer dies from the grenade attack lauched by a fellow American soldier at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait. Iraqi TV resumes broadcasting. UK troops mass outside Basra, getting ready to help the civilian uprising. Sandstorms continue to hamper progress. Umm Qasr secured. Humanitarian supplies begin to arrive. Strike on market in Baghdad kills 15 civilians. Still being investigated. Air drops into Kurdish areas. 4000 Iraqi POW’s captured by Coalition forces. Coalition forces continue to fight oil fires set by Iraqis. Large contingent of Iraq's elite Republican Guard heads south in a convoy of about 1000 vehicles toward US Marines in central Iraq. Australian naval forces on high alert for suicide attacks after Iranian forces intercept Iraqi speedboat packed with half a ton of explosives. British Royal Marines line up along the border with Iran to secure the area. Allied planes bomb Chamchamal, destroying a commmand and control center near Kirkuk. Battle at An Nasiriyah continues. Marines seize a hospital that had been turned into a fortress by some 170 Iraqi soldiers who were taken captive, along with a couple hundred small arms and ammunition for them. Also recovered: over 3,000 chemical suits and numerous injectors for atropine. British forces engage a column of Iraqi armored vehicles - tanks and armored personnel carriers - that filed out of the southern city of Basra. Operation Iraqi Freedom, 3/27/03 President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair hold talks at Camp David, reaffirm commitment to the war. British Prime Minister Tony Blair says that 2 dead British soldiers seen in Iraqi TV footage were executed. Huge Coalition airdrop into Northern Iraq, hundreds of soldiers parachute in. Al-Jazeera defends showing images of dead US and British soldiers on TV. Coalition air attacks on Baghdad targets continue, command centers destroyed. Chronic water shortages and chickenpox outbreak beset the Australian supply ship HMAS Kanimbla in the Persian Gulf. U.S. military plans to double its forces on the ground in Iraq to about 200,000 in the next month as the Coalition presses to oust Saddam Hussein. Iraqi troops light giant fires in oil-filled trenches around Baghdad, casting a thick black pall over the city. Surprise attack south of Najaf by Iraqis using Russian-made anti-tank missile, destroys a US tank, killing its 4 crew. 2 possible mines explode near the port of Umm Qasr where Australian navy divers have been working to make the waterway safe. Could delay the arrival of the first aid ships. A dozen members of the al-Qaeda network are in the town of Az Zubayr near Basra, coordinating grenade and gun attacks on coalition positions, according to the Iraqi prisoners of war. Stiff resistance and overstretched supply lines point to a longer conflict than planners first forecast.
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