4/ 1/03 Tuesday
Coalition troops number above 100,000 in Iraq, and are increasing;
was more bombing of republican guard units and targets in Baghdad.
Then U.S. army and marines troops started advance toward Baghdad -
have gone arnd Karbala, where there was not much resistance. Many
now believe Hussein is either killed for severly injured. Two
reporters have been kicked out of Iraq - have not been giving
reports conducive to U.S. military.
4/ 2/03 Wednesday
U.S. marines crossed Tigris river and are coming in to Baghdad from
the SE; army has crossed both rivers and is approaching Baghdad
from the SW. U.S. F18 shot down in S Iraq; U.S. army blackhawk
heliocopter, also shot down. Maternity hospital in Baghdad was
accidentally bombed. Not much resistence from republican guard, so
far, around Baghdad. Some reporters were released from Iraq
prison - had had illegal gear and were not registered.
4/ 3/03 Thursday
U.S. army took control of Baghdad airport - is securing area around
airport. Marines are still approaching Baghdad from SE. Much is in
news of "rescued" U.S. army POW in hospital in town in S Iraq -
there had been an informer, POW had broken bones, was 19 year old
girl. Missing F18 is presumed to have been shot down by U.S.
patriot missile. Friendly forces in north Iraq are slowly pushing
south.
4/ 4/03 Friday
U.S. marines are in suburbs of SE Baghdad; some excursions of army
troops have ventured into Baghdad; reporters are saying no U.S
troops have been seen in Baghdad. New videos of Hussein where
shown on Iraq TV; showed Hussein in streets, viewing bombed rubble,
talking to crowd of people; also video of regular speech - most
coalition pundits have concluded Sadaam Hussein is still living;
U.S. military says condition of Hussein does not matter.
4/ 5/03 Saturday
Marines continue towards SE section of Baghdad. U.S. army troops
took brief "tour" of Baghdad, in tanks & bradley armored vehicles.
Another tape of Hussein was shown on Iraq TV. Some MIA's were
changed to KIA's of U.S. troops. Iraq TV says there is no problem
and republican guard controls Baghdad airport. Ted Koppel is
reporting from the Baghdad airport.
4/ 6/03 Sunday
U.S. army made 2nd "excursion" into Bagdad. British are still
having some problems in their town, but have it mostly under
control. Still is bombing in Baghdad. Was a bombing accident on
Kurdish troops and U.S. special ops troops in N Iraq. U.S.
aircraft are landing in Baghdad airport - C130 transports. Iraq
military seems to be suffering losses in Baghdad - in the
thousands; Saddam Hussein seems to be still around.
4/ 7/03 Monday
More U.S. excursions into Baghdad - presidential palace fought
over and occupied by U.S. army. Two foreign reporters were killed
in rocket attack. U.S. marines are in SE Baghdad & have control of
military airport. Four 2,000 lb bombs were dropped in residential
area of Baghdad, to target Saddam Hussein - not known if Hussein
was killed - was big hole in ground where bombs landed. Bush and
Blair met in Ireland, to discuss the end of the war.
4/ 8/03 Tuesday
Third foreign reporter killed in hotel in Baghdad; several
civilians were killed in attempt on Iraq leaders - some say leaders
were not in restaurant, when bombed. F18 down, missing, & same for
an F15; U.S. "bushhog" aircraft was downed by missile. Many more
U.S. MIA's are reported, when statistics are "upgraded". U.S.
marines and army are due to meet - army from W, marines from E.
Another army division will be entering Baghdad from NW; U.S troops,
in Baghdad outskirts, are increasing in numbers. Iraq information
minister is becoming well known on TV, and is popular with people
in arab countries - tells of much that is obviously not true, is
said to have helped reporters, after U.S. tank shelling incident.
4/ 9/03 Wednesday
Noted, around 9:10am, news on TV - seemed to be people in Baghdad,
celebrating the downfall of the Iraq government - were tearing
down statue of Hussein, ransackng Basque party offices, talking to
U.S. troops in streets. Was reported that earlier, newscasters
were missing their usual "minders", who were Iraq government
escorts. Concluded the Iraq government officials, and other
government workers, had not shown up for work this am, Iraq time -
and that the Iraq government was not in existence - had escaped,
left, etc.
4/10/03 Thursday
Nobody seems to know where the Iraq government staff has gone -
merely that have probably gone home, and that top leaders may be
going to Syria, or border. The war is still active in spots in
Baghdad; two towns in northern Iraq have been taken by U.S. army
and Kurdish troops. More statues of Iraq leader have been knocked
over; banner pictures have been burned. No-one knows where the
U.S. POW's are - there are 7, and around 16 MIA's. Pundits figure
Iraq scientists, and some of the general populace, can now tell
where the chemical and biological weapons are located.
4/11/03 Friday
Much in news of looting in Iraq; seems to be going on in all large
towns; U.S. military is guarding one hospital in Baghdad, but all
other hospitals are looted; Rumsfield says looting is to be
expected, others say it will drop off in a few days. Iraqis are
burning and shredding the Iraqi paper currency. U.S. military KIA
figure is arnd 104; seems to still be going up. Many U.S.
reinforcements are still in Kuwait. There are some fires in
buildings in Baghdad, after looting. Most towns in north are being
won, not having any resistence; although there is not much U.S.
military on the ground in the north.
4/12/03 Saturday
Looting still going on, being covered in news, in Iraq towns. In
Baghdad, museum of antiquities was ransacked. Marines have entered
the last of the N towns - not much resistence, after bombing of
republican guard units around towns in N. Some is said of the
underground section of Baghdad - was built for subway system, then
money ran low and government put in some bomb shelter bunkers. A
top government Iraqi scientist turned self in, and said there were
no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - has been sent to an
undisclosed location.
4/13/03 Sunday
U.S. troops started doing some guarding of Baghdad areas; was some
organizing of Baghdad civilians into anti-looting groups. U.S.
marines took control of Tikrit, and informers led marines to find
the 7 missing POW's, in house, south of Tikrit. A Hussein relative
was picked up near the Syrian border; another Iraqi official turned
self over to authorities. U.S. authorities say if the two held top
Iraqi officials talk and tell where the weapons of mass destruction
are located, they will be given amnesty.
4/14/03 Monday
Bush, Rumsfield have warned Syria not to harbor Iraqi top leaders;
some wonder if such warnings predict a war on Syria. Most of
Baghdad's police force started on duty; U.S. army is recruiting
volunteers for a sort of Iraq national guard. A few looters have
returned some loot, in Baghdad. Have been some U.S. soldiers
killed by accidents. Tunnels under Baghdad are being searched; so
far, no top leaders or weapons of mass destructions have shown up.
Some is said of U.S. military's card deck, showing the top 52 most
wanted Iraqi leaders.
4/15/03 Tuesday
An old, 1985 terrorist leader was apprehended, in Iraq town; no
further Iraqi leaders have shown up, nor weapons of mass
destruction found. Some dispute over U.S. troops shooting into
crowd of civilians, in Iraq. There are a few statues of Iraq
leader left, in Tikrit, leader's home town. Was first meeting of
people to start new government for Iraq - some groups refused to
send reps, in protest - will be another meeting in ten days. Are
several dumps of munitions found in Baghdad. U.S troop strength is
continuing to increase, in Iraq; two aircraft carriers are being
re-called.
4/16/03 Wednesday
U.S. KIA count in Iraq is arnd 130. U.S. military stopped two bank
robberies in Baghdad. A question is starting to come up: where are
the weapons of mass destruction. The DOW is arnd 8,400; econonmic
indictors are mostly down. SARS disease is reported to be larger
than thought, in China, due to not having seen reports from
military hospitals - still not many cases in U.S.
4/17/03 Thursday
Work is being done to restore electrical power to Baghdad; some
looting is still going on. Some more talk of Iraq's loss of
"national treasures", in the looting of various museums. Appears
U.S. big airlines will not have to go bankruptcy, though are doing
very poorly. Powell says "weapons of mass destruction" was only
one of many reasons, for the Iraq war.
4/18/03 Friday
Some running water has been restored in Baghdad; a few pieces have
been returned to the museum of antiquities - others are said to
already be on the world black market. Bush was in St Louis,
promoting the economic plan to reduce income taxes - some
republicans are against it. Is said that Bush II's current
popularity ratings are less than Bush I's ratings, immediately
following Gulf War I.
4/19/03 Saturday
All POW's in Iraq war are accounted for; U.S. army is guarding
banks in Baghdad; U.S. marines are in process of withdrawing from
Iraq. There have been some anti-U.S. demonstrations, in Iraq.
4/20/03 Sunday
Christians in Iraq worry that there will be an Islam theocracy to
be the new Iraqi government. Iraqi ex-scientist lead U.S.
authorities to warehouse, where weapons of mass destruction had
been burned up; also showed laboratory where "building blocks", of
possible future weapons of mass destruction, were kept. Bush is
still pushing for the $700+ billion tax cut proposal.
4/21/03 Monday
Much in news of POW's returning to U.S. - very much human interest
coverage. A few more of the Iraqi government officials are in U.S.
custody; U.S. army general is checking sections of Iraq for putting
up temporary group to govern, before an "interim" government and
new constitution can do the job. Many Iraqis still believe the
U.S. is there because of the oil.
4/22/03 Tuesday
Pundits are starting to believe there are no weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq; and that U.S. "emphasized" them, to pursade
people that the war was necessary - that this will not be very
good for U.S.-Arab relations. U.N. offered weapons inspectors for
Iraq, is not withdrawing the economic sanctions.
4/23/03 Wednesday
Some U.S. soldiers and reporters have looted, in Iraq: some
soldiers are accused of having stolen $900,000 of U.S. currency.
Some are worried about Shiites electing theocracy government; who
are having big religious festival.
4/24/03 Thursday
Deputy P.M. of Iraq, surrendered to U.S. forces - had been in
Baghdad. Shiites are reported not to be unified, are in different
factions, in Iraq; so impose not much threat of theocracy
government. N Korea seems to already have several atomic bombs.
4/25/03 Friday
Now, money for re-building Iraq, for this year, will be $20
billion. Ammo dump, for storage of found Iraq weapons, blew up,
when struck by random shooting, close to Baghdad. Question is:
will Bush recieve the $700+, $500, or $350 billion tax relief
bill. in Iraq, anti-U.S. sentiment seems to grow.
4/26/03 Saturday
U.S. military found reportedly 17, 55 gallon barrels of nerve and
blistering agent chemicals, in a compound where there were
munitions & some laboratory equipment. Chinese are reporting more
SARS; much in news of SARS, though not all that many incidents of
the disease in the world - seems to kill arnd 3% of people who come
down with the disease.
4/27/03 Sunday
SARS still is big news; scientists are looking for more effective
diagnosis, figure a year, before a vaccine will be perfected.
Chemicals, found in 55 gal drums in Iraq, proved to not be sarin,
nor mustard gas; an interim gov't is still in the process of being
assembled. Contracts to re-build Iraqi roads, are said to have
been made last fall.
4/28/03 Monday
Reports were that SARS had peaked in some Asian countries - was
not some much of a problem. Many pundits, officials, still believe
there will be significant finds of weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq. Was large meeting of ethnic leaders, and will be another one
in a month, to start an interrim government for Iraq.
4/29/03 Tuesday
U.S. army pulled out of town, W of Baghdad, where shooting into
crowd incident happened; around 75 Iraqis were reported injured, 15
killed. U.S. is to withdrawl most of the troops, stationed in
Saudi Arabia, by end of summer. N Korean nuclear issue seems to be
progressing; but U.S. is not heavily engaged in issue.
4/30/03 Wednesday
There was a 2nd incident in Iraqi town, W of Baghdad - when U.S.
army left, was a crowd of demonstrators, AK-14's were reported, 2
Iraqis were killed, some injured. Rumsfield was in Iraq, made
short speech to troops, talked of democracy for Iraq. No big Iraq
rebuilding work is started, so far. Bush signed the "Amber alert"
law into effect.
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