Newsgroup: it.cultura.storia.militare
Titolo: Basra now 'military target'

Basra now 'military target'
Coalition targets Iraqi forces moving back into town
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 Posted: 5:28 AM EST (1028 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/25/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html
 
BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- In a change of strategy, senior British military
officials said early Tuesday that the city of Basra has become a
"legitimate military target" so that coalition forces can "wear down
the Iraqi forces in the city and facilitate humanitarian aid for its
citizens." 
Previously, the allied coalition wanted to avoid any fighting inside
Basra, but the Iraqi army that was defending areas south of Basra has
pulled back into the town, apparently as part of a plan to engage
coalition troops on their own terms. 
The Americans and British want to use Basra as an entry point for
humanitarian aid. 
The British officials emphasized they do not plan to hit the city
indiscriminately but simply want to target the Iraqi military there. 
Fighting also raged Tuesday in Nasiriya in southern Iraq. 
With soldiers from the U.S. Army's V Corps poised to take on an elite
Iraqi Republican Guard division less than 60 miles from Baghdad,
coalition planes and helicopters pounded Iraqi positions to clear a
path toward the Iraqi capital. 
Large explosions and anti-aircraft tracer fire flashed in the night
sky over Baghdad early Tuesday morning. At least five bombing waves
hit the Iraqi capital after darkness fell. 
Coalition planes also struck the key northern city of Mosul for the
fourth night in a row. 
Among the Baghdad buildings destroyed Monday was an Iraqi air force
complex. Saddam International Airport was also being targeted. 
Pentagon officials said about half of the airstrikes made in the last
36 hours were directed toward Republican Guard units. 
"I am sure that [the Medina Division] has been degraded significantly
in the last 48 hours or so. I couldn't judge its current strength,"
said Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal at a news briefing Monday. He called
the division "a linchpin to the consistency of the Republican Guard
defense." 
Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command, said Republican
Guard units "will continue to be hit ... at points and places and
times that make sense to us. The effect has been very positive for
us." 
But Franks warned: "We will see casualties in the days ahead." 
According to U.S. officials, intelligence reports suggest the
Republican Guard units might have been ordered to use chemical weapons
against U.S. forces if they cross a "red line" drawn around Baghdad,
they told CNN on Monday. "That doesn't mean they will do it," said one
official, "but there have been reports such orders may have been
issued." 
Thirty-nine U.S. and British military personnel have been confirmed
killed since the Iraqi conflict began. 
Intense fighting broke out Tuesday morning near Nasiriya as a unit of
U.S. Marines drove through. The city, home to key bridges across the
Euphrates River in southern Iraq, has been the scene of the most
intense fighting to date: Ten Marines were killed in combat there
Sunday, 12 were injured and 16 are considered missing, a senior
commander in the battle told CNN. 
The fierce resistance from Iraqi troops in the south also resulted in
the first British combat death of the war, a soldier killed in action
Monday near Basra. Two British soldiers are missing after an attack
Sunday on their vehicles in southern Iraq. 
In what sources called a new strategy in the war, coalition aircraft
on the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the eastern Mediterranean are
switching from bombing missions with set targets to missions where
they are authorized to attack targets of opportunity in "air
interdiction zones" and to supply close air support to ground forces
if they are summoned. 
Helicopters fly in 'hornet's nest'
Before dawn Monday, the V Corps, 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment,
targeted Iraqi positions between Hillah and Karbala. U.S. Apache
attack helicopters fought a fierce battle with Republican Guard units.
One U.S. pilot described the situation as a "hornet's nest," with
Iraqis peppering helicopters with small arms and antiaircraft fire
from "all sides." Most pilots said they sustained 15 to 20 hits,
including a rocket-propelled grenade in one instance. 
 
A British tank speeds in the desert of southern Iraq after a long
night of fighting.   
Later Monday, Abu Dhabi TV broadcast video shot by Iraqi TV in Baghdad
of two U.S. pilots whom Iraq claims it captured after their Apache
attack helicopter went down near Karbala. The footage shows Chief
Warrant Officers Ronald D. Young Jr. and David S. Williams, wearing
flight suits and appearing to be in good condition. 
Iraq's top diplomat said Monday in New York that the U.S.-led war
against Iraq could last for years. 
"I don't think it'll be a short war," U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Aldouri
told CNN. "If the Americans will not stop this aggression, the war
will continue for years." 
Throughout Iraq, he said, Iraqi civilians have joined the fight.
"We'll see a unified society, a unified army," he said. 
But in Qatar, Franks said coalition forces have taken 3,000 "enemy
prisoners." Coalition officials have said thousands more Iraqi troops
have put down their weapons and gone home, following U.S. and British
instructions. 
At least seven members of the U.S. military have been taken prisoner.
Franks said he is sure the Red Cross will be able to visit the
captured Americans "very soon" to make sure "they're well cared for." 
On Sunday, Iraqi television broadcast footage showing dead U.S.
soldiers and interviews with four members of the U.S. 507th
Maintenance Company, based at Fort Bliss Texas, including Army Spc.
Joseph Hudson, Pfc. Patrick Miller, Spc. Shoshana Johnson, Sgt. James
Riley and Spc. Edgar Hernandez. 
--------------------------------------------------------
La libertà è libertà di dire che due più due fa quattro.
Concessa questa libertà, tutte le altre ne seguono.
George Orwell, 1984


Oggi l'inviato da Kuwait City del TG1 ha posto una forte ipoteca sul Premio
per il Peggior Giornalista della Guerra. Riassumo:
Gli Anglo-Americani, dopo aver colpito Bassòra (sic 1) con bombe a
frammentazione (sic 2), che sarebbero proibite dalla Convenzione di Ginevra
(sic 3), hanno ora dichiarato che la città è un legittimo obiettivo
militare: ciò comporta un cambiamento di strategia (sic 4).
1. Come ormai tutti sanno, si dice Bàssora.
2. Come un giornalista che parla di argomenti militari dovrebbe ormai
sapere, il 99% delle bombe è a frammentazione. Quelle senza involucro di
frammentazione sono una minima minoranza.
3. Come ormai cani e porci sanno, la Convenzione di Ginevra si riferisce al
trattamento dei prigionieri di guerra, non alle armi proibite o ammesse.
4. Quanto a quest'ultimo punto, OK, non tutti possono sapere il ben preciso
significato, dal punto di vista delle leggi della guerra, della
dichiarazione che Bassora è un legittimo obiettivo militare. D'accordo. Ma
il giornalista aveva capito che la cosa era importante - non poteva almeno
farsela spiegare? Macchè.
Varrebbe la pena di raccogliere uno stupidario giornalistico.
Saluti,
Michele


Di questi tempi salirebbe a centinaia di pagine in pochi giorni.
:)
Bye

 wrote:

In questa guerra, ci sono quelli che devono assaltare, al rischio delle
pelli sue, quelli che devono resistere, sempre al rischio delle pelli
sue,  e quelli che devono riempere le pagine (oppure i minuti preciosi
dei telegiornali, tra i momenti veramente importanti delle publicita'). 
Al rischio di qualcosa, non c'ho dubbio. La pelle comunque non c'entra.
Tutto qua.
-- 
"The past resembles the future as water resembles water"  Ibn Khaldun
My .
mac.com
 address is a spam sink.
If you wish to email me, try alan dot lothian at blueyonder dot co dot uk

trattamento dei prigionieri di guerra, non alle armi proibite o ammesse.
Sei sicuro? A me sembrava che la convenzione di Ginevra (o meglio LE
convenzionI) sancisse anche il divieto di diverse armi.
Attendo smentite.
M.


Secondo me ti confondi con la Convenzione dell'Aia IV del 1907, o forse con
quella di Ginevra del 1972 che però non fa divieto dell'uso di alcun tipo di
armi.
Michele