The invasion has begun with the advance of US Marines and British 1st Armored Division into Iraq in the direction of southern key naval port of of Umm Qasr. A second column of US 3rd Infantry Division troops crossed into the demilitarized zone on Iraqi border with Kuwait, with thousands of tanks, combat vehicles and fuel trucks


also Tareq Aziz fled to Kurdish area

http://debka.com/

I'm sure he'll divulge mad info.

I have always liked Aziz.

me too Colin, i always thought he was a good guy.
and he's not a Muslim, He's either Catholic or Christian

Aziz got his degree in English Literature I think in the US. He one told a reporter not to long ago he would have loved to grown up and been a poet. His own son was arrested by Saddam and tortured, though he never talks about it.

Hopefully he escaped with his family....

Debka is good reading! :okthumb:

Anyone else able to get into Debka.com now? I was in earlier - but it's coming up with a DNS "cannot find server" for the last 30 minutes or so...

Hmmmmmmmmm........
:unsure:

I was getting that problem this morning, but its coming up fine now!

:bdance:

Apparently Aziz has not fled.... and will be in Iraq till the bitter end.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2003Mar19.html

Yup...it's back up for me now too.

:D

According to an email list I subscribe to ...

At 1808 GMT (1:08 p.m. EST, 9:08 p.m. Baghdad) B-52 bombers were
reported taking off from RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom.
Flying time to Iraq is about six hours. Earlier today, they were
reportedly loaded with cruise missiles. The British press has
also reported that skirmishing has commenced between Iraqi troops
and U.S. and British special operations forces near Basra.
Coalition aircraft also have attacked 10 Iraqi artillery pieces
in the southern no-fly zone, and Israelis have been ordered to
open and fit their gas masks, keeping them nearby at all times.

Sounds pretty realistic PD!!

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,3000...1084275,00.html

WARPLANES ATTACK

British and American warplanes have attacked artillery units in southern Iraq, the Pentagon has said.

Pentagon sources said ten artillery pieces have been destroyed.


The Pentagon said the artillery units may have had chemical or biological weapons which could be used on US and UK troops on the border with Kuwait, said Sky News correspondent Keith Graves in Washington.

He said: "The Pentagon said warplanes have been and are now in action over southern Iraq."

Graves said the Pentagon had not revealed if the warplanes were American or British. The UK's Ministry of Defence confirmed British RAF planes were used.

An MoD spokeswoman described the patrols as "standard 'no-fly' zone activity".

"We are targeting systems which are a threat to our forces," the spokeswoman said.

British and US aircraft have been patrolling the northern and southern "no-fly" zones since the end of the last Gulf War.

The patrols have stepped up in recent weeks, targeting Iraqi air defence systems in preparation for the expected invasion.

Around 250,000 British and American troops are in Kuwait ready to invade Iraq.

There are only a few hours left before the deadline issued to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein runs out.

US President George W Bush told Saddam he must leave Iraq by 1am GMT on Thursday or face war.

Sky's Emma Hurd, in Kuwait with British forces, said there are no signs that troops are launching a ground invasion.

Sky's David Chater, in Baghdad, said there are no signs of the city being attacked.

He said the atmopshere was "very tense" and locals had taken refuge in bomb shelters.

The Iraqi capital - home to up to 6 million people - had been turned into a "ghost town", he said.

"It's a time of fear," he added.

Yeah, these guys do a pretty good job of staying on top of world events.

http://www.stratfor.com/