And so, it begins.

[khaosworks]

The war has started
By Robert Fox, Defence Correspondent and David Taylor, Evening Standard
19 March 2003

British and American troops were involved in fierce fighting near Iraq's main port today as the war to topple Saddam Hussein began.

The firefight broke out near Basra as men of the Special Boat Service targeted the strategically vital city and the oilfields in southern Iraq.

At the same time allied troops were flooding into the demilitarised zone on the Iraqi border with Kuwait 40 miles away to take up positions for an all-out invasion.

Cruise missiles were also loaded onto B52 bombers at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, a clear sign that the bombardment of Baghdad could be only hours away.

British troops taking up "forward battle positions" were ordered to switch off satellite phones and allied warplanes bombed targets in Iraq after coming under fire in the no-fly zone.

By lunchtime, allied forces were in position to strike from the moment the 48-hour deadline set by President Bush for Saddam to quit Iraq expires at 1am British time tomorrow. But the White House had refused to rule out a strike before that.

Comments

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Huh. I wonder why NPR hasn't jumped on it yet.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

This is still single-sourced, though. I haven't seen anything elsewhre.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Ah, but then I'm not expecting news coverage *during* this military action to be any more accurate or complete than coverage *before* this military action.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Yes, but you'd expect at least ONE other news source to pick up on it.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

One thing to note is that it's also a matter of interpretation exactly when the war is "starting". Iraqi soldiers have been surrendering, according to the US military, and air strikes have begun although it's not "all-out war".

Remember, during the Gulf War, special forces were working behind the lines in Kuwait some time before the actual ground offensive was launched. It's more likely that the start of the war referred to by the Evening Standard is a skirmish involving those special forces supported by infantry probing forward in preparation of taking Basra rather an a sign that the actual ground offensive has started.

A bit of foreplay before the main event.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

More or less as advertised, then.

I don't think Bush was off the air the other night before officials at the Pentagon were acknowledging that, no, they wouldn't really wait until the expiration of the 48-hour "ultimate ultimatum," but would begin some (c arefully unspecified) military action inside Iraq before that deadline had elapsed.
f