Okay, now it's begun

[khaosworks]

Iraqi Deadline Passes, Explosions in Baghdad

BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said it had began its war against Iraq on Wednesday just minutes after several explosions were heard over Baghdad.

"The opening stages of the disarmament of the Iraqi regime have begun. The president will address the nation at 10:15 p.m. EST," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

A handful of explosions rocked Baghdad at dawn on Thursday as jets roared overhead. Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries opened up and air raid sirens sounded.

Some 275,000 U.S. and troops awaited the order from President Bush to launch an assault on Iraq, after an ultimatum expired for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to give up power and go into exile.

Saddam ignored Bush's ultimatum to leave the country with his two sons by Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST, which was 4 a.m. on Thursday in Iraq.

U.S. and British troops moved into the demilitarized zone that straddles the Iraq-Kuwait border on Wednesday. The zone extends three miles into Kuwait and six miles into Iraq. Soldiers donned chemical suits at desert staging posts that were swept by fierce sandstorms.

"Let's get this show on the road. Play time is over," said Staff Sgt. Lavert Mitchell of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, who with colleagues was packing his backpack and checking equipment, ready to move into action from his desert base in Kuwait.

Bush met with military planners, chaired a National Security Council meeting and was "allowing the time that he has given to pass," said Fleischer.

On aircraft carriers and at land bases, pilots prepared for what is expected to be one of the most ferocious aerial bombardments in history.

Upward of 3,000 satellite-guided bombs and cruise missiles will be unleashed from sea and air on targets vital to Saddam's government to start to the war, officials said.

The strategy, dubbed "shock and awe" by the U.S. military, is designed to destroy Saddam's air defenses and remove his command and control ability while stunning Iraqi troops to the extent that many will be too demoralized to resist.

British and U.S. aircraft dropped almost 2 million leaflets over southeastern Iraq urging Iraqi soldiers not to use weapons of mass destruction or torch oil wells, and advising them to lay down their weapons rather than die for a lost cause.

Seventeen Iraqi soldiers gave themselves up to U.S.-led forces in northern Kuwait, the U.S. military said.

Fleischer braced Americans for casualties. "It could be a matter of some duration. We do not know," he said.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said in Baghdad the invaders were facing "definite death." Iraqi legislators vowed to die for their leader.

Comments

No, it hasn't!

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Right after the shrub, the Pentagon was saying, no, this isn't war. Not yet. Just a "target of opportunity."

(Hello! Anybody home???)

Re: No, it hasn't!

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see that the war is being conducted in inimitable Shrub style - like a fucking pantomime. "Oh yes it is!" "Oh no it isn't!" "Oh yes it is!"