|
Iraq shot down anti tank plane { April 9 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1049869245207020.xmlhttp://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1049869245207020.xml
Ground-to-air missile downs anti-tank plane
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar -- A coalition A-10 "Warthog" warplane was shot down near Baghdad early yesterday in the first downing of a coalition aircraft by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile, Pentagon officials confirmed.
The pilot ejected safely and was recovered by coalition ground forces near the airport, U.S. Central Command said. The pilot was reported to be in good condition.
In Washington, officials confirmed that the A-10 was shot down by an Iraqi missile -- a French-made Roland usually mounted on a truck and guided by radar, infrared or sight.
Iraqi forces have downed at least two coalition helicopters -- an Apache and a Black Hawk -- but not using missile fire. President recognizes
past, present POWs WASHINGTON -- President Bush designated today as a day of national recognition for former U.S. prisoners of war and pledged to work for the safe return of Americans captured in the Iraq war.
"These brave men and women in uniform follow in the footsteps of these former POWs who placed country above self to advance peace in a troubled world," Bush said in the proclamation he issued yesterday.
Seven U.S. soldiers are POWs in Iraq, and U.S. officials are trying to determine their location. The Pentagon says it is holding more than 7,000 Iraqi POWs. U.N. calls hospitals
desperate in Baghdad GENEVA -- Baghdad's hospitals are overwhelmed and running out of supplies to treat all the burns, shrapnel wounds and spinal injuries from the fighting, the United Nations health agency said yesterday.
The World Health Organization has a convoy of medical equipment on standby in neighboring Jordan, but it has been unable to leave for Baghdad because of security concerns, said WHO spokesman Iain Simpson.
"Before the war started, there were enough supplies for a normal medical situation," Simpson said. "This is not a normal situation."
He said the agency was unsure how many civilians had been injured, "but it's clear they are huge."
"The hospitals have reached their limit," International Red Cross spokeswoman Nada Doumani said yesterday. "Staff are working around the clock" and a facing a shortage of anesthetics. She said the group delivered surgical instruments to hospitals Monday but the hospitals also are facing power and water outages. Only six out of 27 operating rooms could be used at the 650-bed Medical City complex, the agency said. CIA orders Saddam foes
out of city they seized WASHINGTON -- A local militia opposed to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein took control of the southeastern city of Amara on Sunday, but a CIA officer told them to withdraw under threat of bombing, opposition officials said yesterday.
The militia of several thousand armed men, led by a man named Abu Hatem Mohammed Ali, captured the headquarters of the governorate, 230 miles southeast of Baghdad, without support from U.S. forces, opposition leader Kanan Makiya told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
He described Abu Hatem as a well-known guerrilla leader, a longtime contact of the opposition Iraqi National Congress and a man known to the Pentagon.
"He was then told by a CIA officer whose name I do not know but who spoke perfect Arabic that he had to vacate that city ... He was threatened with bombing and strafing of the building, the compound he took over, so he decided it would be better to be wise and he did withdraw in fact," he added.
Makiya said the lesson of the incident was that U.S. forces should cooperate with local opposition forces instead of trying to do everything alone. "I bring it as a cautionary tale of where we can go wrong," he added. France, Russia, Germany
to discuss postwar plans MOSCOW -- Leaders of the main countries opposing the U.S.- led military action against Baghdad will meet this weekend and are expected to press for a major role for the United Nations in a postwar Iraq.
A Kremlin statement yesterday said French President Jacques Chirac would join Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder at long-scheduled talks in Russia's second city of St. Petersburg on Friday and Saturday.
The statement on the meeting in Putin's hometown made no mention of any agenda. But it is certain to be topped by discussion of how to proceed with reconstruction in Iraq after the U.S.-led war to remove President Saddam Hussein.
All three states have adopted a more conciliatory approach as U.S. and British troops advance through Iraq, but say they want the U.N. to be the principal body overseeing reconstruction efforts.
President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday the United Nations should have a "vital role." But it was unclear how much power they believed the U.N. should have outside humanitarian matters.
|
|
