Hi Pakistan. March 20, 2003
American warplanes hit southern Iraq
BAGHDAD: US-led forces crept closer to the border with Iraq on Wednesday as the clock ticked down to an ultimatum for President Saddam Hussein to go into exile or face war.
Rejecting last minute warnings against military conflict, President George W Bush formally declared diplomacy dead ahead of his 0100 GMT Thursday deadline and the White House warned Americans to be prepared for loss of life.
Shrugging off a severe sandstorm, several hundred US army vehicles assembled near the Kuwait-Iraq frontier, a day after about 1,000 US marine tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks were seen on the move.
US and British warplanes meanwhile hit targets in a no-fly zone in southern Iraq that has been patrolled since the 1991 Gulf War, the US and British defense departments said. The Pentagon said US warplanes had struck anti-aircraft artillery, air defenses and surface-to-surface missile systems.
US and British troops moved into forward positions, ready to unleash a massive assault on Iraq as time ran out for President Saddam Hussein to avoid war by choosing exile. President George W Bush's ultimatum for Saddam and his sons to leave the country expires at 0100 GMT, which is 4:00 am on Thursday in Iraq. There was no sign Saddam would comply, despite a last-minute offer from Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa to offer him asylum.
US and British troops moved into the demilitarised 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. However, US officials dismissed reports they had already taken over the de-militarised zone.
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.
British and US aircraft dropped almost two 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.
Some 280,000 US and British troops, including 174,000 in Kuwait poised for the attaack. Experts and Pentagon officials in Washington said US troops will not wait for a moonless night to launch military action in Iraq, despite the clear advantage their night vision equipment gives them when fighting in complete darkness.
Infantry troops have a similar advantage with their night-vision goggles, which could be crucial in urban fighting. "To be able to see and target the enemy who is not aware you are here is important; these are extra elements of safety. Especially in the streets of Baghdad" said Francois Boo, a military expert at GlobalSecurity.org. Fighting at night also enables US troops to avoid the searing daytime heat.
US planners' biggest fears are that the Iraqis may use chemical weapons or that Saddam loyalists hole up in Baghdad and force invaders to conquer the city street by street and house by house.
Bahrain offered Saddam sanctuary and a life with dignity to avert war but there was no expectation he would accept.
And in Washington the White House formally told the US Congress on Wednesday that diplomacy was dead and met the war council. Bush notified lawmakers that military action was his only recourse, as Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein gave no sign that he would heed the US leader's ultimatum to avert conflict by taking his sons into exile by 8:00 pm (Thursday).
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer kept Americans in the dark on the timing of military action or that of the speech Bush has promised to make in the event of hostilities, but braced the jittery public for potential casualties.
Reaching out to his closest ally on the war, Bush spoke to British Prime Minister Tony Blair by telephone for 20 minutes, according to British officials.
The president met later with New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and other officials to discuss efforts to prepare the United States for potential terrorist attack. The president warned on Monday that terrorists might retaliate for a US attack on Iraq.
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