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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera on Thursday reported it had received a statement and videotape from an Iraqi resistance group that claimed responsibility for attacks on American forces and threatened more. It was believed to be the first such claim, and the first time a group said it had organized the increasingly bloody offensive. The Pentagon repeatedly has said the attacks - that have killed at least 18 American lives since May 1 when President Bush declared the major fighting over - were not the work of any organized resistance. Six British soldiers were...

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - Attacks against U.S. forces showed no sign of letting up Friday after a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into a power station in Fallujah, injuring two American soldiers and blacking out much of the city - a center of anti-American hostility. At Friday prayers, imams preached anti-American sermons, claiming Jews are buying up real estate in Iraq. Based on groundless rumors, the warnings from pulpits, on leaflets and in Iraqi newspapers reflected Iraqis' fear and anger over the U.S.-led occupation. After weeks of sniping and ambushes around Iraq, American forces raided nine locations Friday "to isolate and defeat...

Road trip to Babylon boosts troops' morale By DENNIS O'BRIEN, The Virginian-Pilot © April 23, 2003 Last updated: 3:30 AM Near the reconstructed arch of Ishtar, Navy chaplains and their escorts begin exploring ancient Babylon to gain perspective for their sermons. Photo by Dennis O'Brien / The Virginian-Pilot. More dispatches from Dennis O'Brien in Iraq BABYLON -- It wasn't the order Charlie Company had hoped for -- which would be ``You're going home'' -- but it beat spending another day camped outside Kut. The Marines were sent on a one-day road trip Tuesday, and what better place to visit...

Senior Iraqi officers have scattered across the Middle East after fleeing Baghdad as the assault on the city began, according to some senior Iraqis in London who have kept close links with key figures within the country. All of them have false passports and could try to later hide in countries like Pakistan or Malaysia or Indonesia, said Ali Haitham Rashid Wihaib, who was Saddam Hussain's former head of protocol. He added that the Syrian authorities were keeping some of their "embarrassing guests" including generals and ministers hidden because of the US pressure. He, claimed in a daily, that Saddam...

Dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of Iraqi officials escaped to Syria, according to fresh assessments by intelligence organizations including the U.S., British and Israeli services, which were surprised by the large numbers involved after initial estimates that only a few dozen made their way to Syria during or prior to the war. But while the escapees include relatively high-ranking officials, and at least one minister, Saddam Hussein and his inner circle are not believed to be in Syria. The large number of Iraqis who found refuge in Syria is why Washington and London have stepped up pressure on Damascus and the...

Is perky "Today Show" host Katie Couric actually rooting for Saddam Hussein to survive U.S.'s military's repeated attempts to take him out? It sure sounded that way during a report she delivered on the fate of the Baghdad Butcher yesterday. While chatting about Saddam with NBC's Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski, the multi-million-dollar morning host asked whether U.S. officials had been able to "confirm reports he was taken to Tikrit, and then Mosul, and then hopefully to Syria." Hopefully? Surely Ms. Couric didn't mean to suggest that she actually hoped the brutal dictator would escape justice by fleeing to another terrorist-sponsoring...

In an interview in a Lebanese newspaper, Syrian President Bashar Assad has lashed out at Israel, saying as long as the Jewish state exists it will be a threat. Assad, who has expressed support for Saddam Hussein's regime in the face of coalition action, gave the interview to the pro-Syrian daily Al-Safir. His comments were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. The Syrian leader claimed the U.S. is doing Israel's bidding in the war on Iraq. "[The Americans] removed their masks and said that they wanted oil and that they wanted to re-draw the map of the region...

THE SAS has arrested four busloads of suspected suicide bombers and would-be fighters in Iraq’s western desert. The men, who are being held as prisoners of war, came from various Arab countries but all carried Syrian passports. They are thought to be among thousands of Arab zealots making their way to the battle front. Syria has issued about 2,000 passports to people volunteering to fight for President Saddam Hussein in recent weeks, raising serious concerns in Britain and America, which suspects Damascus of smuggling war supplies to Iraq. The coalition is to protest to the Syrians. Syrian officials have made...

Bin Laden tape: Text The following is the full text of an audio message purported to be by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, broadcast on Arab television station al-Jazeera on 11 February. In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. A message to our Muslim brothers in Iraq, may God's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you. O you who believe fear Allah, by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden as He should be feared. Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always, and die not except in...