Special forces 'pour into Baghdad'

AFP ^ | April 04, 2003

[demlosers]

From correspondents in London April 04, 2003

US and British special forces have slipped into Baghdad during a blackout and begun covert operations including an assessment of the threat posed by Iraq's elite Republican Guard, according to British media.

The electricity cut in the capital coincided with a major incursion by SAS and American special forces personnel, newspapers in London said.

The Guardian, quoting military sources in Qatar, said that dozens of British and American special forces teams poured into Baghdad after the power went down.

The Financial Times also reported: "Power went off in most of Baghdad for the first time since the start of the conflict, as military sources said that special forces were active in the city."

The Daily Telegraph said it was no coincidence. It said allied aircraft had dropped "blackout" bombs on to the main power supply lines plunging the capital into complete darkness.

The move enabled "the SAS and its US Delta Force counterparts to enter the city unimpeded", the newspaper said, allowing them to look for the Republican Guard.

The suggestion that power had been deliberately shut down by allied bombs was refuted by the US military today.

"Central Command has not targeted the power grid in Baghdad," said General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

His denial left open the possibility that covert teams from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) may have been responsible, The Times and The Sun said.

The Pentagon dropped two "blackout" bombs in the Kosovo campaign and was criticised after hospitals were left without power.

"Military commanders could face international court action if use of the device is seen as an attack on a civilian population," said The Sun.

The Independent suggested the action by the special forces was more opportunistic, the blackout giving them a chance "to probe strengths and weaknesses of pro-Saddam forces in the city".

"Hundreds of SAS and American special forces last night swept into Baghdad on a search-and-destroy mission after the city was dramatically plunged into darkness," The Daily Express said.

"They will go in and have a look around. If everything has collapsed in there they may make a decision to follow in with everything else," said a senior military source quoted in the tabloid.

Agence France-Presse

[KDD]

Baghdad is full of U.S. spooks tonight.

Nasty stuff happening to bad people who'll never see or know what hit em.

[DannyTN]

Couple of possibilities.

1) Central command says they didn't do it. It's not likely that the CIA would be operating outside of Central Command in a war zone. Therefore Saddam's regime may have cut the lights, after all where did the night vision stuff that entered the country go?

2) Coup attempt against Saddam. Someone other than Coalition or Saddam's forces cut the power.

3) Coalition troups cut the power and are feeding the media disinformation.

4) Accident, enought shocks from enough buildings being bombed or anti-aircraft fire landing in the wrong place brought the lights down.

If bombing power facilities could be viewed as a strike against civilians, then why weren't we charged with that in Afghanistan? This author is an idiot.

[wardaddy]

Yeah...but they will FEEL it.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[Professional]

It could also have to do with the fact that all sorts of people have decided to stay at home, or leave town. I can imagine that running a power grid for a city of 5mm might require some folks actually doing something?

[efnwriter]

"Ideally, we would kill them all," Colonel Joseph Anderson, a brigade commander of the 101st Airborne Division, told Reuters. "But if they choose to change their mind and flee, there's not much we can do."

[atomic conspiracy]

It's nearly 11 in the morning now in Baghdad. I would not be surprised if the people of Baghdad are still discovering the dead bodies of fedayeen, special republican guards, secret police, and other saddamite scum scattered at various odd places around the city.

[MHGinTN]

Ahh, the sound of clapping bolts as the empty cartridges are spitting out, and the thud down range. Soon, screams of pain drown out even the clatter of the bolts and tink of shell casings. Then the boots move on.

[Sodbuster]

Couple of possibilities.

1) Central command says they didn't do it. It's not likely that the CIA would be operating outside of Central Command in a war zone. Therefore Saddam's regime may have cut the lights, after all where did the night vision stuff that entered the country go?

Plausible deniability. CENCOM didn't do it. But they new CIA was. CIA is not accountable as a military commander is. Coordinated and acceptable to the effing rules as they are.

[goldstategop]

I think we did do it. Denial is a common tactic to keep the enemy confused and guessing and while he's trying to sort it out we slip in and pinpoint whether we can send in ground troops without incurring a nasty no holds barred fight for the entire city.

[eno_]

I bet if there is throat-slitting to be done, there will be many Kurds in town, too.

[FierceDraka]

That article made me smile!

:-)

[Wright is right!]

""Central Command has not targeted the power grid in Baghdad," said General Richard Myers."

That means that our guys didn't bimb the power grid. But you needn't bimb a power grid to have a black-'em-out. All you need do is simply turn the power OFF. And then you have to stand there and keep the goons from getting to the switches to turn the grid back on.

Of course, of interest is that I don't remember hearing Iraq accuse us of turning off the power. In fact, have they even mentioned it?

Michael

[AppyPappy]

It's gonna be a Ghurka night.

[oceanview]

maybe they should tell them to look for Saddam (whether it be a double or not) strolling through the street with a crowd around him.

[Wright is right!]

"It's gonna be a Ghurka night."

How sweet of you. You remembered!

Michael