Free Republic

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's fear of internal rebellion led him to distrust his military commanders even after U.S. forces began their invasion in 2003, crippling the country's defenses, the New York Times reported in Sunday editions. Citing a classified U.S. military report as well other documents and interviews, the Times also said that top Iraqi commanders were shocked when Saddam told them three months before the war that he had no weapons of mass destruction. Prepared nearly a year ago, the classified military report shows that Saddam discounted the possibility of a full-scale American invasion, the Times said....

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Baghdad leaders reveal that coup plot duped MI6 Julie Flint explains how rumours of Saddam's overthrow caused British intelligence to miss vital information about Iraq's weapons programme British intelligence took its eyes off Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes because it had been duped into believing a military coup would leave Sunni Muslims in power in Iraq. Sources in the country say what they missed was a push to convert chemical and biological organisms into dry agents that could be hidden until pressure on the regime was lifted. 'From the second half of 2000, the focus of the British was not on...

ASHINGTON, March 29 - Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, killed nearly two years ago defending his vastly outnumbered Army unit in a fierce battle with elite Iraqi troops for control of Baghdad's airport, will receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, administration officials said Tuesday.No soldier who served in Afghanistan or Iraq after the Sept. 11 attacks has yet received the medal. The last conflict to produce a Medal of Honor recipient was in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993; two soldiers were awarded the medal posthumously for actions there, later depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down."Sergeant...

Iraqis took over control of civilian air traffic at Baghdad Airport yesterday, but they won't assume full responsibility for the country's airspace until later this year. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will retain control of most of Iraq's airspace during a five-step handover process. The transition to Iraqi civilian control is seen as essential to establishing an independent civilian aviation system (DAILY, May 10).

The discovery of an Iraqi artillery shell armed with nerve gas has the liberal community and mass media in a panic. The 155mm nerve gas shell was rigged to kill U.S. troops but it failed. U.S. Brig. General Mark Kimmitt confirmed the discovery during a news conference in Baghdad. Yet, the discovery of nerve gas was followed by a second revelation. A second shell, equipped with mustard gas was found two weeks ago. The mustard gas shell identified by the special WMD inspection team in Iraq appears to be one of 550 declared by Saddam to U.N. inspectors during the...

BAGHDAD (AP) - U.S. troops mounted air and ground attacks in the Iraqi capital Thursday for a second straight night, targeting suspected insurgent positions around Baghdad, the U.S. command said. U.S. troops bombarded the al-Jazeera dye factory on Baghdad's outskirts which had been targeted the night before by an AC-130 gunship. The factory was believed to have been used by insurgents to store weapons and plan attacks, the command said. The command said troops also launched air and ground operations against a Republican Guard facility used to fire on the coalition. The statement did not identify the facility, but Iraqi...

Aid arrives at Baghdad airport From correspondents in Washington April 10, 2003 AIRCRAFT have delivered aid supplies to Baghdad international airport, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said. "Planes are already landing at the Baghdad airport. They're already going in," he said today. Dismissing claims of a humanitarian crisis in Iraq, the defence secretary added: "The humanitarian problem occurred under the Saddam Hussein regime for decades. "What's happening now is that humanitarian assistance is coming in. "That doesn't mean that the situation is worse, it means that it's better

INDEPENDENT DETAILS of the assault on the airport remained sketchy, but witnesses reported about 20 thundering explosions from its direction. The U.S. military’s battle damage assessment report said 320 Iraqi troops had been killed in the battle for the airport. A CBS reporter with the 3rd Army Infantry Division said that by dawn, tank companies had rolled in and soldiers were clearing the area building by building. “It’s going to take some time to secure the airport, although we haven’t encountered much opposition yet,” Lt. Col. Vincent Quarles of the Engineer Brigade, 3rd Army Infantry Division, told a Reuters correspondent...