looks like the government and media is lyin once again.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2513937

Saddam Loyalists Man Baghdad Defenses
Sat April 5, 2003 11:52 AM ET

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Paramilitary forces, dressed in black and carrying AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, headed toward the outskirts of the Iraqi capital on Saturday or joined soldiers in full combat gear digging in around the city.

But I and other correspondents traveling around Baghdad saw no sign of U.S. troops or armor inside the city.

With U.S. military spokesmen saying American forces had entered Baghdad, forces loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein moved into position across the city or headed south toward the battle front.

Trailers and buses full of Saddam's Fedayeen, the black-clad paramilitary forces under the command of Saddam's eldest son Uday, drove south on one thoroughfare.

"Move out of the way," they shouted as they sped away from a military compound, touting AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers and clutching Chinese-made hand grenades.

Armored personnel carriers were also driving south.

Driving freely around the southern outskirts, the south east, the south west and near the presidential palaces and the main security buildings of the Iraqi capital, I saw Iraqi forces preparing for battle and boarded-up shops.

The sound of heavy artillery fire could be heard from the fringes of the city, but there was no sign of U.S. forces.

Soldiers in full combat gear and members of Saddam's Fedayeen crouched on the corners of highways leading to the south and east.

Iraqi forces appeared to be repositioning themselves constantly.

CONFLICTING VERSION OF EVENTS

A U.S. spokesman said early on Saturday that American forces had pushed into the heart of the battered Iraqi capital for a first time in the 17-day-old war. The push, the spokesman added, was "more than a patrol that goes in and comes back out."

But Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said U.S. forces had not entered the city and had been expelled from the city's international airport to the west.

"The film they broadcast to you is a lie," he said of television footage showing U.S. troops and armor on a highway with signs indicating the City Center and Baghdad airport.

"They're trying to deceive everyone. They're in the outskirts of Abu Ghreib," he told the Arabic satellite network al-Jazeera, adding that they were 20-25 miles from Baghdad. "This is a ploy," he added.

The Fox News Channel in the United States showed a line of tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles which it said were from the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division and were rolling into Baghdad.

The column, moving in broad daylight and firing intermittently, passed several burning and destroyed vehicles.

The Fox News Channel footage showed few buildings on either side of the road, a large sand-colored mosque with twin minarets and a line of larger-than-life statues but no footage of any built-up area.

An Iraqi in civilian clothes and with his hands up emerged from a grove beside the highway and lay down on the asphalt.

Fox had a correspondent with the column riding atop a Bradley. The vehicles passed under several highway bridges. One road sign pointed to Bayaa and City Center. Another shown later in the sequence pointed to Baghdad Airport.

The Arabic satellite network al-Jazeera later carried footage of jubilant Iraqis on a highway next to the burned-out wreckage of what looked like U.S. armored fighting vehicles. Roads signs there also pointed to the airport and City Center.

U.S. military spokesmen said rocket-propelled grenades had damaged one U.S. tank. A second had to be abandoned in Baghdad because of mechanical failure, they added.

FEWER CARS ON ROADS

The southern outskirts of Baghdad looked like a war front, with scores of Iraqi soldiers and paramilitary forces heading out to confront an approaching U.S. enemy.

Overnight raids left more government complexes in ruin.

Shops in normally busy districts, such as New Baghdad, were almost all shut, and far fewer cars were on the roads. Long queues formed at those petrol stations still open.

What cars there were sped faster than usual. Drivers, who rarely give Baghdad traffic lights much respect, ignored them completely.

Heavy artillery and rocket launchers were positioned in the Dawra area, home to the main oil refinery feeding Baghdad and an area where a U.S. spokesman said American tanks drove early on Saturday on a reconnaissance mission.

Palm trees and farms provided cover. Iraqi artillery occasionally fired to the south and southeast.

Inside the city, checkpoints were installed on the road to the airport and the paramilitary directed traffic. Heavy military gear could be seen moving on roads around the center.

Republican Guards were seen around one presidential compound in the city. Soldiers spilled out of pick-up trucks and took up positions near main highways. U.S. fighter jets flew overhead.

A convoy of police cars with sirens wailing drove around the center of Baghdad. The officers inside fired AK-47s in the air and raised pictures of Saddam and Iraqi flags to celebrate what Iraqi officials said was the recapture of the airport.

No sign of U.S. in Baghdad
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,6119,2-10-1460_1343684,00.html

Iraq Denies Reports of Coalition Entering Baghdad
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200304/05/eng20030405_114631.shtml

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Accounts Vary on U.S. Move Into Baghdad
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2535593,00.html

Everything is OK
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12280996,00.html


"The biggest difference between the Russians and Americans was that Russians recognized that 'the Party Line' was propaganda from the ruling elite, and Americans who receive 'the Mainstream Press' fail to recognize it as propaganda from the ruling elite and mistake it for reality." - Johan Galtung -

"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger."--Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." (Julius Caesar)

"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." - George Orwell

The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the State.--Joseph M. Goebbels

"Truth is not what is; truth is what people perceive it to be." Adolf Hitler, Propaganda Maxim


"The greatest threat to our world and its peace comes from those who want war, who prepare for it, and who, by holding out vague promises of future peace or by instilling fear of foreign aggression, try to make us accomplices to their plans." -- Hermann Hesse - Author (1877-1962)

"Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death." - Adolf Hitler

"I know two types of law because I know two types of men, those who are with us and those who are against us." - Hermann Goering, 1936

"You are either with us or against us."- George W. Bush, November 2001

"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." - George W. Bush, September 2001

"If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within."- President James Madison

Why they want Basra--

Basra is the second largest city of Iraq with an estimated population of about 1,377,000 in 2003.

The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources with many oil wells. The city also has an international airport. Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, millet, wheat, and livestock. The city's oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels a day (22,300 m³).

Rapid Dominance--

Rapid Dominance is a military doctrine that calls for attempting to directly influence your adversary's will, perception, and understanding of events by inducing a state of Shock and Awe It is not intended to replace the traditional military aim of destroying the adversary's military capability, but instead to integrate that destruction into a larger suite of actions intended to produce a psychological effect. There are indications that it was first applied systemically as a war doctrine by the United States in its 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Doctrine Of Rapid Dominance (shock and awe)--

The first detailed description of this doctrine was in Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance, a book written by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade, and published by the National Defense University in 1996.

In the closing days of the twentieth century American military planners believed that US had virtual military supremacy over any potential adversary. Looking ahead, however, it was believed that the military would be required to maintain the same level of supremacy with fewer resources, greater constraints, and increased tempo of operations. The concept of Rapid Dominance was proposed as one way to achieve these goals.

The aim of Rapid Dominance is to reduce an adversary's understanding, ability, and will to respond to an attack; to create sufficient "shock and awe" to render the enemy impotent. Methods of inducing "shock and awe" can include direct force applied to command and control centers, selective denial of information and dissemination of disinformation, overwhelming combat force, and rapidity of action. The development of precision guided munitions is one enabling technology for the doctrine of Rapid Dominance.