Various reports of communication with senior Iraqi military; possibly surrender talks. What’s the word on Saddam?
CNN, MSNBC, Fox News
Pentagon reports “this is only the beginning”. From Kirkuk to Baghdad to Basra, coalition forces are pounding Iraqi positions with unprecedented force. Most of the bombardments in Baghdad have now ceased for now. Coalition forces are quickly over-running southern Iraq with a “wave of steel” as columns of tanks 10 miles deep move swiftly across the desert. Most oil fields in southern Iraq have been secured. The Pentagon will be holding a press conference shortly. Baghdad has expelled CNN reporters.
Schwarzkopf is saying this bombardment boggles the mind. The Council of Ministers building is engulfed in flames, and it looks like a section in the middle is completely gone.
As the cameras flip around, you can see that there are large sections of Baghdad that are in perfect shape. Right now there’s smoke in the sky, even where you can’t see flames.
Sec’y of Defense will hold a press conference at 12:30 CST.
CNN, MSNBC, Fox News
Yet another wave of strikes against Baghdad has begun. Another series of explosions has now lasted for about two minutes. Peter Arnett reports, “This is bigger than the whole Gulf War. This looks sureal.” Strikes have apparently been extremely precise. Only government infrastructure has been destroyed. Iraqi government is “in complete disarry”. Pentagon briefing in five minutes.
I heard there’s a link to live video somewhere but i can’t find it. Right now I’m at work listening to cnnradio. Can anyone point me to live video feed?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/ - but you need to have RealPlayer
Cia says there were eyewitnesses of Saddam being carried out on a stretcher:
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash4bc.htm
KC says,
It is now believed that the Saddam’s initial broadcast was done legless.
I’d just like to thank all of you for this with a big up to Lib. I’m a news junky but am very busy and don’t have the time to follow the news.
Innocents have died tonight. The SOB got lots and lots of warnings. How sad.
Thanks guys and girls. I’m off again to disappear into my spreadsheets and think about how horrible the world is 
Thanks, the CNN RP feed didn’t work, but that one works fine.
Thanks again.
Related in the bigger scheme of things from Foxnews -
CNN, MSNBC, Fox News
Initial wave of Shock and Awe campaign described as “most massive bombing campaign in military history”. Baghdad is an eeire sight: although fires rage all across the horizon, the lights are still on and the electrical grid is still intact. Experts speculate that the power plants were spared to show the Iraqi people that this war is not against them.
Defense department restats objectives: the elimination of WMDs and the liberation of the Iraqi people. Joint Chiefs Chairman is going over certain details of compaign. Map shows that coalition forces now control almost all important strategic objectives, and “wave of steel” is closing in on Baghdad. Pentagon video is showing film of some precision strikes. Calls on Iraqi Republican Guard to surrender. Several hundred military targets will be hit over the next few hours. Intensity of compaign will not ease until the regime of Saddam Hussein has fallen.
Rumsfeld insists that targeting capabilities are extremely precise, and that comparing this campaign to bombing raids of yesteryear is inaccurate. Even the amount of explosive can be tailored to a particular target. He is now taking questions.
from ABCnews.com:
–(Unconfirmed) Groups loyal to Hussein have been told that he is alive, but that his son Odai was killed in the bunker assault.
–Iraqi TV broadcasts showed Hussein, his son Qusai, and Defense Minister Saddam Hashem Ahmed in a meeting, which supposedly took place today.
And this one, which tugged at my heartstrings:
sending best wishes to the journalists
CNN reports that camera views of Baghdad bombings provide a bit of optical illusion. Although it looks like the entire city is ablaze, the explosions seem to have been concentrated on the “huge, sprawling” palace complexes of Saddam Hussein, along with certain communications and air-defense facilities. A new wave of strikes appears to be in progress as Bagdhad artillery is fired up again.
Ananova is now reporting two US Marines killed in action near Umm Qasr.
The commander of the Iraqi 51st Mechanized division has surrendered to the U.S. Marines.
Fox News reports that more than 500 cruise missiles and “a considerable amount of ordnance” from B2s and B52s hit Iraq today. CNN reports that citizens of Baghdad are “surprised” that their lights and water are still on; they had prepared for severe outages. MSNBC reports that Saddam’s presidential compound — including foreign ministry and other offices — is “completely annihilated”. That compound alone was hit with 5 cruise missiles. Basra is expected to be captured within the next few hours.
CNN reports that coalition is broadcasting messages to Iraqi troops over loudspeakers that Iraq has lost the war, apparently as part of a disinformation campaign that accompanies Shock and Awe tactics. Pentagon has said that more than 1,500 separate munitions have been dropped on Iraq. Cities of Mosul and Kirkuk in northern Iraq are under seige, and have been hit with “a staggering amount of firepower”. Turkey has given coalition go-ahead to use two air corridores. Initial explosions from first wave in Baghdad were primarily “bunker busters” that took out Saddam’s bunkers. Such weapons are designed to penetrate as much as 9 feet of reinforced concrete and then explode at a predetermined depth. Coalition weaponry is so sophisticated that coordinates can be changed in mid-flight. General Myers (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) says that hundreds more targets will be hit in the next few hours. He says that the Iraqi military can end the hostilities by surrendering.