On the home front:
There has just been a report that the war protestors in Westwood are getting out of hand. The police are creating a police line to force the protestor out of traffic (they just said there are like 800-1200 people). The protestors are going into traffic and laying down.
For those of you who have never driven in the LA area, this is not good. It isn’t like the drivers won’t stop for you, but the drivers might be talking on their cellphones to their agents and not see you.
Amen to that
[python ]
Can’t I have just a little shock and awe?
[/python]
USMC ch-46d down in Kuwait, all aboard believed lost.
Apparently mechanical failure
Apparently British SAS commandos and US Marine crew aboard, possibly returning from covert ops. Carries up to 22 and 4 crew.
Reports of surrender, or even coup.
Confirmed that the chopper went down in Kuwait.
There were 8 Brits and 4 Americans on the chopper, according to FoxNews. The news ticker also said they were “believed lost.” 
MSNBC just interviewed a Washington Post reporter who says that Saddam and his sons were in one of the bunkers that was hit in the first wave of bombings. No confirmation if they were killed or not. The story will appear in tomorrows Washington Post.
FoxNews now saying 4 Americans and 12 British on chopper.
Several stations now showing tanks and other vehicles in a “convoy” screaming through the desert in southern Iraq . Reporter on Fox is in Humvee moving with tanks, has seen no Iraqi troops all.
“coalition forces on ground in north, south, and west”
CNN reports “shock and awe” is on hold. For the time being.
I think the prayer cycle varies a little with the length of the day, but yes, it is damned early. It makes me appreciate their devotion, but also very glad that I wasn’t raised Muslim. My friend in Saudi told me he would get up, pray, then go back to sleep. Last prayer at night was just around supper time, maybe 6-7 pm IIRC, so at least it allowed for some decent shut eye before the morning rounds, in theory. In reality, a lot of life in the desert is lived after sundown, so most folks seem to do shopping and spend family time at night when it is cool out.
Yes, 12 Brits and 4 Americans dead on the downed chopper. It was on it’s way back from a mission and had mechanical problems. It went down in Kuwait.
May their souls rest in peace.
CNN reports 20% defection rate in the Republican Guard (I believe that means 20% of the force, not 20% of those in combat) Reports from Al Jazera(sp?) saying Saddam has no operational control of the Iraqi military, i/e all military operating on their own, with no leadership.
Lots of speculation about who is alive or dead in the leadership in Iraq.
Seems to be a real lack of significant news: the networks are doing a lot of “background” analysis and just talking to embedded reporters about life among the troops. One report, however, notes that the Iraqi 11th seems to be moving south, which may mean that ground forces will face some opposition… or at least have to spend time calling in air support.
News agencies are speculating on the lack of scheduled briefings. The consensus seems to be that something unexpected is going on: that the military is waiting to figure out what’s going to happen before holding a press conferance. If there are going to be major defections, it could change everything
Reports now are that the 11th Army Division is both moving south towards U.S. troops, and that it has surrendered. U.S. troops in the south, which seemed to have paused in their move north, seem to be getting ready to move out again.
FoxNews reports that the grainy picture of a tank heading north that they’ve been displaying for the past few hours is “extremely interesting.”
Oil fields in Basrah definately on fire: black smoke is filling the sky and can be seen from various forces: one reporter counts from a distance at least four major independant plumes of smoke and several smaller ones, as well as fire reaching hundreds of feet into the sky.
8 instances of missle launches on Kuwait apparently, as they’ve declared that there have, as of yet, been no false alarms.
Quite interesting. Even if he’s alive, not having control over your armies in a time of war is a bad thing.
Is it because nobody is sure as to his status, because US/UK have knocked out a significant amount of communications/control/command facilities or because of a general disloyalty to saddam in general?
“We lose the old man, we lose our contacts and half our strength”-Tom Hagen, The Godfather
Lt Col Ben Curry of the Royal Marines released a statement this morning saying that 8 Royal Marines and 4 US aircrew were on board, and that there were no survivors. The Sea Knight was being used in the heliborne assault by Royal Marines on the Al Faw peninsula.
Bush administration promises consequences for the BBC’s airing of pool feed of Bush being primped for the war announcement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1027-2003Mar20.html
In a development that may or may not be related, two vials of ricin have been found by French police in the Gare de Lyon, Paris.