U.S. Forces Move Into Kuwait-Iraq DMZ

[Hopeless_in_GA]

U.S. Forces Move Into Kuwait-Iraq DMZ -Sources
Wed March 19, 2003 06:32 AM ET
KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti security sources said on Wednesday that U.S.-led forces had moved into the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that straddles the Iraq-Kuwait border, apparently in preparation for an imminent attack on Iraq.

"Troops walked into the DMZ this morning at around 11 a.m. (3 a.m. EST)," a Kuwaiti security force source working in the Umm Qasr area in the east of the zone said. "American convoys are still driving toward Umm Qasr."

Tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops are in the desert in north Kuwait preparing to attack. President Bush has said his forces will invade if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not flee by early Thursday.

A U.S. military spokesman said he could not confirm or deny that troops were inside the DMZ. A British army spokesman said only that soldiers had taken up "forward battle positions."

The DMZ extends three miles into Kuwait and six miles into Iraq. It was not clear how far in the troops were. United Nations observers pulled out of the DMZ on Monday. Small groups of engineers slipped in last week to cut gates in the fence but combat units were now in place there, the sources said.

 

[RFtech]

wont be long now.

10,000 crise missles in the air tonight and then its on.

 

[Ty Webb]

More than that has happened, but you have to go outside of the networks to read about it. One of the best sources for Middle East stuff is debka.com whihc is a commercial intelligence company made up of former Israeli Mossad types. Here's what they are saying:

Invasion begins

US war commanders grabbed the element of surprise after all. While most analysts and forecasters predicted a mighty aerial-missile blitz over Baghdad as the war’s opener, the campaign began Wednesday, March 19 with a lighting advance by Marine forces into southern Iraq along the Shatt el Arb River towards the big naval base and town of Umm Qasr. Fighting alongside the Americans are two brigades of the British 1st Armored Division and naval vessels landing Marine units south of Basra. The first clash of the war occurred shortly after in the mouth of the Khawr al-Zubayr river, a few miles south of Umm Qasr.

The US-UK column is heading at top speed for the oil fields of southern Iraq which have been surrounded by American and British special forces since earlier this month. DEBKAfile’s military experts view this first major military move in the war as a bold tactic to prevent the sabotage of the oil fields, with the largest field in southern Iraq, Rumailah, at highest risk.

A second column of US 3rd Infantry Division troops crossed into the demilitarized zone on the Iraqi border with Kuwait accompanied by thousands of tanks, combat vehicles and fuel trucks.

AND

According to an exclusive report reaching DEBKAfile from its military and intelligence sources, top members of the Saddam Hussein regime have begun to desert him. Sources in Kurdistan report that deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz visited Turkey and instead of returning to Baghdad headed into Kurdistan and went into hiding under Kurdish protection. He is said to be under interrogation by American intelligence officers. Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan has not been seen in Baghdad for three days and may too have fled the country.

Both men were elevated to their positions in 1991 after long service to Saddam Hussein as his most trusted lieutenants.

From northern Iraq we hear that hundreds of Iraqi soldiers and officers are streaming to the Turkoman town of Tozkhurmato, discarding their weapons outside the town and turning themselves in.

From the warfront we hear that the Marine column crossing the demilitarized line from Kuwait is moving toward Nassariyah in southern Iraq, its objective being to cross the Euphrates and reach Baghdad in two or three days.