Where to get information
By John Catalinotto
It is hard to get good information about the
war and especially about Baghdad these days. But those who
check out certain alternative sources will at least find
something a lot closer to the truth than the propaganda coming
from the Pentagon's Command Center in Qatar.
A "brigade" of people from Spain and the Basque Country have
been in Baghdad since before the U.S. invasion began. They give
daily reports, both on the civilian victims of the U.S. bombs
and the mood in the city. Here are a few items from their April
7 reports, after a major U.S. incursion into the city.
"The information distributed by the [Spanish press agency]
EFE correspondent in Baghdad, Alberto Mazagosa, from the third
floor of the Hotel Palestina, in the midst of a formidable
sandstorm and without leaving his apartment, that the
Republican Guard surrendered en masse, has no basis in
truth.
"This new incursion could be one more like those the
invading force has attempted in the last few days and, like all
the others, could be withdrawn. In any case we remain certain
that the resistance will remain firm, and that the Iraqis will
not surrender."
The above reports unabridged can be found in Spanish, and
some are translated into English, on the web site www.
nodo50.org/csca.
Four doctors from the Belgium Medical Team of Medicine for
the Third World got through the heavy bombing and fighting in
Baghdad on April 7. Two had just reached the city after driving
from Damascus. They were unable, however, to reach the
hospitals that day to help with the hundreds of wounded Iraqis
or to deliver the medicine they had brought from Brussels.
From the Sheraton Hotel, where they are staying, they
witnessed the battle across the Tigris in the western part of
town. In the afternoon, however, shops opened again, cars were
driving around and life was more or less back to normal. "The
Iraqi resistance troops remain visible in our part of town,"
one of them says. "Some are driving around cheering and waving
flags of Iraq, just like after a victorious football
match."
Look these up at www.irak.be/ned/ index.htm for English,
French and Dutch. They can also be reached through
www.iacenter.org.
A site giving cold military assessments can be found at
www.aeronautics.ru, which reportedly gets its analysis from
contacts in Russian military intelligence. Again, from April
7:
"By the afternoon Iraqi actions became more confident.
"There is information that one of yesterday's air strikes
severely damaged one of their communication and control centers
and currently the Iraqi command has to control their units
using VHF-stations and envoys, which delays battle-orders and
commands.
"Today the American command had to admit that the fighting
potential of Bagh dad defenders is 'fairly high' and the rivals
show no sign of demoralization."
Reprinted from the April 17, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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