An Iraqi woman cries as she walks in front of a bakery that was destroyed in Baghdad Sunday, April 6 foto AP
14th day since coalition forces entered Iraq. Our operations are achieving the desired effects, and our coalition soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines continue to make our nations proud.
As always, we remember those who have fallen, and their loved ones.
The coalition attacks against the regime remain effective throughout the country, and there is increasing evidence that the regime cannot control its forces or the Iraqi population in most of the country.
I have two products to show you from recent precision attacks against the regime.
The first one is a regime command and control facility in downtown Baghdad. The target was stuck on the 27th of March. This is an important facility that was used for military control and also civilian communications. The tower beside it is very obvious. That tower has a restaurant on top and a child care center at the base. We were well aware of that before we considered the attack of the target nearby. And it also illustrates the kinds of design the regime will go to to protect infrastructure that they know to be at risk. You can see the different impact points off to the side, and in the post- strike image what was hit. This area is completely unaffected, and only the desired target areas have damage. And there's a different degree of damage on each one of them, and that's by design by the weapons that were chosen.
The second image is a command and control facility also in Baghdad. This one was struck with 12 different impact points hit simultaneously. It occurred on the 29th of March. The post-image, please. It was an effective attack against that complex.
Our coalition special operations forces in northern Iraq coordinated very effective air attacks against the 15th Mechanized Division, a regular army unit. We've had communication with divisions along the green line and also provided information to them about the potential damage that will occur in the future.
Additionally, our special operations forces have enjoyed very good freedom of action, and have moved into a number of positions to deny regime movement along the road that joins Tikrit and Baghdad. There have been several skirmishes that have occurred in these areas, and the mission remains successful.
Special operations forces remain in control of the Hadithah Dam. I mentioned that we had seized that at yesterday's briefing to prevent its destruction and the release of certain water flow that would affect the down-river areas particularly near Karbala. This shows the dam itself. The town of Hadithah is just to the south of it. There have been repeated attacks against the force holding the dam by artillery and mortars, and we believe these are being shot by counter special operations units operating from the town of Hadithah. The coalition forces in place have been well-supported by close air support, and that has enabled them to hold the dam.
I have a short video that shows the initial seizure of the dam by special operations forces and some of the action that has occurred since that time. The initial assault did occur at night. Initial fires against known targets that were in the area. We have the entry inside the initial parts of the dam. This is a very robust structure that had 16 floors inside it and underground. The top of the dam, in daylight. This is what they can observe from the dam, and that is a counter-artillery strike.
source, suite + comment in German pls GOTO comment

More special operations raids against key regime locations continued in the last 24 hours as well. Last night, a special operations element raided the Tharthar Palace, on the outskirts of Baghdad. This is approximately 90 kilometers outside of Baghdad, roughly 56 miles. It is a known residence that is used by Saddam Hussein and his sons. The next clip I'll show you is part of the raid itself. There is footage from an aerial observation platform as well as a combat camera on the ground. In some cases, we've been able to join those two things together, so you'll see an action from the air, and the it's picked up on the ground, and vice versa.

(Video is shown.)

They did take fire on entry from anti-aircraft artillery. Near the entry point of the compound itself, the helicopter was put down on the ground. And aerial gunship provided some support, as required. You can see the movement in the upper corner. Entering into the building, it was just blown open. The raid did not yield any regime leaders in this case, but documents were taken that will be valuable for intelligence, and they will be examined further. The raiding force did accomplish its mission, with no combat losses. And this illustrates the ability of this coalition to operate anywhere against any regime target.

The land component attack to destroy Republican Guard forces defending the outskirts of Baghdad continued throughout the day and is ongoing. We begin with actions by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, isolating the town of al-Kut, and continue their attacks west of An- Numaniyah. This is a zoom-in that shows just the relationship between the two. Al-Kut on the east side, the river as it goes along -- this is the Tigris River -- and Numaniyah. There is a road that runs along the northern side of the river, and by seizing that location and the space between it, the 1st MEF commander now has a number of maneuver options.

Fifth Corps penetrated the Karbala Gap, as we refer to it, and that's the narrow area between the town of Karbala and the Lake Razzaza which is off to the left side. You can see these marked on the map -- Karbala on the side, Lake Razzaza beyond it, and this is a narrow gap through which the 5th Corps forces had to push. It was defended by the Baghdad Division and elements of the Nebuchadnezzar Division. Most of those were arrayed in here and further up to the northwest.

In crossing through this area, the 5th Corps forces were able to seize a bridge intact over the Euphrates River. It was in fact rigged for demolition. They were able to remove the demolition, cross the bridge, and continue the attack. At this point, 5th Corps is conducting a deliberate attack toward Baghdad, carefully done, and developing the fight as opportunities emerge. They are also continuing raids against identified regime pockets in places where the regime no longer has control.

I want to highlight at this point the treatment that is extended by our forces on the battlefield. As our coalition forces advance, they do not overlook wounded Iraqi combatants. Medical attention is provided whenever it's possible. This next image shows you some medical treatment, emergency medical treatment being provided to a wounded Iraqi, who was stabilized before further evacuation. During this treatment, there was a report of an incoming missile. The medical treatment crews put on their protective masks to increase their protective posture, and continued to treat the patient.

The same thing applies to civilians that are encountered on the battlefield that require medical attention. One great example is the story of a child born in the battalion aid station of a Marine infantry battalion near Nasiriyah just yesterday.

Our maritime component continues its efforts to keep the waterways open, and as they did some patrolling yesterday along the Khor Abdullah, which remains a primary focus to ensure that humanitarian supplies can come in, they discovered a small boat that was beached along one of the banks. As the small boat was searched and inspected, they discovered first that there were booby traps on it, but also that there were weapons caches nearby in the surrounding area. Several weapons were found inside of this, and also a tunnel complex that joined these different caches one to another. Small arms, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, gas masks and uniforms were found at these sites. An expanded search is ongoing.

We continue to deliver leaflet products throughout the country. Some are related to not interfering with coalition forces, and others are directed to specific units, informing them of the consequences already inflicted on some of their colleagues in different parts of the battlefield.

The coalition's efforts to preserve Iraq's future resources also continue on a daily basis, and I would highlight a few things. First, our oil engineers and ordinance disposal teams are continuing to make assessments in the Ramallah oil fields and the southern oil field region. As these assessments occur, throughout more and more of the oil field we discover new examples of intentional sabotage and destruction attempts by the regime. These efforts -- these attempts have not occurred recently, but what we're finding is the evidence of attempts that occurred before we came in.

The good news is there are only two wellheads on fire still, but there are more that will require repairs that we've discovered. And these next images show some examples of what we've found.

In this case, the regime placed an explosive charge on the wellhead and detonated it, and it separated one of the pipes from the wellhead. You can see in this one that there are some flange bolts that are bent over, and other ones that are just severed off. The connecting pipes are also broken. There's usually a joining piece here. And, as with many other places, there is electrical firing wire that's associated with the demolition.

Another image shows a different wellhead, and you can see how saboteurs tried to explosively rupture the wellhead at its base. That's one of the methods of trying to create the fire. You blow an explosive at the base of it, which causes then a secondary ignition of oil spray that comes up, and it remains on fire. And that's what we've seen in the two wellheads that are still burning. In this case, it did not succeed in breaking through the pipe, but did cause some damage. Explosive scarring is visible, and also the denting of the casing. This one will be fairly easily repaired, and there are some that have a little bit more damage than that. What I would also tell you is that about 12 feet if time fuse and 60 feet of wiring were recovered at this particular wellhead.

We've also seen some electronic firing devices that were recovered from some of the damaged wells. The next image shows that. Each one of these is an electronic device so that they could be triggered to fire at a later time. Fairly deliberate work, but it was not done very well, and we're thankful for that. The good news is the damage is done, but will require relatively minor repair compared to the potential damage that could have occurred if the attempts had been more thorough.

And I would at that the -- at the current time, we have Iraqi oil field workers that are being interviewed to begin work again, and they should be able to begin work potentially as early as next week, with pay.

Our civil affairs teams continue their efforts to make great progress wherever they do their work. For example, I reported that a children's school opened in Umm Qasr recently. The next photo here shows another school, this one near An Najaf, where civil affairs teams are orchestrating and assisting repairs, getting it cleaned up to get it put back into use. This is a school. Also in An Najaf, the coalition is providing fresh water and interfacing with the populace whenever they can.

In the background of this image, you can see a military -- what we call a water buffalo. It's a water container, and it has spigots on the outside of it. That is being used to provide water to the Iraqi population, and that's being carried in this case in a very large container. The response beyond that looks about like this.

The last thing I'll point is, first, in the wake of yesterday's operations near Najaf and -- (inaudible) -- operations to date, a prominent cleric, Grand Ayatollah Sistani (sp), who had been placed under house arrest by the regime for a considerable period of time, issued a fatwa. And it was done this morning, instructing the population to remain calm and to not interfere with coalition actions. We believe this is a very significant turning point, and yet another indicator that the Iraqi regime is approaching its end.
wie üblich denken wir erstmal an unsre gefallenen
schade schade schade
und dann machen wir weiter.
bis die groß-göttliche mission erlÄdigt ist.
angesichts dieses comments verfalle ich wieder in meinen unrettbaren zynismus
nun gut, das war die langersehnte rede von brooks am 3. april, ich hoffe dass der krieg nun doch nicht länger als 1 monat dauert
source http://www.centcom.mil

that some of the responsible persons may read me here
ORF.at - do you really MEAN it, that in the 4,2 cm center of the enormous frame we are able to inform ourselves about the latest speech of saddam??