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Topic: Basra Baghdad Highway

	CNS - The Battle for Basra
		First, on a military level, Basra is connected to Baghdad by the Basra-Baghdad highway; thus taking this city would be the first step in cutting off Saddam's lifeline to the south.
		Additionally, Basra's population is predominantly Shi'a, and a popular uprising there could inspire the Shi'a of the south to revolt in a similar fashion.
		To protect Basra, Iraq fortified the city with minefields, barbed wire, and an artificially flooded lake nearly 18 miles long.
	cns.miis.edu /research/iraq/basra.htm (498 words)

	USATODAY.com - Iraqi Airways starts flights to southern Basra (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
		BASRA, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi Airways inaugurated a route from Baghdad to the southern city of Basra on Saturday, part of an expansion plan that also involves extreme security measures at the capital's airport.
		In Baghdad, aircraft must use a steep corkscrew landing that essentially entails diving to the airport to avoid anti-aircraft missiles that could be fired by insurgents.
		The main highway from Baghdad to the airport is so dangerous and violence-prone it has been nicknamed by locals as the "street of death." A suicide bomber this week attacked the main checkpoint to the airport, wounding at least 15 Iraqis, including several Iraqi Airways employees.
	www.usatoday.com /news/world/iraq/2005-06-05-iraqi-airways_x.htm (312 words)

	CNN.com - Basra governor: British threatening vote - Oct 10, 2005 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
		BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Recent tensions between Iraqi forces and the British military are threatening the upcoming constitutional referendum, the governor of Basra province warned Monday.
		Basra officials said the two men, dressed in civilian clothes, were arrested after they began firing on civilians.
		The attack occurred while the delegation was inside a mosque in western Baghdad.
	www.cnn.com /2005/WORLD/meast/10/10/iraq.main/index.html (734 words)

	British finally move into Basra, meet only scattered resistance
		BASRA, Iraq -- Ending a two-week standoff, hundreds of British troops in Challenger II tanks and Warrior armored vehicles moved into the center of Basra yesterday, meeting only scattered resistance from Iraqi fighters and escaping the urban combat they had been eager to avoid.
		The southernmost highway bridge over the Shatt al Basra waterway, linking Basra to the towns of Zubair eight miles to the south and Safwan on the Kuwaiti border, became a parade of looted goods and vehicles.
		The ease of the British move into Basra might have been facilitated by news from Baghdad, where U.S. soldiers and Marines have encircled the capital, captured its airport and moved into parts of the city.
	www.post-gazette.com /World/20030407basra0407p3.asp (1027 words)

	5
		People were driving out of Baghdad like crazy; it was a tremendous exodus."37 Most took shelter with friends or relatives in towns and cities they assumed would be spared the worst of allied bombing, particularly in the Kurdish north and the southern cities of Najaf and Karbala, where holy Shiite shrines are located.
		One explanation cited for the low level of civilian damage and casualties in Baghdad is the aircraft and ordnance used to attack targets in the city, as well as the rules of engagement for the pilots.
		A European journalist, who was based in Baghdad for 12 weeks prior to and after the start of the war, told MEW that Bataween's old one- and two-story homes are constructed of ochre-colored clay tile, which leaves a lot of dust in the air when they collapse.
	www.hrw.org /reports/1991/gulfwar/CHAP5.htm (17001 words)

	USATODAY.com - British soldiers free two from Basra jail (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
		In other violence in Basra, an Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times was killed after men claiming to be police officers abducted him from his home, the newspaper announced Monday.
		Shortly thereafter, on Aug. 2, Vincent was abducted at gunpoint and his body was discovered that night on the side of the highway south of Basra.
		The fighting in the oil city of Basra, 340 miles south of the capital, erupted after British armor encircled the jail where the two Britons were being held.
	www.usatoday.com /news/world/iraq/2005-09-19-british-basra_x.htm (2052 words)

	Middle East Online
		In Baghdad, an Iraqi defence ministry official was shot dead and his driver wounded when gunmen ambushed their car, an interior ministry official said.
		In southern Baghdad, three civilians were killed and three others wounded as a car bomb exploded on the main highway in Dura district, an interior ministry official said.
		Northeast of Baghdad, four Iraqi soldiers were killed and five others wounded when their checkpoint near Khalis, 80 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital, came under fire, a military source said.
	www.middle-east-online.com /english/?id=14470 (384 words)

	Gunmen kill two Finns in Baghdad - The Boston Globe
		BAGHDAD -- Gunmen killed two Finnish businessmen as they drove in Baghdad yesterday, the latest foreign civilians to die in Iraq since the US-led invasion a year ago.
		In the southern city of Basra, 14 British troops were wounded in two explosions during a demonstration.
		In Baghdad's western Abu Ghraib district on Sunday, a bomb exploded near a US patrol, killing a First Armored Division soldier and an Iraqi interpreter and wounding three troops, the military said.
	www.boston.com /news/world/middleeast/articles/2004/03/23/gunmen_kill_two_finns_in_baghdad?mode=PF (698 words)

	British troops launch raids on Basra \| Iraq \| Guardian Unlimited (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
		British marines today launched attacks on Basra with troops entering towns on the southern outskirts of the city and reports of fighting near bridges to the west.
		In a series of what officials termed "key" strikes on Baghdad, satellite-guided bombs were dropped overnight on the main training ground of the fedayeen paramilitary forces and an intelligence complex that the American military said was being used to "direct military intelligence operations and to coordinate the oppression of internal opposition".
		He stopped short of saying that the missiles had been responsible for the deaths in a marketplace in Baghdad last night, but US and British officials had suggested earlier in the day that stray Iraqi missiles could be to blame.
	www.guardian.co.uk /Iraq/Story/0,2763,925841,00.html (1450 words)

	RTE News - At least seven die in double blast in Baghdad
		Also south of Baghdad, in the city of Basra, four policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb targeted their patrol.
		And in a shooting in Fallujah west of Baghdad, gunmen killed Kamal Shakir al-Nazal, the head of Fallujah city council and the preacher of its main mosque, while he was heading to his work.
		Meanwhile, the US military has said that three marines were killed yesterday by a roadside bomb in the town of Hit, west of Baghdad, and that another marine died of his wounds after a separate roadside bomb attack in the Anbar province of western Iraq on Sunday.
	www.rte.ie /news/2006/0207/iraq.html (277 words)

	Notes From Baghdad (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
		I checked the possibilities of a flight to Basra or Baghdad, but in the end had to settle for the 'Amman-Baghdad road.
		While the highway to Baghdad is a busy international highway, continued robberies along it are a reminder of the drastic failure of the CF to ensure the safety of travelers and catch a handful of bandits.
		Baghdad is still suffering from shortages of electricity, a reduction of some 50% or more as compared to the pre-war level.
	www.mees.com /postedarticles/politics/ArabPressReview/a46n35c02.htm (1507 words)

	Baltic Loyalist
		More than 200 thousand men are needed to besiege Baghdad alone - just calculate it this way; 300 km inner perimeter - 100 men per kilometer - 30 thousand, plus the same number in the outward-facing trenches.
		This way you know, that the enemy is in front of you beyond the mines and wire; behind, and to both sides your buddies are ready to provide the fire support, if needed.
		In Baghdad there are creme-de-la-creme of the Iraqi army, and the city is five times bigger.
	groups.msn.com /BalticLoyalist/roadtobaghdad.msnw (1054 words)

	washingtonpost.com: Basra Defenders Burrow Into Residential Areas
		The British tank crews battling for Basra sought to move against the Iraqi tanks and artillery dug into residential areas, but permission was denied.
		The Iraqis holding out in Basra are members of the regular Iraqi army's 51st Mechanized Division, not the elite Republican Guard divisions that have been moved to defend the Baghdad region and are expected to put up the stiffest resistance.
		To the east, along the highway to Basra, British Fusiliers set up a checkpoint to keep anxious Iraqis from returning to a city still under heavy fighting.
	www.washingtonpost.com /ac2/wp-dyn/A14208-2003Mar23?language=printer (971 words)

	CLOSING IN ON BAGHDAD / STRATEGY: Lesson in Basra for planning next move -- the attack on Baghdad
		A similar strategy may be in store for Baghdad, which Saddam Hussein has vowed to transform into an Iraqi version of Stalingrad, the city on the Volga River where Soviet forces chewed up 20 German divisions in the bitter Russian winter of 1942-43.
		"Najaf has the most immediate access to the six-lane highway to Baghdad, and that highway is important for ground forces, with their huge forces and thousands of tanks and Bradley vehicles," he said.
		The U.S. Marines who fought in the initial battle for Basra have largely proceeded north toward Baghdad, leaving the city in the hands of British forces who are trying to persuade the encircled Iraqis to surrender rather than fight.
	www.sfgate.com /cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/03/23/MN195867.DTL&type=printable (985 words)

	ireland.com / Today / News in Focus / War on Iraq
		A separate military column crosses the river along the Basra-Baghdad highway, while US paratroopers seize a nearby desert landing strip and Iraqi jamming systems.
		BASRA: British forces outside the city say a violent uprising against Saddam Hussein's regime has erupted and that Iraqi troops opened fire to put down the revolt.
		This plan can be undone if the Republican Guard withdraws into Baghdad "to continue the war using civilians as cover".
	www.ireland.com /focus/iraq/warbriefing/day6.htm (818 words)

	Bombs kill 7 in Baghdad, 2 Britons in Basra
		BAGHDAD - Bombs killed two British contractors in southern Iraq and seven people in the heart of the capital Saturday.
		Its military headquarters is in Basra, where Britain also has a consulate general's office with about 20 employees.
		In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded Saturday afternoon near the National Theater in the city's Karradah district, killing seven people, including three policemen, police and witnesses said.
	www.azcentral.com /arizonarepublic/news/articles/0731iraq31.html (825 words)

	U.S. copter crashes in Iraq - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
		BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. military helicopter crashed Saturday during a “combat air patrol” southwest of Baghdad, but the status of the crew was unknown, according to the American command.
		On Saturday, gunmen killed three ice cream vendors in Baghdad’s southern neighborhood of Dora, while a butcher and his son were killed and another son was wounded in east Baghdad, police said.
		In Basra, a Sunni sheik was killed by gunmen in a speeding car when he left his home in the southern city.
	www.msnbc.msn.com /id/11923818 (834 words)

	Fighting More Critical, Losses Studied
		Using localized attacks the British are attempting to "lean" on Basra as closely as possible and to tighten the blockade, but so far they were unsuccessful.
		The British plan was to reach the Al-Arab River and to slice the local Iraqi defenses in half, separating Basra from the defending Iraqi forces on the Fao peninsula.
		Up to a battalion of the British marine infantry supported by armored vehicles entered the town of Al-Hasib from south but in less than an hour they were stopped by Iraqi fire and requested aviation and artillery support.
	www.rense.com /general36/losses.htm (1526 words)

	Flit
		But we haven't seen any Scuds yet, which due to their longer range and chemical capability certainly wouldn't be located in vulnerable Basra, if any remain from the 1991 war at all.
		Basra, meanwhile is being invested by the one heavy and two light (motorized at best) brigades remaining to the Brits.
		not much Iraqi fighting power is being invested in holding them back, and even if Basra fell tomorrow, that would only free up the one heavy brigade to start bumping up the far side of the Tigris to pin down the remaining Iraqi regular army forces in the south at Amarah.
	www.snappingturtle.net /flit/archives/2003_03_24.html (880 words)

	Boston.com / War in Iraq
		HIGHWAY 80 IN SOUTHERN IRAQ — U.S. and British forces moved in on Iraq's second-largest city Saturday, taking its airport and a bridge while Saddam Hussein's security forces resisted with artillery and heavy machine guns.
		U.S. forces captured the airport in north Basra after encountering resistance from Iraqi troops in armored personnel carriers, said Marine Lt. Eric Gentrup.
		The plan is not to storm the city but to force an Iraqi surrender and avoid bloody urban warfare.
	www.boston.com /news/daily/22/war_battlefield.htm (980 words)

	Telegraph \| News \| Basra diehards keep allies at bay
		But despite the massive technological advantages of the allies, progress was still slow in subduing a region that was meant to fold at the first push.
		According to the script, the process of liberating Basra and its surrounding province should have been well under way by now.
		The fighting was supposed to have finished and a modus vivendi established with the local authorities as the first aid shipments docked at Umm Qasr for distribution to the grateful population.
	www.telegraph.co.uk /news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/24/wbasra24.xml (955 words)

	[No title]
		First, as different columns of coalition troops are again reported closing in on Baghdad, the reports give high marks to the tactical performances of the U.S. forces and their remarkable ability, already displayed to adapt to radically different tactical problems from those they had been briefed and trained to expect.
		The Battle of Baghdad 'Ever so slowly, the suburbs were turned into battlefields' By Robert Fisk 06 April 2003 http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=394486 The Iraqi bodies were piled high in the pick-up truck in front of me, army boots hanging over the tailboard, a soldier with a rifle sitting beside them.
		Tank crews were gunning their T-72s down the highway past the main Baghdad railway yards in a convoy of armoured personnel carriers and Jeeps and clouds of thick blue exhaust fumes.
	lists.econ.utah.edu /pipermail/marxism-thaxis/2003-April.txt (22442 words)

	Al Jazeera English - Archive (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
		The attack was on a main road 390km north of Baghdad.
		It said the Marine was killed in the tense area west of Baghdad on Monday.
		In a statement, the army said its previous reports that a US soldier was also killed on Sunday in clashes with Shia protesters near Najaf were incorrect.
	english.aljazeera.net /NR/exeres/3E23D7FF-3065-48E5-9810-BD63DDCB03EA.htm (780 words)

	Iraqi army holds out in Basra, dashing hopes for quick takeover
		ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BASRA, Iraq -- Defiant Iraqi soldiers entrenched themselves yesterday in heavily populated residential areas of Basra and used artillery and Soviet-era T-55 tanks to hold off U.S. and British troops who have besieged the strategic southern Iraqi city for two days.
		U.S. and British officials had expressed hope this would be a quick prize in the opening salvos of the ground war, perhaps through a negotiated surrender, and a showcase for what they call the liberation of Iraq.
		British tank crews interviewed returning from the front-line entrances to Basra described running tank and artillery battles against a well-organized opposition army dug into the city and putting up tough resistance.
	www.post-gazette.com /World/20030324basra0324p6.asp (541 words)

	Kathryn Jean Lopez on Steven Vincent on National Review Online
		He told me that there is even a sort of "death car": a white Toyota Mark II that glides through the city streets, carrying off-duty police officers in the pay of extremist religious groups to their next assignment.
		Nour dropped her ID on the street, which is how the British were able to figure out who it was." Hours later, the American embassy in Baghdad would confirm Vincent dead, and his translator seriously wounded.
		June 21, 2005: Baffled in Basra: Self-defeating behavior persists.
	www.nationalreview.com /lopez/lopez200508030843.asp (875 words)

	The Massacre of Withdrawing Soldiers on "The Highway of Death"
		On the sixty miles of coastal highway, Iraqi military units sit in gruesome repose, scorched skeletons of vehicles and men alike, fl and awful under the sun, says the Los Angeles Times of March 11, 1991.
		While 450 people survived the inland road bombing to surrender, this was not the case with the 60 miles of the coastal road.
		The troops were withdrawing and removing themselves from combat under direct orders from Baghdad that the war was over and that Iraq had quit and would fully comply with UN resolutions.
	deoxy.org /wc/wc-death.htm (1525 words)

	CNN.com - Coalition grip tightens on Baghdad - Apr. 9, 2003
		U.S. Marines engage Iraqi troops at a warehouse on the Baghdad outskirts.
		In Baghdad Tuesday afternoon, U.S. warplanes unleashed two satellite-guided bombs on the ruling Baath party headquarters and Iraqi Information Ministry, hours after targeting Special Republican Guard and Republican Guard headquarters in the Iraqi capital, U.S. Army sources told CNN.
		One of those aircraft was shot down near Baghdad's airport, apparently by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile, Central Command spokesman Brig.
	www.cnn.com /2003/WORLD/meast/04/08/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html (1357 words)

	The Basra Massacre - Demopedia (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-15)
		On the inland highway to Basra is mile after mile of burned, smashed, shattered vehicles of every description - tanks, armored cars, trucks, autos, fire trucks, according to the March 18, 1991, Time magazine.
		On the sixty miles of coastal highway, Iraqi military units sit in gruesome repose, scorched skeletons of vehicles and men alike, fl and awful under the sun, says the Los Angeles Times of March 11, 1991.
		We continue to prosecute the war." On the next day, February 26, 1991, Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad radio that Iraqi troops had, indeed, begun to withdraw from Kuwait and that the withdrawal would be complete that day.
	demopedia.democraticunderground.com /index.php/The_Basra_Massacre (1347 words)

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