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News, 09-16/04/03 (1) BBC CHRONOLOGY RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE (PERHAPS) * Spooks Lose the Iraq Plot * Did Russians use blog to aid Iraqis? BBC CHRONOLOGY http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2930885.stm * Iraq latest: At-a-glance BBC News Online, 9th April 0040: US military spokesman warns of swift and serious consequences if Iraqi forces fail to abide by Geneva conventions, as two airmen are missing after their F-15E plane went down on Sunday. 0130: Former Indian royal offers to pay for medical treatment to fit 12-year-old Iraqi boy with artificial arms, after a missile hit his Baghdad home and caused severe injuries. 0330: Sound of gunfire heard shortly after daybreak in Baghdad. 0340: Periods of intense firing alternating with periods of calm reported in the centre of Baghdad. 0425: American marines are consolidating positions in eastern Iraq taken without resistance on Tuesday, and are close to being able to link up with British troops coming from Basra in the south, opening an eastern supply corridor to Baghdad. 0440: Abu Dhabi TV says 27 of its employees in Baghdad spent the "night under siege", and are waiting to be moved from what it called "the besieged area" in which US and Iraqi forces were exchanging fire. 0630: US and Kurdish forces have captured control of a key mountain from which Iraqis have been defending the northern city of Mosul, a senior Kurdish official says. 0650: US marines in eastern Iraq say they have taken control of the headquarters of the Iraqi 10th Armoured Division near the town of Amara without a fight. 0652: BBC correspondents in Baghdad say their activities are no longer being monitored by Iraqi minders and they can freely move around the city for the first time since the start of the war. 0702: US and British forces say they are planning to hold a regional conference soon to establish a political leadership for the whole of southern Iraq. 0820: Looting breaks out in Baghdad, with no sign of uniformed Iraqi soldiers or police on the streets of the city. BBC correspondents say hundreds of cheering Iraqi civilians - chanting pro-American and anti-Saddam slogans - welcome US marines advancing into Baghdad from the east. 0850: Senior British military spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood says it is too early to say that the Iraqi regime has crumbled. 0855: There are scenes of jubilation in the Kurdish-held town of Irbil in northern Iraq. 0930: US military spokesman at Central Command, Captain Frank Thorpe, says the coalition continues to be cautious and warns that "there may be many fierce days of fighting ahead". 0940: International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman in Geneva Nada Doumani tells the BBC that the agency's staff are unable to work any longer in Baghdad, as it is too dangerous to move around the city. 1004: US troops entering Baghdad from the north-west meet resistance from Iraqi forces, the BBC's Gavin Hewitt reports. 1018: The International Committee of the Red Cross says one of its staff members - Vatche Arslanian from Canada - has gone missing after the agency's vehicle he was travelling in came under fire on Tuesday. 1019: "The command and control in Baghdad appears to have disintegrated," Tony Blair's spokesman says. But he warns that the US-led coalition could still face "fierce" resistance. 1036: A column of US tanks takes up positions around Tahrir Square in the centre of Baghdad on the east bank of the Tigris River. 1038: The headquarters of the Iraqi Olympic Committee - which is run by Saddam Hussein's son, Uday - has been set on fire, the BBC's Andrew Gilligan reports. 1106: Tony Blair says any declaration of surrender by Saddam Hussein's regime must come from someone with proper authority. 1118: The BBC's Paul Wood in Baghdad says there has been a lot of gunfire as shopkeepers try to defend their property and rival gangs of looters fight over the spoils. 1129: US military spokesman Brigadier General Vincent Brooks says Saddam Hussein loyalists in the north - including his hometown of Tikrit - still pose a threat and "any fighting there... would be similar to what we have seen in other parts of the country". 1231: A column of US tanks arrives at the Palestine Hotel in the centre of Baghdad, where most reporters covering the war are based. 1300: Iraqi civilians attack a giant statue of Saddam Hussein in al-Fardus (Paradise) Square, central Baghdad . 1400: US Vice-President Dick Cheney says the campaign in Iraq "is proceeding with speed and success". 1415: President Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, says "The scenes on TV show the thirst for freedom is unquenchable." 1452: American armoured personnel carrier pulls down a giant statue of Saddam Hussein in al-Fardus (Paradise) Square, central Baghdad, to the cheers of jubilant Iraqis. 1522: Spokesman for UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says Downing Street is "delighted" with scenes it has seen from across Iraq. 1551: Commander of the US 3rd Infantry Division, General Buford Blount, tells Reuters the heart of Baghdad has been secured and the "end of the combat phase is days away". 1613: The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has recovered the body of Canadian staff member Vatche Arslanian, who had been missing since being caught in crossfire in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday. 1835: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld describes the earlier scenes in Baghdad as breathtaking, saying that history was unfolding - events which would shape the future of the whole Middle East region, but warns that fighting will continue for some time. 1852: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Syria has been ignoring a warning he gave last week about giving military assistance to Iraq and that some senior Iraqis were fleeing to Syria. 1915: US Vice President Dick Cheney says talks will soon be held with exiled Iraqis and local leaders near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya to begin planning for an interim Iraqi government. 2030: Iraq's UN ambassador, Mohammed al-Douri, says "the game is over" and he hopes the Iraqi people soon will be able to live in peace. He is the first senior Iraqi official to admit that Saddam Hussein no longer controls Baghdad. 2250: US warplanes heard flying above Kirkuk, as Kurdish fighters advance towards the city, Reuter reports. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2934683.stm * Iraq latest: At-a-glance BBC News Online, 10th April 0110: Latest Pentagon figures show 101 US soldiers killed and 399 wounded in Iraq, with seven being held as POWs. 0150: US military is moving more giant Moab bombs to the Gulf region, AFP reports. 0330: A series of loud blasts are reported in Baghdad, apparently coming from the city's outskirts. The cause was uncertain, AFP reported. 0530: Heavy fighting breaks out close to one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. A convoy of US marines is under heavy fire from a large group of Iraqis. They take up defensive positions around a mosque amid rumours that the Iraqi leader might be inside. 0700: Marines search mosque after sustained heavy fire from large group of Iraqi defenders - one marine killed, at least 13 wounded, US military says. 0735: US B-52 bombers pound Iraqi division dug in near Kirkuk in north. 0755: French President Jacques Chirac voices "satisfaction" at downfall of Saddam Hussein and hopes for quick end to fighting. 0832: BBC correspondent in outskirts of Kirkuk reports chaotic celebrations in street as Kurdish fighters (peshmergas) and US special forces enter the northern oil city. The fighters say they control city centre, but pockets of Iraqi resistance remain. 0915: Kurds seen looting buildings in Kirkuk, making off with trucks piled high with fridges and other goods. 1005: US military says fighting around mosque in north-western Baghdad has ended. 1030: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul says Ankara is watching events in northern Iraq closely and "whatever is necessary will be done". 1050: UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush to address Iraqi people directly on Thursday on new TV station called "Towards Freedom," Mr Blair's office says. In pre-recorded statements both leaders promise new era of freedom for Iraqis. 1213: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul says he has been told by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that fresh US forces will be in the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk within a few hours. 1240: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul says Turkish military observers will be send to Kirkuk soon to monitor the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from the northern Iraqi town. 1300: UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush address Iraqi people directly on a new TV station called "Towards Freedom", pledging that power in the country will be turned to the Iraqi people. 1305: A crowd in Kirkuk topples a statue of Saddam Hussein. 1352: Syria calls for an "end of the occupation" of Iraq "so that the people of Iraq can choose their government freely" in a statement released by the Syrian Foreign Ministry. 1353: A Baghdad hospital is ransacked and other hospitals in the Iraqi capital are closed because of the street violence and looting, Red Cross spokeswoman Nada Doumani says. 1400: UN Secretary General says Kofi Annan says Iraqis have paid a heavy price for the fall of Saddam Hussein's government. Mr Annan says the main priority now is the restoration of law and order in the country. 1412: President George W Bush's spokesman Ari Fleischer reassures Turkey by saying that US forces "will be in control of Kirkuk". 1452: Iraqi Shia Muslim leader Abdul Majid al-Khoei and another cleric are murdered in the central Iraqi town of Najaf. Mr al-Khoei - who returned to Iraq from exile earlier this week - was stabbed to death inside the Imam Ali mosque. 1540: At least four US marines are injured in an apparent suicide bombing attack near a military checkpoint in Baghdad. 1630: The US strongly condemns the murder of a leading Shia Muslim cleric in Najaf. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says the government is committed to maintaining security on the ground. 1656: There are reports that several ministries have been set on fire in central Baghdad amid widespread looting. 1740: The Pentagon says aid deliveries to Iraq have dramatically improved. 1827: The top official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Barham Saleh, tells the BBC that the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties have agreed to withdraw their forces from Kirkuk, starting on Friday. 2125: A senior Pentagon official says Kurdish forces went into Kirkuk against a specific US request not to. 2220: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says small numbers of US troops and Kurdish forces are moving into Iraq's third city of Mosul after signs of Iraqi surrenders in the area. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2938181.stm * Iraq latest: At-a-glance BBC News Online, 11th April 0104: US military says its warplanes have dropped six JDAM "smart bombs" on a home west of Baghdad of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's half brother Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti. He used to head Iraq's secret police. 0443: Iraqi defenders reportedly abandon northern town of Mosul. 0645: US appeals to municipal workers in Baghdad to help them restore order to the Iraqi capital. 0723: Two Iraqi children have been shot dead by US marines at a checkpoint in Nasiriya; nine other Iraqis were injured when the marines shot at a car which failed to stop, the BBC's Adam Mynott reports. 0736: Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein attack the Iraqi embassy in Tehran. 0745: Television pictures show people looting cash from a bank in the centre of Mosul. 0819: Fierce fighting near Qaim on the Syrian border may be Iraqis trying to defend a site containing missiles or even weapons of mass destruction, US military sources tell the BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus. 0950: General Tommy Franks, commander of US forces in Iraq, says the leaders of Saddam Hussein's regime are dead or trying to flee. 1003: Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describes the US-led war as an aggression against Islam though he adds that Iran is happy to see the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. 1015: A spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross expresses alarm at the looting and public unrest in Baghdad and Basra and calls on coalition forces to reimpose law and order as required of them under the Geneva Conventions. 1020: The entire 5th Corps of the Iraqi army surrenders to coalition forces at the northern city of Mosul, US military officials say. 1108: US-led special forces have found and destroyed five light aircraft north of Tikrit which could have been used by regime leaders hoping to flee, General Brooks says. 1113: The US has identified 55 leaders of Saddam Hussein's regime it will "pursue, kill or capture", according to General Brooks. He said some of them were trying to leave Iraq and coalition troops had been given playing-card-like guides to identify the "most wanted" people. 1136: Baghdad's international airport will be opened to humanitarian flights "soon" but risks remain, says US Brigadier-General Vince Brooks. 1145: Britain is beginning to scale back its forces in the Gulf, according to Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram. Some personnel have already returned and others will return shortly, he says. 1202: Kurdish officials say their fighters are beginning to leave Kirkuk as US special forces move in to secure the northern city, but the BBC's Dumeetha Luthra says there is little evidence of change on the ground. 1225: Turkey is sending military observers to Kirkuk to monitor the situation, according to the country's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. 1330: Jay Garner, the retired general picked by the US to oversee the creation of a new Iraqi administration, visits the southern port of Umm Qasr to reassure local people that the US wants to help Iraqis rebuild their own country, not take over. He says his first priority will be to set up a new police force. 1350: A senior official from one of the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan - tells the BBC that peshmerga forces are expected to start withdrawing from Kirkuk in a few hours' time. 1410: The Red Cross in Geneva says it is a scandal that the medical system in Baghdad is close to collapse, but after discussions with the US and Britain, says it is hopeful that the situation will soon begin to improve. 1520: Mobs in Baghdad have looted Iraq's largest archaeological museum, the French news agency AFP reports. 1615: Television pictures show government and commercial buildings on fire in Baghdad as unrest is reported to continue. 1625: A Kurdish leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Barham Saleh, says Kurdish guerrillas have now started pulling out from the city of Kirkuk. 1630: Aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres says the two members of its Baghdad team missing since 2 April have made contact after being released from an Iraqi jail where they spent the last nine days. 1737: A US delegation will meet members of the Iraqi opposition on Tuesday in the southern city of Nasiriya to discuss Iraq's future and an interim government, the US State Department announces. 1803: Pentagon releases new US casualty figures for Iraq war: 107 troops killed and 399 wounded or otherwise injured. 1815: The Russian and French presidents, Vladimir Putin and Jacques Chirac, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder hold trilateral summit on Iraq in the Russian city of St Petersburg. 1817: A BBC correspondent in northern Iraq says there is little evidence that Kurdish fighters are withdrawing from the strategic city of Kirkuk despite initial reports of them pulling back. 1829: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticises media coverage of the Iraq war, saying there is too much stress on anarchy and lawlessness following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. 1843: Heavy gunfire continues around the Saddam City district of Baghdad, the BBC's Andrew North reports from a US marine position there. 1900: President Vladimir Putin says Russia is ready to consider writing off Iraq's debt. The US has asked Russia, France and Germany to consider the issue in order to help Iraq rebuild its battered economy. 1922: Russian, French and German leaders call for a central role for the United Nations in rebuilding Iraq at their summit in St Petersburg. 1925: Russian President Vladimir Putin asks why coalition forces have not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - the reason given for going to war. "It is strange that nothing has been found yet," he says at the St Petersburg summit. 1929: Medical staff and civilian volunteers are defending some of Baghdad's hospitals with guns so bad has the looting become, a BBC correspondent reports. 1938: The speaker of the German parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, says it is wrong to compare events in Baghdad with the bloodless fall of the Berlin Wall. He was speaking after remarks by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. 1945: US President George W Bush says the war is over when General Tommy Franks says the US has met its military objectives. He says he does not know whether Saddam Hussein is alive or dead, but that he has certainly lost power. Mr Bush also urges Syrian leaders to do "everything they can" to close Syria's borders to fleeing Iraqi leaders. 1954: Russian President Vladimir Putin says under no circumstances should a new colonialism be allowed to establish itself in Iraq. He urges Washington to take urgent steps to give the UN a role in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2941605.stm * Iraq latest: At-a-glance BBC News Online, 12th April 0200: An official overnight curfew declared by US forces in the city of Mosul is due to end, at 0600 local time. 0222: Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed al-Douri, leaves the US, Reuters news agency reports. He is heading to Paris, and then on to Damascus, Syria. 0452: Kurdish soldiers begin leaving northern city of Kirkuk which they seized on Thursday. 0640: Overnight air strikes reported against Tikrit, said to be the last remaining stronghold of loyalists to Saddam Hussein. 0658: US reinforcements reported to have reached Mosul. 0749: UK troops hope to start patrols with local police in Basra to quell civil disorder, according to a military spokesman, Group Captain Al Lockwood. 0807: The BBC's Paul Wood in Baghdad says violence is now taking place across the religious divide, with Sunni Muslims fighting gun battles with their Shia neighbours. 0930: US military officials say marines recovered four journalists from a hospital in Baghdad. One was dead, one was unhurt and two were taken to a field hospital for treatment for injuries suffered at the Palestine Hotel as the US advanced into central Baghdad on Tuesday. 0945: An airfield near Tikrit was attacked by a B-52 using a new targeting system - the first time the laser-guided "Litening" technology has been used in combat, US commanders say. 1005: Advance units of the US' 30,000-strong 4th Infantry Division have moved into Iraq from Kuwait, military officials say. The BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the troops who were originally scheduled to lead a northern attack from Turkey may be heading for Tikrit. 1011: United Nations staff will return to northern Iraq on Monday, to be followed by more teams of international workers heading to the west and south of the country, according to the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq. 1046: Turkey's Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, says his country sees no immediate need to send troops into Iraq but adds that the soldiers remain on standby. 1052: Hundreds of Iraqis demonstrate in central Baghdad demanding urgent action to stop the wave of lawlessness sweeping the city, a BBC correspondent reports. 1059: US marines say they have found dozens of "suicide vests" packed with explosives and ball bearings stored at a school in Baghdad. Reports say the vests were discovered still wrapped in plastic near to detonators which could be attached but there were also empty hangers, suggesting some had already been removed. 1140: A rewards programme is being established to encourage Iraqis to give information to coalition forces to help them to capture key leaders of Saddam Hussein's regime, says US Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks. He said the amounts offered would be "appropriate". 1253: Private Jessica Lynch, the American prisoner-of-war rescued from an Iraqi hospital, is on her way back to the US from Germany with other injured personnel, a military spokesman says. 1344: German television reports that a senior adviser to Saddam Hussein has surrendered to US forces in Baghdad. It said it filmed the incident at the request of General Amir al-Saadi, who represented the Iraqi regime during talks with UN chief weapons inspectors before the war and features on the US' "most wanted" list. 1426: US plans to cut the number of its aircraft carriers in the Gulf soon, according to the war's naval commander Vice-Admiral Timothy Keating. He says the USS Kitty Hawk may leave the Gulf "in a couple of days, maybe a little bit longer". 1500: Reports speak of heavy shooting in central Baghdad, near the Palestine Hotel in which many foreign journalists are staying. The BBC's Arabic Service correspondent says US tanks are firing towards the River Tigris and the north of the city. 1505: About 200 US troops in Mosul are forced to withdraw to the civil airport after coming under attack. 1510: US marines take the town of Kut in eastern Iraq, potentially opening up a new supply corridor to Baghdad from the south, a BBC correspondent reports. Fears that Islamist irregular forces would defend the town were not realised. 1537: US command says fighting in the Iraqi town of Qaim, near the western border with Syria, is dying down with reports that Iraqi leaders want to surrender. 1550: Thousands of peace campaigners demonstrate in Rome, London, Berlin and Paris, and in Dhakar, Calcutta, Tehran and Seoul. 1553: Situation in Mosul has turned into an extremely ugly street battle between Kurds and Arabs, a BBC correspondent reports. 1601: Group of Seven economic powers call for a United Nations Security Council resolution on Iraq as part of a multilateral post-war effort to rebuild the nation. 1612: US forces re-open two strategic bridges in central Baghdad, and crowds of looters surge across on their way to parts of the city not already plundered. 1617: US troops in Baghdad fight off an attack by about 15 gunmen on the west bank of the Tigris in a 20-minute battle, an officer tells Reuters. One marine is killed by a gunman on the east bank, at a hospital near the Palestine Hotel. 1627: Red Cross officials say US troops in Baghdad have begun tentative steps to protect humanitarian facilities, securing a hospital and a water treatment centre against looters. Reports say American forces plan to introduce a night-time curfew as soon as it is workable. 1629: Reports from Mosul say 15 people have been killed and at least 200 injured during fighting between Arabs and Kurds in the city. 1642: The main Iranian rebel group, the People's Mujahedin, says 18 of its fighters have been killed and 43 wounded in fighting near its camps in north-eastern Iraq. It accuses Tehran of sending agents into Iraq to mount attacks on its bases and says Iranian-backed forces have seized the border town of Khanaqin. 1643: US Congress gives final approval to a bill authorising $79bn to finance the war in Iraq and reconstruction efforts. 1645: A mob ransacked a psychiatric hospital in northern Baghdad for 36 hours this week, AFP reports. Two patients unable to swallow water without assistance died of thirst and four women patients were raped, medical staff told the agency. 1734: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warns civil war could erupt in Iraq unless American and British forces restore law and order. 1740: A UK military commander in Basra says his troops cannot provide a fully functioning police force in the city and says there must be Iraqi involvement in policing. 1758: Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa says there is no basis for US accusations that Damascus has been helping supporters of Saddam Hussein. 1900: French President Jacques Chirac phones UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss the outcome of the Saint Petersburg summit, where Russia, Germany and France agreed that only the UN can legitimately lead the reconstruction of Iraq. 2028: Iraq's UN ambassador Mohammed al-Douri arrives in Syria. 2125: Former US POW Jessica Lynch arrives back at Andrews Air Force near Washington. 2210: International Monetary Fund and World Bank say they are ready to help in the reconstruction of Iraq, and back call from G7 for a new UN Security Council resolution on rebuilding the country. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2943625.stm * Iraq latest: At-a-glance BBC News Online, 13th April 0135: Man who shot dead a US marine outside a Baghdad hospital on Saturday was a Syrian national, US military says. 0145: The United States sends home the B-2 Stealth bombers it deployed to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia for the Iraq war - a sign that air war may be winding down, says BBC Pentagon correspondent Nick Childs. 0210: Developing countries and lobby groups at the IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington say the war in Iraq has distracted international attention from the fight on world poverty. 0240: Russian foreign ministry spokesman says US and British forces bear full responsibility for distributing humanitarian aid and protecting historic monuments in Iraq. 0300: China calls on the US to restore law and order in Baghdad as a matter of urgency, after its embassy in the city is looted. 0505: US forces use air patrols over Baghdad for the first time to try to improve security. 0550: US military officials say a total of 310 "suicide vests" packed with explosives have been found in Baghdad. Earlier reports revealed the discovery in a school of 40 vests designed to be worn over clothing. 0602: UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will travel to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to discuss reconstruction of Iraq, officials say. His foreign office colleague Mike O'Brien is scheduled to visit Iran and Syria. 0618: Three Malaysian journalists have been kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad in an attack which left two aid workers injured, according to Malaysian officials. 0708: Abducted Malaysian journalists are reported to have been released unharmed. 0719: Iraqi opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi says members of Free Iraqi Forces will go to Baghdad to try to restore order. 0830: Gunmen are surrounding the home of Iraq's leading Shia cleric in Najaf and have given him 48 hours to leave the country or face attack, reports say. 0938: US marines are advancing rapidly towards Tikrit, the home town of Saddam Hussein and the last remaining Iraqi city outside coalition control, US military spokesman Captain Stewart Upton said. Western correspondents earlier reported no sign of Iraqi army activity on the road to Tikrit. 0953: Some semblance of normality has returned to Mosul, reports the BBC's John Simpson in the northern city. US troops are patrolling the streets, a few shops have reopened and some looters have even returned stolen goods, he says. 1010: British troops begin to re-employ police who worked for the old regime for patrols in Basra. 1059: Six American prisoners-of-war have been rescued by marines north of Baghdad, reports say. The US war commander, General Tommy Franks, says the six "appear to be healthy". 1137: US General Tommy Franks says US forces are moving on Tikrit and "there was not any resistance". 1220: US Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks says seven Americans previously held by Iraqi forces have been rescued. Earlier, officials put the number at six. 1245: US tanks and armoured personnel carriers roll into Kirkuk to boost security there after friction with Turkey over the presence of Kurdish fighters in the northern oil city, Reuters news agency reports. 1300: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismisses claims by Amir al-Saadi, the arrested scientific adviser to Saddam Hussein, that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction. 1305: Israel lowers its state of alert over the war in Iraq, telling citizens they no longer need carry gas masks and keep a sealed room in their homes. But anti-missile batteries will remain in place for the time being, the defence ministry says. 1309: US Defence Secretary Rumsfeld says he has no doubt that some Iraqis from the ousted regime have fled to Syria. 1311: About 100 Iraqi engineers and other civil servants respond to a US military appeal in Baghdad for volunteers to restore both law and order and public services, a BBC correspondent reports. Around 20 former army and police officers have also registered to go back to their jobs. 1315: Pope John Paul II urges solidarity with those suffering in conflicts in Iraq, the Middle East and elsewhere in the world at a mass for Palm Sunday. 1316: Unconfirmed Kurdish reports say coalition forces arrested a half-brother and advisor to Saddam Hussein, Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti, as he was attempting to cross the border into Syria. He is on the coalition's wanted list. 1323: French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin arrives in Saudi Arabia for talks on Iraq's future. 1345: US commander General Franks says the war in Iraq is not over yet despite all the advances made, and it will continue until all pockets of resistance are overcome. 1355: Kurdish refugees returning to Kirkuk are telling Arab families living in their former homes for more than a decade that they must leave or be kicked out, a BBC correspondent reports. 1400: According to an unconfirmed report by AFP news agency, US marines say they have discovered 278 artillery shells carrying a substance which tested positive as a chemical agent. 1412: Four US paratroopers have been shot and wounded while clearing an Iraqi arms dump in Mahmudiya, about 40 km (25 miles) south of central Baghdad, a US officer tell Reuters news agency. 1431: More than 90 Iraqi refugees are stranded at the Jordanian border in dire conditions, the UN agency for refugees (UNHCR) reports. The UNHCR is asking Jordan to allow them to cross. 1447: US forces have yet to find conclusive proof that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction but several thousand sites remain to be searched, General Franks says. 1450: Thousands of Iraqis are returning to Baghdad from the countryside where they had sought shelter from US-led air attacks, Reuters reports. A tailback of traffic stretching several kilometres is reported to the east of the city. 1510: The head of an Iran-based Shia Muslim opposition group, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, calls on supporters to set up committees in Iraq to assume the responsibilities of local authorities and provide essential services. 1524: Heavy fighting erupts on the southern outskirts of Tikrit between US marines backed by tanks and Cobra helicopter gunships and planes, and Iraqi forces backed by tanks, a Canadian reporter with US troops reports. 1545: Sounds of fierce fighting are heard from the direction of Tikrit, witnesses tell AFP. 1557: Iran's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, advises Iraqis to organise post-war reconstruction through mosques. 1604: US troops plan to mount joint patrols of Baghdad with Iraqi security forces, a marine spokesman tells AFP. "The intended plan is to have joint patrols with one Iraqi car along with one of our Humvees." 1610: A senior Kurdish official, Hoshyar Zebari, reports the arrest of Saddam Hussein's half-brother in comments quoted by the AP news agency. Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti was captured in a joint US and Kurdish operation north-west of Mosul, he said. No official US confirmation yet reported. 1633: Kuwaiti fire-fighters extinguish the last oil-well fire in Iraq's al-Rumeila field, just across the northern border, a Kuwait oil industry spokesman tells AP. 1635: Fire breaks out in Baghdad's National Library, home to Iraq's national archives, an AFP correspondent reports. 1705: US Central Command names seven POWs freed in Iraq on Sunday. They include two Apache helicopter pilots and five maintenance soldiers. 1712: US President George W Bush warns Syria against harbouring Iraqi fugitives. He also hails the rescue of the seven POWs. 1733: "We believe there are chemical weapons in Syria," President Bush says. He calls on Damascus to "co-operate". 1745: Armed men purporting to represent tribal groups in Tikrit say Iraqi troops have left and they are now negotiating a truce with the US military, al-Jazeera TV reports from the city. 1803: Several hospitals in Baghdad are without water and electricity and short of medical equipment due to looting, the International Committee of the Red Cross reports. 1810: More than 30 boats, including the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, stage a protest against the war in Iraq by sailing to and fro for two hours in the Spanish port city of Barcelona, sounding their sirens. 1845: Ayatollah Sistani's office in Iran says the lives of senior clerics in Najaf are under serious threat and it is the responsibility of the US-led coalition to ensure their security 2039: Yemen grants asylum to Iraq's ambassador to Egypt, Mohsen Khalil. Mr Khalil, who is a former ambassador to Yemen itself, is due to arrive within 24 hours. 2225: US marines exchanged fire with snipers in a building in Baghdad early on Monday close to the Palestine Hotel, home to foreign media covering the war on Iraq, reports said. 2330: Australian Prime Minister John Howard defends the war on Iraq as the only way to oust Saddam Hussein, in a radio interview reported by AP, a day after peace protestors marched through Australian cities. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2945277.stm * Iraq latest: At-a-glance BBC News Online, 14th April 0015: Fresh air strikes under way in Saddam Hussein's home town Tikrit, as fighting continues between US and Iraqi forces. 0145: Iraq conflict has led to North Korea softening its position on nuclear issues, say South Korean officials. 0306: US tanks take up position in the main square of Tikrit, according to witnesses quoted by AFP. 0400: A US military spokesman says the fall of Tikrit does not mean the war is over - smaller towns and villages have been bypassed during the rapid US advance north 0445: Efforts to restore order in Baghdad are stepped up, with joint patrols by US troops and local security forces. 0519: Republican Guard general in Mosul tells BBC that senior military figures have fled to Syria. 0535: US sources in southern Iraq report attempted breakout by Iraqi prisoners of war at a detention camp in Umm Qasr in the south-east of the country. 0700: An armed mob surrounding the Najaf house of a pro-Western Shia cleric, Ayatollah Mirza Ali Sistani, disbands just hours ahead of a deadline given for him to leave the country. 0710: US forces secure centre of Tikrit - al-Jazeera television shows US tanks in main square. 0830: UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw tells the BBC that Syria is not "next on the list" of potential US targets, but it must answer questions about possible weapons of mass destruction and providing a haven for Iraqi fugitives. 0905: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad meets UK Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien in Damascus, amid coalition suspicions that Syria may have helped senior Iraqi officials to flee. 0910: BBC correspondent in Tikrit says town is quiet with no sign of Iraqi resistance, massive US troop presence there and shops boarded up. 1015: UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon says UK believes "foreign suicide bombers" are leading resistance in Baghdad. 1130: Operation in Tikrit was "really the only significant combat action" in the past 24 hours, says General Brooks. 1137: General Brooks says the phase of decisive military operations is "coming to a close," but potential for "much more localised" combat action remains. 1150: US Brigadier General Vincent Brooks says there are indications that up to 80 "suicide vests" are missing from a batch of about 300 found in a Baghdad school last week. 1200: Five Iraqi police cars go out on their first patrol in Baghdad, escorted by US Marine Humvees. 1400: In a White House briefing spokesman Ari Fleischer warns Syria against harbouring fugitive Iraqi regime members and says "Syria is a terrorist state". 1430: US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the US will consider imposing economic and diplomatic sanctions against Syria for its alleged support of members of the toppled Iraq regime. 1440: Mr Blair says Saddam Hussein's army has collapsed across Iraq and remaining resistance is coming from foreign irregular forces. 1455: UK Prime Minister Tony Blair outlines a three-point plan for Iraq's rehabilitation - which envisages full elections in a year - and says there are "no plans to invade Syria". 1545: US Navy officials say two of the three American aircraft carriers in the Gulf - the USS Kitty Hawk and USS Constellation - have received orders to leave. 1645: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accuses Syria of conducting a chemical weapons test "over the past 12, 15 months". 1750: The Vice Director of operations of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Major General Stanley McChrystal, says that Iraqi forces have not mounted "a coherent defence" and that major conflict in the country is essentially over. He adds that he expects the fighting to move into a phase of "smaller, but sharp fights". 1800: The entire contents of Iraq's national library and archives are reported to have been burned down, destroying priceless records of the country's history. AT THIS POINT THE BBC AT-A-GLANCE CHRONOLOGIES CEASE RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE (PERHAPS) http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/04/17/009.html * SPOOKS LOSE THE IRAQ PLOT by Pavel Felgenhauer Moscow Times, 16th April With the war all but over and the victors clear, many in Russia are asking questions: Why did our military and intelligence people get it all wrong? Why did they tell yarns about "resolute Iraqi resistance," when the regime and its armies were crumbling? Did these falsehoods seriously affect national decision-making, and is the spin still continuing? Of course, not only Russians got it all wrong. Many defense analysts in Europe and North America were only a week or so ago talking of a war that would last months, of a Pentagon war plan that had collapsed because of unexpectedly fierce Iraqi resistance and other fantasies. It wasn't only Russian media that were biased; in the West it was more or less the same. The French and German media, and many British publications, were one-sidedly antiwar and anti-American, while some U.S. outlets indulged in Soviet-style pro-war chanting. The Iraqi crisis created a multitude of strange bedfellows. As late as April 7, the Guardian newspaper carried a story piling praise on a group of unnamed Russians, who during the war published daily assessments of the campaign on a number of web sites under the collective pseudonym "Ramzaj." The Guardian story assumed that the Ramzaj group was an alias for Russian military intelligence, or GRU, and that this was "really the one source of reliable information on this war -- coming from Russian spies." Many Russians asked me: Who is Ramzaj? So I did some investigating. On April 8, the Ramzaj group announced it would stop issuing daily bulletins. The statement cited the withdrawal of Russian diplomats from Baghdad as one of the main reasons for terminating activities, as well as growing resistance from Russian official structures. This last statement by the group describes its members as former Russian spies, who have retired but keep close contacts with the intelligence community. A former high-ranking official of the GRU told me after reading a collection of Ramzaj bulletins that the authors may indeed be former GRU officers, but of low rank and qualification. Their materials contained obvious mistakes in the overall assessment of the situation: E.g., on April 6 Ramzaj stated that U.S. troops who had reached Baghdad were stranded and would be forced to besiege the city for weeks to come. The estimate of U.S. casualties by Ramzaj was several times higher than the real figure. Some of the Ramzaj materials reveal ignorance unworthy of intelligence professionals. For example, in one bulletin Ramzaj demoted allied commander General Tommy Franks to three stars from four. The bulletins contained lots of emotional language that official GRU releases tend to avoid. In many cases, the bulletins were apparently based on Western media reports and Iraqi propaganda announcements, while disguising the sources with talk of spy satellite images and radio intercepts. The former GRU official I interviewed believes that the Ramzaj group was formed by some guys kicked out of the secret services for incompetence who were using the war in Iraq to promote themselves in an attempt to get employed by some oligarch or oil company with connections in the Middle East. The Ramzaj bulletins are clearly not a verbatim copy of the material the Kremlin was getting from the GRU or KGB-successor intelligence agencies. But the essence and quality of the official stuff may be the same. The degradation that engulfed the military after the demise of the Soviet Union has not spared the intelligence community or the GRU. The Guardian has it wrong: The GRU is no longer "the most sophisticated agency of its kind in the world." A high-ranking government official told me last week that for half a year or more, Russian secret services, including military intelligence, were lobbying the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin to back Saddam Hussein in the confrontation with the U.S.-led coalition. I was also told that Russian oil companies and other businesses that trade with Iraq actually contracted Russian spooks to do the lobbying. This week, with the fray over, another official connected to the intelligence services (not retired) told me: "Our leadership never had any illusions about an ultimate American victory. It was the French that genuinely believed a miracle Saddam victory was possible and scolded us for being 'fatalistic.'" That's always the way: The losers shift the blame about who made the decision to back the wrong horse, while the victors fight over the spoils. Pavel Felgenhauer is an independent defense analyst. http://prorev.com/forbesrussia.htm * DID RUSSIANS USE BLOG TO AID IRAQIS? by Daniel Forbes Progressive Review, nd The U.S. and British military won't have the Russian secret services to contend with in Iraq anymore, at least not on the Net. Early last week, the Russian military analysis Web site, Iraqwar.ru, discontinued its daily "Russian military intel update." The three-week-old, daily feature - was it real-world intelligence useful to the Iraqis or merely the product of a fertile imagination? - claimed to be based on leaks from senior Russian intelligence officials. It offered detailed predictions about coalition troop movements many hours or even days in advance. It also quoted "intercepted" U.S. radio traffic, toted casualties on both sides and - with what perhaps its raison detre, the rest conceivably nothing but necessary ballast - provided strategic advice to the Iraqi military. It was a combustionable mix that was enjoying steadily increasing traffic, applause, and scorn. In the first two weeks of the war, as stalled coalition generals pondered different routes of attack, and the Iraqi military retained functioning command and control apparatus, a close reading yields some stark go-here, do-this advice. The three lead items in the April 7 update, the day before the feature was killed, offered particularly unabashed intelligence, including projections about American moves later that day in Baghdad. Carrying the title: "Aggression against Iraq," the site appeared amidst Russian governmenthostility to the war and Russian military sympathy for the Iraqis who used some $8 billion worth of Russian arms. Knight Ridder Newspapers military correspondent Joseph L. Galloway mentioned Iraqwar.ru in an article April 3rd that quoted two senior American officials anonymously. The first said Iraqwar.ru featured "genuine Russian intelligence reports, some of them based on intercepts of U.S. communications. . ." And the second "speculated that the Web site might be a clever attempt to pass useful information to the Iraqis by posting it publicly on the Internet." By phone, Galloway added, "The Russians are always very careful about letting that stuff out unless there is a specific purposeŠ. It was not just to make the U.S. look bad. It was for someone's benefit, and it sure wasn't our's." The Main Intelligence Directorate (known by its Russian acronym, GRU) is the huge Russian intelligence service that is said to dwarf the now defunct K.G.B. Matthew Baker, chief analyst for the Austin-based, commercial intelligence firm, Stratfor.com, said his contacts in Moscow believe Iraqwar.ru received input from probably three retired "ex-GRU-types" who retain contacts within the agency. He added, "The language, phrasing and sentence structure indicate it's GRU material written by ex-GRU people." As war began, the site claimed to be generated by "a group of journalists and military experts" with access to "Russian military intelligence reports." It was first available in English in a next-day translation at a site called Venik's Aviation, a much-criticized, Russian nationalist, anti-American site that had previously raised some American readers' ire with its criticism of the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. As it evolved, Iraqwar.ru itself appeared in both Russian and English, and the group supplying the daily reports adopted the nome de plume, Ramzaj. That's the alias of Richard Sorge, the foremost hero of Russian espionage who futilely warned Stalin months beforehand of the coming Nazi invasion. War bloggers off all stripes were certainly aware of it, and Ramzaj's daily reports were cutand pasted by a curious mix of anti-war lefty sites such as Information Clearing House and virulently anti-Semitic sites such as Overthrow.com. During the height of the war even Caribbean Cricket.com was running the material. And then on Tuesday, April 8, (the ever-popular, amorphous) 'they' pulled the plug on Ramzaj, the site's only unique feature. Iraqwar.ru coordinator Victor Denisov said by phone it "was under heavy pressure.Š pressure frrom everywhere, from Russian politicians, from foreign politicians." Denisov said "a high-level source" told him that sensitive information being promulgated in the Russian media, Iraqwar.ru included, was one issue - not the main, certainly - but one item on the agenda during Bush national security advisor Condoleezza Rice's meeting the day before at the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. Along with Galloway's article, Ramzaj's eventual retirement may have been spurred by two articles by UPI's senior news analyst, Martin Sieff. On March 31 he praised Iraqwar's analysis as "shrewd and of a high - and thought-provoking order." The following day, Sieff quoted the site's dissection of several likely battle scenarios. His column was syndicated by the right-wing site, Newsmax.com, under the headline, "Russia Informs Iraq on Coalition's Military Plans." Sieff said, "It appeared to be the case that there was a GRU connection. It checks out - mostly. The site appears legitimate." He said his contacts in the "professional Russian watching community in Washington" were well aware of the site and "agreed that it appears to be GRU or elements of the GRU." It's quite a notion: Russian spooks blogging concrete advice to Iraq. It's a notion that Strafor's Matthew Baker termed "nonsense." He said, "A website is not the way to get information to the Iraqis; a phone or radio is better." Baker sees it, rather, as an expression of an internecine struggle among various Russian military and espionage interests wrestling over whether to align more closely with the U.S. or seek a counterweight axis with Germany and France. He said, "They're not putting it up for amusement or profit, but for reasons to do with Russian politics." He added, "It's an agit prop campaign by those who argue that sticking close to the U.S. is wrong." Denisov, who is also CEO of the site's server, Moscow-based JERA Systems, scoffed at the notion that his project is an attempt to aid the Iraqis. He said, "There are other means to transfer information with less attention, faster and more clandestine." He added, given the editing process, "It would be much quicker to send encrypted e-mail. So it's kind of unbelievable that it's a conspiracy theory - it's not realistic." His statement doesn't address the fact that some "intel updates" predicted troop movements a day or more in advance. And, speaking days before the hammer fell, Denisov said, "We just look for content from [Ramzaj] and publish it immediately." In fact, "I have no personal knowledge of where it comes from - that's the beauty of an open-source project." Speaking generally about the site's contributors, including "ex-special forces people," he said, "The less you know, the better you sleep." Asked whether recent coalition military success might have led to increased pressure from the Russian government, Denisov said, "That's quite possible, to want to align with the strongest force. I believe Russia is bargaining for a part in the rebuilding of Iraq." Until recently, however, Denisov said he received "numerous private messages" from various Russian officials who were, "cautiously optimistic about saying we should continue the [Ramzaj] reports." He had every reason to be optimistic himself, claiming 102,000 unique visitors and 1.4 million page hits on April 7, up from March 31's 47,000 unique visitors and 576,000 page hits. In his somewhat fractured English, Ramzaj threw in the towel on April 8, acknowledging on the site that, "our actions met increasing opposition from the official quart[er]s and in fact are turning into confrontation the outcome of which is not difficult to forecast." The lead three items in Monday morning's update, his last report, give ample reason, from a U.S. view, why Ramzaj should have hung up his keyboard. He led with a report on marines advancing through a particular Baghdad intersection and the statement that, "Currently up to one battalion have got over the bridges opposite to the Ministry of Information and TV Center and are now assaulting those buildings." [Emphasis added] The second paragraph referred to "up to two companies of Americans fortified in [a particular] palace." Referring to specific U.S. army battalions, the third paragraph offered the prediction, "As early as by 5 pm they can reach the Abbasid Palace and split Baghdad along the Tigris. The right-bank part of the city is also under threat of a split along the Mansure roadway line." Having made his point, having not 'buried his lead' in the journalistic sense, the rest of Ramzaj's update that Monday was fairly pedestrian analysis. Consider some more putative intelligence. Peering usefully over a 48-hour horizon, the March 27 report stated that the U.S. will attempt "to actively contain the Iraqi forces around Karablea and to reach the strategic Al-Falludja highway by moving from the west around the Razzaza lakeŠ by noon of March 29." It also predicted an attack two days hence on the Saddam Hussein Airport. Often the intel was right up front. The March 28 report began: "According to the latest intercepted radio communications, the command of the coalition's group of forces near Karabela requested at least 12 more hours to get ready to storm the town." When combined with predictive intelligence, the mention of intercepted radio traffic often seemed like a code of sorts that perhaps the Iraqis should pay particular attention. One perhaps crucial bit of information that could be applied for the balance of the war concerned precise range estimates for the effectiveness of armored vehicles' "turret-mounted thermal sights." Various distances were indicated for the sophisticated gun sights' mobile use in a convey, for their use at rest and for use "during cold nights." Baker spoke of elements in the Russian military using the site to seek influence among themselves. One example may have been the March 28 posting on three "strategic lessons" for any possible Russian-U.S. war. Among them was the assertion that, "Elimination of the air defenses as a separate service branch of the Russian Armed Forces and its gradual dissipation in the Air Force can be called nothing else but a 'crime.'" One element of seeming disinformation was the inflated casualty reports that left pro-U.S. readers scoffing in the site's forum. For instance, on March 23, it stated: "More accurate information became available regarding the losses sustained by both sides during the first three days of the war. The coalition has officially acknowledged the deaths of some 25 servicemen. However, intercepted radio communications show that the actual number of coalition casualties is at least 55-70 troops killed and no less than 200 wounded." A quote published on March 25, was designed as filler perhaps or to amuse the groundlings. Translated from English to Russian and then back to English, it still strains credulity to think of a U.S. general stating, in regard to high-tech weapons: "The enemy is using an order of magnitude cheaper weapons to reach the same goals for which we spend billions on technological whims of the defense industry." Baker remarked, "Have you ever heard an American speak like that, let alone an American military officer? You have to filter through to what's of substance." Overall, though, according to a March 28 analysis by the on-line Russian newspaper, Gazeta.ru, on most days Ramzaj provided concrete information that was verified up to two or three days later by the Pentagon or mainstream media. Gazeta.ru said Ramzaj beat Reuters by two days about an Iraqi ambush on British forces outside Basra; it beat Abu Dhabi TV by well more than a day about a plane getting shot down; and, said Gazeta.ru, it beat Reuters by more than a day and CNN by more than two days on the deployment of some 100,000 additional U.S. troops to the region. As he quit, Ramzaj wrote of his "compact group" of retired "special service" operatives. Seeking to take some of the heat off, he added, "Our updates were not genuine materials from any of the Russian or other special services, but rather an 'intellecutal product' of the group itself, product of its operative, informational and analytical abilities. But compiling the updates we used materials avialable from our friends from special information structures." Though the site will continue blogging sans Ramzaj, without his racy reports it'll be a bit like kissing your sister. Said Baker almost a bit wistfully, "It offered another perspective from biased Arab and Russian sources, biased in the same way CentCom [U.S. Central Command] is biased. It's a good source to use to compare and contrast, just like the raw news you get on Al Jazeera." He added, "It's no more or less skewed than a Pentagon press briefing." Daniel Forbes writes on social policy and has testified before both the U.S. Senate and the House about his work. _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk