“By March 21, [2003] it [Coalition forces] had advanced over 100 miles (160 kilometers) into southern Iraq. Other troops landed by sea on the coast south of Baghdad and seized control of important ports and oilfields. The bigger U.S. forces drove in a two-pronged attack toward Baghdad, while the smaller British Army forces advanced toward […]
3/21/2003
On “Friday, March 21 [2003], missiles and bombs rained down on Baghdad [Iraq] for the start of the ‘shock and awe’ campaign, much of it covered live on CNN.” – Elisabeth Bumiller, Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, Page 211 […]
3/21/2003
“On March 21, 2003–the second day of the war–[National Security Advisor Condoleezza] Rice and [her deputy Stephen] Hadley gave the president [Bush] and the NSC [National Security Council] a formal briefing on the nine U.S. and coalition war objectives. …One goal was stated as: ‘Iraq is seen to be moving towards democratic institutions and serves […]
3/21/2003
“At 6 am Iraq time on Friday, March 21 [2003], the 1st Marine Division crossed the Kuwait-Iraq border, followed shortly by the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division… He [President Bush] told [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair, ‘I would say we have 40 percent of the country easily and 85 percent of the oil fields, and those […]
3/21/2003
“On March 21 [2003], U.S.-led coalition forces mounted nine hours of ‘shock and awe’ bombing and missile strikes. Then ground forces entered Iraq.” – Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Hubris, Page 211 […]
3/20/2003
“Tony Blair, talking by telephone with George W. Bush, March 20, 2003. “I kind of think that decisions taken in the next few weeks will determine the rest of the world years to come. As primary players we have the chance to shape the issues.”” – Andrew Langley, Bush, Blair, and Iraq: Days of Decision, […]
3/20/2003
As stated in “The Report of the Iraq Inquiry – Executive Summary:” “293. At Cabinet on 20 March, Mr Blair concluded that the Government: ‘… should lose no opportunity to propagate the reason, at every level and as widely as possible, why we had arrived at a diplomatic impasse, and why it was necessary to take […]
3/20/2003
As stated in “The Report of the Iraq Inquiry – Executive Summary:” “291. Early on the morning of 20 March, US forces crossed into Iraq and seized the port area of Umm Qasr.” – Commissioned by the Prime Minister The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP, “The Report of the Iraq Inquiry: Executive Summary,” IraqInquiry.org.uk, March 20, […]
3/20/2003
” ‘War is the last choice,’ he [Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld] declared on the opening night [of the invasion of Iraq, March 20, 2003]. ‘The American people can take comfort in knowing that their country has done everything humanly possible to avoid war and to secure Iraq’s peaceful disarmament.’ “ – Andrew Cockburn, Rumsfeld, […]
3/20/2003
Regarding Iraqi funds in American banks that had been frozen, on March 20, 2003: “the president [Bush] signed an executive order transferring the $1.7 billion in frozen Iraqi funds to the [U.S.] Treasury Department and stipulating they ‘should be used…[to] assist in the reconstruction of Iraq.’ “ – Dov S. Zakheim, A Vulcan’s Tale, Page 196 […]