STORM2K

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/ ... 6437.shtml
On The Scene: A Ghost Town
KIFL, Iraq, March 27, 2003

(CBS) It's been a deadly three days for Iraqis in Kifl, a small town on the east bank of the Euphrates River.

After two nights of fighting, the Americans used the cover of the sandstorm to sneak in more troops, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod.

"When the Shamal [dry winds often accompanied by dust storms] lifted this morning, the enemy realized that we were right in the middle of them," said Lt. Col. J.R. Sanderson.

Since this morning, Iraqi soldiers, Republican guard and militia have felt the full range of American power -- from troops on the ground to a bomb dropped from 40,000 feet.

The Iraqis are outmanned and outmatched, but fighting fiercely.

"Well you saw that town obviously, that was a little piece of Somalia there. Just like the movies,'' said Capt. Carter Price.

Kifl is now a ghost town, silent except for the burst of gunfire and an occasional rooster crowing. On the streets are a few dozen bodies. And in one store, a bizarre, incongruous image.

Inside Adam's Barber Shop a painting dominates the room: a picture of the twin towers. It's not a trophy painting of the destroyed towers -- it's more like some glorification of them, right here in the middle of Iraq.

"It's certainly bizarre. That's the only word that can come up," said Col. Will Grimsley.

That's not the only challenge to logic in Kifl. Iraqis are facing American troops, sometimes armed with nothing more than a flintlock rifle. They take on tanks with their sedans.

"Ask any one of my soldiers out here right now, what the key question is in my task force," Lt. Col. Sanderson said. "The question is, 'Why are they doing this?' I don't know ... I don't have the answer."

The U.S. now has hundreds of prisoners here.

Some prisoners followed the instructions broadcast on loudspeakers. Others have been shot and captured.

But the critical importance of the battle for Kefel is that the U.S. Army has now crossed the Euphrates -- and held a town, something that must be done to get to Baghdad.


©MMIII CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Freaky isn't it.

i saw the pic on CNN i believe...kinda eerie!

Because they hate us more than they hate Saddam-they are not fighting for Saddam but for Iraq and even if we get him they will still resist us though guerilla style. We overestimated our welcome-big mistake. As one editorial in the Philippine Inquirer put it, we're Saddamned if we do and Saddamned if we don't. The best bet is to get him as quickly as possible, get things reasonably set up and then get the heck out of there otherwise we'll be tied up for years.

Steve

Really eerie......

The picture I saw had a plane embedded in one of the towers!!!! Marines found that one in an Iraqi military office or something like that. 9/11 and the Iraqi's have nothing in common huh? Try me again!!!! It may be that as Islamic fundamentalists they celebrate the fall of the towers, not that they were directly involved-IMO all the more reason to rid the world of the scourge of Iraq and set the record straight!!!

pojo wrote:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/ ... 6437.shtml
On The Scene: A Ghost Town
KIFL, Iraq, March 27, 2003

(CBS) It's been a deadly three days for Iraqis in Kifl, a small town on the east bank of the Euphrates River.

After two nights of fighting, the Americans used the cover of the sandstorm to sneak in more troops, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod.

"When the Shamal [dry winds often accompanied by dust storms] lifted this morning, the enemy realized that we were right in the middle of them," said Lt. Col. J.R. Sanderson.

Since this morning, Iraqi soldiers, Republican guard and militia have felt the full range of American power -- from troops on the ground to a bomb dropped from 40,000 feet.

The Iraqis are outmanned and outmatched, but fighting fiercely.

"Well you saw that town obviously, that was a little piece of Somalia there. Just like the movies,'' said Capt. Carter Price.

Kifl is now a ghost town, silent except for the burst of gunfire and an occasional rooster crowing. On the streets are a few dozen bodies. And in one store, a bizarre, incongruous image.

Inside Adam's Barber Shop a painting dominates the room: a picture of the twin towers. It's not a trophy painting of the destroyed towers -- it's more like some glorification of them, right here in the middle of Iraq.

"It's certainly bizarre. That's the only word that can come up," said Col. Will Grimsley.

That's not the only challenge to logic in Kifl. Iraqis are facing American troops, sometimes armed with nothing more than a flintlock rifle. They take on tanks with their sedans.

"Ask any one of my soldiers out here right now, what the key question is in my task force," Lt. Col. Sanderson said. "The question is, 'Why are they doing this?' I don't know ... I don't have the answer."

The U.S. now has hundreds of prisoners here.

Some prisoners followed the instructions broadcast on loudspeakers. Others have been shot and captured.

But the critical importance of the battle for Kefel is that the U.S. Army has now crossed the Euphrates -- and held a town, something that must be done to get to Baghdad.


©MMIII CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved
------------------------------------------------------------

Freaky isn't it.

Worse,
I have yet to have anyone mention the sarcastic incongruency within the framing of the Portrait.It looks as if a Postcard of Beirut or Baghdad had been userped and the Lower Manhattan Skyline,superimposed.Why???
Look closely.Look at the color of the water.It appears almost Tropical in color...and this is excacerabated by the White Sandy Beach in the foreground..with Palm Trees.I have been to NYC many many times and lived in the Central Village for a time when I worked Midtown.I never noticed the lovely color of the East River,the Sandy Beach or Palm Trees.
Unless if course this was part of then Mayor Guiliani's NYC beautification project!
Obviously,it is sarcasm...and albeit subtle is still IMO,very interesting.
Almost as if they had taken NYC and placed on thier own banks of the Tigres and Euphrates Rivers.

Thanks for pointing that out DJ. I didn't notice it at first, but you can clearly tell the portrait has been superimposed over a tropical beach.

I have also been to Manhattan...a matter of fact I was there last week, and there is no place in the city that has palm trees, nor the dark blue tropical like colors fof the water. Normally, there would be smog flying high around the buildings leaving a disgusting Sulfur smell in the air or the smell of concrete being blasted from every street corner.

From the way that many of us have analyzed this pic, its probably something the Iraqi's took from a postcard and then superimposed over a pic from their own banks of the Tigres and Euphrates Rivers.

Mayor Guiliani's project removed Hookers and Bums off the street while working on Beautifying Central and Battery Park. (Interesting isn't it)

DJ, that's definitely something I'll agree with.

That is very freaky!

those are not only Palm trees in the foreground but Coconut Palms-those don't grow in Iraq or Lebanon, etc. They are strictly Tropical Palms the Palms that grow there are Date Palms. Notice all of the pleasure craft on the water.

Steve

Aslkahuna wrote:those are not only Palm trees in the foreground but Coconut Palms-those don't grow in Iraq or Lebanon, etc. They are strictly Tropical Palms the Palms that grow there are Date Palms. Notice all of the pleasure craft on the water.

Steve

I was going to mention the fact that they are indeed Date Plams.I,as you know spent some years living in South Florida.As a Boy,my parents had a winter home on Ocean Ave in Palm Beach and I also lived in Coral Gables(Metro Miami) some years later.
My Father used to collect editions of the 'National Geographic'.When he passed away in 1996,I requested his leather bound collection,going back to the 1940s.Many articles appear about the Middle East,references to Persia and Kalifas(King Leaders).Nasser,and The Shaw of Iran.Some articles mention the fundamentalist Islam way of 'persuation' as they put it in a 1962 atricle.It was BTW,OCTOBER 1962!I looked up a 1959 Edition and saw a wonderful article on Cuba as well,where my parents Honeymooned at Habana in Dec 1946.Facinating.
I dwelled over the picture that we are discussing soley because I am familiar with the Camera/Artist angle.I knew I had seen it before,somewhere.Then it came to me.
In 1957,my Father took me on a Sunday afternoon drive across one of the new Causeways that linked Miami to Miami Beach..The "Julia Tuttle" and the "Arthur Godfey",a TV Personality of the time.Linking The old Zoo past on Key Biscayne is one causeway,with lovely walkways with railings and beautiful homes on a tiny spit of land called 'Star Island' as I recall.
This is the view angle,across Biscayne Bay with the Date Palms(that do grow everywhere in So Fla) toward what would be modern day Downtown Miami,with the Manhattan Skyline superimposed.The Postcard like oil touched texture and style reminds me very much of a 1950s type of nuevo retro Americana.Sure enough,I found a picture in a Travel ad for old Eastern Airlines that showed the same view,as I recall from sailing Biscayne Bay years ago,looking ENE with Dinner Key and Coconut Grove to the left.
Obviously,the connection to S Fla and the 09-11 Hijackers has long been established.It is chilling to see the twisted minds of terrorists possibly planning 09-11 the weeks prior while gazing across Biscayne Bay and envisioning the Buildings of Miami as the true target of the WTC.Quite chilling indeed.