Gulf War II - Operation Iraqi Freedom
War Report

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM WAR REPORT

D A Y 27

D A Y 26

US forces are in Tikrit, the last remaining Iraqi city to be liberated. Fighting continues with what are said to be small pockets of non-Iraqi Arab fighters.

D A Y 25

15:00 BST. Unconfirmed reports that Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother, has been arrested trying to cross into Syria.

12:15 BST. 7 US Prisoners of War have been recovered north of Baghdad, all seem unharmed.

US troops are moving in on Tikrit.

11:30 BST. US sources say they have discovered over 300 "suicide vests" in Baghdad.

It's also claimed that it was a Syrian who killed a US Marine outside a Baghdad hospital yesterday.

D A Y 24

15:30 BST. Operation Iraqi Freedom PsyOps article updated.

15:00 BST. According to German TV Iraqi General Amir al-Saadi has surrendered to US forces. The General asked for his surrender to be filmed by the TV crew.

11:30 BST. A vanguard of the US 4th Infantry Division begin deployment in Iraq, possibly destined to continue the fight north of Baghdad.

10:00 BST. DOH! Tony Blair took time out from the war to record 3 lines of dialogue for a forthcoming edition of The Simpsons! Who next will Fox lure to appear in the show? Bin Laden??? ;-)

09:30 BST. BBC News claims that violence in Baghdad has reglious overtones with fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

08:00 BST. Iraq's UN ambassador Mohammed al-Douri is leaving the US, first to go to Paris and then onto Syria.

Kurdish Forces have now left Kirkuk.

US forces in Baghdad urge Iraqi Police to come back to work to help restore law and order in the city. The situation is better in other parts of Iraq, especially in Kirkuk. Basra is slowly getting back to normal.

D A Y 23

13:30 BST. Kurdish sources claim they are leaving Kirkuk to be replaced by US forces to ease Turkish concerns. Turkey are sending observers to the city.

12:15 BST. CENTCOM announce the issuing of a list of 55 key Iraqi officials they want captured dead or alive. The list has been issued as a pack of cards and will also be distributed as handbills and posters in Iraq.

08:00 BST. Uprising in the Northern city of Mosul. US and Kudish forces enter the city meeting no resistance. Already much celebration and looting taking place there.

Lawlessness accelerates in Basra and Baghdad. Looters reported to have striped hospitals of all equipment.

D A Y 22

12:30 BST. The Northern Iraq city of Kirkuk now under Kurdish control after an uprising this morning. The movement south of Kurdish forces is a cause of concern for the Turkish government.

12:00 BST. Commando Solo will broadcast speeches by Bush and Blair to the Iraqi people later today on a new TV station called "Towards Freedom". It will send the message that Coalition forces are in Iraq to liberate the people, to form a new Government run by the Iraqi people and that the Coalition forces will not stay "a day longer than necessary".

10:00 BST. Later today US intend to distribute leaflets over Baghdad urging the population to over-throw any existing members of Saddam's regime within the city.

08:00 BST. A US soldier dies in fighting to take a Mosque in Baghdad, believed to be containing Saddam. Fighting continues against stubborn resistance of non-Iraqi Arab soldiers in the west of the city. Kurdish and US forces slowly move south.

Widespread looting and lawlessness continues in Basra and Baghdad.

D A Y 21

17:00 BST. Herb's PsyOps article on Operation Iraqi Freedom updated.

16:03 BST. Al-Jazeera reports that Saddam is taking refuge in the Russian Embassy in Baghdad.

15:48 BST. US troops in central Baghdad pull down a huge statue of Saddam. Iraqi citizens drag the head of the statue throw the streets of Baghdad. A picture is worth a 1000 words!

11:00 BST. First signs of the collapse of Saddam's rule as Iraqi civilians openly celebrate the arrival of US troops in Baghdad. Iraqi military and police have disappeared from the streets resulting in widespread looting by the civilian population.

08:30 BST. Fighting in Baghdad continues while Coalition forces consolidate positions in other parts of Iraq, especially in the east. US and Kurdish forces also take a strategically important mountain above the city of Mosul in Northern Iraq.

A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter and 2 crew are missing in the region of Tikrit.

Iraqi's talk of the torture chambers within Saddam's Basra Police Headquarters. They tell of electrocution, chemical baths and having finger and toe nails ripped off, they claim that many thousand Iraqi civilians were taken there never to return.

D A Y 20

A US A-10 ground attack plane is lost near Baghdad International Airport. The pilot ejects safely and is recovered.

Saddam and sons are deliberately targeted in a US bombing raid yesterday.

Al-Jazeera journalist Tariq Ayyub dies after the TV station's base in Baghdad is hit. Other press men injured when a mortar hits the Palestine Hotel. 2 Polish journalists taken prisoner by the Iraqis yesterday have escaped and are now back in Coalition controlled territory.

D A Y 19

Bush and Blair meet in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a war summit.

13:30 BST. British troops take control of most of Basra after apparently killing around 300 Iraqi resistors.

12:30 BST. 2 US Marines killed in a battle for a bridge near Baghdad. 2 US troops and 2 journalists killed and 15 others injured in an Iraqi missile attack on a US command post south of the city.

08:00 BST. US troops in the heart of Baghdad. Iraqi Information Ministry claims they have been repelled.

It is reported that the body of Ali Hassan al-Majid, "Chemical Ali" has been found.

D A Y 18

19:30 BST. It's reported that a US C-130 cargo plane lands at Baghdad's airport.

15:00 BST. Photos Section updated.

11:45 BST. al-Sahaf claims Iraqi troops have destroyed 6 US tanks, killed 50 troops and downed 2 Apache helicopters.

US sources claim to have killed between 2,000 to 3,000 Iraqi troops in the battle for Baghdad.

It is alleged Russian diplomats leaving Iraq on the road to Jordan attacked by Coalition aircraft.

10:15 BST. British troops take a small force into the centre of Basra. Rumours spread in Basra that Ali Hassan al-Majid, "Chemical Ali", is dead. Yesterday 3000 Iraqis seen celebrating in the streets of the city.

10:00 BST. An American airplane is reported to have hit a Coalition convey in Northern Iraq. The convey of 8 or 10 cars was carrying Coalition Special Forces and Kurdish civilians. Many dead and wounded. BBC correspondent John Simpson was wounded but reports from the scene.

Body Guard of "Chemical Ali" found dead after bombing raid in Basra.

09:45 BST. CENTCOM Chief Spokesman Jim Wilkinson says around 200,000 flyers were dropped over Baghdad last night urging Iraqi civilians to stay in their homes.

09:00 BST. Iraq announces a curfew in Baghdad from 6pm to 6am, where nobody can travel in the city.

UK newspaper The Telegraph reports that WMD have been found dumped in the Euphrates river. Mustard gas and cyanide found in the water near Nasiriyah.

24 hour Coalition air cover now over Baghdad.

05 April 2003

D A Y 17

Turkey expels 3 Iraqi diplomats.

10:00 BST. Iraqi information minister, al-Sahaf, claims Iraqi forces have retaken Baghdad International Airport and that no US troops are in the city. US sources deny these claims.

An AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter has crashed killing both US pilots.

US Sergeant Hasan Akbar has been charged with the murder of 2 101st Airborne Officers and 17 charges of attempted murder after the grenade attack last month in their Kuwait base.

D A Y 16

D A Y 15

23:00 BST. Herb's PsyOps for Operation Iraqi Freedom article has been updated.

22:00 BST. Sadam International Airport outside Baghdad is now in US hands according to reports.

10:30 BST. US Third Infantry Division within 6 miles of Baghdad and are taking up positions outside the International Airport.

08:00 BST. A small bomb exploded outside the British Embassy in Istanbul last night. It is not know if this is a protest against British military involvement in Iraq or due to Turkey's 2-0 defeat against England yesterday in the Euro 2004 qualifying football match. ;-) Meanwhile US equipment shipments are crossing the Turkish border into North Iraq after Colin Powell's meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister and President yesterday.

7 US troops killed and 4 injured when a US Black Hawk UH-60A helicopter is downed by small arms fire near Karbala.

An Iraqi surface to air missile knocks down a US F/A-18 Hornet aircraft in southern Iraq.

2 Al-Jazeera correspondents have been banned from reporting in Baghdad the Iraqi Information Minister has said.

D A Y 14

16:00 BST. US say the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard is destroyed. A new bomb type was deployed for the first ever time today, the CBU-105 contains 10 armour-piercing clusters. A Pulitzer-prize winning Iranian BBC Cameraman is killed in Kifri, Northern Iraq, when he stood on a landmine.

13:00 BST. US troops reported to be 20 miles south of Baghdad.

08:00 BST. US troops have liberated a captured US soldier, Jessica Lynch, she had been a Prisoner of War since 23 March. The bodies of 2 US troops and 8 Iraqi solders were also discovered with her.

US Marines capture a bridge on the river Tigris at the city of Kut. Major engagements with the RG are taking place. US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Turkey.

D A Y 13

08:00 BST. US Marines are handing out humanitarian aid in Nasiriyah. Iraqi short range missiles have been fired at southern Iraq, another missile was fired at Kuwait but intercepted. A civilian was shot at a check point as he drove at high speed towards the US troops and ignored warning shots. Earlier 7 civilians were killed when their vehicle was fired upon as it traveled at high speed towards a US controlled check point. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal suggests Sadam should step down to save his country.

D A Y 12

D A Y 11

08:00 BST. 2 US Marines have been killed in accidents. British troops claim to have captured 5 Iraqi officers and killed a Republican Guard Colonel in a raid south of Basra. According to CNN, blood stained Coalition uniforms with the name tags and flag patches ripped off found in a hospital in Nasiriya. Also found what was believed to be a torture device of a metal bed attached to a car battery.

D A Y 10

4 US servicemen are killed at a checkpoint near Najaf by a suicide bomber. Iraq says it was done by one of their Army officers and to expect more of the same.

D A Y 9

Apparently the website of the Arabic TV News broadcaster al-Jazeera receives much attention from hackers and is inaccessible most of the time.

120,000 reinforcements of US military will be deployed in Iraq.

US forces have captured an Iraqi General.

Baghdad was said to have received some of the heaviest bombing of the campaign last night.

D A Y 8

16:15 GMT. Prime Minister Blair asserts British soldiers killed were "executed". In a joint press conference with President Bush, the coalition leaders announced that Sadam will be removed no matter how long it takes and War Criminals will be held responsible for their actions.

15:00 GMT. Operation Iraqi Freedom PsyOps article updated.

08:30 GMT. Missile attack on Kuwait.

Reports of Iraqi troop movements south of Baghdad apparently false.

D A Y 7

21:00 GMT. British troops discover Iraqi weapons hidden in 3 classrooms at Umm Qasr Primary School.

Iraqi troop columns traveling south from Baghdad and Basra.

17:00 GMT. US Centcom now admit they targeted missile sites in Baghdad close to civilian area.

16:30 GMT. US military deny responsibility for explosion in Baghdad market place today, causing many civilian casualties.

15:30 GMT. Operation Iraqi Freedom PsyOps article updated.

12:30 GMT. Iraqi Information Officer claims that US troops have not taken Umm Qasr.

09:00 GMT. Reports of Iraqi troops fleeing from Basra.

Iraqi TV knocked out by US precision bombing, but broadcasts resumed within 20 minutes.

D A Y 6

17:00 GMT. Reports of a popular uprising in Basra... apparently Iraqi troops are firing mortars on their own people to control this. British troops are directly attacking these mortar positions to assist the uprising.

16:30 GMT. Herb's article on OIF PsyOps updated.

Reports that a Blackhawk and an Apache helicopter lost in southern Iraq.

16:00 GMT. Reports of leaflet drops in Baghdad.

A US F-16 jet fighter shoots at a Patriot missile defence battery after being "locked on" by the battery. No injuries reported.

The port of Umm Qasr is now opening and the first load of Humanitarian Aid passing through.

A second British soldier is reported as killed in action. US say around 500 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in the last 2 days in battle.

Bad weather, huge sandstorms and thunder storms, across Iraq is slowing down progress.

Basra now considered a military objective and British troops engage a formation of 50 Iraqi tanks around the city.

Iraqi TV broadcasts pictures of the 2 captured Apache pilots.

D A Y 5

08:00 GMT. 2 British troops missing in southern Iraq.

01:00 GMT. Rumours of Coalition Special Forces and anti-Sadam Iraqi resistance fighters operating in Baghdad causing numerous explosions.

D A Y 4

17:45 GMT. Herb's Operation Iraqi Freedom PsyOps article is updated.

17:00 GMT. Confirmation that the missing British Journalist Terry Lloyd has been killed.

15:30 GMT. Al-Jazeera broadcast Iraqi TV pictures of what appear to be captured US troops including one woman plus several killed. This is in direct breach of the Geneva Convention on treatment of Prisoners of War.

15:00 GMT. Reports of the loss of an aircraft over Baghdad as well as the possible capture of US troops.

13:15 GMT. Photos Section updated with images of the US Commando Solo II PsyOps crew in operation.

10:45 GMT. Today further leaflet drops, of 11 different types, have taken place. More details available soon...

10:30 GMT. Iraq claim to have 35 US Prisoners of War and will display them on television shortly.

09:00 GMT. Iraq claim to have shot down five US aircraft and two helicopters. US deny these claims.

One of the 13 injured soldiers from the grenade attack has died.

The RAF has lost a Tornado fighter aircraft returning from a mission, possibly by a US Patriot defence system.

"Small pockets" of resistance continue to slow down coalition progress.

D A Y 3

17:45 GMT. First initial report of PsyOps for Operation Iraqi Freedom by Herb Friedman is now online.

16:00 GMT. Reports that 4 US soldiers have been killed in fighting in central Iraq. 1 journalist and 2 of his crew from the British news agency ITN are missing after coming under fire.

13:00 GMT. Coalition forces are reported to be entering Basra after the mass surrender of Iraqi troops. Iraqi children are greeting the incoming US and British forces.

10:30 GMT. Oil fields taken by Coalition forces have been prepared for demolition by Iraqi troops, however, these charges weren't exploded. Prior to the campaign US PsyOp leaflets warned Iraqis not to destroy their own oil fields as it isn't in Iraq's future best interests. "The oil industry is your livelihood... your family depends on your livelihood".

10:17 GMT. Geoff Hoon, British Minister of Defence, on the bombing last night and minimising damage to the civilian infrastructure, "The lights stayed on in Baghdad but the instruments of tyranny are collapsing."

09:50 GMT. 3 explosions heard in Baghdad in the last few minutes.

09:00 GMT. Operation Iraqi Freedom aircrews dropped more than 2 million leaflets across Iraq yesterday to encourage the surrender of Iraqi military forces and to minimize risk and harm to Iraqi civilians. Since last October over 25 million leaflets have been disseminated over Iraq. See our article for further information.

US troops are negotiating the surrender of the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Despite US opposition over 1,000 Turkish troops enter Northern Iraq. This is a preparatory squad with up to another 10,000 troops ready for deployment from south-east Turkey. Any potential clashes between Turkish troops and the Kurdish forces which are assisting the Western Coalition would be a very serious development.

Earlier reports of the surrender of the Iraqi 51st Infantry Division were over optimistic. In fact a brigade of the 51st have surrendered.

6 British soldiers and 1 American are killed in a collision of 2 Sea King helicopters from the British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal.

D A Y 2

23:30 GMT. 8,000 troops of the Iraqi 51st Infantry Division in the area of Basra said to have surrendered. This unit was apparently targeted by PsyOps prior to the start of the conflict.

23:15 GMT. Turkish Government begin moving troops into northern Iraq against wishes of the US.

18:25 GMT. Reports of a second US serviceman killed in combat.

17:30 GMT. A-Day underway; the aerial bombardment "shock and awe" phase of the Operation with large-scale attacks on Baghdad.

15:40 GMT. Airfields in Western Iraq captured by US and British troops.

15:15 GMT. US armoured divisions reach the Euphrates city of Nasariya but meets sustained resistance from Iraqi troops.

12:45 GMT. Iraqi official spokesman claim to have shot down a coalition aircraft over night, which then crashed in Kuwait. US sources deny this report.

11:30 GMT. Immediately a coalition ground war has begun. Western media sources report that US armoured divisions have moved up to nearly 100 miles into Iraq from bases in Kuwait. British Royal Marines are said to have secured the al-Faw peninsula and US Marines are engaged in taking the Umm Qasr new port. Cruise missiles were fired at precision targets in Baghdad including several Government offices. A number of Oil fields have been set alight by the Iraqis. They also fired missiles, of an unidentified type, into Kuwait, all of which were harmlessly destroyed by counter measures.

Sadly 8 British troops of No. 3 Commando Brigade and 4 US aircrew have been killed in the accidental loss of a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter in Kuwait a few miles south of the Iraqi border. One US Marine has been reported killed in action. There have been reports that a number of Iraqi troops have been killed and injured with many surrendering. One news report shows Iraqi's, clutching Allied safe conduct leaflets, surrendering to British troops. The film was released by the British Ministry of Defence and could be in breach of the Geneva Protocols which forbid the exploitation of Prisoners of War for propaganda purposes.

D A Y 1

PsyOps will be an integral part of this Operation and should help to reduce casualties and assist in hastening the end of the war.

Herb's No-Fly Zone article has just had a final update as the shooting war begins (missing illustrations will be added if or when they become available).

He will continue to keep us informed of the latest developments in PsyOps during Operation Iraqi Freedom in a new article. Watch this space!