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Coalition
Provides A Formidable Force Against Terror
By
Jim Garamone, AFPS (abridged)
U.S. State Department official "Remember, that is the fundamental
of this, that these are countries who have all stood up and said
it is time to disarm Iraq, and if Iraq doesn’t do that peacefully,
we need to be prepared to do it by whatever means are necessary,"
Countries that support the coalition
are Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Colombia, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia,
Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia,
the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
"Each country is contributing
in ways that it deems the most appropriate, Boucher said. |
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Ground
War Underway
By
Kathleen T. Rhem, AFPS (Updated March 21, 7:00a.m. EST)
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A CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter is shown
lifting cargo during a drill in the Kuwaiti desert, March
12.
Photo
by Oleg Popov / Reuters |
WASHINGTON- Twelve
Coalition troops died in an apparent accident when a U.S. Marine
helicopter crashed Friday morning in northern Kuwait, ( 7:37pm EST)
about 9 miles from the Kuwait – Iraqi boarder. Also, at about 6:00AM
EST, it was reported that the first soldier killed in action is
an American. He was part of the U.S. Marines’ 1st Expeditionary
Force.
The crash
happened just hours before a major ground offensive kicked off
in the Persian Gulf. U.S. Defense Department officials confirmed
the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division rolled into southern Iraq late
March 20.
A U.S. Marine
CH-46E Sea Knight with American and British troops and crew crashed
in the Kuwaiti desert south of the Iraq border at about 7 p.m.
March 20 Eastern time — 3 a.m. March 21 in the Gulf, a spokesman
said.
The American
troops were U.S. Marines, and the British were with the 3rd Commando
Brigade on the US CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter assigned to the
1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
U.S. Central
Command officials are investigating the cause of the crash.
Reportedly,
Col. Oliver North with FoxNews said that a camera had captured
images of the crash and the tape has been sent to the Pentagon
as part of the investigation underway. FoxNews reported that Col.
North said that the weather was very bad, and he can’t speculate
if sandstorm type weather was the cause, as the crash is being
investigated, but from what he witnessed he believes that "mercifully"
the brave men who died in the copter crash ‘did not suffer.’
The CH-46E
is the Marine version of the tandem-rotor Chinook helicopters
designed primarily as personnel carriers. In combat, it typically
carries a crew of five and up to 14 passengers. Neither U.S. or
U.K. militaries will publicly release names of dead or injured
service members until their families have been notified.
Meanwhile,
the Army’s storied "Rock of the Marne" division out
of Fort Stewart, Ga., started moving across southern Iraq "largely
unopposed." The offensive began at 10 p.m. in Washington,
6 a.m. March 21 in Baghdad. So far 250 Iraqi troops have surrendered
to coalition soldiers. 12 million leaflets have been dropped over
Iraq by Coalition forces giving instructions on how-to surrender.
The 3rd ID
is comprised of nearly 20,000 soldiers, 300 tanks and a similar
number of Bradley fighting vehicles.
British Prime
Minister Blair said early Friday of the troops who died: "These
were brave men, who in order to make us safer and more secure,
knew the risks, faced the risks and had the courage to serve their
country and the wider world. We owe them an immense debt of gratitude.
Our thoughts and prayers are with their families. "
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