WAR ON IRAK

Debka.com: Invasion begins
(Israeli military front site, scroll down)

US war commanders grabbed the element of surprise after all. While most
analysts and forecasters predicted a mighty aerial-missile blitz over
Baghdad as the war’s opener, the campaign began Wednesday, March 19
with
a lighting advance by Marine forces into southern Iraq along the Shatt
el
Arb River towards the big naval base and town of Umm Qasr. Fighting
alongside the Americans are two brigades of the British 1st Armored
Division and naval vessels landing Marine units south of Basra. The
first
clash of the war occurred shortly after in the mouth of the Khawr
al-Zubayr
river, a few miles south of Umm Qasr. The US-UK column is heading at
top
speed for the oil fields of southern Iraq which have been surrounded by
American and British special forces since earlier this month.
DEBKAfile’s
military experts view this first major military move in the war as a
bold
tactic to prevent the sabotage of the oil fields, with the largest
field in
southern Iraq, Rumailah, at highest risk. A second column of US 3rd
Infantry Division troops crossed into the demilitarized zone on the
Iraqi
border with Kuwait accompanied by thousands of tanks, combat vehicles
and
fuel

... The United States, Turkey and Iraq’s Kurdish chiefs and Turkomen
leaders forged a deal permitting Turkish troops to enter northern Iraq.
More details are expected on the size of the Turkish force and the
extent
of its penetration for setting up positions. This was the quid pro quo
for
Ankara’s consent to five Kurdish brigades of the two main militias, the
PUK and PDK, entering the oil city of Kirkuk with the American forces