Facts about the war
Advertiser News Services
| AMERICA AT WAR: HAWAI'I IMPACT | |
| • | War in Iraq all too real for Gulf veterans |
| AMERICA AT WAR | |
| • | U.S. Marines enter Saddam's hometown |
| • | For POWs, it was surrender or die |
Casualties
U.S. military: 117 dead, four missing
British military: 31 dead
Iraq: Coalition commanders estimate at least 3,000 Iraqi solders have been killed in the defense of Baghdad. There is no reliable estimate of Iraqi civilian deaths.
Q&A
Q. Who picks up the tab for the journalists embedded with U.S. troops?
A: Journalists covering events out of Kuwait, Qatar or Jordan are on their dime. So are journalists who chose to leave their military unit once in Baghdad, or journalists who have entered Iraq on their own.
The 600 or so journalists who have been traveling with U.S. troops paid for their commercial ticket there and personal gear, including sleeping bags, helmets, flak jackets, camping and communications gear. They eat GI rations at no cost.
Any U.S. military equipment, such as gas masks, carried by journalists will be returned. And what about the rides through the desert? The reasoning is the Humvees and other vehicles were heading that way, anyway.
By the numbers
7 — Iraqi embassy officials expelled from Spain
21 — "James Bond"-style briefcases found in Baath Party enclave in Baghdad that can fire machine-gun rounds from a trigger on the briefcase handle
40 — U.S. soldiers sickened in Kuwait by what officials believe was food poisoning; no one was evacuated
2,500 — suspected die-hard Republican Guard troops and Fedayeen paramilitaries holed up in Tikrit
24,000 — pounds of medical supplies delivered to Baghdad International Airport"
50,000 — tons of wheat delivered by Australia to the port of Umm Qasr, with another 50,000 on the way
The time
Iraq is 14 hours ahead of Hawai'i time.
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Persian Gulf weather
Tuesday's forecast:
Baghdad — Day: 92 degrees, partly cloudy. Night: 62 degrees.
Basra — Day: 97 degrees, mostly sunny. Night: 68 degrees.
Kuwait City — Day: 92 degrees, mostly sunny. Night: 66 degrees.
Unit spotlight
3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion
The Marine Corps unit that freed the seven American POWs yesterday was created in 1980 and is part of the 1st Marine Division. The Marines saw a need for improving the mobility and firepower of units tasked with rapid deployment. The Corps decided a family of six types of Light Armored Vehicles was the best means of meeting this need. The LAV family of vehicles is highly mobile, able to move on land and water for scouting, logistics, mortar and anti-tank action.
- Home base: Camp Pendleton, Calif.
