Facts about the war
| • | Schofield officer sees Saddam's 'greed' firsthand |
| • | U.S. declares end to combat in Iraq |
Advertiser News Services
Casualties
U.S. military: 121 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. Please, all you have on Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, who conducts the daily briefings in Qatar.
A. A rising star in the U.S. Army, Brooks, 44, was promoted to brigadier general last fall. Born in Anchorage, Alaska, Brooks was a high school basketball star in Los Angeles, where he grew up. He followed brother Leo to West Point and an Army career.
He has served in the Middle East, Panama, Korea and Kosovo, where he was commander of a 6,000-member force. As the briefing officer for Central Command, "He's doing a very good job," says Roy Peter Clark, a scholar of journalism at the Poynter Institute in Florida.
By the numbers
17 — Iraqis killed today when children playing with explosives accidentally detonated them
24 — years Saddam ruled Iraq
27 — days for coalition forces to oust Saddam, whereabouts unknown, and his loyalists
75 — Iraqi community leaders and exile figures meeting in Nasiriyah today to discuss a new Iraqi government
2,000 — Iraqi police officers patrolling Baghdad with U.S. military to restore order
1 million — value in dollars of Odai Hussein's drug and liquor stores in his vacated palace
The time
Iraq is 14 hours ahead of Hawai'i time.
 |
Persian Gulf weather
Wednesday's forecast:
Baghdad — Day: 84 degrees, partly cloudy. Night: 64 degrees.
Basra — Day: 91 degrees, mostly sunny. Night: 61 degrees.
Kuwait City — Day: 93 degrees, mostly sunny. Night: 72 degrees.
Unit spotlight
USS Abraham Lincoln
USS Abraham Lincoln and Carrier Air Wing 14 are heading for their respective home ports. The Lincoln was scheduled for a normal six-month deployment when it left in July to support Operation Enduring Freedom, but was extended for Operation Iraqi Freedom. That made the USS Lincoln, or "Abe," the first carrier deployed for longer than nine months since 1973. In the first 17 days of the war, Air Wing 14 aircraft dropped more than 1.3 million pounds of ordnance. "Abe" was home to 31 media during the war including the BBC, Los Angeles Times and New York Times.
