A senior Iraqi official is threatening that Iraq will carry out suicide attacks against Americans in this country and the region if the US carries through with its threats to strike Iraq.
"Martyrs, perpetrators of suicide attacks, are our new weapons, and they will not only take action in Iraq," Taha Yassin Ramadan, a vice president who is considered among the nation's top two officials after President Saddam Hussein, is quoted as saying in the new issue of the German magazine Der Spiegel. "The whole region will be set ablaze. This part of the world will become a sea of resistance and danger for Americans."
Saddam also repeated warnings that American soldiers would be killed before being able to enter Baghdad, the capital.
"The enemy will not enter Baghdad's suburbs because he will die," he told top military commanders on Friday night, according to the state press. "Even if they send a million soldiers, our boys will kill them."
The Iraqis' comments came amid heightened talk of war both here and in Washington, with US President Bush George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair warning that time was running out for Iraq to give up the illegal weapons they say it has.
For the last two weeks, Saddam has appeared regularly on state television in a display of the nation's preparations for war. On Friday night, he discussed with military officials the way he expected American soldiers to carry out any invasion: by landing in the desert and moving to take the capital.
Echoing recent comments from other top officials, he repeated that any bombing campaign could be devastating, though he said it would not defeat Iraq.
"When the enemy lands, he ensures air protection," he said. "And when you attack to destroy him, he will destroy you with his air forces."
"The force which counters an enemy landing must be close to it," he advised the commanders. "For that, we have to spread troops across the desert at the risk of exposing them to enemy fire, and our training must be carried out in line with this theory. Otherwise it will not be realistic."
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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