Log from the brigade members: Second night of attacks over BaghdadBaghdad/Madrid, March 21, 2003
Informational note to CSCAweb ( www.nodo50.org )
At 8 this morning, Friday, March 21, Carlos Varea, Baghdad coordinator of the Brigades to Iraq Against the War, transmitted to the Committee to Support the Arab Cause (CSCA) a new log about how the brigade members have experienced the last day in Baghdad and of the bombardment launched the night before by the U.S. Air Force. Our comrades are doing well and send, by means of this log, a greeting and a message of calmness directed at their family, comrades and friends. Despite the news surprisingly sent yesterday afternoon on some radio stations that reported that brigade members had been kidnapped, all have remained united without having had their daily rhythm altered, except for the anxiety and the expectation that the sound of the alarms, of the planes and the missiles stir up when attacks occur. All are in good physical condition and prepared to remain in Baghdad.
During the day yesterday, while going through the city to get a sense of the spirit of the population, they took part at a noon press conference held by the Minister of Information Al Sharaf in the Press Center in Baghdad. In his talk, the minister confirmed that the 40 U.S. missiles that had been launched in the first bombardment of the night before had been aimed at places where it was suspected that the Iraqi leadership was present. This attack produced one death and several injuries.
During their own press conference, the Brigade gathered before this same Press Center and displayed several anti-war placards, against the Spanish government and against the use of military bases in Spain. Then the nine brigade members strolled through the city, where they perceived a certain type of normalcy; the people had come out of their home to do some shopping in the quite limited number of commercial shops that were open and some families were walking around. According to Carlos Varea, “the armed presence in the streets, both civilian and military, has considerably increased compared to the days before but did not in the slightest result in more aggressive behavior nor did they carry out the work of identification and control of the population. The people in the streets continue to be very friendly with all of us, salute us with smiles and by making a V for victory and raising their fist in a sign of solidarity.”
After the walk through Baghdad and before the aforeseen new attack expected in the evening and then confirmed, the Brigade returned to its lodgings to directly install itself in the shelter where it had previously moved provisions of water, food, medicine and gas masks., as well as mattresses, sleeping bags and basic items to pass the night. Next to them they met some journalists from Spanish media like Fran Sevilla of RNE; Tomás Alcoverro, of La Vanguardia; Ángeles Espinosa of El País; ETB; as well as COPE, ABC, and El Semanal Colpisa.
From the shelter they heard at 8:55 p.m. (local time) a new air raid alarm, followed by a bombardment that was extended during more than an hour until 10:15 p.m. The sky of Baghdad stayed illuminated during all this time by the anti-aircraft fire. The bombardment was much more intense and prolonged than that of the day before, from listening clearly from the shelter the jet engines and the missiles in the southeast. As they were able to calculate, and as the television images confirmed yesterday, the attacks, which had taken place against installations situated on the other side of the river from where the Brigade was, centered on the Ministry of Planning and Information, situated in the center of the city, facing the Hotel El Rashid where part of the international press remaining in Baghdad was staying and in the same place where the press conference had taken place in the morning before.
Since those attacks, between 11:30 p.m. and midnight they again heard air raid sirens but there were no sounds of missiles or of planes.
This morning, the Brigade expects to visit the hospitals where they will meet those people wounded during these latest attacks. This is a gesture of support of the population. Later they will answer questions from the media from our country who have been contacted.
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