Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Students pause for war updates !»' PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Drew Jackson, a third-year graphic-design student, stops in the Russell House for a minute on his way to class to look and listen to the latest news about the situation with Iraq. USC students join nationwide wave of protests BY HOLLY BOUNDS THE GAMECOCK USC peace activists called a ral ly yesterday, just one day after the United States launched a military strike on Iraq. Students and professors gath ered in the rain outside the do not see war as a solution to the situation in Iraq. “The war needs to serve as a wake-up call,” Catanese said. “The American dream can be achieved no matter how much it may be in jeopardy right now.” London Boyd, a fourth-year marketing and management stu mimanraes omce building to listen to reflections on the war. An hour later, a march proceeded to the Strom Thurmond Federal Building, where the group joined represen tatives from the South Carolina Peace Resource Network. Elizabeth “The war needs to serve as a wake-up calj. The American dream can be achieved no matter how much it may be in jeopardy right now.” ELIZABETH CATANESE FOURTH-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENT aeni, uisagrees with the protesting. He thinks USC stu dents should fully support the troops, espe cially because some of them are their own peers. “I don’t be lieve now is the proper time to be protesting catanese, a.tourtn-year Engnsn student, said she thought it was necessary that students against the war show that everyone is not in favor of Bush’s agenda. The group of about 200 people made it clear that they love America, but American action in Iraq, i support President Bush and believe now more than ever we must support our troops,” Boyd said. “These troops risk their lives every day ♦ PROTESTS, SEE PAGE 4 I BY ROSS SIMPSON I THE ASSOCIATED Pit ESS SOUTHERN IRAQ -The U S. Marines and Army rolled into Iraq and engaged Saddam Hussein’s forces in the desert on Thursday, joining British troops in launch ing the war’s ground assault. As U.S. armor drove deeper into Iraq Friday morning, British troops conducted an assault on the strategic al-Faw peninsula, Iraq’s access point to the Persian Gulf and the site of major oil facilities. ' -V?;- -',7 i- • .y'/iw British military officials said they hoped to seize the key port of Umm Qasr before the day’s end. Through the night and as the sun rose, artillery barrages lit up the sky, and witnesses in north ern Kuwait side said they could hear thunderous explosions from the Umm Qasr area. Thursday evening, U.S. forces in northern Kuwait signaled the start of their advance on Iraq with a thundering artillery barrage over the border. Infantrymen on the move, their weeks of waiting •.lav.J'i'-ii--.':-1!-.i at an end, cheered as shells screamed overhead. Under the shelter of night and supported by heavy bombing, the armored vehicles of the 1st Marine Division rolled into south ern Iraq at around 9 p.m. local time (1 p.m. EST). As they moved through the desert, burning oil wells were visible, spewing black smoke. 'Die 20,000 Marines met light re sistance from Iraqi “rear guard” units. They opened fire with ma chine guns on an Iraqi T-55 tank and destroyed it with a Javelin, a portable anti-tank missile. Troops from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division also crossed into [raq and came into contact with several Iraqi armored personnel carriers, destroying at least three of them, front line troops report ed by radio. There were no reports of U.S. casualties in the engagements. In northern Kuwait, a helicopter crashed Thursday, killing the four American crewmembers and 12 British troops on board. Thursday evening, elite British troops were dropped by Chinook and Sea Stallion helicopters to seize oil facilities in al-Faw after U.S. Seals prepared the area, ac cording to Britain’s Press Association news agency. By taking southern Iraq, the al lies would command access to the Gulf and Set the stage for the first major conquest on the way to Baghdad — Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, just 20 miles from the Kuwait border. The move on the area between Basra and the Persian Gulf sug gested that the allied strategy on the ground calls for a two-pronged attack — one to clear Iraqi resis tance in the southern oil region while the other charges north to ward Baghdad. Australian troops were also in Iraq identifying targets for coali tion aircraft and monitoring Iraqi troop movements, an Australian defense force spokesman said. “Things are going very well,” ♦ GROUND ATTACK, SEE PAGE 4 U.S. starts jnew search ifor al-Qaida fugitives 0 n V/ IAMFV 1/ r A TFII ■THE ASSOCIATED PRESS m *: BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN - As the war began in Iraq, U.S. sol diers mounted one of the biggest searches in a year for Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives in Afghanistan. The military said the timing was coincidental, adding that it was acting on new intelligence from radio intercepts. Anti-U.S. groups had threatened to intensi fy attacks on the multinational coalition in Afghanistan if war breaks out in Iraq. Operation “Valiant Strike” be 4gan at 6 a.m. Thursday (8:30 p.m. JJEST Wednesday) and involved J^nearly 1,000 U.S. troops and their •Afghan allies. Backed by attack •helicopters, they swept into •southern Afghanistan, combing “mountain terrain and valley vil lages. “ Military spokesman Col. Roger “King said the raids focused on ar “eas east of Kandahar, the former •spiritual headquarters of the •Taliban, which is allied with al “Qaida, Osama bin Laden’s terror SJist network. He declined to say “ whether bin Laden was the target •of the hunt. Doolitun o cnnl/ncmon for the Kandahar provincial gov eminent, said the Taliban’s r,, supreme leader Mullah a, Mohammed Omar has tribal links i,, in the area. ;' “Operations in Afghanistan are conducted completely inde pendent of any operations in oth -. er sectors,” King told reporters at Bagram Air Base. “We have done a series of major operations; this ,H is one more in a continuing se _i(ries. ; In Washington, officials dis missed suggestions the offensive, t, coming so soon after the start of the war in Iraq, was intended to .3, show the War against Saddam Hussein was not taking away at ,, tention from the war on terror. ^ “It is a separate operation; it is not connected and would have ♦ AFGHANISTAN, SEE PAGE 5 Congress supports U.S. troops BY KEN GUGGENHEIM THE ASSOCIATED PEEKE WASHINGTON - With the first blasts of war, lawmakers on Thursday largely set aside dif ferences over President Bush’s handling of Iraq and called for unity in support of American troops. The Senate unanimously ap proved a resolution in support of the forces. It expressed gratitude to soldiers and their families, support for Bush as commander in chief, and thanked British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government “for their coura geous and steadfast support.” The vote was 99-0, with Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., absent because of an illness in his family. House leaders prepared a sim “When we go into battle, despite our differences on policy, when we go into battle, it will be one team, one fight.” NANCY PELOSI HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER ilar resolution, which they ex pected to offer for a vote early Friday morning. Some Democrats raised concerns the wording might suggest they sup ported Bush’s decision to go to war and that they agreed Iraq was part of the war on terrorism. Despite the differences, the House resolution was expected to win wide support, including from some lawmakers who had voted against a resolution in October authorizing the war. “When we go into battle, de spite our differences on policy, when we go into battle, it will be one team, one fight,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who opposed that war resolution. After Bush abandoned efforts Monday to seek a U.N. resolution for the war, Democrats combined statements of support for the troops with criticism of the ad ministration’s diplomatic efforts. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota drew ♦ CONGRESS, SEE PAGE 4 » -•".. ' ~~~ ' T" ^ If I |H| $&■>■;y ■*■." Turkey ^ 4f Air Force ^Marines -a- Navy Saudi Arabia - V Qatar QQ *%iffck A At first sound of Iraqi shell explosions, U.S. troops don gas masks BY DOUG MELLGREN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NORTHERN KUWAIT - “Gas, gas, gas!” comes the muffled cry as Iraqi shells explode in the dis tance. Instantly, all rip open the gas mask holders on their hips and pulls out the masks. If the gas is a nerve agent, they have nine seconds to put on the mask, blow hard to clear it and check the seal. Thankfully, it was a false alarm on Thursday — one of many prompted by Iraqi missile attacks. Most of the Marines of the 1st Platoon, Echo company of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Force appear to make the deadline. Gas, whether biological, chemical or nerve agent, is one of the greatest worries of these Marines and other troops ready for action in Iraq. And this is not a drill. Iraqi shells have explod- , ed within distant earshot, and gas masks donned just in case. When the troops head into Iraq across the “berm” — long, manmade sand dunes — they will wear protective suits and have gas masks handy as a pre caution. They go everywhere with their masks, sometimes sleeping with them as pillows or strapped to their arms in case an alarm comes during the night. The suits look and feel like heavy camouflage field uniforms and are lined with charcoal fil ters to keep harmful agents from seeping through. But that also makes them airtight, so they are hot and trap sweat inside, a par ticular hardship in the heat of the harsh desert. “I can’t even begin to tell you how hot,” said Sgt. Robert Renfrow, 28, of Lake Stevens, Wash. “Your hands will swim in pools of sweat.” In fact, the Marines see the new chemical and biological suits as a huge improvement over the ones they used as re cently as two years ago. That version was even hotter, and left their clothes and bodies covered with charcoal. Bush, Pentagon assess damage of initial attacks BY JENNIFER LOVEN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - President Bush conferred with his national security adviser early Thursday on the initial strikes against Iraq, as officials tried to determine whether the attack aimed at killing Saddam Hussein had suc ceeded. Bush called his Cabinet to the White House for a mid-afternoon war update, a day sifter he told a global audience that war in Iraq “could be long and more difficult than some expected.” Thirty police cars guarded the front entrances to the White House, where security was un usually intense hours after the first salvo in the war to disarm Iraq. There was no word from Bush or his spokesman on whether the mission was a suc cess. “The president is not going to be a play-by-play commentator on it,” White House press secre tary Ari Fleischer said. “The president has a long approach to this.” “The president is not going to be a play-by-play commentator on it. The president has a long approach to this.” ARI FLEISCHER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said military intelli gence was picking up signs and “circumstantial evidence” that Saddam and his senior leader ship were either incapacitated or out of communication with bat tlefield commanders, but it was too early to say if they were killed or wounded. The officials said U.S. military leaders saw significance in Iraq’s failure to wage a coordinated re sponse to the first strikes. Amid the questions, the White House held out the still-available option for Saddam to choose ex ile. “We continue to hope Saddam Hussein will leave Iraq,” Fleischer said. “If Iraqi leaders turn themselves in, that would be very welcome.” Bush worked the phones to place “a large number” of calls to world leaders, Fleischer said without specifying the recipients or the content of the conversa tions. Official news agency re ports from Arab nations said Bush had called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; the emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa A1 Thani; and the king of Bahrain, Sheik Hamad bin Isa A1 Khalifa, to discuss the military operation in Iraq. Mubarak stressed to Bush the importance of ending the hostili ties as soon as possible and re specting Iraq’s current territori al boundaries, the semi-official Middle East News Agency said. U.S. officials said there are some indications that several oil ♦ ASSESSMENT, SEE PAGE 5