Friday, 28 March : Reporters' Log: War in Iraq

The Pentagon :: Nick Childs :: 1921GMT

We heard a public warning, if you like, from Donald Rumsfeld to two of Iraq's neighbours - Syria and Iran.

He said there had been information of shipments of equipment, including night-vision goggles, crossing the Syrian border into Iraq.

In terms of Iran, he said there were reports that evidence of several hundred Iraqi dissidents with loyalty to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard having a presence in Iraq.

In the latter case they considered that an unhelpful act. And in the case of the shipments was a hostile act.

Biara, northern Iraq :: Jim Muir :: 1701GMT

Thousands of Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters supported by US special forces have overrun the main strongholds in the mountains of north-east Iraq of the Ansar al-Islam.

Ansar al-Islam is an extremist Muslim group accused by both the Americans and the Kurds of having links with terrorism and al-Qaeda.

After an operation which began at dawn, Peshmerga forces said they had captured all the main centres held by the Ansar, who had controlled a string of around forty villages and small towns in the mountain area.

Amman, Jordan :: Lyse Doucet :: 1159GMT

Today in Jordan they're expecting demonstrations in every single town and city, even in towns that have never seen protest before. It's not surprising given the newspapers people wake up to here.

The newspapers across the Arab world tend to display the views of the Iraqis, rather than the promises coalition forces.

One front page summarises Arab opinion. On one side it shows a picture of Palestinians suffering because of an Israeli action - a bulldozer - on their homes, and on the other side, another picture of an Iraqi suffering because of attack by American plane on his home.

Sir Galahad :: Owen Bennett Jones :: 1109GMT

The port of Umm Qasr is being de-mined by dolphins attached to cameras. Apparently they go down and see something suspicious, then come back and tell their handler there's something suspicious. He then gives them an explosive charge, they take it down, put it next to the suspicious object, come back, it blows up, and then they go down and look at it again!

It sounds implausible, but the Australians are using them, and everyone around here - including a very senior American commander - says it works. I hope to see it for myself when the Sir Galahad gets to
Umm Qasr.
- posted by ARYABHATT @ 11:04 pm