I heard the same story, waiting to find out why. We're watching the same Fox News. Odd development.

The airport is under US control the BBC has just announced.

if this is true,,,i have a feeling it is not a good thing :O(

if this is true,,,i have a feeling it is not a good thing :O(

They are trying to force civilians to flee towards our tanks and fighting forces, slowing us down and making us responsible for civilian deaths.

Bastards.

Here comes the nerve gas. Bastards.

I hope its just that. If they force people into the streets and unleash those chemical weapons...

lol ... like you're going to listen to them if you're an Iraqi.

Who's making the announcements?

Smells like a damn set-up for WMD usage...

Don't go! Stay in your homes!

J.

Fucking bastards! if they unleash chemical weapons on civillians I might even start seriously considering joining the US army even if I am a Finnish citizen.

It is possible that their objective is to slow the 3rd ID's advance in this manner, but that doesn't account for I MEF, which is at the eastern fringe of the city. I don't see this as part of a coordinated scheme . . . I see a regime in a state of panic.

"The white zone is for human shield loading and unloading only. The red zone is for Fedayeen loading and unloading only. Captain Oveur, you have a call on the white phone . . . "

I have no idea, this is weird. If its the Marines making annoucenements, it could be that we're trying to move people out of harms way, as a poster mentioned above..

It is odd though.. Eerily odd.

Yes, but ...

what if it's coalition forces, saying in effect "here we come -- if you want to be safe, come to the airport and we'll protect you, but if you stay in your homes, you may be killed" ...

This gives me the heebeegeebees. I would expect that the regime would use chem WMD on it's own people and try to blame the US.

[Ackbar]It's a trap!!!

No way it's us making the announcement. No way. If true, it may not have to do with chemical weapons but "only" trying to mount a massive shield to either help retake airport, or more likely, just get scores of civilians shot at for publicity.

Pray that this evil scheme fails.

Are they playing the theme from Close Encounters?

Remember all the happy cheering civilians that slowed the ground advance in Holland in 1944? But there we were racing to releive the paratroopers that took the bridges...there's no friendlies waiting this time.

If the Iraqis should decide to use chemical weapons,how would they deliver them?They used jets in the attack on Halabja in 1998,but now the Iraqi air force is incapacitated.You can,of course,fill artillery munitions with the stuff,but presumably Iraqi artillery positions have already been bombed by the Coalition forces for several days (this is just an informed guess).

Chemical warfare may not have been a realistic deterrent against fast-moving troops with protection suits,capable of pinpointing the source and directing devastating counter-attacks from the air anyway.So presumably the "right" moment would be when the Coalition troops are in an enclosed area,such as the streets of Baghdad,and unable to move quickly.But does the Saddam regime have the means?Want to speculate?

This was one of the worse case scenarios described early on in the war where hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Baghdad run into our troops. Our ground forces would grind to a halt trying to sort through and avoid the people.

I don't think the coalition would encourage Iraqi civilians to "Come to the safety" of the airport. (1) it is a battle zone and very dangerous and (2) We don't have the food/water/shelter for 5 million people in place.

Delivery of chem/bio is not at all that difficult for them. They almost certainly have some artillery hidden within the city, probably in residential areas. They wouldn't get many shots off before counter-battery fire takes them out (with collateral damage to the civilian population), but they certainly still have the means.

For those who have cable, Please keep relevant updates coming. Thank you.

I never knew how to spell 'heebeegeebees' before.

Isn't the most likely Iraqi purpose in doing this, to flood the airport with citizens, to hide amongst? After all, the Fedayeen dress like civies, so the best way to hide is to infiltrate amongst other citizens....

Re chemical weapons

They could be pre-placed and then dispersed at the "right" time. The Bopal (sp?) India accident shows that "point sources" could work (at least against an unprotected population).

It's sad to me that we, sitting here in the safety of our homes in the US or Finland or wherever, can think of more awful things for the Iraqis to do, than they have actually done.

Dear Angela,

What about all the aweful things that the Imperial USA has done in the name of either democracy or freedom the lord jesus christ or indeed oil and other resources?