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April 04, 2003
Near Continuous Artillery Fire near SE Baghdad
The Baghdad pool camera looks towards the ESE. It is located at either the Palestine or Sheraton hotel, and normally shows a Mosque on the left side of its view, and a traffic circle with a monument in the center, and is currently using an image intensifier (night scope). Over the last two hours, there has been almost continuous artillery fire visible from that camera, with occasional bombing, especially at the start. Timing the flashes to the noise yields a minimum impact distance of four miles from the camera. About an hour ago a jet audibly flew over followed by several sharp, very loud and obviously very close detonations (probably across the river). Fox is reporting that US military formations (which they did not name for security reasons) are fighting within S.E. Baghdad. Posted By John (Useful Fools) at April 4, 2003 08:55 PM | TrackBackComments
Battle's been going on for something between 3 and 4 hours at least...been watching it on the cbs live webcam... Posted by: Knitting a Conundrum at April 4, 2003 09:06 PMOn the CBS cam (before the sky got too light) a point light source could be seen just to the left of the top of the minaret. That is presumably Venus, which would be visible just south of due east over Baghdad. To judge from that and the distance, the explosions are probably at or near the Rashid Airport. Posted by: ScottM at April 4, 2003 09:12 PMThe firing moved a few miles. Batra? Posted by: John Anderson at April 4, 2003 09:22 PMOllie North, embedded with the Marines (1st MEF?), just said they were actually in eastern Baghdad. Posted by: ScottM at April 4, 2003 09:28 PMThe 155's must be in position. God help the Iraqis, because the world's best artillery is on the case. Posted by: Ernest Brown at April 4, 2003 09:30 PMScottM's right, it seems that the shells are (were, stopped now?) falling in the vacinity of the Rasheed Airport, which is in East Baghdad. Also, the first bridge within the city proper (when coming from the south) is roughly two miles due west of that airport (the Ad Dawrah Expressway, basically at the southern end of the big ox box the Tigris takes in central Baghdad). Posted by: The Other John Hawkins at April 4, 2003 09:43 PMPost a comment
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