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| Report-34: Busy night of Bombing by Robert Turcotte |
We’ve had a busy night of bombing. I returned to the Kindi Hospital with Bettejo to give some coloring crayons and drawing books to five seriously wounded children, including one girl who has lost half a leg. Bettejo brought a Polaroid camera. I took pictures of the children with their mothers and/or grandmothers, and gave them the photographs as gifts. It seemed to make them happy. I didn’t ask to document these wounded so as to not break the warm atmosphere we shared.
We then went to two press conferences. The Minister of Information announced success in combat and called the English and Americans mercenaries. He denied the rumor that the mercenaries were gaining ground and were about to conquer Basrah. He stated that the Iraqi army is perfectly in control of the situation.
The Minister of Commerce condemned the attacks on the food warehouses in Basrah and Nasiriya -- where provisions have been lacking -- as well as in Baghdad. He stressed the important losses of milk and yogurt that were destined for children.
At 8:00 p.m., we lost electricity. The hotel generator held out until 11:00 p.m.
April 4, 2003 We’re putting our clocks forward today. We’ve lost power
since last night. For the time being, we don’t know whether
it was cut by the Iraqis in order to install their defense system,
or if the installations were bombed by the attackers who are apparently
getting closer and closer. It’s difficult to say because rumors
abound, and information varies with
They look like a pack of wolves in cages, ready to bite anyone
who manages to get any information. With this power shortage, they’re
in deeper shit than we are because they don’t even have water
or electricity in their rooms. Some journalists have their own little
At 1:00 p.m., Zaid, our escort, informed us that the electrical plants were bombed by the Americans with special fiberglass missiles that were fired inside the plants, rather than outside. He also informed us that 800 missiles were fired last night, that
the Baghdad airport, which is 30 km from the city, is under American
control, that two bridges and one road leading to Baghdad were bombed,
and that 33 civilian cars coming from Iran were pulled and
He was very concerned for our security and advised us to be more prudent, particularly with regards to cameras, as well as other gear that we don’t have, such as walkie-talkies and other transmission equipment. He even advised us to sleep in a shelter because two other nights of intensive bombing are planned in addition to last night’s. He left the meeting so that we may reflect on the situation amongst ourselves.
Together, we revised our emergency plan and our provisions, in
the event that we have to isolate ourselves. We checked our budget
to make sure that we would not have to rely on local authorities
in order to leave the country, as costs are rising rapidly with
the approach of the Americans. We reminded each other of the attitude
we must adopt and the procedures we must follow if we are captured
by the American army or by the authorities, who know us well, and
could easily choose to use us as human shields. We are all ready
to
Personally, I think this is the safest sector in the city, because the two big neighboring hotels are overflowing with journalists and other members of the international community. It is not likely that they would be a designated target, as that would strike quite a blow to the image of the attackers, and would quickly turn the tide against them.
It’s midnight as I write this amidst the roaring hum of the hotel generator. Now, in this darkened city, under a perfectly starlit sky, lights are sparkling from a type of bombardment that produces regular crackles followed by great bangs.
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April
3, 2003.