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The war against Iraq began on Thursday 20 March with 36 cruise missiles hitting places in Baghdad where it was thought President Saddam Hussein, his family and supporters might be. There was speculation that he might have been wounded. Each night specific targets in Baghdad were hit with missiles and guided bombs. Turkey persisted in its refusal to allow American forces to gain access to northern Iraq through its territory, instead sending 1,500 commandos of its own into the Kurdish-controlled territory there. The United States 3rd Infantry Division moved very rapidly from Kuwait north-west through the desert west of the Euphrates, reaching Najaf in four days and Karbala in six. Iraqi divisions gathered round Baghdad. The southern oil fields were secured, but the city of Basra put up continued resistance; coalition troops intervened when Iraqi forces tried to put down an uprising. There was sharp fighting at Nasiriya where the Euphrates is bridged; more than ten American soldiers were killed there. Five captured American soldiers, including one woman, were shown off on Iraqi television, and two airmen the next day. The Dow Jones share index had its best week for 20 years. Mr William Ho, Hong Kong’s senior health official, was taken to hospital suffering from the pneumonia that has killed eight in the former colony and has spread in the East, with a few cases in Britain and North America. Lucy de Berk, a Dutch nurse, was found guilty of four murders and three attempted murders and sentenced to life. In Zimbabwe soldiers spent three days raiding and beating suspected supporters of a general strike called by the opposition. In Slovenia, 89.61 per cent of voters in a referendum supported joining the European Union and 66.02 per cent supported entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Snow covered the Acropolis in Athens.
CSH
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