ÿş<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">  <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Al Jazeera - objective and balanced global news coverage and analysis- Features</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-16"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type><LINK href="article-command-control_files/style.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2722.900" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY leftMargin=0 topMargin=10 rightMargin=0> <DIV align=center xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <CENTER> <TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px" align=left><IMG src="article-command-control_files/banner.gif"></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG src="article-command-control_files/mainheader.jpg"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER></DIV> <DIV align=center> <CENTER> <TABLE id=AutoNumber2 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#999999 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=1> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE id=AutoNumber3 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=dates id=hDate dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" width="80%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD> <TD dir=ltr width="20%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE id=AutoNumber4 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=768 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=565> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD colSpan=2 height=5></TD></TR> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" colSpan=2> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=indicationLink2 vAlign=top><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/index.html">Homepage<IMG src="article-command-control_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0></A><IMG src="article-command-control_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0><IMG src="article-command-control_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0>/ <IMG src="article-command-control_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/topics/index8eb6.html?cu_no=1&template_id=277&temp_type=42">Features<IMG src="article-command-control_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0></A>/ </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=6></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD><INPUT id=item_cu_no type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=item_no type=hidden value=873 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=version type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=date1 type=hidden value=25/03/2003 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=dateTime type=hidden value=" 9:47PM" xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=articalText type=hidden value="<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Iraqi officials declared on Sunday that their military operation was progressing in an “excellent way”, defying claims to the contrary made by the US military.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“All of Iraq’s towns will put up strong resistance,” Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told reporters in a surprise appearance in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. “We let them go for a walk in the (western) desert, but all our towns will resist.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>American television network ABC had quoted US intelligence sources as saying that Ramdan, deputy Iraqi leader Ezzat Ibrahim and General Ali Hassan al-Majid were killed in American and British strikes.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Iraq’s Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, speaking in Syria where he held talks with officials early Sunday, dismissed those reports as “ridiculous nonsense put out by the American-Zionist propaganda machine”.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sabri is the first Iraqi official to travel abroad since the start of the&nbsp;US-led war against his country.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“Ramadan’s appearance put an end to those rumours,” Mohammed Saeed Idriss, military analyst with the Cairo-based Ahram Strategic Center told Al Jazeera Television. “It indicated that American reports that senior officials of the Iraqi government have been killed were lies.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>In a further dismissal of any suggestion that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is not still firmly in control of the country, state television on Sunday again showed him meeting members of his inner circle that Washington also wants to assassinate.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Iraqi president reportedly told them he was satisfied with his forces’ resistance to date.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>British intelligence reports suggest Saddam Hussein emerged alive from the opening US raid of the Iraq war. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“There seems to be national unity in Iraq,” Abdelbari Atwan, chief editor of the London-based Al Quds Al-Arabi newspaper told Jazeera Television. “They defeated the psychological war mounted by the Americans and British. Iraq is becoming the next Vietnam.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Iraqi Resistance</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“The operation is going more rapidly than I expected,” Major General Daniel Leaf told a news conference in Kuwait on Sunday. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>But he warned: “We are not long into this effort and the initial resistance may last for some time or may melt away more rapidly.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Reports on the ground indicate that American and British invading forces are running into stubborn resistance in several places in the southern Shi'ite heartland as they make their way up to the capital, Baghdad. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Iraq said it was looking forward to the invaders' arrival in the capital. "We wish that they would come to Baghdad so we can teach this evil administration, and those who work with it, a lesson," Ramadan, who called Iraq's defence excellent and its situation comfortable told reporters. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“The Iraqi resistance being seen went beyond all expectations,” Moustapha Bakri, editor-in-chief of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Isbou told Jazeera TV. “The American media keeps reporting that the Iraqi army’s morale is low, senior officers are defecting and the army is disintegrating. This is not happening. They are lying.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>There have been reports of widespread clashes near Umm Qasr, on Iraq’s narrow south coast, a day after American military officials said they won control of the strategic port.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Resistance has also been reported in the southern city of Basra as well as near Najaf – one of several cities that rose against the Iraqi leader in 1991 - and Nassariya where the Euphrates river was crossed.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“We (my division) remain steadfast and continue to defend our city. American claims that we surrendered are false and part of their psychological war,” Iraqi Major General Khaled al-Hashemi of the 51st division told a&nbsp;Jazeera television crew in the southeastern port city of Basra on Sunday.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Earlier reports coming from American military sources indicated that Hashemi along with his division had surrendered to American and British forces.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>&nbsp;“We have seven million army and volunteers who are spread in appropriate positions everywhere to shock and awe the enemy,” Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraq’s Information Minister told a news conference in Baghdad. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sahaf was mocking the “shock and awe” name Washington has given its bombing campaign against Iraq.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“Sahaf was in a defiant mood, he showed confidence and portrayed the steadfastness of the Iraqi people,” Idriss said. “The fact that he told journalists that he appointed a military spokesman who will deal with the press shows that Baghdad believes the war will not be a short one.” </FONT></P>
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