Red Cross official on casualties; Roundtable discussion: Alexander Cockburn,Michael Albert

VIDEO:

http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/dnB20030407b.rm&proto=rtsp

Story: U.S. FORCES REPORTEDLY ENTER SADDAM HUSSEIN'S PALACES AFTER THOUSANDS OF IRAQIS ARE KILLED: WE GO TO BAGHDAD FOR A REPORT FROM MAY YING WELSH

U.S. ground forces invaded Baghdad again today. US officials say they have entered two palace complexes of President Saddam Hussein.

At least two Marines were killed in fierce fighting at key bridges in the eastern part of the city.

Reuters reports explosions continued in central Baghdad, including a residential district. Ambulances raced through the streets.

Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf told reporters Baghdad is safe and claimed US columns had been slaughtered and US forces are committing suicide by the hundreds.

In Saturday's raid, US commanders claimed allies killed as many as 3,000 Iraqis, but commanders who conducted the raid said around a thousand were killed.

The Pentagon says both raids are shows of force meant to demonstrate to the Iraqi people US forces can enter Baghdad at will.

There was no immediate word on civilian casualties. Aid workers said on Sunday hospitals were already overwhelmed.

The Guardian is reporting thousands of residents are fleeing in cars or on foot, many of them empty-handed or carrying only their children too young to walk in the midday heat.

May Ying Welsh, independent reporter in Baghdad.
Story: ISRAELI FORCES SHOOT AND SERIOUSLY INJURE U.S. PEACE ACTIVIST: WE TALK WITH AN EYEWITNESS IN JENIN
Just weeks after Rachel Corrie of Olympia was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza town of Rafah, Israeli forces nearly killed another U.S. peace activist on Saturday, 24-year-old Brian Avery.

He is reported to be in serious condition. He has regained consciousness and is able to communicate by writing messages. But his face is said to be shattered, with his tongue split in two.

Eyewitnesses and members of the International Solidarity Movement say Avery was shot by an Israeli tank. Israel said the shooting is under investigation.

Avery, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, had come out of his apartment building to investigate shots being fired on the streets when an armored personnel carrier rounded a corner, said Tobias Karlsson, 30, a member of the Palestinian-backed group from Stockholm, Sweden.

"We had our hands up and we were wearing vests that clearly identified us as international workers when they began firing," Tobias told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "Brian was shot in the face, and it looks like he was hit by a heavy caliber bullet because of the extent of the wound."

Tobias Karlsson, member of the International Solidarity Movement and eyewitness to the shooting of Brian Avery.
Danny Muller, friend and former roommate of Brian Avery.
Related link:
International Solidarity Movement
Story: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DETAINS COMPUTER ENGINEER AND BARS ATTORNEYS FROM DISCUSSING THE CASE: A FORMER INTEL VICE PRESIDENT CREATES WEBSITE TO HIGHLIGHT THE "DISAPPEARANCE"
His name is Mike Hawash. He is a father. A computer programmer with Intel. A U.S. citizen.

You could say he led a typical life until less than three weeks ago when he was surrounded by officers from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in the Intel parking lot.

He was taken into custody as a material witness in an undisclosed court case. He is now being held in solitary confinement. He has not been technically arrested but he could be held indefinitely with the government never pressing charges. And his lawyers are barred from talking about the case. You could say he has almost been disappeared.

That might have been the case except for colleagues of his in the tech world.

Steve McGeady, a former Vice President of Intel who worked with Hasbah created a website titled "freemikehawash.org" to raise awareness about the case. He joins us on the phone today…

Steven McGeady, former vice president at Intel where he was the boss of Mike Hawash for 10 years.
Related link:
freemikehawash.org
Story: WITH THE NUMBER OF CASUALTIES IN BAGHDAD SOARING, HOSPITALS ARE FORCED TO STOP COUNTING: THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS RESPONDS TO THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
The International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday the number of casualties in Baghdad is so high that hospitals have stopped counting.

ICRC staff in the capital said that during the fiercest fighting, hospitals were receiving around 100 casualties per hour.

The ICRC also said hospitals urgently need more water supplies. Given the general power outage in Baghdad, most hospitals and water installations are now being powered by backup generators.

In town after town in the Iraq war zone, hospitals trying to cope with hundreds of wounded are cut off from medical re-supply, aid officials reported Sunday. An aid convoy destined for one overwhelmed hospital south of Baghdad was canceled because of U.S. military operations.

Nada Doumani, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Story: ROUNDTABLE ON IRAQ: KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL OF THE NATION, ALEXANDER COCKBURN OF COUNTERPUNCH, MICHAEL ALBERT OF Z MAGAZINE AND AFP REPORTER NAYLA RAZZOUK IN BAGHDAD DISCUSS THE FIRST 20 DAYS OF THE INVASION OF IRAQ
A US F-16 warplane yesterday bombed a Kurdish convoy traveling with US special forces in Northern Iraq, killing at least 18 people.

The bomb fell only meters from where the BBC world affairs editor John Simpson was standing. He said it was a "scene from hell." Bodies burned around him; pieces of bodies were strewn around; vehicles were on fire. The BBC's translator, Kamran Abdurazaq Mohammed, was killed, and the BBC's driver lost a leg.

Witness said at least five of the vehicles in the convoy had blaze-orange markings on their roofs meant to warn US pilots, according to the New York Times. The three white BBC vehicles had the letters "TV" spelled out on their hoods.

The commander of the special forces of the peshmerga Kurdish fighters, Wajih Barzani, was critically injured. He is the brother of Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic party.

Reporting nearby was Patrick Cockburn, reporter of the Independent of London and brother of Counterpunch's Alexander Cockburn, one of our guests today on a roundtable of magazine editors. We are also joined by Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation and Michael Albert of Z Magazine.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation.
Alexander Cockburn, editor of the journal Counterpunch and website Counterpunch.org.
Michael Albert, founder and staff member of Z Magazine.
Nayla Razzouk, AFP reporter in Baghdad.