Search results for

All Things Considered guest host John Ydstie talks with United Nations Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator Ross Mountain about the situation on the ground in Iraq. Iraqi families currently have enough food to last through the month, and the expected flood of refugees has not yet materialized. But Mountain says the situation could worsen significantly.

Facing sporadic resistance from Iraqi troops, U.S. Army tanks enter Baghdad while armored vehicles encircle the Iraqi capital, a U.S. Central Command spokesman says. Col. David Perkins of the 3rd Infantry Division says U.S.-led forces will increase their stranglehold on the city and "take bites and pieces at a time until the regime does collapse." Hear NPR's Anne Garrels and NPR's Eric Westervelt.

U.S. troops seize Baghdad's main airport, 12 miles outside the city. Pentagon officials are pleased with the gains made, but still fear stronger opposition as they move forward. Saddam Hussein appears on TV to exhort the people of Baghdad to fight back. NPR's Bob Edwards speaks with NPR's Nick Spicer.

The U.S. military investigates reports that an American warplane bombed a convoy of Kurdish fighters and U.S. Special Forces soldiers in northern Iraq, killing several people. A BBC reporter traveling with the convoy says he counted at least 10 bodies lying near the burning vehicles. NPR's Liane Hansen talks to NPR's Ivan Watson.

NPR's John Burnett, with the Marine's 1st Division in Iraq, says forward movement of the column was slowed because of a firefight just south of Baghdad. Marine commanders say rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades appeared to come from Iraqi irregulars -- some wearing black. Attacks such as these have slowed, but not stopped, forward movement of the Marines.

The U.S. First Marine Division moves to seal off roads on the east and north side of the Iraqi capital, and troops fight from skirmish to skirmish, finding huge caches of weapons and ammunition hidden along the sides of Highway 6 along the Tigris River. Hear NPR's John Burnett.

As President Bush will meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Northern Ireland to discuss possible plans for post-war Iraq. Meanwhile, U.S. and British political differences over Iraq's reconstruction surface, with at least one British official pushing for a larger U.N. role in rebuilding Iraq. Hear NPR's Sylvia Poggioli.

NPR's Michele Norris talks with Craig Smith, reporter for the New York Times, in Umm Qasr in southern Iraq. Smith spoke with a Shiite cleric who told him that Ba'ath Party officials in Basra are seeking a way to surrender. The cleric says that the party officials have no support among Iraqi people there and are worried about mob violence against them if they step down.

All Things Considered guest host John Ydstie speaks with the BBC's Hilary Andersson in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, where several thousand British troops make two incursions Sunday into the city, after weeks of battle.

Thoughts from Gus Martinez, an Alaskan park ranger who's helping to bolster security at Mt. Rushmore.