Explosions heard in Baghdad (BBC, 3/20/03)

Explosions have been heard in Baghdad, an hour and a half after the US deadline for Saddam Hussein to go into exile or face war expired.

The skies above Baghdad lit up with tracer fire and a large pall of smoke was seen in the south of the city.

President Bush gave the Iraqi leader until 0100 GMT on Thursday to quit, but there was no word out of Baghdad as the cut-off point lapsed.

With the passing of the deadline, Mr Bush's spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters: "The disarmament of the Iraqi regime will begin at a time of the president's choosing."

White House says, "The opening stages of the disarmament of the Iraqi regime have begun." President Bush to address nation at 10:15 p.m. (CNN)

MORE:
Many Iraqi Loyalists Leave Posts (HAMZA HENDAWI, 3/20/03, Associated Press)

Hundreds of armed members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party and security forces deployed Wednesday throughout Baghdad, taking positions behind sandbags and in foxholes ahead of the U.S. ultimatum for the Iraqi leader to leave or face war.

There was no sign during the day of regular army troops, however, and as the deadline approached, nearly half of the Baath loyalists were gone from the almost deserted streets. [...]

The Baath loyalists and security forces, meanwhile, stood behind hundreds of sandbagged positions built throughout the city over the past two weeks. Some were inside foxholes. Most were armed with Kalashnikovs, but some had rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine-guns. On the city's southern fringes, several anti-aircraft guns could be seen.

Even Baghdad's traffic policemen wore helmets and carried assault rifles.

The Baathists, who wore olive-green uniforms and deployed in clusters of fours and fives, are widely expected to take charge of keeping law and order in Baghdad and other main Iraqi cities in the event of war.

Saddam, Iraq's president of 23 years, also was expected to look to them and other loyal militiamen and troops to deal with any anti-government stirrings by groups tempted to capitalize on the chaos caused by war to try to seize power.

Curiously, there was no sign Wednesday of Iraq's army troops or armor in or outside Baghdad, where Saddam is widely expected to make his final stand against any invaders.

One explanation would be that he's afraid of his own armed forces, which would be a hopeful sign.

Posted by David Cohen at March 19, 2003 9:55 PM