Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani – April 2, 2003

Repetition of the aggressors’ crime in Amarah, with a helicopter attack on a car and the killing of 15 women and children, has placed the United States in greater difficulty, and the defense offered by American media is not convincing. The city of Karbala was also subjected to artillery fire, causing widespread distress.

Amr Moussa strongly criticized Kuwait for its full cooperation with the aggressors, and the governments of Egypt and Jordan were also criticized for expelling several Iraqi diplomats, albeit on pretexts, in order not to be accused of following U.S. orders. Iraq called Saud al-Faisal, who had repeated a proposal for Saddam Hussein’s resignation, an American agent.

Reports circulated that negotiations between Iraq and the United States for a ceasefire had begun, but both sides denied it. The United States said it would accept only the unconditional surrender of Saddam Hussein, while Iraq said it would accept no negotiations before the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Ta’i announced that, contrary to the invaders’ claims, Iraqi forces remain in Umm Qasr, Faw, and Abu al-Khasib in Basra Province and are blocking the advance of the invaders. The United States said its forces had attacked the port of Sindia in southern Iraq and denied any halt in ground operations.

The expulsion of Peter Arnett, a well-known journalist who had won several awards for his reporting innovations during the Vietnam War, after reporting facts about the Iraq war, has caused embarrassment for the aggressors.

Last night, BBC Radio broadcast a report from its correspondent in Iraq stating that the residents of the border town of Safwan, which had been occupied by the aggressors, chanted slogans in favor of Saddam and against the aggressors while receiving supplies, and a British officer expressed surprise that the people did not want them.

Iraq says that in the Mosul region it has inflicted heavy blows on British paratroopers, dispersing them. British newspapers wrote that a full-scale attack on Baghdad would begin within the next 48 hours.

Reports also said that during clashes in Najaf, a bomb exploded near the wall of the shrine of Imam Ali (peace be upon him), damaging the wall. Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said that low-altitude flights over the shrines of the Imams caused vibrations and damage, while the United States and Britain claimed that Iraqi forces were using the shrine of Imam Ali as a base to attack coalition forces.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry provided a list of Shiite holy sites in Iraq to the British so they would ensure they are not damaged. The aggressors claimed to have taken a bridge over the Tigris near Kut and said their forces were now 50 kilometers from Baghdad, but Iraq denied this. In the northern front, the aggressors continuously carried out airstrikes on Iraqi positions facing the Kurds, and Iraqi forces withdrew several kilometers in some areas to adjust their positions.

Last night, electricity was cut in Latian, Lavasan, and parts of rural areas across the country, causing disruptions.