Front Page: Iraq, March 22, 2003

The following is a compilation of today's newspaper reports about the Iraq crisis from around the country and around the world. It is just a sampling of different perspectives, designed to offer additional context into the conflict. Compiled by CBSNews.com's Andrew Cohen.

From around the country:

The Des Moines Register offered this local perspective: "Iowans prayed Friday that the stunning explosions in Baghdad would bring a quick end to the war without killing many civilians. Whether they agreed with President Bush or not, many expressed sympathy for Iraqi citizens caught in the onslaught. Tim McClung of Knoxville summed up common feelings. 'I'm definitely supportive of what we are doing there and of our troops,' he said. 'At the same time, I am sorry it had to come to this. War is no good for anybody.' Tim Tripp of Johnston was eating at a grocery-store lunch counter as the attack unfolded. He said he is glad that the United States is trying to win the conflict with intense bombing. 'The bigger and quicker the action, the more men we use, the quicker it will end,' he said. A shorter war could mean fewer casualties, he added. The Rev. James Berka, pastor of Good Hope Lutheran Church in Titonka, watched the bombing of Baghdad with his wife, Marilyn, a music teacher at Crystal Lake High School, who said she felt 'sick in my heart' while watching television. 'We've got deep concern for everybody over there,' James Berka said. 'The troops, the people who live there, who don't have much to do with this.' Their son Joel is an Army tank driver scheduled to go overseas any day now."

The Dallas Morning News's Katie Fairbank looked at the jargon of war: "This report is a 'target of opportunity' to 'embed' military terminology and 'shock and awe' readers. Heard those terms a few times? So has everyone else. Historically, conflicts come with their own language. Past wars contributed such expressions as the 'remember the Alamo' and 'mother of all battles.' This time the phrases are spreading far more quickly because of heavy media coverage. For instance 'shock and awe' — often said as one word — is being used to signify the start of heavy bombing. 'It's become the catch phrase, and you have to go with it,' said Noel Breen, who watched the war on television Friday at Houston Street restaurant in Dallas. 'Even so, after a month of us saying it, they may be awed by the bombing, but they couldn't be shocked.' 'Shock and awe' — a battle technique of massive bombings to achieve rapid dominance — was taken from the book Shock & Awe, written by military theorists in 1996. 'It is a buzzword all over this country, but you have to understand the doctrine before you understand the buzzword,' said James Wade Jr., a member of the team that created the rapid dominance battle plan. 'The point is, it's a new military strategy,' he said. Donna Jo Napoli, chairwoman of the linguistics department at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, said that clichés occur during conflict because they help relay information. 'There are some things that are huge and horrible, and you don't want people to not understand that you're feeling it too,' Dr. Napoli said."

The Nashville Tennessean's Rob Johnson looked at a former Iraqi soldier now living in Nashville: "On the office TV, the greenish glow of a night-vision battlefield filled the screen. U.S. troops were striking deep inside (Abdul) Al-Timimi's homeland. U.S. Marines and British commandos were fighting to take Basra, and Al-Timimi was standing inside his Nashville garage, one not very different from the shop he kept in southern Iraq — the one he had, that is, before Saddam's government took it. Sure, he'd like to go back to see his hometown and his old garage, 'but only to visit.' The U.S. soldiers, he predicted, would be warmly welcomed by the civilians in Iraq. 'I guarantee it, 100 percent. No, no — 1,000 percent. I promise you 1,000 percent that the people will be happy. There are only maybe 5,000 people who need Saddam Hussein in that country — the people, you know, who are close to him." The rest of Iraq, he said, will be glad to see him go. As Al-Timimi beamed yesterday at the prospect of Saddam's overthrow, two men in suits and ties arrived at the shop. One was an investigator for the U.S. Defense Department, the other from the FBI. They were part of a nationwide team of agents who were fanning out to talk to Iraqis now in the United States. The FBI wants to question at least 11,000 Iraqis around the United States about possible terrorists. The interviews yesterday with Al-Timimi's friends and family were conducted out of earshot, but everyone involved was nodding eagerly and smiling frequently."

The Seattle Times had this editorial perspective: "The descent of fearful force, the poof of collapsing rooms, the rustle and crackle of red cloud. It was the Mother Of All Bombs, showing the world a new level of destruction. But not a new level of death. That is the amazing thing. The image of this reorganization of molecules came from the lens of a camera a mile or so away. In between that camera and the inferno stood homes, apartments, offices and even palm trees, the green fronds flailing in the wind... Now it makes the world news when one Coalition helicopter goes down. For the families of those in that helicopter, the pain is no less, but the circles of pain are much, much smaller. We may hope that the pain to Iraq is less as well, and that the shock and awe is experienced by the Iraqi government, by the centers of Iraqi command and control, and not by the Iraqi people. Because we are not at war with the people, and if we are expecting their cooperation afterward, we will treat them with humanity. It may sound contradictory to place humanity in the same thought as that mushroom cloud. But there is a humane purpose to war."

The Washington Times' Bill Gertz reports on a search for a long-missing pilot: "Defense and intelligence agencies have formed a special unit that will go into Iraq to search for Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, a missing U.S. Navy pilot believed to have been held captive in Iraq since 1991. Creating the special unit comes as U.S. intelligence agencies reported last week that an American pilot believed to be Capt. Speicher was spotted alive in Baghdad earlier this month. A classified intelligence report circulated to officials March 14 stated that Capt. Speicher was seen as he was being moved in Baghdad, although officials said the sighting could not be confirmed. The joint program by officials of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the CIA, U.S. Central Command and other agencies also will conduct a nationwide search of Iraq for terrorists and chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, said Lt. Cmdr. James Brooks, a DIA spokesman. The intelligence community has established a unit to do a country-wide discovery, exploitation and interrogation effort to identify and disrupt terrorist operations; and to identify, examine and eliminate [weapons of mass destruction],' Cmdr. Brooks said in a statement."

From around the world:

Bahrain's Gulf Daily News provided coverage of local anti-war protests: "Hundreds of people from all walks of life took part in a peaceful demonstration against the U.S.-led attack on Iraq yesterday. The event, organized by a committee which represents 35 civil, professional, religious and political societies, was held on the beach opposite the Crowne Plaza. People taking part in the demonstration included students, doctors, engineers, university professors, clergymen as well as leading community figures. Organizers stressed it was a peaceful gathering of the people of Bahrain in protest against the U.S. attack against the innocent Iraqi people. It was also held in solidarity with the people of Iraq, who have already suffered 12 years of sanctions, they said. 'Despite our anger over the aggression the Iraqi people are facing, I urge you all to remain calm. This is a peaceful gathering,' organizers told the gathering over the loud speakers. They also called upon people in Bahrain to donate blood and money for the Iraqis. People chanted 'Down Down America,' 'Death to America' and 'Wait Wait Bush, We'll dig your grave' at the event, organized by the Civil Committee for the Support of Iraqi People. They also called upon the government to close the U.S. Embassy and permanently shut down U.S. naval facilities."

Karachi, Pakistan's Dawn newspapers offered this diplomatic news: "Pakistan said on Friday that it had not yet received any request from the Bush administration to snap diplomatic ties with Baghdad and expel Iraqi diplomats in Islamabad. 'No such request has come so far,' said the foreign office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan when a response was sought on reports that the United States had asked foreign governments around the world to close down Iraqi embassies. However, some senior Pakistani officials here believe that if such a demand was put forth by the Bush administration, Islamabad was unlikely to yield to it. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in an unexpected disclosure at the U.N. Security Council on Feb 5 had maintained that al Qaeda contacts with Iraq were conducted through the Iraqi embassy in Islamabad. The first reaction came from none other than President Musharraf who said Pakistan had no information of any such contact when questioned by a reporter after the NAM Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 25. Subsequently, senior Pakistani intelligence officials conveyed to the Americans that Mr. Powell's claim was unfounded and that there was no evidence of al Qaeda contact with Iraq on Pakistan's territory."

The Japan Times had this editorial view: "Modern Iraq is home to more than 10,000 archaeological sites, from the ruins of entire cities, such as Nineveh, Babylon and Ur, to the remains of fabled palaces, including the one from which Sennacherib the Assyrian sent his army down 'like the wolf on the fold' against Jerusalem in 701 B.C. Most have not yet been excavated, although that hasn't stopped looters. Iraq is a historical treasure house in jeopardy. And while the U.S. Defense Department reportedly has a list of some 150 sites that it will take pains to spare — just as American bomber pilots had orders to spare Kyoto, Nara and the Imperial Palace during World War II — that is not much of a guarantee, given these two facts: The listed sites are but a tiny fraction of the total; and many of the sites in question are no more than mounds in the desert, at risk of destruction by Iraqi troops as well as allied ones. In most cases, damage stems as much from ignorance as malice...In a way, this sad history puts "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in a more hopeful light. Provided that direct wartime damage can be kept to a minimum, a victorious occupation regime will have the opportunity — indeed, the obligation — to restore heritage protection in Iraq to its previous status as among the best in the world. This will require three things: the end of U.N. sanctions and the return of international support for the Iraq Antiquities Department, which will presumably be immediate, and the restoration of social and economic stability, which will take much longer. The overall effect will be to remove the conditions that allowed illegal excavation and export of cultural property to flourish. The United States, some would say arguably, has taken personal responsibility for Iraq. One can only hope that it won't neglect this important aspect of its self-imposed task."

The Montreal Gazette provided this perspective: "Anxiety settled like a shawl around Montrealers as the bombs began to drop over Baghdad this week. It has wrapped itself more tightly around the shoulders of those with loved ones in the Middle East. But it has affected most of us to some degree. Barbara Savada of the Contactivity Centre, a seniors' center in Westmount Park Church, was on the phone the other morning, checking on 40 or so seniors living on their own. Most said they were concerned about 'what was going on in the world.' Daryl Ross of Concordia University's Multifaith Chaplaincy said that in student conversations, 'I am certainly hearing about their concern for the future and their concern, of course, for the Iraqi people.' Barbara Victor, director of school services at Montreal's Jewish Family Services, reported a palpable anxiety in the agency's client schools she contacted this week. 'The kids are restless and anxious, primarily in the elementary schools.' Teachers have started talking to them about current events and war; an inner-city school wants to organize a discussion with 4-year-olds about war. 'It's prevalent in everyone's mind.'"

Compiled by Andrew Cohen