Front Page: Iraq, March 27, 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:

Add Seymour Jr. of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution looked at the war's affect on children: "The war in Iraq weighs heavily on Colin Jones. He's worried about casualties, domestic terrorism and any threat to freedom. That's a lot for an 8-year-old to deal with. 'I don't like wars,' he said Wednesday after talking about Iraq with his third-grade classmates at Newnan's Thomas Crossroads Elementary School. 'I'm scared that [Iraqis] might come over here.' The discussion is like many in metro Atlanta classrooms now that war is under way. Students — from those just learning to spell to those getting ready for college — are asking questions. And educators are looking for ways to handle the sensitive and controversial topic. 'As parents and teachers, we often struggle with how best to talk to children about the war and the times in which we live,' Coweta County Schools Superintendent Peggy Connell said in a letter to parents."

William Petroski and Colleen Krantz of the Des Moines Register filed this: "A Marine Corps spokesman confirmed late Wednesday that the body of a missing Marine from Davenport had been found. Sgt. Bradley Korthaus, 28, disappeared Monday in the Saddam Canal in southeast Iraq while swimming across the waterway with three other Marines from his Peoria, Ill.-based engineering unit. Two made it across. Korthaus and Cpl. Evan James of La Harpe, Ill., drowned. Korthaus is the first Iowan to die in Iraq during the current Persian Gulf conflict. Korthaus' family was notified by the Marine Corps late Wednesday of his death. A friend said the family was grieving. Relatives declined to say anything further Wednesday night. Korthaus and the other Marines were trying to set up weapons on the opposite side of the canal to provide cover for a water-purification team, Berg said. Two emerged on the other side of the canal, but Korthaus and James, 20, were swept under the surface. The body of James, who also drowned, was found Tuesday, but Korthaus remained missing until Wednesday afternoon, Berg said. Steve Korthaus, a Vietnam War veteran, said Tuesday that his son joined the Marines immediately after graduating from Davenport Assumption High School in 1992."

Kim Murphy of the Los Angeles Times reported this from Saudi Arabia: "The invitation one afternoon this week was for a ladies' tea — a social event at the home of the U.S. Ambassador's wife, Ann Jordan. Courteous behavior was called for, even if a war between Americans and Arabs was unfolding a mere 300 miles away in Iraq. Tea was served. Polite introductions and pleasantries were shared. Children were inquired about. A platter of smoked salmon finger sandwiches got passed around. That's when the gloves came off. Fawziya Abu Khaled, a poet and academic, put down her teacup and looked at the Americans with defiance, her voice almost shaking with determination and quiet fury. It had been hard, she said, to accept an invitation to come to the U.S. ambassador's residence — the lair of the enemy, really — at a time when the U.S. is waging war against an Arab state. Most of her friends, she said, had politely declined Jordan's invitation. The few who came, she said, did so because the Americans needed to hear what they had to say. The other Saudi women nodded in agreement. Jordan looked vaguely alarmed. 'This war is making people pro-Saddam, because it's not fair that you come from outside and remove a president, even if he is a dictator,' she declared. 'You thought the Iraqis would join you and fight for their freedom, but people instead of fighting for their freedom are standing behind him. And this isn't what anyone wanted to see!'"

Derek Rose of the New York Daily News offered this: "Two of the vaunted M1A1 Abrams battle tanks have been destroyed in battle for the first time ever — by Iraqis in a truck, the Pentagon said yesterday. The tanks apparently were taken out Monday by truck-mounted missiles fired into their rear. One of the tank drivers was trapped inside the burning vehicle for several minutes while .50-caliber machine gun rounds exploded before he was able to crawl free, according to embedded media reports. None of the four-member crew was injured. The same Iraqi gunner apparently destroyed both tanks as well as a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, according to the report."

Thomas Ricks of the Washington Post offered this: "Despite the rapid advance of Army and Marine forces across Iraq over the past week, some senior U.S. military officers are now convinced that the war is likely to last months and will require considerably more combat power than is now on hand there and in Kuwait, senior defense officials said yesterday. The combination of wretched weather, long and insecure supply lines, and an enemy that has refused to be supine in the face of American military might has led to a broad reassessment by some top generals of U.S. military expectations and timelines. Some of them see even the potential threat of a drawn-out fight that sucks in more and more U.S. forces. Both on the battlefield in Iraq and in Pentagon conference rooms, military commanders were talking yesterday about a longer, harder war than had been expected just a week ago, the officials said. 'Tell me how this ends,' one senior officer said yesterday. While some top planners favor continuing to press north, many Army commanders believe that the pause in Army ground operations that began yesterday is critical. A relatively small force is stretched thin over 300 miles, and much of the Army's killing power, in more than 100 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, has been grounded by persistently foul weather or by battle damage from an unsuccessful pre-dawn raid on Monday. To the east, the Marine Corps advance on the city of Kut was also hampered by skirmishing along its supply line and fuel shortages at the front."

From around the world:

Britain's Daily Telegraph offered this view of Coalition politics: "Tony Blair sought last night to avert a rift with President George W. Bush by agreeing that the United Nations' role in post-war Iraq should be limited to humanitarian aid until America and Britain had made the country safe. As he flew to Washington for a war summit with President Bush, the Prime Minister described as 'premature' talk of the U.N.'s role in running the country immediately after the conflict. 'We don't know what the situation is going to be when you get to the post-conflict situation,' he said. In an attempt to maintain the allies' unity after a series of setbacks during the first week of the conflict, Mr. Blair played down differences between Britain and the U.S. over the future of post-Saddam Iraq. There is intense skepticism within the Bush administration about allowing the U.N. anything more than an involvement in humanitarian relief. Blair faced some private criticism for pressing the case for a further U.N. resolution before the conflict."

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on news from Syria, via Lebanon: "Syrian President Bashar Assad was quoted in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir Thursday as hinting that Syria expects to be the next target of coalition forces. 'We will not wait until we become the next target,' Assad was quoted as saying, adding that the attack on Iraq is aimed at other countries as well. Assad also called on other Arab nations to oppose the coalition forces and called Israel a threat to Syria, Israel Radio reported. As long as the state of Israel exists, Assad was quoted as saying, Syria remains threatened. He also said there's no chance that U.S. President George W. Bush's road map would put an end to the Palestinian intifada. In addition, Assad criticized Arab countries that are trying to stop the violence between Israel and the Palestinians, saying, 'There are Arab nations that contribute to the suppression of the intifada even more than Israel itself does.' Assad said a long-promised 'roadmap' for an Israeli-Palestinian peace would fail. 'It is like the Mitchell and Tenet plans. All of them are plans destined for failure because they do not meet the aspirations and restore the rights of the Palestinian people,' Assad said, referring to earlier proposals to end the conflict proposed by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell and CIA Director George Tenet."

The Jordan (Amman) Times had this look at how war can be good business: Her story is not unique, as many citizens put their normal jobs on hold to take advantage of a raft of foreign journalists currently wandering the Kingdom hunting stories of war and its complications. These industrious individuals are performing a duty known as 'fixing,' a job that entails facilitating media personnel's efforts in conducting interviews and locating local contacts. With an estimated 1,600 foreign journalists currently in the Kingdom, most commuting between Amman and Ruweished, the need for those with language abilities is high and the pay is 'really great,' according to scores of local fixers working with the foreign press. But the background and experience of the fixing community, paid between $100-$200 a day, is surprisingly diverse, with jobs ranging from tour operators, to journalists, even everyday businessmen. Raed Bdeiri, owner of a mosaic and ceramics shop in Sweileh, broke free from his work for a bit, leaving his 12 employees to run things, as he relocated to Ruweished with a Japanese TV crew. For Bdeiri, who works about 16 hours a day, the job is not only about money. 'It is a great and enjoyable experience,' Bdeiri told The Jordan Times."

Russia's Tass News Agency reported on war-related litigation: "The Energopromstroj-1 Company of Russia has lodged a complaint to the Moscow Court of Arbitration, insisting that the United States should compensate the losses sustained by the company as a result of the war in Iraq, Energopromstroj-1 President Vladimir Semago said in Moscow on Thursday. Semago estimates the war-related losses to amount to 19 million dollars."

Saudi Arabia's Arab News offered this look at life in Umm Qasr: "The road from Safwan to Umm Qasr is littered with abandoned and burned out vehicles. At the military check point five kilometers outside Umm Qasr, a soldier with the Australian forces expressed doubt that our convoy of journalists would be allowed into Umm Qasr as there were 20,000 Iraqi prisoners of war being held there, according to him. At the edge of Umm Qasr is a wall with a triple sized poster of Saddam Hussein. On one poster, someone — presumably an American soldier — had spray painted: 'Los Angeles Raiders.' Umm Qasr is a small community. The main sources of livelihood for the people here are the port itself and a cement factory. Both are now closed. Iraqi children, some as young as three, were running about asking the arriving journalists for any rations that could be spared. All the stores in Umm Qasr have been looted or shuttered. After looting and storing the supplies at their homes, locals then prepare to sell them at inflated prices on a growing black market. A packet of cigarettes is currently being sold for 3,500 Iraqi dinars. When asked whether they favored a regime change planned, the people, mostly Shiites, said they were in favor of the removal of Saddam and the introduction of a new government — but they expected help from the coalition forces after Umm Qasr fell. 'If what the U.S. forces are doing here is any indication of the times to come, then we would rather have Saddam,' one of them told Arab News. As night fell on Umm Qasr, sporadic machine-gun fire could be heard in the distance. Bright flashes of exploding munitions could also be seen. Twice in the space of an hour flares were launched, suddenly bathing the town in a blanket of light."

Compiled by Andrew Cohen