Good morning, Whitewater.
Thursday in town will be mostly cloudy with a high of fifty-one. Sunrise is 6:58 and sunset 7:06, for 12h 07m 52s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 1.3% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 2003, in the evening, Pres. George W. Bush ordered the start of the Iraq War. The New York Times reported the next morning on the start of hostilities:
WASHINGTON, Thursday, March 20— President Bush ordered the start of a war against Iraq on Wednesday night, and American forces poised on the country’s southern border and at sea began strikes to disarm the country, including an apparently unsuccessful attempt to kill Saddam Hussein.
Mr. Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office at 10:15 p.m. Wednesday night, about 45 minutes after the first attacks were reported against an installation in Baghdad where American intelligence believed Mr. Hussein and his top leadership were meeting. ”On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein’s ability to wage war,” the president said.
Speaking deliberately, with a picture of his twin daughters visible behind him, he added, ”These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign.”
Mr. Bush sought to tamp down expectations of a quick victory with few casualties by warning that the battles in the days ahead ”could be longer and more difficult than some predict.” [Transcript, Page A20.]
The cost of the war in expenditures alone is estimated now, these may years later, to have been well over a trillion dollars.
Here’s the Thursday game in Puzzability‘s Green Party series:
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This Week’s Game — March 16-20
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Green Party
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We’ve minted some new questions for jaded solvers. In this St. Patrick’s Day trivia quiz, the answer to each day’s question is a name or title that includes a shade of green.
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Example:
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For what 1978 movie did director Michael Cimino suggest that little-known Meryl Streep write her own lines to flesh out her underdeveloped role?
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Answer:
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The Deer Hunter
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What to Submit:
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Submit the name or title (as “The Deer Hunter” in the example) for your answer.
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Thursday, March 19
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