SOZ BLAKH, Iraq (AP) – American forces supporting Kurdish fighters against President Saddam Hussein’s army took up positions in the no-man’s-land south of the Kurdish autonomous region and in the north, where U.S. warplanes hit Iraqi positions near the commercial center of Mosul. The combination of American air strikes and Kurdish ground attacks in the north has driven Iraqi government forces back from the Kurdish frontiers toward the two main northern districts in Baghdad hands: Mosul and the important oil center around Kirkuk.

Postal Service sees mail to war zone increase 35-fold

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Postal Service has chartered two cargo jets to help deliver 750,000 pounds of mail per week to soldiers stationed in the war zone.

By the start of the war last month, mail volume to Kuwait had increased 35-fold, up from about 21,000 pounds per week in October, the Postal Service said Saturday.

One of the chartered 747 cargo jets flies six days a week from the East coast. The other flies three days a week from the West coast. Each delivers the mail to the military’s postal system in Kuwait for distribution.

Some Iraqis say thanks

– now show us the water

NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AP) – A thirsty Iraqi mimed drinking from a bottle. A U.S. Marine shook his canteen to show it was empty. Many Iraqis at a key crossroads in this southern city greet Marines with a thumbs-up – meaning thanks for coming – followed by an outstretched hand begging for food or water. Help is on the way, U.S. Central Command promised Saturday. But far from its supply base, Echo company of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit can barely cover its own needs – let alone those of Iraqis.