MSNBC (Lester Holt anchoring) reports that U.S. officials have told them they are "confident" Saddam Hussein and his sons were in the building the U.S. bombed today. CNN reports on the bombing here. MSNBC's web report is here.

The AP reports that,

U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said American intelligence learned Monday morning of a high-level meeting in Baghdad between senior Iraqi intelligence officials and, possibly, Saddam and his two sons, Qusai and Odai. The intelligence was passed to U.S. Central Command, which sent aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on the target.

It may take a while to confirm whether Saddam and/or his sons were there because the building has been reduced to rubble.

Update: David Schuster of MSNBC is now reporting there are bunkers in the building--tunnels underneath that could have an exit--so it is possible Saddam got out.before the bombing. Andrea Mitchell reports there was a 45 minute lag time and Saddam could have gotten out during that time.

[ed. note: edited to include link to quoted AP article]

It's shades of 1969 out in Oakland. Police today fired rubber bullets at 750 war protesters to disperse them.

[This is] believed to be the first use of the projectiles against U.S. protesters since the American-led war on Iraq began.

Several people suffered minor injuries and demonstrators complained that police overreacted because protesters had simply blocked access to a firm they claimed was profiting from the war in Iraq when police shot rubber bullets and wooden pellets into the crowd.

One man lifted up his shirt to show a welt about the size of a baseball, and several were hit as they were moving from the scene, as evidenced by large bruises on their backs.

"I have been to many protests over the years, and I have never seen police resort to shooting people because they didn't like where they were standing," said Scott Fleming, 29, a lawyer hit several times in the back. "They had loaded guns and started charging."

Police justified their actions by saying they gave a final dispersing order. That is debated by some of those present at the protest.

Susan Quinlan was hit with pellets twice in the back. "I never heard any warning to disperse. They pursued us and shot us as we walked away," she said.

Some other comments:

"This was not professional, to say the least," said Joel Tena, a constituent liaison for Oakland's vice mayor. "I was afraid for the safety of the protesters and concerned that a nonviolent protest had turned violent at the hands of police." Leone Reinbold, a spokeswoman for Direct Action to Stop the War which organized the protest, said she saw a policeman run his motorcycle into one woman and another man get hit with a rubber bullet to the nose.

Update: Here's a photo of a woman who was struck in the face by a police projectile. Not a pretty sight.

It's a grim scene for the Red Cross in Baghdad:

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Baghdad said heavy fighting between U.S. and Iraqi forces in the city prevented officials reaching any hospital but Kindi, near the city center.

There, doctors said they had taken in so many casualties that they were running short of anesthetics and some equipment, which the Red Cross helped to replenish by delivering a truckload of supplies.

ICRC Spokesman Roland Huguenin-Benjamin told Reuters: "Surgeons have been working round the clock for the past two days and most are exhausted. Conditions are terrible.

....hospitals were now relying on generators and that getting clean water to patients was a priority. ...."Some hospitals cannot take any more war wounded. They are stretched to the limits," spokeswoman Nada Doumani said.

The wounded were not being turned away, but many hospitals have run out of beds and patients were being treated wherever doctors could find room.

....Water is becoming a worry. There are certain areas of Baghdad which do not have any at all," Doumani said in Geneva. Lack of clean drinking water is a major cause of diarrhea and respiratory diseases, which already take a heavy toll of Iraqi children.

The Red Cross says right now there is only enough water to flush the toilets for one more day. For updates on the situation, go here.

This just takes our breath away its so sad. Don't look unless you are prepared. From Daily Kos, Ali Ismaeel Abbas, 12.Truly one of those instances where a photo is worth 1,000 words.

Via Reuters Alert, there is a new briefing report on humanitarian principles in Iraq:

This briefing note describes key humanitarian policy issues as they apply in the context of the war in Iraq. It is aimed at a wide audience, including those not necessarily familiar with these principles and debates. It highlights core principles of humanitarian action and key issues of likely concern, and identifies further sources of information.

The report is published by the Overseas Development Institute. Their updated page on humanitarian concerns in Iraq is here.

Al Jazeera's english version of its website is back up.

The BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson was accompanying a convoy of US special forces and Kurdish fighters when it came under attack from an American warplane, killing at least ten, including some American soldiers. Simpson was wounded by shrapnal, but kept reporting live by satellite phone. You can view the video/audio of his report here.

"Well it's a bit of a disaster... I was in a convoy of eight or 10 cars in northern Iraq coming up to a place that has just recently been captured. American special forces in a truck - two trucks I think - beside them, plus a very senior figure ..."[brother of Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party]

Simpson to US soldier: "Shut up. I'm broadcasting! Oh yes, I'm fine - am I bleeding?"

US soldier: "Yes, you've got a cut."

Simpson: "I thought you were going to stop me. I think I've just got a bit of shrapnel in the leg, that's all. OK, I will - thanks a lot.

"That was one of the American special forces medics - I thought he was going to try to stop me reporting. I've counted 10 or 12 bodies around us. So there are Americans dead. It was an American plane that dropped the bomb right beside us - I saw it land about 10 feet, 12 feet away I think.

This is just a scene from hell here. All the vehicles on fire. There are bodies burning around me, there are bodies lying around, there are bits of bodies on the ground. This is a really bad own goal by the Americans.

"We don't really know how many Americans are dead. There is ammunition exploding in fact from some of these cars. A very senior member of the Kurdish Republic's government who also may have been injured."

TV presenter Maxine Mawhinney: "John, just to recap for the viewers, an American plane dropped a bomb on your convoy of American special forces - many dead, many injured?"

Simpson: "I am sorry to be so excitable. I am bleeding through the ear and everything but that is absolutely the case. I saw this American convoy, and they bombed it.

They hit their own people - they may have hit this Kurdish figure - very senior, and they've killed a lot of ordinary characters, and I am just looking at the bodies now and it is not a very pretty sight."

Later, Simpson filed this report of what happened:

NBC reporter David Bloom died in Iraq Sunday of a pulmonary embolism.

He was 39 years old. We had occasion to work with David several times as a legal analyst for MSNBC in the late 90's. He was a consummate professional and a nice person. How very sad.

The bodies of eight persons recovered in the raid that rescued Private Jessica Lynch have been identified. Seven of the eight were from Lynch's 507th Maintenance Company, based at Fort Bliss, Texas. The other soldier was with the 3rd Division Support Battalion, based at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

A ninth body had not been identified as of the posting time of the article.

Update: CNN television just reported that Private Lynch's dog tags have been recovered in a private residence behind the hospital. Ammunition and weapons were also found in the house. CNN says the emerging theory is that Lynch was taken there before being put in the hospital. The reporter showed the dogtags on the air. Investigation ongoing.

Al Jazeera television network has resumed full coverage in Iraq after Baghdad backed down on its expulsion of two of its reporters.

Jim Capozzola of The Rittenhouse Review makes an audacious claim today: Saddam is alive but no longer in Iraq and our Government knows it.

Update: From one of the comments to this post, check out Debka.com, which has this report:

Iraqi TV shows Saddam Hussein - or his double - visiting bombed residential areas of Baghdad Friday and being greeted by apparently spontaneous crowds

Intelligence analysts suggest man on street not same as man in earlier address over Iraqi TV. Absence of bomb damage could mean street scenes shot earlier.

Iraqi information minister Mohammed al-Saeef threatened “non-conventional” action against US troops at Baghdad airport Friday night. Asked if he meant WMD, he said no. There will be martyrdom operations from which no one will survive.

Shortly after "non-conventional"threat was broadcast, Saddam Hussein appeared in taped speech, calling on people of Baghdad to “do what they can” against invader and promised victory. Thousands continue to flee Baghdad

Tape analysis by intelligence experts indicate speech pre-recorded March 24, about time DEBKAfile reported flight of Iraqi leadership to Latakiya, Syria, showing him alive and unhurt. “Martyrdom” is way Iraqis refer to suicide terrorism.

The McGill Report has a moving tribute to Washington Post editor Michael Kelly who was killed in Iraq in a humvee accident last night. Kelly is the first journalist killed in the war.

Michael Kelly’s death is one of those moments where you simply stop, your jaw hangs open, tears fall out of your eyes, you feel a rush of existential rage, maybe you look up to the skies, and all you can think to ask is “Why him?" Jesus, the guy was good. A beautiful writer. A thinker. A journalist of ideas and yet also a journalist with eyes, and a heart, and political passion. I loved him best because he stood outside the conventional categories and it bothered him not a bit. His loyalty was to the ideas that he wrote about and not to any categories of left or right; or to beltway friendships or political alliances. The beneficiaries were his readers. His dispatches from Iraq were models of analytical reporting mixed with sensory details that let readers know at every moment that this is a war … policies have human consequences … like death …

You can read Kelly's last dispatch from Iraq here. Washington Post Coverage is here.