which would be needed in to complete future operations in the region. Delta Battery also provided indirect fire support for coalition forces in the area when coalition forces came into contact with insurgents. A 20 April 2003 report in The New York Times asserted that "the U.S. is planning a long-term military relationship with the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the unsettled region." The report, citing anonymous sources, referred to one base at Baghdad's international airport, another near Al-Nasiriyah in the south [presumably meaning Tallil AB], the third at the H-1 airstrip in the western desert, and the fourth at Bashur AB in the north. Bashur Airbase is now known as Al-Harir Air Base/Harir Airport. See also Task Force Viking - 'Joint Special Operations Task Force - North' 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team Paratrooper References Bibliography Jump manifest Military operations of the Iraq War involving the United States Military operations of the Iraq War involving the United Kingdom Military operations of the Iraq War in 2003 March 2003 events in Iraq