U.S. soldiers carry a casket draped with a U.S. flag during a transfer ceremony for U.S. military personnel killed in a helicopter crash in Bagram, Afghanistan (news - web sites), March 25, 2003. A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan on March 23, killing all six military personnel on board, U.S. Central Command said.
U.S. soldiers carry U.S. flag during a casket transfer ceremony for the U.S. military personnel killed in a helicopter crash in Bagram, Afghanistan (news - web sites) on March 25, 2003. A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan on March 23, killing all six military personnel on board, U.S. Central Command said.
An F/A-18 Hornet prepares to launch from the flight deck off the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman, early Tuesday, March 25, 2003. The Truman aircraft carrier is conducting missions as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Jose Gutierrez, 22, is shown in this undated family handout photo. Gutierrez is the first combat casualty of the war in Iraq (news - web sites), according to U.S. military officials.
Thousands of allied troops bolstered positions around the city for what one US Marine officer predicted would be a "major battle"(AFP/Cris Bouroncle)
General Tommy Franks holds a press conference at the US Central Command base in Doha, Qatar(AFP/Nasser Younes)
A British Warrior armoured combat vehicle drives into a picture of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in the city of Basra, in southern Iraq (news - web sites), March 24, 2003. British forces scoured the Iraqi desert for two missing soldiers on Monday but said the U.S.-led war could weather setbacks hitting both the air and ground campaign. REUTERS/POOL/Mark Richards
A British Warrior armored combat vehicle drives into a picture of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in the city of Basra, in southern Iraq (news - web sites), March 24, 2003. British forces scoured the Iraqi desert for two missing soldiers on Monday but said the U.S.-led war could weather setbacks hitting both the air and ground campaign. REUTERS/POOL/Mark Richards
A U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Fox Company 'Raiders' truck makes its way from the port of Umm-Qasr in southern Iraq (news - web sites) to a port facility in near the town Az-Zubayr, south of Basra as two camels walk across the road March 24, 2003. With Iraqi resistance mounting to U.S. forces over the weekend and the U.S. death toll rising to at least 10 with 16 missing, opinion polls showed most Americans were bracing for a more protracted war with higher casualties. Photo by Desmond Boylan/Reuters
British Warrior armored combat vehicle is seen driving through southern Iraq (news - web sites), March 24, 2003. A defiant President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) said invaders sent to topple him were trapped in Iraq after five days of war, but the U.S. commander of the invasion said his forces were closing in fast on Baghdad.
Former POW Joseph Small III, at his home in Racine, Wis., poses, Monday March 24, 2003, in front of a shadow box he received when he retired from the Marine Corps, . Small was a POW during the Gulf War (news - web sites) in 1991. He was captured in Iraq (news - web sites) on February 25, 1991 and returned on March 6, 1991 after nine days as a POW. (AP Photo, Ron Kuenstler)
A U.S. marine sits inside an Armored Personnel Carrier near the southern Iraqi town of Nassiriya March 24, 2003. U.S. marines were fighting on Monday to take control of Nassiriya where the city's defenders were putting up stout resistance. Iraq (news - web sites) war commander Tommy Franks on Monday worked to recapture the news agenda and scotch the impression that invading U.S. and British forces had been dealt setbacks. Franks described the resistance put up by Iraqi troops as 'sporadic,' and said his forces had made rapid -- in some cases dramatic -- progress.
A U.S. Marine helps an injured POW moments after securing the port of Um Qusar in southern Iraq (news - web sites), Sunday, March 23, 2003. (AP Photo/Tam McDonald, Ministry of Defense, HO)