Allied Troops Race Towards Baghdad [1 Day March Away!]

CBS News ^ | Mrch 23, 2003 | Scott Pelly

[ewing]

United States forces surged across deserts and rivers Sunday to within 100 miles of Baghdad, several other units engaged in inteNsive gunbattles.

In perhaps the most dramatic advance on the ground, the 3rd Infantry Divisions 2nd Brigade covered 230 miles in 40 hours to take positions about 100 miles from Baghdad-less than a days march.

The brigade raced day and night across the rugged desert in more than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting vehicles.

At one point the soldiers ran into an hours long firefight killing 100 Iraqi militiamen who confronted the Americans with machine gun mounted vehicles.

No American injuries were reported in the battle.

[ewing]

Right on time...

[bolobaby]

Less than a day's march PROVIDED they experience no resistance... which is unlikely.

[kattracks]

U.S. Forces Within 100 Miles of Baghdad

By DAVID CRARY and JERRY SCHWARTZ
.c The Associated Press

As U.S. forces surged to within 100 miles of Baghdad on Sunday, Arab satellite television showed what it said were American dead in an Iraqi morgue - and others it said were U.S. troops taken prisoner.

``There are some American soldiers missing,'' Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said. ``It's illegal to do things to POWs that are humiliating to those prisoners.''

There was plenty of bad news Sunday for an allied campaign that otherwise has had enormous success. British officials said a Patriot missile battery shot down a British Royal Air Force fighter aircraft near the Iraqi border with Kuwait; there was no word on the fate of the crew.

And an American soldier was held in a grenade attack on 101st Airborne Division camp in Kuwait that left one man dead.

The footage of aired by the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera came from Iraqi television. It showed four bodies in uniform, lying on the floor of the room, and interviews with at least five prisoners, speaking in American-accented English.

``I come to shoot only if I am shot at,'' said one prisoner, who said he was from Kansas. Asked why he was fighting Iraqis, he replied: ``They don't bother me; I don't bother them.''

The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said he thought fewer than 10 soldiers were missing in southern Iraq and that military officials were trying to account for them. ``Beyond that, we don't know,'' Gen. Richard Myers said on ``Fox News Sunday.''

The station said the prisoners were captured around Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates northwest of Basra.

Meanwhile, scores of security officers in Baghdad were seen searching the banks of the Tigris River, apparently looking for one or more pilots who may have bailed out of a downed plane. Interviewed on CNN, Rumsfeld said he knew of no such aircraft that had failed to return safely from their missions.

In perhaps the most dramatic advance on the ground, the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade covered roughly 230 miles in 40 hours to take positions about 100 miles from Baghdad - less than a day's march.

The brigade raced day and night across rugged desert in more than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting vehicles. At one point the soldiers ran into an hours-long firefight, killing 100 Iraqi militiamen who confronted the Americans with machinegun-mounted vehicles. No American injuries were reported in the battle.

Several other allied units engaged in intensive gunbattles Sunday, but the only confirmed American deaths of the day were not from combat. One soldier from the 3rd Infantry Division was killed in a vehicle accident in southern Iraq, while another soldier was killed and 13 injured in a grenade attack in Kuwait that officials blamed on one of their comrades.

The attack occurred early Sunday at a 101st Airborne Division command center, where an assailant threw grenades into three tents. Three of the wounded were seriously injured; 10 had superficial wounds from grenade fragments, said George Heath, spokesman for Fort Campbell, Ky., the 101st Airborne's home base.

The suspect, found hiding in a bunker, is an engineer from an engineering platoon. The motive ``most likely was resentment,'' said Max Blumenfeld, an Army spokesman. He did not elaborate.

The name of the soldier who died was withheld pending notification of relatives.

``Death is a tragic incident regardless of how it comes,'' Heath said. ``But when it comes from a fellow comrade, it does even more to hurt morale.''

The accidental downing of the British plane was another blow. The Tornado GR4, based in Marham, Britain, was returning from an operational mission early Sunday and was engaged by the missile battery, said a statement from the British press information center at U.S. Central Command.

``This is a tragedy and we are taking rapid steps to ensure there is no repetition,'' said Group Capt. Al Lockwood, a spokesman for British forces.

Asked how a U.S. missile could have brought down the plane, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told ABC's ``This Week'' that ``procedures and electronic means to identify friendly aircraft and to identify adversary aircraft ... broke down somewhere.''

It was the third aerial accident involving British personnel since the war began. Six British troops and a U.S. Navy officer died when two British helicopters collided, while eight British and four U.S. Marines were killed when their helicopter crashed near the Kuwait-Iraqi border.

In Baghdad, a series of air raid sirens and explosions were heard on the outskirts of the city at midmorning Sunday. Though an all-clear siren sounded, anti-aircraft fire, tracers and explosions could be heard to the north and northeast of the city 15 minutes later.

A cloud of smoke hung over the capital; residents believed it was created in part by fires set to conceal targets from bombardment.

Iraqi officials said more than 500 Iraqis in four cities were injured in allied airstrikes Saturday; they said 77 civilians were killed in Basra, the main city in southern Iraq.

Iraqi television reported that Saddam Hussein's home town, Tikrit, had been bombed several times. Al-Arabiya, an Arab satellite TV news channel, reported that four people were killed in those attacks.

On the ground, U.S. and British forces captured territory, towns and military installations - often with little or no opposition. But in some locations, Iraqi forces fought back with artillery fire or guerrilla-style counterattacks.

Iraqi state television reported fighting between Iraqi ruling Baath party militias and U.S.-British forces near the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 95 miles south of Baghdad. It said the top Baath party official in Najaf was killed.

Near the Persian Gulf, Marines seized an Iraqi naval base Sunday morning at Az Zubayr. In the command center, Marines found half-eaten bowls of rice and other still-warm food.

Coalition troops were still trying to mop up resistance at the main Gulf port of Umm Qasr so it could be used for humanitarian shipments. They engaged in street-to-street battles against guerrillas, including paramilitary fighters of the Baath party.

Near Basra in the south, Marines saw hundreds of Iraqi men - apparently soldiers who had taken off their uniforms - walking along a highway with bundles on their backs past burned-out Iraqi tanks.

Allied forces have captured Basra's airport and a key bridge. But commanders say they are in no rush to storm the city, hoping instead that Iraqi defenders decide to give up.

[zarf]

Unlikely. This is going to get very, very bloody.

[ewing]

There have been reports that all Iraqi divisions have retreated to within 30km of the capitol adandoning the 'third ring' outside of Baghdad because of the 'shock and awe' airstrikes.

[LizardQueen]

Personally, I'm worried that they may be moving too fast. I'm no military strategist, but I do wonder if the wrong turn taken by that maintenance detachment near Al Nasariyah could have been avoided if they slowed down a little.

Also, without mopping up all the resistance in the areas that they've gone through and/or bypassed I worry that we may end up with reorganized Bad Guys coming up behind us as we take our positions outside of Baghdad.

I also wonder if we're risking our supply lines by having them strung out from the border up to almost Baghdad, but with an incomplete victory in the area they pass through.

I'm not trying to criticize the generals, these are just some of my private worries as I watch this thing unfold.

LQ

[ewing]

Time for the final, backbreaking strike soon?

[itsinthebag]

Allied forces have captured Basra's airport and a key bridge. But commanders say they are in no rush to storm the city, hoping instead that Iraqi defenders decide to give up.

This is ridiculous. We have got to stop showing mercy like this.

[Trust but Verify]

I don't profess to know a lot about military doctrine, but it seems to me we might be pressing the attack too hard and lose people due to mistakes being made as a result of fatigue. I hope I'm wrong. I don't see what it matters if they make it in 3 days or 5 days. Baghdad will still be there.

[bolobaby]

Unlikely. This is going to get very, very bloody.

For the Iraqis! I'm convinced that the fight will be incredibly one-sided. We may lose some troops, but the kill ratio will be - oh God, let's take a wild guess - maybe 50 to 1.

[garbanzo]

I'm kind of curious about why Iraqi TV is still on the air and senior ministers are still holding press conferences and media tours.

[Polybius]

We must not let the Iraqi capture of America troops and possible war crimes against them distract U.S. attention from what is and should be our primary concern......swift and total Victory.

Although it may sound harsh, I believe that America pays way too much attention to the inevitable consequences of war such as POW's. In every recent war, the capture of the first American POW's has brought about massive hand-wringing and it is America that is "Shocked and Awed".

Let us remember that, once Victory is swiftly achieved, the POW issue will resolve itself.

Right now, Baghdad is a one day march away. That is where we should be focused:....... on Victory.

[ewing]

The commanders may be fearing that Saddam will use chemical weapons on his own people (and blame it on us) when he feels that the battle is truly lost..that is probably the reason for pressing so hard

[Almondjoy]

I believe it would be more bloody on us to invade the city. It's simply a supply angle. Starve them out.

[ewing]

I would start thinking about using the new US/UK 'e-bomb' to fry/disable Iraqi TV, computers, media and radio now..

[demlosers]

Yes, There is a chance our supply line for the spearhead is long and vulnerable. But I don't know if the Iraqis can interdict the logistic enough to make a difference. Marines are trying to provide the force protection.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Speed and mobility are our military strengths (well, that and overwhelming firepower). Our speed can shock defenses -- we've seen evidence already of a lot of situations where our enemies were caught with their pants down, taking too much time to follow their orders.

I think this speed is a great advantage to us, and I don't think slowing down and giving the Iraqis more time to ready a defense and get intelligence on where they're going to be hit will help at all.

It was speed that got those bridges over the Euphrates in our hands intact, and speed that got us airfields intact and usable. Our supply lines will be fine -- capturing the airfields allows us to "leapfrog" the supply chain forward. And we have lots and lots of units coming up in the train to deal with pockets of resistance. Better to keep up the "skeer" and press forward as fast as possible.

[tm22721]

The Iraqi divisions haven't seen shock and awe yet.

Just before the 3rd ID reaches Baghdad, look for the buffs and B2s to absolutely pulverize the 5 Iraqi divisions outside Baghdad followed by a mopup by the 101st Apaches.

BUMP

[chilepepper]

Allied forces have captured Basra's airport and a key bridge. But commanders say they are in no rush to storm the city, hoping instead that Iraqi defenders decide to give up.

This is ridiculous. We have got to stop showing mercy like this.

You are wrong. But what they are doing also good strategy: haven't you studied the island hopping strategy in the Pacific during WWII? The troops in Basra are irrelevant as long as they can't pose a threat.

given how bloodthirsty our enemy is, if we can be magnanimous without endangering ourselves, we should be IMHO.

[ewing]

Baghdad hasn't even seen anything yet, just wait till all of their electronic equipment is rendered useless for the next 1,000 years..