Posted on 03/24/2003 9:06:13 AM PST by kattracks
U.S. says forces closing in, Saddam defiant
By Nadim Ladki
BAGHDAD, March 24 (Reuters) - A defiant President Saddam Hussein said on Monday 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.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said advance units were just 60 miles (90 km) south of the Iraqi capital and predicted that a critical battle of the war was fast approaching.
U.S. General Tommy Franks described Iraqi resistance as "sporadic" and said his forces were intentionally skirting enemy formations in their cross-country march on Baghdad.
"Progress toward our objectives has been rapid and in some cases dramatic," Franks said after 24 hours of setbacks that included the death and capture of U.S. soldiers and the loss of at least one U.S. helicopter.
As fresh reports of clashes filtered through from the battlefield, Blair told the British parliament that the "vital goal" was to reach Baghdad as swiftly as possible.
"Coalition forces led by the American 5th Corps are on the way to Baghdad. As we speak, they are about 60 miles (90 km) south of Baghdad near Kerbala," Blair said. "It is a little way from there that they will encounter the Medina Division of the Republican Guard...This will be a crucial moment."
U.S. President George W. Bush and Blair invaded Iraq accusing Saddam of hiding weapons of mass destruction.
The Iraqi fightback has been sharpest around the southern city of Nassiriya.
FRESH FIGHTING AT NASSIRIYA
Iraqi forces on Sunday attacked and killed U.S. forces holding two strategic bridges across the Euphrates River there, stalling advancing armour waiting to cross at that point.
Financial markets have begun to factor in a longer war than expected to depose Saddam and disarm Iraq. Stocks suffered, sending investors back into safe-haven bonds. Oil prices and gold rose, while the dollar slipped.
But U.S. forces have been advancing to the west of the Euphrates. Reuters correspondent Luke Baker, who is travelling with U.S. army engineers, said they had set up an airfield near the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Najaf to put up unmanned planes and spy on Republican Guard holding the road to Baghdad.
As Franks spoke at his headquarters in Qatar, Reuters correspondent Sean Maguire said U.S. artillery had opened up on targets near Nassiriya.
Saddam, shown twice on Iraqi television during the day, praised his commanders and fighters who have stalled the U.S.-led advance in places and told them U.S., British and other invasion forces had underestimated them.
"The enemy is trapped in the sacred land of Iraq...brave fighters, hit your enemy with all your strength," he said, wearing a military uniform and reading a speech from behind a podium. "Be patient, victory is coming."
Saddam praised stubborn Iraqi resistance at the southern deep-water port of Umm Qasr. More bombs shook Baghdad before and after he spoke.
U.S. Marine Captain Rick Crevier said about 100 Fedayeen militia, infantry, Baath Party militiamen and Republican Guards were still holding out in Umm Qasr -- three days after U.S. and British forces first said they had secured the port.
U.S. HELICOPTER SHOT DOWN
Franks said two crewmen of a U.S. Apache Longbow helicopter shot down south of Baghdad were missing and a CNN correspondent reported U.S. helicopters had withdrawn in the face of a "hornet's nest" of fire near Kerbala.
Saddam said "victory is very near" in Iraq's second city of Basra, where U.S. and British forces were still fighting for control. He urged defenders of Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, hit by repeated air strikes on Monday, to hold firm.
The 20-minute speech was probably recorded, like most of Saddam's speeches, but Middle East experts believed the man who gave it was the Iraqi president, rather than a look-alike.
His references to recent battles appeared calculated to quash speculation about his fate that has swirled since the war began with air strikes intended to kill him. U.S. officials suggested the tape could have been recorded much earlier.
Among other setbacks, Britain said one of its soldiers had been killed on Monday and two soldiers were missing.
In the north, U.S. planes pounded Iraqi bunkers on hilltops above the Kurdish-held town of Chamchamal, in the first attack there since the war started, a Kurdish commander told Reuters.
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf told a news conference the invasion forces had killed 62 people in the last 24 hours. More than 400 had been wounded, nearly half of them in the Iraqi capital, he said.
In Damascus, the official Syrian news agency said a missile fired by a U.S. warplane had hit a bus carrying Syrians returning home from Iraq, killing five and wounding at least 10.
It said the incident occurred on Sunday night near al-Rutbeh, some 160 km (100 miles) from the Syrian border.
McArthur used the same strategy in the Pacific. He went around the islands that held large opposing forces and attacked those that were lightly held. The objective being to establish bases close to Japan from which to conduct air attacks.
Sorry. Can't tell a Mauser rifle from a javelin... :-)
Or this time reference correct, or is this just bad editing?
I heard there were no time references in Saddam's latest 'speech.'
Oh, give me a break, Reuters! Killed US Forces? All of them?
Rather than adopting a "bottom up" approach, and attempting to neutralize or eliminate every military unit before arriving at the seat of leadership, they want try a "top down" strategy to capture the capital and eliminate the Iraqi leadership in the hope that those troops remaining in the field will simply capitulate and cease fighting for a lost cause.
The hope would be that this strategy may be quicker, less bloody and less draining on both military resources and the occupation of personnel with the capture and supervision of POWs.
We'll see if that turns out to be true.
I don't qualify in that I have No real military knowledge. Nevertheless, I do have some concerns.
Are our supply lines vulnerable? Have we underestimated the opposition that remains to the south of our main force as it engages the RG near Baghdad? Is there a danger of becoming bogged down in or near Baghdad and then not having a secure supply line to our forces? If this happens, does our force have the manpower to suffer sustained attrition and still accomplish the objective? Would it have been better to establish a firm, substantial base in Western Iraq, including a C-130 type landing runway and readily available close air support assets, before engaging the RG at Baghdad?
Just some thoughts--not really opinions. Hopefully, the very aggressive "Rush to Baghdad" strategy we have adopted will prove to be well founded. Perhaps we will dispatch the RG and the Baghdad population will quickly fall in with us. It seems to me that the next 72 hours will be the key. If things don't go as well as we hope, then perhaps there is a Plan B that involves setting up a large base west of the city, and using sustained air power to soften up the enemy. There is no question in my mind that we can beat them. My question is whether we can do so before the Arab uprising gains clout and the liberal media sways domestic opinion.
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