U.S. Army Forces Kill at Least 150 Iraqis

yahoo news ^ | 3-25-03 | Robert Burns

[Walkin Man]

U.S. Army Forces Kill at Least 150 Iraqis

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - U.S. Army forces killed between 150 and 500 Iraqi troops Tuesday in a fierce fight after coming under attack near the central Iraqi city of An Najaf, a senior defense official said.

No U.S. casualties were reported, although the official cautioned that few details were immediately available.

Elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment were east of An Najaf when they suddenly came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, the official said. The Iraqis were on foot and it was not clear whether they were from regular army units, paramilitary forces or the Republican Guard.

Some of the 7th Cavalry's equipment was damaged in the attack, the official said.

Early estimates of the number of Iraqis killed in the fight varied widely, from 150 to 500. It was not immediately clear what weaponry the Americans used.

The 7th Cavalry is part of the Army force driving toward Baghdad. Some elements of the force are farther north, near Karbala, with only the Medina armored division of the Republican Guard between them and Baghdad.

U.S. intelligence, meanwhile, has picked up signs suggesting the closer ground troops get to Baghdad the greater the chance they will face chemical weapons, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

The Army's 3rd Infantry Division has drawn to within about 50 miles of Baghdad, with the Medina armored division of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s Republican Guard in its path. Elements of the 1st Marine Division are approaching the capital from a more easterly direction, and some analysts believe the Army's 101st Airborne Division, now in southern Iraq (news - web sites), will join the battle for Baghdad.

Asked about reports that Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad have been given authority to use chemical weapons, Rumsfeld cited "scraps" of intelligence suggesting that the closer the 3rd Infantry gets to the capital, the greater the danger.

He did not offer details of the intelligence indicators because "who knows how accurate they are," he said.

Iraq denies it has any chemical or biological weapons. The Bush administration insists it has both and is trying to gain nuclear weapons. The risk of Iraq using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or providing them to terrorist networks was the central reason President Bush (news - web sites) went to war.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the commander of U.S. forces fighting the war, Gen. Tommy Franks, has plans in place should Iraq use chemical weapons. He would not elaborate.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), in an interview with France 3 television, cited speculation that "there is a box around Baghdad, that if we penetrate that box," Saddam would unleash a chemical attack. "If he did," Powell added, "it would not stop the (U.S.) assault."

U.S. forces are equipped with full-body chemical protection suits and gas masks.

At a joint Pentagon (news - web sites) news conference with Myers, Rumsfeld tried to dampen public expectations that the war would be won quickly and to reiterate the message delivered daily by senior military commanders here and in the Persian Gulf that the war is progressing as planned.

"We're still, needless to say, much closer to the beginning than the end," Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld brushed aside suggestions that U.S. war planners underestimated the Iraqis' will to fight and overestimated the ability of U.S. precision airstrikes against the pillars of Saddam's power to end the conflict before it reached the stage of having to initiate a battle for Baghdad.

Some private analysts, including former military officers, have suggested that the Army needs more armored forces in Iraq than the 20,000 troops of the 3rd Infantry Division, including forces that could better protect the 3rd Infantry's long and vulnerable supply lines.

"Forces increase in the country every minute and every hour of every day, and that will continue to be the case," Rumsfeld said. He apparently referred to the Army's 4th Infantry Division, which is expected to deploy from its Fort Hood, Texas, home base toward the end of this week.

Also headed for Kuwait soon is the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Carson, Colo., followed by the 1st Infantry and 1st Armored divisions from Germany, as well as the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk, La., officials said.

The 4th Infantry had been designated to deploy to Turkey in February to open a northern front against Iraq, but the Turkish government refused to grant access. So Franks has ordered the division's weaponry and equipment shipped to Kuwait, where it is due to arrive in about two weeks.

[GirlShortstop]

U.S. Army forces killed between 150 and 500 Iraqi troops Tuesday in a fierce fight after coming under attack near the central Iraqi city of An Najaf, a senior defense official said.

No U.S. casualties were reported, although the official cautioned that few details were immediately available.

Bless their brave hearts!   V for VICTORY.

[Walkin Man]

U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division troops from the A Company 3rd Battalion 7th Infantry Regiment weather the elements as a sandstorm at dusk turns the desert blood red near Karbala Tuesday, March 25, 2003. The sandstorm grounded many US-led forces bombing overflights over Iraq and slowed U.S. military progress in the area near Karbala Tuesday. (AP Photo/John Moore)

A member of Britain's 7th Armoured Brigade The Desert Rats guards a mosque in a small enclave west of the city of Basra, Iraq March 25, 2003. Confused reports emerged of a possible popular uprising against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in the southern city of Basra, as a severe sandstorm slowed the advance of U.S. invasion forces toward Baghdad. Photo by Pool/Reuters

These pics were with the story.

[SunStar]

150 less rapists, murderers and thugs. Good work boys!

[Walkin Man]

U.S. Army forces killed between 150 and 500 Iraqi troops Tuesday in a fierce fight after coming under attack near the central Iraqi city of An Najaf, a senior defense official said. No U.S. casualties were reported...

Wow at least 150 to ZERO!

GI Joe is kickin some major enemy @$$!

GO ARMY!

[Steely Tom]

BEAUTIFUL! -ahem-

Bravo US Troops! More! More!

God Bless You All!

V V V V!

[cardinal4]

150 less rapists, murderers and thugs. Good work boys!

You beat me to it. I will get flamed for this, but I dont care; 150 wont make up for what those barbarians did to our POWs.

[Billthedrill]

U.S. intelligence, meanwhile, has picked up signs suggesting the closer ground troops get to Baghdad the greater the chance they will face chemical weapons...

Khofi says that's unlikely because they wouldn't want to face negative world opinion. Yeah, that'd show 'em...

[Walkin Man]

Churchill's V for Victory.

[Illbay]

Okay, slightly off-topic, ignorant question time:

What, exactly, constitutes "cavalry" in the early twentieth century?

Does it mean a combination of tanks, troops and rotary-wing aircraft, as it seems to mean?

Can anyone give further operational details for me?

(Please remember, guys: This is the first REAL WAR we have had since Korea).

Thanks.

[section9]

I just figured something out.

We've been looking at Third Infantry, the First Marines, and the Desert Rats.

The follow on forces will place the bulk of the Army's fighting strength in Iraq. First Armored, the Big Red One, First Cavalry, and 4th ID are all on their way. They will all arrive within the next four weeks. We are advancing into Iraq with guns blazing and plenty of troops. Franks is being very conservative as far as manpower is concerned. He is assuming that we will need reinforcements, and planned for this. His strategy is profound, bold, and inventive. But it is supported by a sober assessment of the fact that the war could be prolonged and bloody.

Very smart.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Dale 1]

I sure hope we're not getting into the daily body-count business. It will work against us.

[Illbay]

150 less rapists, murderers and thugs.

I know it lets you "feel good" on a visceral level to say things like this but consider:

We really don't know who these guys were. Could they have been conscripts who had the choice of either fighting the Americans or being shot in the back by the REAL rapists, murderers and thugs?

These people may have had no choice at all either way, and now they're dead. That's the way of war. But I think it is pointless to pretend that we are necessarily ridding the world of subhuman monsters at every turn.

Unless you're talking Ba'ath party stalwarts.

[Walkin Man]

I'm a USAF vet and the only cavlary I have heard of is the 7th Air Cav of the US Army. All helo's I guess, maybe vets of other services can help you more.

[Brett66]

Weather is starting to clear over Iraq, tommorrow will be Longbow day.

[Illbay]

Well, there's the First Cavalry Division (of whom, I am assuming, the 7th Cavalry Regiment is a part?)

[cardinal4]

Illbay, why are you always busting my chops? Yes, I needed to say it to feel better about our POWs. But these savages use a rape as a tool. And there is no defence for that. I have prayed harder for that captured woman than I ever did myself. Im angry. They know we despise rape. Thats why they do it. Now you have pissed me off, I hope we kill 150 more, and THAT wont make up for what those barbarians did. We dont do that. Not collectively anyway. There are bad apples in every Military. But, dammit, we dont do it. to hell with them.

[SunStar]

We really don't know who these guys were. Could they have been conscripts who had the choice of either fighting the Americans or being shot in the back by the REAL rapists, murderers and thugs?

C'mon. Did this line of thinking apply to the Nazis, imperial Japanese, or even the Taliban?

If they fight us, they are the enemy. I don't really care if they are afraid of the regime or not, or if they are conscripts or not. They have been told for months by U.S. broadcasts that if they want to live, do not fight us. That message is easy to understand, IMHO.

[SunStar]

(Please remember, guys: This is the first REAL WAR we have had since Korea).

What about Vietnam?

[Nick Danger]

I was in a hurry, so I just walked by the newsstand here and read the headline.

So our forces killed 150 Iraqis, eh? What, did we machinegun some farmers? Blow up a school? Drop a JDAM on an apartment building? What was it this time?

Oh, they were Iraqi troops. Hell, why didn't it say so in the headline?

I think we all know the answer.