Posted on 03/26/2003 2:26:09 AM PST by WaterDragon
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. troops steeled themselves for a renewed push toward Baghdad after prevailing in fierce fighting near a key river crossing south of the city. In the capital, Tomahawk cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs knocked out Iraq's state-run television as the sun rose Wednesday as part of a package of strikes meant to cut off Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's communications.
Army and Marine troops heading to a Euphrates River crossing about 90 miles south of Baghdad fought a running battle Tuesday evening. Military officials said more than 150 Iraqi fighters - possibly as many as 500 - were killed and no Americans were hurt....(snip)
The Army's 3rd Infantry Division has drawn to within about 50 miles of Baghdad. Other elements of the 1st Marine Division were approaching the capital from a more easterly direction, and some analysts believed the Army's 101st Airborne Division, now in southern Iraq, would join the battle for Baghdad.
Airstrikes and coalition troop buildups continued in northern Iraq in preparation for a possible push toward Baghdad and Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, military officials said. A senior Pentagon official acknowledged, however, that Turkey's refusal to let U.S. soldiers invade Iraq from the north had slowed efforts to secure oil fields and cities in the north.
Tuesday's most spectacular fighting was a nighttime battle between units of the 1st Marine Division and the Army's 7th Cavalry Regiment in the middle of a raging sandstorm.
Military officials said the American units came under fire east of An Najaf, about 90 miles south of Baghdad. The battle raged as the American units continued toward the Iraqi capital and crossed the Euphrates.
Two of the Army's M1-A1 Abrams tanks were disabled, and an M-2 Bradley armored vehicle also was hit, defense officials said.
It was not clear whether the Iraqis engaged in battle near An Najaf were from the Republican Guard, regular army units or paramilitaries. The Iraqis attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, U.S. officials said.
Early estimates of the number of Iraqis killed in the fight varied widely, from 150 to 500.
The attacks suggested the location of Iraqi strongholds in the area, and the U.S. troops used thermal-imaging equipment to kill a large number of Iraqis as the sandstorm raged, an official said.
The 7th Cavalry is part of the Army force driving toward Baghdad. Some soldiers are farther north, near Karbala, with only the Medina armored division of the Republican Guard between them and Baghdad.
U.S. intelligence agencies have picked up signs suggesting the closer ground troops get to Baghdad, the greater the chances they will face chemical weapons, Rumsfeld said...(snip)
Asked about reports that Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad have been given authority to use chemical weapons, Rumsfeld cited scraps of intelligence that suggest the closer the 3rd Infantry gets to the capital, the greater the danger.
Iraq denies it has any chemical or biological weapons. The Bush administration insists it has both and is trying to gain nuclear weapons.
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If true, the theory that sandstorms are an Iraqi ally just went kaput.
To me that says (1) that nobody actually has the slightest idea how many they got and (2) the military estimate of enemy strength was simply "company to battalion strength". Which might mean a whole brigade was out there and we got a battalion's worth of them, or it might mean one platoon was out there and we missed them several times but eventually got them. Or anything in between.
Expecting them to know how many enemy KIA there were in a 4 hour firefight in a sandstorm at night with 50 yard visibility is absurd.
Who won - the Marines or the Army?
Dead editors bump....
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