Posted on 03/26/2003 5:11:22 PM PST by Sabertooth
Allied jets target Republican Guard convoys IRAQI military in Baghdad and Basra were last night risking being wiped out in air attacks by leaving the confines of the cities to confront coalition troops. Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard left the capital in a column of 1,000 vehicles. And up to 120 Iraqi troop vehicles drove out of Basra in a southern direction. Harriers and Tornados flying out of Kuwait attacked the armoured convoys. An RAF source said, "A significant number of British aircraft are involved." It appeared the vehicles were heading towards British troops on the Al Faw peninsula. It is thought Iraqi commanders decided sandstorms around Baghdad would provide cover for the elite troops to journey to the area of the heaviest fighting of the war so far. They may have believed the appalling weather conditions would protect their troops from being decimated by allied air power, much of which has been grounded by sand-storms. But military intelligence had spotted 3,000 Republican Guard moving from the capital to the city of Al Kut, and a further 2,000 were seen to the south of Al Kut. The Iraqi advance appeared to signal that Saddam Hussein's best trained and most loyal force was ready to go on the offensive despite days of allied air strikes and missile attacks on its positions. The Iraqis have already issued their first report of battlefield action by the Republican Guards. A spokesman said a special forces unit attacked coalition troops in south-central Iraq, destroying six armoured vehicles and inflicting an unspecified number of casualties. A US military officer said there had been a fierce battle yesterday for control of a bridge over the River Euphrates at Abu Sukhayr, 13 miles south-east of Najaf. He said an unspecified number of tanks and Bradleys had been destroyed. He believed the US crews, under the command of the 3rd Infantry Division, had escaped the vehicles - but their fate was unknown. Meanwhile Washington announced yesterday it was flying another 30,000 troops from the US to the war zone. The Pentagon admitted it was shifting its battlefield tactics after commanders on the ground said they were surprised by the stiff resistance put up Saddam's paramilitaries.
Mar 27 2003
The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales
Yep. Don't overlook the obvious. These guys are (were) surrounded by an armored division, plus the Shias inside the city hate there guts and are starting to rebel... RG's musta figured it was time to get the freak out of Dodge while they still had some cover from that sandstorm. Probably commanded by one of those newly-minted 'Brigadier Generals' who was under orders not to surrender under the standard threat of execution of his family.
They are acting like they don't have a head on the beast. A)They may not have contact with Saddam, B)Saddam's dead, or C)Saddam's not as smart as he's been given credit for. I'll take D) Any of the above.
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