More U.S. troops, armor head to Iraq

CNN ^ | 03/27/2003 | several

[RKV]

Iraq's information minister said Thursday that Baghdad would be the "graveyard" of coalition forces and they would lose "even if they bring double American troops."

"Americans are now in disarray," Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf told Arabic language TV network Al-Jazeera. "They try to engage the world as much as they can and we will continue until they leave our land."

[RKV]

Some of these were already slated to be here (e.g. 4th Infantry). Any reactions from you who know more about military affairs than I do? Sounds like we are planning something quite a bit bigger than Iraq.

[buckalfa]

Not that I have any military expertise, but maybe the
additonal troops other than the 4th will be needed to
"win" the peace against guerilla and irregular type forces
that are in the outlying areas after Baghdad falls.

[dirtboy]

Sounds like we are planning something quite a bit bigger than Iraq.

I think that the generals are having their way - they wanted more troops and tanks on the ground all along.

[finnman69]

ditto...overwhelming force on the way to take Baghdad and Tikrit.

[cksharks]

The 4th and its 30000 troops should have been in country already. The rest are for relief of the rest. They are not going to be there for a month. This is cnn horse manure.

[ohioWfan]

Twenty thousand troops from the U.S. 4th Infantry Division will leave Fort Hood, Texas, for Iraq in the next few days, and another 100,000 ground troops have received deployment orders and will head to the Persian Gulf region next month, Pentagon officials said.

HOOAH!!!

[L,TOWM]

Troops, tanks and equipment of the 1st Infantry Division already are being airlifted into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq after about 1,000 paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade jumped in early Thursday and secured Harir airfield near Bashur.

BIG RED 1 BUMP

[TexasGunLover]

I'm not screaming the sky is falling ok? But there is very little that can be done to put a positive spin on this.

Military wanted a larger force, didn't get it.

We go in and discover.... low and behold, we need a bigger force.

I can't see another way to look at this other than a miscalcualtion on our part.

If anyone can explain why this does not indicate a miscalcualtion on our part, then please state your case. I'd love to have a different opinion on this matter, but can't find any other conclusions...

[Southack]

"I think that the generals are having their way - they wanted more troops and tanks on the ground all along."

By delaying the call-up, they were able to keep the Iraqis thinking that we would follow our old patterns of bombing for months before sending in ground forces.

Now, we've achieved operational surprise and positioned our forces around Iraq.

Hussein is thereby cut off from his various commanders, and the opportunity to destroy WMD's is likewise reduced.

All that we have to do is basicly sit tight with our ground forces (OK, some mop ups will occur), bomb the crap out of the Republican Guard, and wait for our main body of ground forces to arrive/assemble.

But had Iraq expected us to *initiate* the war with our ground forces, a far different defensive posture on their part would have been taken...

[Southack]

See post #9.

[kever]

Too bad they wouldn't send someone new to lead the War on Iraq.

Still don't know why the Iraqis were allowed to retreat to the protection of inner Bagdad...why weren't they destroyed when they were dug in around the outskirts of Bagdad.

Oh I guess the hope was that they may surrender again....

[ProudArmyWife]

the 4th ID was to be there all along... Turkey crapped out is all..... I dont think its a miscalculation... I think Turkey chickened out.... we just made the necessary move and didnt send 4th ID until it was safe for them to arrive. Good Ole IronHorse!! HOOAH
4th ID Wife

[RKV]

I do know that another MEU and the 4th Infantry were part of the original plan (thanks Turkey). We went without them because we had enough combat power to ensure a good start. Seems like 100000 is a large number (more than the 2 units named above).

[Leatherneck_MT]

To win a battle it's nothing more than

He who gets there First with the Most

[RKV]

God keep your husband safe.

[ladtx]

I'm anxious to get home so I can see how Peter Jennings will spin this as disaster.

[Ligeia]

the duplicate that was pulled also had this info:

Surrender and reinforcements In central Iraq, six Iraqi men believed to be couriers for the Iraqi paramilitary group Saddam Fedayeen surrendered to members of the 101st Airborne Division after the men became disoriented in a sandstorm and were surrounded by U.S. troops.

The men -- who were not in uniform -- carried a large sum of U.S. money and instructions that may have been meant for Baath party leaders in a nearby town, according to Col. Mike Linnington, a 101st unit commander.

A newly released classified CIA intelligence report widely distributed among Bush administration policymakers and military leaders before the war warned irregular Iraqi forces could pose the greatest threat to coalition forces, particularly with "hit and run" attacks on supply lines and rear units, U.S. officials said. (Full story)

After braving nearly constant fire for 72 hours and spending a tense night listening and hoping that friendly B-52 bombers overhead would stop an armored Iraqi column apparently heading their way, the 3rd Squadron, 7th U.S. Cavalry got a break Thursday -- reinforcements and a chance to go to the back of the line for a short respite.

The bombers and ground-based artillery smashed the Iraqi convoy overnight before it could reach the troops northeast of Najaf, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, soldiers in the field told CNN's Walter Rodgers, who is accompanying the 3-7th, the reconnaissance unit of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Iraqi officials, speaking in Baghdad, gave a different version of the fighting around Najaf.

Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed said U.S. forces tried to encircle Najaf but failed to do so when they "sustained heavy casualties."

Officials at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar said Thursday they had no information to support the report that "a large number" of Iraqi vehicles had been headed "anywhere."

U.N. walkout At Camp David, Maryland, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Thursday for the first time since the start of the war. The two leaders discussed the military effort and plans for the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.

Bush and Blair said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces would be defeated. Bush declared the war would last "however long it takes to win."

Blair said, "There is absolutely no point, in my view, of trying to set a time limit or speculate on it because it's not set by time. It's set by the nature of the job."

Bush and Blair also called on the United Nations immediately to resume the oil-for-food program in Iraq. (Full story)

From Baghdad, Iraq's health minister said Thursday that more than 350 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the war so far, and he accused coalition fighters of targeting them. "Women and children are being attacked, as soldiers are being attacked," he said.

"Most of these martyrs are children, women and old men who could not protect themselves as young men could," Umid Midhat Mubarak told reporters at the Ministry of Information. (Full story)

The U.S. delegation walked out of a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday as Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohamed Aldouri, accused the United States and Britain of "criminal, barbaric" behavior and military aggression "that is killing women, children and the elderly and destroys the life and the future of the people of Iraq. ...

"They previously tried to kill it through a weapon called sanctions which lasted more than 13 years," he said. "Through that period a whole generation of children ... were destroyed."

Speaking outside later, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said, "I'd heard enough... I didn't hear anything new and of course don't accept ay of the kinds of allegations and preposterous positions that he put forward."

Other developments • U.S. military officials denied a report Thursday that a second helicopter gunship was lost in action in Iraq, but admitted losing an unmanned reconnaissance drone. "We have no aircraft missing at this time," a U.S. Central Command spokesman said. Earlier, Al-Jazeera showed pictures of what it said was a U.S. Apache helicopter gunship shot down in Iraq.

• Coalition airstrikes have destroyed an Iraqi surface-to-surface missile launcher near Basra believed to be primarily responsible for missiles fired against Kuwait, military sources told CNN. Of the 11 missiles fired at Kuwait, most were destroyed by U.S. Patriot missiles, while a few fell harmlessly into the Persian Gulf or the Kuwaiti desert.

• No cease-fire is possible in Iraq as long as Saddam remains in power, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday. Rumsfeld spoke to a Senate Appropriations panel considering Bush's request for $74.7 billion in supplemental funding for war-related spending.

• The World Health Organization is distributing medicines and other health supplies in northern Iraq and is seeking permits to travel from Baghdad to Basra, where lack of access to clean water threatens the population.

• British military officials said Thursday they found chemical weapons protection suits when Iraqi infantry abandoned a headquarters facility in the oil fields of southern Iraq. Adm. Sir Michael Boyce, the chief of British Defense Staff, said British troops did not find any weapons of mass destruction. (Full story)

• Coalition officials said Thursday Iraqi forces in Najaf and Basra have threatened Iraqis with death if they don't pick up arms against U.S.-led forces. "Iraqi paramilitaries are rounding up children and others from their homes, saying males must fight for the regime or be executed," said Jim Wilkinson, assistant to Central Command leader Tommy Franks.

• A British military spokesman said Thursday two men shown on an Arab television network Wednesday who were purported to be British prisoners of war are not soldiers and may have been on a humanitarian mission inside Iraq. British officials demanded that they be released immediately.

• Antiwar protesters blocked two lanes of traffic and a busy intersection Thursday morning in Midtown Manhattan as part of a planned "die-in." A coalition of antiwar groups broke through police barricades and lay down at 50th Street and Fifth Avenue to act as mock war victims.

• A top U.S. military official accused Iraqi forces of committing war crimes by executing prisoners of war, using civilians as human shields and hiding command posts in hospitals. "They have executed prisoners of war," said Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on CNN's "Larry King Live." "To do it so blatantly, so early -- not only is it a surprise, but to me, it's disgusting." (Full story)

• A British ship carrying humanitarian aid that was to arrive Thursday at the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr has been delayed a day because of concerns that there still may be mines in the waterway. (Full story)

• Forty-seven U.S. and British military personnel have been confirmed killed since the conflict began. (Coalition casualties)

CNN Correspondents Christiane Amanpour, Tom Mintier, Steve Nettleton, Thomas Nybo, Nic Robertson, Walter Rodgers, Brent Sadler, Martin Savidge, Barbara Starr and Alessio Vinci contributed to this report.

EDITOR'S NOTE:CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.

[TexasGunLover]

I do know that another MEU and the 4th Infantry were part of the original plan (thanks Turkey)

I knew about the 4th, but 120,000 sounded really big to me...

[Beck_isright]

Just watch Iran and Syria. That's all I have to say.

V

[buwaya]

Possibly the reinforcements are intended to relieve the initial units, as rotations will be due. Much of the 3rd ID has been in the area for almost 6 months.