Regards, Ivan
Posted on 03/31/2003 3:11:15 AM PST by MadIvan
American marines today launched a massive raid on an Iraqi town in a bid to kill or capture the notorious commander known as Chemical Ali.
Planes, helicopter gunships and tanks pounded Shatra, north of Nasiriyah, where Ali Hassan al-Majeed was believed to be hiding.
Then scores of marines swooped on a series of compounds, including the Ba'ath party headquarters, in the search for him.
Ali was thought to be in Shatra with other senior Saddam henchmen, directing the paramilitary Fedayeen who have been harrying British and American forces.
Under cover of darkness, aircraft dropped precision-guided bombs on buildings in the small town, reducing them to rubble. And as tanks and armoured personnel carriers moved in, marine Huey Cobra helicopter gunships rained down more fire from the air.
Marine company commander Captain Mike Martin said: "We believe there are about 200 to 300 Ba'ath party loyalists and Saddam Fedayeen irregulars in the town."
The raid on Shatra came after anti-Saddam Iraqis told US forces they believed Ali was hiding there. Killing or capturing Ali, who is Saddam's first cousin, would be a major success for the allied effort in both military and propaganda terms.
Ali was given personal control of the defence of the south of Iraq, raising fears of a chemical attack on invading allied forces.
He earned his "Chemical" nickname after launching the notorious attacks on the Kurds in 1988 when weapons including mustard gas and sarin killed 5,000 people in the Halabja region.
And in 1990 he was put in charge of Kuwait after it was invaded. He was later accused by human rights groups of being responsible for thousands of "disappearances", torture, rape and looting.
Ali is one of the very few Iraqi commanders to survive the repeated purges of the country's military since Saddam came to power.
He owes his position to being part of Saddam's family and the loyal group of retainers from the town of Tikrit who have kept the Iraqi leader in power.
When he was put in control of the south many analysts said it was not for his military ability, but to ensure the largely Shia population would not rebel, out of fear of the consequences.
If captured alive, Ali would almost inevitably face trial in front of a war crimes tribunal. He would also be interrogated for his knowledge of Iraq's chemical warfare programme.
Fears of a chemical attack were raised after the discovery by British troops in the south of Basra of a cache of protective equipment and chemicals which experts believe were used in training.
The "simulator" chemicals were found in equipment marked in Russian and English with the word "sarin", a nerve gas which Saddam is suspected of still having in his armoury.
Other equipment found included a Geiger counter and atropine injectors, used to fight the effects of nerve gas.
Captain Kevin Cooney, of the British joint NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) regiment, said: "It looks like training equipment used to detect if something was in the air."
The raid on Ali's hide-out came as a simultaneous operation was under way to end resistance in Najaf.
The key Muslim holy city is today surrounded by elite soldiers from the 101st Airborne Brigade, known as the Screaming Eagles.
They are poised to mount a similar operation to British units around Basra, attempting to prevent Fedayeen fighters from using it as cover to launch lightning attacks on American supply lines.
Najaf, which has been a hotbed of Iraqi resistance for more than a week, is a key staging post for the 3rd Infantry Division, whose spearhead units are within 50 miles of Baghdad and poised to attack Republican Guard divisions to the south of the capital once supply lines are secure.
And in a separate raid aimed at extending the American front south of Baghdad, soldiers punched their way into the town of Hindiyah and secured a bridge over the Euphrates. Control of the town, which is 15 miles east of Karbala, gives the US another key bridging point across one of Iraq's main rivers.
During the raid "several dozen" Iraqis were taken prisoner and identified themselves as Republican Guards.
If they are members of the elite unit, it will be one of the first proofs that they are actively involved in the war and not waiting in defensive positions for the US onslaught.
Regards, Ivan
Regards, Ivan
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