Noose tightens on Saddam

The Daily Telegraph ^ | April 3, 2003 | Neil Tweedie and Michael Smith

[MadIvan]

Allied forces were 20 miles from the outskirts of Baghdad last night after smashing their way through the front lines of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard. The Pentagon said that two divisions had been "destroyed".

A US marine pauses after securing a bridge over the Tigris, vital for the advance on Baghdad

Allied bombs and missiles rained down on the Iraqi rear defences preparing the route into the capital.

In a swift advance on two fronts, US forces moved as far as 40 miles from their start positions. From the south-east, marines captured a key bridge across the Tigris at the town of Kut and advanced to within 40 miles of Baghdad.

The Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard, which had blocked their way, folded without resistance, according to American officers. "It has been destroyed," said Brig Gen Vincent Brooks, the allied spokesman in Qatar. "It is no longer capable of conducting combat operations. It is finished as an effective fighting force. Its leadership is broken and its troops killed or captured."

From the south-west, the 3rd Infantry Division advanced closest to Baghdad, driving through the strategic Karbala Gap, its lead elements within 20 miles of the city. The troops were only halted at nightfall after securing two more crossings over the Euphrates. Many predicted that they would be in the suburbs of Baghdad by lunchtime today.

They had faced only limited resistance from the Medina and Nebuchadnezzar Divisions of the Republican Guard whose tanks had been dug in to the south and south-west of the capital. The Medina Division was no longer a "credible force".

"The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the Baghdad regime and will continue to be pointed at the heart of that regime," Gen Brooks said.

The lack of resistance suggested that the Republican Guard might have retreated into Karbala and Kut, the last two important towns on the route to the capital. The allied forces skirted both rather than being drawn into further urban warfare and left following forces to mop up.

But allied commanders insisted that the Republican Guard units on their main routes north had been ripped apart. One tank column which did venture out was hit by six 1,000lb armour-destroying cluster bombs.

"They are in serious trouble and they remain in contact right now with the most powerful force on earth," Gen Brooks said.

Gen Peter Pace, America's second most senior officer, said a combination of the bombardment and the allied advance was "destroying the Iraqi divisions in and around Baghdad. In the last several days air power has really done a tremendous job of pounding them".

Senior officers said coalition forces had crossed the "red line" Saddam is alleged to have drawn around Baghdad to indicate the point at which he would use chemical weapons. Soldiers were ordered to move up to the next level of precaution against chemical or biological attack.

The allies would not attempt to storm Baghdad once they had dispensed with the Republican Guard, said a senior British officer. They would wait for the regime to implode under the pressure of psychological operations.

"That is a battle we would seek to avoid in the same way that we have avoided it in Basra," he said. "We are not about fighting to the last man in the Iraqi forces. We are about delivering psychological fracture in the Iraqi regime."

Iraqi television broadcast footage of Saddam in uniform, smiling and laughing with members of his cabinet at a meeting it claimed was held yesterday. But his message to the Kurds of northern Iraq, urging them to join him in opposing coalition forces, was read by his information minister in an earlier broadcast.

Iraq said allied aircraft had bombed a Red Crescent maternity hospital where officials said 25 people, including medical staff and patients, were wounded.

[MadIvan]

Click here for a large diagram.

We're winning. I just hope the Iraqi regime, or rather what's left of it, gets the idea and surrenders soon.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[upchuck]

Thanks for the large diagram Ivan. Very informative!!