This reporter would probably be much more adept at determining the source or gunfire than our military.
I 
to the 
from CNN.
Posted on 04/03/2003 3:35:22 AM PST by kattracks
American forces pushed to within 20 miles of Baghdad yesterday after blasting through the Iraqi capital's shredded defenders. In a day of rapid advances, there were losses. Iraqi forces downed two U.S. aircraft in southern Iraq, killing at least seven soldiers. Four wounded survivors were rescued. South of the capital, Marines demolished the remnants of the Republican Guard's Baghdad Division near the Tigris River city of Kut, southeast of Baghdad, and the Army's 3rd Infantry crushed the guard's Medina Division southwest of the capital. "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the Baghdad regime," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks at Central Command in Qatar. "It will remain pointed at it until the regime is gone." In the south, as Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's loyalists were steadily killed or frightened away, civilians were beginning to offer warm greetings - and key information - to coalition soldiers. The Iraqi retreat toward the capital heartened troops who have faced a tough 300-mile slog from the Kuwait border in the two-week-old war. Back home, hopes - and the stock market - rose again on the chance of a quick end to military action. Looking forward, war planners have three major concerns: being drawn into street-to-street fighting in Baghdad, the danger of Saddam's forces unleashing chemical weapons and rapidly rising temperatures, which could hit 105 degrees over the weekend. So far, chemical-hunting teams have found no weapons of mass destruction, but experts said Saddam could be stockpiling them in the city for use in a desperate last stand. "The likelihood that they might use chemical weapons is in front of us now," said Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke. Saddam and his ministers repeatedly have said their strategy is to hold out in Baghdad, luring allied troops into an urban jungle of guerrilla warfare. A new statement attributed to Saddam, who skipped a planned Iraqi TV appearance Tuesday, insisted that "victory is at hand." But Clarke noted, "Who knows who's in charge? We just don't know." Crackdown on TV In a possible sign of the regime's wish to control what the Arab world learns about the next stage of the war, Iraq kicked out Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language TV network. Al Jazeera was showing live pictures of Baghdad all day before the edict came down. State-run television - which has mentioned nothing about Iraqi military setbacks - repeatedly showed a video of a short fat man in a gray tunic singing. Later, Iraqi TV aired silent footage of a jovial Saddam in a military uniform laughing with his ministers. As with all the video of Saddam since the war began, the date the video actually was shot could not be verified. The Pentagon, having learned that optimistic predictions lead to a political stink if they don't come true, sought to lower expectations yesterday that the Iraqi capital would fall quickly or easily. "We are planning for a very difficult fight ahead," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said. "We are not expecting to drive into Baghdad suddenly and seize it." Clarke worked to quash excitement among reporters. "We are not underestimating how tough it could be going forward." Air Marshal Brian Burridge, commander of the British forces, said coalition ground troops will not storm into Baghdad right away, but rather wait on the outskirts to test the level of resistance and gain "situational awareness." He likened the upcoming handling of the move against Baghdad to the way the British are dealing with Basra. The southern Iraqi city has been besieged, with units entering to attack specific targets and exiting swiftly. In one typical mission last week, British commandos in night-vision goggles slipped into the city and rousted a sleeping Iraqi militia leader from his bedroom. "We burst in, kicked the door down and dragged him out," said Capt. Craig Taylor of the 1st Fusiliers Y Company. 7 dead in chopper crash In the north, the rapid Iraqi retreat surprised U.S. forces and opened the way for major advances that brought them close to the key cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. Even as the Pentagon heralded the most successful ground advance on the capital, there were setbacks. Iraqi forces brought down two U.S. aircraft near Karbala, south of the capital, where fighting has raged. Small arms fire - possibly rifles and machine guns - took out a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing seven. Four soldiers were rescued. Hours later, a surface-to-air missile took out the first fighter jet of the war, a U.S. Navy F/A-18C Hornet. The fate of the pilot was unknown. Weapons in mosques In Najaf, south of Baghdad, U.S. military officials said Iraqi forces were storing military hardware in mosques and other sacred sites. Nonetheless, the Pentagon was quick to stress that coalition forces are treating historic Shiite shrines such as the Tomb of Ali in Najaf with greater respect than Iraqi troops. The gilded mosque is venerated by Shiites as the burial site of the Prophet Muhammed's son-in-law. "Iraqi troops are holed up in the mosque and firing at coalition forces," Clarke said. "We have not fired back, and we continue to work hard to avoid civilian casualties and protect Iraq's holy sites." A CNN reporter traveling with the Army's 101st Airborne Division in Najaf said it appeared Iraqi soldiers were not actually firing from the mosque but using it as a sanctuary to escape attack - after running to and from nearby buildings to fire on American troops. In a Basra suburb, captured after 13 hours of fighting, British troops found what appeared to be a secret police torture chamber. Inside the abandoned police station in Abu al Khasib, soldiers found meat hooks in the cell ceilings. One room was bare except for two rubber tires and a live electrical cable, according to BBC and London Daily Mirror reporters accompanying British Royal Marines. The torturer would likely stand on the tires to avoid injury while he shocked a prisoner standing in water.
Originally published on April 3, 2003
Well done, troops.
This reporter would probably be much more adept at determining the source or gunfire than our military.
I to the from CNN.
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