U.S. Troops (3rd ID) Reach Downtown Baghdad [No casulties]

World Tribune ^ | April 6, 2003 SGT | Major General Gene Renuart-CENCOM Chief of Operations

[ewing]

United States troops have begun moving through downtown Baghdad.

United States Officials said members of the 3rd Infantry Division began driving through the center of the Iraqi capital on Saturday.

They said the unit did not sustain casulties.

'This was an operation conducted by two task forces of the Third Infantry Division,' Major General Eugene Renuart Chief of Operations for Central Command, said.

They had been south of the city and conducted a raid through the city, proceeding North to the Tigris River and continuing out to the West in the direction of the airpoirt.'

Officials said the show of United States troops was meant to demonstrate to the residents of Baghdad that Saddam Hussein had lost control.

[Bogey78O]

The Iraqi mouthpiece who lies through his teeth.

HE's so far claimed that Iraq killed over several dozen American tanks, hundreds of American soldiers, and there are no Americans anywhere near Baghdad.

[BushMeister]

Will someone please refresh my memory as to what the unit markings on that map mean. I think the oval with crossed "X" means mechanized infantry, but what about the unit sizes. How large are the units with the little "Xs" above, and how large are those without?

[goldstategop]

Awwwwwwww... now where's Steven Spielberg? CUT!!!! :)

[txradioguy]

He would be the Iraqi Information Minister. Keeps telling the Iraqi's that we aren't where we are right now. Reminds me of Kevin Bacon's character in Animal House when everyone is running for their lives after the parade and he's telling them to stay calm and not to panic.

[ewing]

He sort of like the white knight in Monty Python where the guy keeps chopping off arms and legs and he still says he will emerge victorious.

[ewing]

I think it is 10,000 per division. (just a guess)

[HardStarboard]

I thought the symbols represented Coalition (U.S.) roadblocks. Thats how much I know - don't know if unit type/size is represented.

[txradioguy]

If I remember my map reading correctly, the ones with the oval through them are brigade sized elements and the ones without the oval are battalion. Don't quote me however.

[demlosers]

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf
aka. 'Baghdad Bob'

[Enough is ENOUGH]

He would be the Iraqi Information Mis-Information Minister.

[BushMeister]

No, I mean that you can see that some unit designations have a little "X" above the image, and some don't. This would indicate their size.

I think that either 2 or 3 x's above the image means a division, but I guess someone will clarify this for us on this thread in time. The other designation must mean airborne (you can see the little "V" wings.

[Enough is ENOUGH]

If he is in Tikrit we won't have to worry about civilian casualties as much since they reportedly provide his support base.

[r135rr]

wonder what Bagdad Bob's beret would bring on ebay?

[BushMeister]

No, I don't think that's correct. An oval means an armored unit (of an armored division), an oval with a cross through it is a unit of a mechanized infantry division, and a simple cross without an oval is a unit of an infantry division. I forget what the designation for a cavalry division is.

In case you're wondering what the difference between an armored and a mechanized infantry division are, among other things, an armored division has 6 armored battalions, while a mechanized infantry division has 4. I think that that means that an armored division has about 315 tanks while a mech. inf. division would have about 220.

[txradioguy]

One X is a brigade sized element....two X's is a division

[BushMeister]

Thanks. So I guess that "no x's" would be a battalion, and 3 x's would be a corps?

[txradioguy]

you are correct...I remembered after I posted it. Thanks for the help. The little V symbol in the one map symbol stands for Air Moblie. If that give you an idea of who that might be without giving away names.

[ewing]

The map seems to indicate we have 120,000 troops encircling the city to the hard core Iraqi Special Republican Guard's 10,000 (with the newly arriving troops still coming from the airport) ..that seems about right

[txradioguy]

You have FReep Mail

[af_vet_rr]

Did the Iraqi Information Minister take the reporters on a tour of the airport to show we didn't control it? He said he was, I'm hoping he does, just to see the look on his face. How anybody can keep such a straight face and say what he does, it cracks me up. It could be raining outside the window and the guy would say "Here in glorious Baghdad, it is sunny and 85 degrees, not raining and 55 degrees like the pig-dog imperialists say it is".