Regards, Ivan
Posted on 04/13/2003 2:36:58 PM PDT by MadIvan
US MARINES supported by tanks, attack helicopters and F18 jets were fighting Iraqi forces on the southern outskirts of Tikrit last night.
American forces were targeted on the approach roads as a column of 300 armoured vehicles moved on the birthplace of Saddam Hussein and his tribal stronghold. Artillery exchanges and automatic gunfire erupted as the Marines approached the town.
A reporter on the scene said that five Iraqi tanks had been destroyed when the Marines called in air support. Scores of Cobra attack helicopters and F18 jets were seen over Tikrit.
The fighting followed an appeal by 15 tribal leaders in Tikrit, 112 miles north of Baghdad, for a peaceful surrender of the town. In return they had demanded a halt to American bombing.
The peace overtures failed when remnants of the Adnan Republican Guard Division and Fedayin militia loyal to Saddam attacked the US Marines as they entered the southern outskirts of Tikrit. Several thousand Marines from the “Task Force Tripoli” advanced in an armoured column, including Abrams tanks and light-armoured vehicles in what commanders said they hoped would be the last big offensive of the war.
A spokeswoman for Central Command in Qatar said that the fighting was significant and fierce, but she described the remaining Saddam fighters as “mismatched leftovers with no military command and control”.
Brigadier John Kelly, commander of the US Marines engaged in artillery exchanges outside Tikrit, said that at least 15 militia fighters were killed.
Matthew Fisher, of the National Post in Canada, who is embedded with the Marines, described how Iraqi infantry “came out of their holes to fight the Marines. About 15 Iraqis died in that exchange, no Americans”.
The battle confounded early indications that the Marines might be spared a significant fight. General Tommy Franks, the coalition commander, said that initially the Marines had met no resistance.
“I wouldn’t say it’s over, but I will say we have American forces in Tikrit right now,” he said.
General Franks said that although the core Iraqi Army had been destroyed, militia, death squads and foreign fighters were battling on. “Until we have a sense that we have all of that under control, then we will probably not characterise the initial military phase as having been completed and the regime totally gone,” he told CNN.
As the fighting continued, groups of armed men seen in Tikrit told the al-Jazeera television station that tribal leaders were trying to negotiate a ceasefire with US troops. They said that Iraqi soldiers and paramilitaries had left town.
The men said that they represented leaders of the 15 main tribal family groups in Tikrit and that they had taken up arms to protect the town from a possible attack by Iraqi Kurdish fighters moving in from the north and to prevent looting.
“We are carrying arms to defend our city from the Kurds. We do not want them in our city.
“We have no problems with the Americans. We want peace but we will not allow the Kurds to come in,” one said.
“We have 15 tribes here and the leaders of the tribes are negotiating with the Americans. We don’t want to fight the Americans. The Iraqi military left the city five days ago.”
Once the town falls, US troops will have to search underground bunkers and tunnel complexes known to have been built in Tikrit in the continuing search for hidden weapons of mass destruction.
Last night, as gunfire continued in Tikrit, Central Command described the fighting as spotty. Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks, a spokesman at the Qatar headquarters, said that the Marines were getting help from the local population.
In a sign of commanders’ optimism that the war may be over soon, it was announced that B2 Stealth bombers that have been based on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia are to return home. Two American aircraft carrier battle groups, led by USS Kitty Hawk and USS Constellation, are also to be withdrawn from the Gulf.
Regards, Ivan
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We've seen what their "surrenders" look like. I'm unwilling to have any more of our people blown up by "surrenderers." And we've already tried a "ceasefire" with these folks. Since they have no honor, that's no good either.
Only a fight to the death makes any sense to me.
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