Republican Guard heads toward U.S. troops (Convoy of at least 1,000 vehicles)

AP via NOLA.COM ^ | 3/26/03 7:27 AM | DAVID CRARY

[11th_VA]

A large contingent of Iraq's elite Republican Guard headed south Wednesday in a convoy of at least 1,000 vehicles toward U.S. Marines in central Iraq -- an area that already has seen the heaviest fighting of the war. In Baghdad, Iraqi officials said two cruise missiles hit a residential area, killing 14.

Intelligence officers with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force said the Republican Guard units were headed from Baghdad on a route that avoids advancing U.S. Army forces and leads directly to the Marines who have been fighting in recent days around An Nasiriyah.

The advance appeared to signal that the Republican Guard, Saddam Hussein's best trained and most loyal force, was still prepared to take the offensive despite several days of allied air strikes and missile attacks on its positions.

In the far south, British forces fought on the fringes of the beleaguered city of Basra, while the first substantial relief convoy reached the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr on Wednesday after weathering a blinding sandstorm.

To the west of where the Republican Guard was advancing, the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division drew to within 50 miles of Baghdad. Other American forces were expected to join soon in squeezing the capital from several directions.

A military source said the U.S. Central Command now had evidence that the Iraqi regime had wired many of the bridges around Baghdad for destruction.

[11th_VA]

ABC reported this morning the convoy was being attacked ATT.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

Ohh! I love those cluster bombs. Kinda like a box of candy. You just never know what you are going to get! Well that is all I have to say about that!

[Tijeras_Slim]

Highway of Death II

Usually the sequel isn't as good as the original, but one can hope.

[MichaelP]

A target rich environment indeed!

Mike

[Tamaqua]

If they're movin' they'll be vulnerable. Let's all keep it together.

[You Gotta Be Kidding Me]

Can you say, "Highway of Death"? I knew you could... ;-)

[Oldeconomybuyer]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/875874/posts

[Afronaut]

Iraq suicide march.

[taxcontrol]

Target rich environment

[pitinkie]

As long as we dont stop this time!!!

[Semper Paratus]

1000 Republican Guard vehicles on the ground, 1000 Republican Guard vehicles, you take a MOAB and drop it down, 500 Republican Guard vehicles on the ground, 500...

[InvisibleChurch]

not that i mind them exposing themselves to air bombing, but it seems so unlike the iraqis to come out and fight ... what's up with that?

[gov_bean_ counter]

If the Iraqis are true to form, those vehicles will be loaded with civies thinking they have been given safe passage with some local miliary cover.

[Guillermo]

The comment about that on the radio this morning (from a West Point professor) was that we probably couldn't see them due to the sand and weather.

[TominPA]

If indeed they are on the road and in the open, death from above is now the order of the day. Vehicles in the open are dead meat, period. The TAC Air will have a field day to the extent that their strenght will decrease by 50% before first contact.

[Admin Moderator]

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