 | |  | | Coalition forces continued their northward dash through Iraq Monday, coming to within 50 miles of Baghdad. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein appeared on television, promising "victory is soon."
The Army's 3rd Infantry Division approached the Shiite holy city of Karbala, only 50 miles south of the Iraqi capital, but was stalled by a sandstorm that blew out of the desert.
As the 7th Infantry Regiment pressed north, Iraqi militiamen shot mortars at a supply convoy of Humvees and cargo trucks. There were no casualties. Commanders requested air support, but the Iraqis were able to flee easily in small, civilian trucks.
To the south, a Fox News producer embedded with troops in the area reported that a major battle was going on in the city of An Nasiriyah. And British troops were engaged in artillery exchanges with Iraqi forces on the outskirts of Basra. British troops have remained outside the city, the second largest in Iraq, unable to move through it because of pockets of resistance.
In northern Iraq, coalition warplanes bombed a military barracks on Monday. A top Kurdish military official said the allies bombed the entire corridor between Chamchamal and Kirkuk, a key oil center.
"People are evacuating, but not because of the bombing. They are afraid Saddam will respond with chemical weapons," said Ahmad Qafoor, a schoolteacher.
Dressed in full military uniform in his televised address Monday, Saddam appeared to be trying to rally his people, calling them "valiant Iraqis, glorious women and brave armed forces."
Saddam spoke of the Iraqis' efforts as "near victory," saying, "Hit (the enemy) hard, you glorious fighters," and mentioned Umm Qasr and Basra, where coalition troops have recently faced resistance. But there was nothing to clearly indicate the speech was carried live.
Saddam also appeared to be bracing his people for battles to come, referring to soldiers killed in battle as "martyrs."
"When evil comes, armed with deceit and destruction, we must face them with faith and holy struggle in a manner that dignifies us and satisfies God," he said.
Also on Monday, Iraq claimed to have shot down two U.S. Apache helicopters, and Iraqi television showed peasants surrounding one chopper. A U.S. defense official confirmed that one Apache helicopter was down. Iraq claimed to have the two pilots as prisoners.
"We have seen the video on TV and we are reviewing the circumstance of the aircraft and crew at this time," a CENTCOM spokesperson said. "While the loss of any aircraft concerns us, there are literally thousands of successful missions that have been conducted, with their crews returning safely."
A senior Pentagon official confirmed to Fox News Monday that coalition forces discovered a "huge" suspected chemical weapons factory near the Iraqi city of Najaf, situated some 90 miles south of Baghdad.
CENTCOM said troops were examining several "sites of interest," but emphasized it was premature to call the Najaf site a chemical weapons factory.
Defense officials told Fox News that two generals in charge of the facility had been captured and were providing "good information" that may help dismantle Iraq's weapons program.
Baghdad was earlier bombarded with what appeared to be the strongest airstrikes since Friday, even as a mosque blared, "God is great" and "Thanks be to God."
The Marines had to decide whether to fight through to the city's bridges over the Euphrates river about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad, or go around the city.
Coalition officials rejected suggestions that continued Iraqi resistance or the bloody setbacks knocked war plans off balance.
"I think that within three days of real military operations beginning, the idea that somehow people are losing confidence or heart is nonsense," Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told a news conference. "This is a difficult, demanding, complex, sophisticated military operation. It is not going to be over in a matter of days."
Bloodiest Day
Coalition forces took their bloodiest hits to date Sunday when Iraqi troops used tactics such as ambushes and even fake surrenders to kill and capture U.S. troops.
One group of Iraqis waved the white flag of surrender, then opened up with artillery fire; another group appearing to welcome coalition troops attacked them.
Lt. Gen. John Abizaid of CENTCOM said the faked surrender near An Nasiriyah, a crossing point over the Euphrates River northwest of Basra, set off the "sharpest engagement of the war thus far." Nine Marines died before the Americans prevailed.
Twelve U.S. soldiers were missing and presumed captured by Iraqis in an ambush on an army supply convoy at An Nasiriyah.
Arab television and other channels showed what it said were American troops dead in an Iraqi morgue and at least five other Americans identified as captured soldiers.
"We, of course, will be much more cautious in the way that we view the battlefield as a result of some of these incidents," Abizaid said.
Any expectation that Iraqi defenders would simply fold was gone.
"Clearly they are not a beaten force," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "This is going to get a lot harder."
Some of the stiffest resistance was coming from paramilitary forces known as the Fedayeen Saddam and from Saddam's personal security forces.
"These are men who know that they will have no role in the building of a new Iraq and they have no future," said Peter Wall, chief of staff to the British military contingent.
Two British soldiers were missing after coming under attack in southern Iraq, British defense officials said Monday.
Invasion on Target
But U.S. war leaders declared the invasion on target. President Bush kept his eye on the big prize -- the removal of Saddam's government and Iraq's disarmament.
"I know that Saddam Hussein is losing control of his country," Bush said Sunday. "We are slowly but surely achieving our objective." He demanded that U.S. POWs be treated humanely.
Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade moved 230 miles in 40 hours, killing Iraqi militiamen who engaged them with machine guns.
U.S. ground forces began engaging the elite Iraqi Republican Guard that ring the outskirts of the city, launching helicopter attacks Sunday night against the Guard's Medina division.
Iraqi Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Sultan Hashim Ahmed expressed confidence his troops can hold the capital.
"If they want to take Baghdad they will have to pay a heavy price," he said.
Other allied units engaged in intensive gun battles Sunday. In southern Iraq, a soldier from the 3rd Infantry Division died in a vehicle accident.
Efforts intensified to assemble forces in northern Iraq, where air strikes have occurred after radicals there were linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Prospects for ground assaults have been limited because Turkey balked on becoming a staging ground.
Near the Persian Gulf, Marines seized an Iraqi naval base Sunday morning at Az Zubayr.
Near Basra in the south, Marines saw hundreds of Iraqi men -- apparently soldiers who had taken off their uniforms -- walking along a highway with bundles on their backs past burned-out Iraqi tanks.
Allied forces have captured Basra's airport and a bridge. But commanders say they are in no rush to storm the city, hoping that Iraqi defenders decide to give up.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |  |  |  |  |
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发表于 2003-3-24 22:41
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