First firefights with troops protecting Baghdad
KUWAIT Low-flying warplanes relentlessly attacked Baghdad on Monday with barrages of bombs and missiles as U.S. troops engaged Iraqi Republican Guard units outside the capital in what was described as the first "serious" encounter with the outer ring of Iraqi soldiers protecting the city.
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Throughout the Tigris and Euphrates valley, U.S. troops clashed with Iraqi forces near the landmarks of ancient Mesopotamia. Battles were reported near Babylon and in small towns not previously cited in reports from the front lines: Shatra, Imam Aiyub and Hindiya.
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The more diffuse battlefield appeared to reflect the change in strategy of U.S. planners who have decided to fan out, secure supply lines and rear areas and chase Iraqi forces into the ancient villages of the fertile valley.
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Iraqi officials in Baghdad in recent days have compared the long U.S. supply lines stretching from Kuwait to the outskirts of Baghdad to a boa constrictor - which they threatened to "cut into pieces." On Monday, U.S. forces aggressively challenged the units that could threaten this supply line. But after 12 days of fighting, U.S. and British troops still did not have control of any major urban centers - where two-thirds of Iraqi citizens live.
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Their control remained mostly over the desert, which represents almost 60 percent of the country. "After 12 days, we are making steady progress in achieving our objectives in Iraq," Geoff Hoon, the British defense secretary, said in Parliament in London.
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But he acknowledged: "There have been as yet no defections of very senior politicians or very senior military commanders." Around Karbala, 80 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, U.S. forces were reported to have engaged Republican Guard units. Colonel William Grimsley, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 3d Infantry Division, said it was the "first serious contact" with the elite troops. Other officers said 200 Iraqi soldiers had been killed, wounded or captured in the fighting, news agencies reported. Apache helicopters and coalition warplanes have attacked the Republican Guard in recent days, "softening up" the area in preparation for the U.S. offensive toward Baghdad. On the southern edge of An Nasiriyah, Marines overran an abandoned military camp in a predawn raid, where they found weapons, gas masks and supplies of atropine, a nerve gas antidote.
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In Shatra, 40 kilometers north of An Nasiriyah, Marines sought to retrieve one of their comrades whose body was hanged in the town after he was killed in a firefight, according to intelligence officers.
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"We would like to retrieve the body of the marine but it is not our sole purpose," Lieutenant Colonel Pete Owen, of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told a reporter embedded with the troops.
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The primary reason for the operation, military officials said, was to flush out Ba'ath Party leaders and arm local militias to fight against those loyal to President Saddam Hussein. Officers said they had received intelligence that 200 to 300 Ba'ath Party officials and members of the Fedayeen Saddam were in the town.
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It was not known if Marines had succeeded in retrieving the body by nightfall but U.S. troops were reported moving street-to-street in the southern outskirts of the town.
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The Marines had initially planned to head toward Kut, southeast of Baghdad, but turned back to enter Shatra, which was believed to house senior Ba'ath Party leaders, according to reporters traveling with the troops.
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They were supported by tanks, armored personnel carriers, Huey helicopter gunships and other aircraft dropping precision-guided bombs.
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Among those targeted in Shatra was Ali Hassan Majid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein known as "Chemical Ali" for his use of chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988. Before the war, Saddam was reported to have put Majid in charge of southern Iraq.
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In An Najaf, officers said helicopters had destroyed ammunition storage facilities, air defense systems and ammunition trucks. The helicopters were struck by small arms fire and one of the pilots suffered face injuries, according to Lieutenant Colonel Jim Richardson, the commander of the 3d Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division's Aviation Brigade.
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In Karbala, a battalion of Apaches engaged and destroyed two air defense systems, according to Colonel Greg Gass, commander of the 101st Airborne Division's Aviation Brigade.
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At Hindiya, a fierce battle was reported around a bridge over the Euphrates River, about a dozen kilometers from the ancient ruins of Babylon, the seat of the empire of the legendary King Nebuchadnezzar.
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And in what appeared to be a separate clash a dozen kilometers downstream, U.S. troops were reportedly engaged in "extremely heavy contact" near Imam Aiyub, a small town on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. Captain Brad Loudon of the 2d Battalion 70th Armored Regiment told a reporter that one U.S. soldier and a "host" of Iraqi soldiers had been killed in the fighting.
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Baghdad, meanwhile, was struck with a combination of B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers unleashed a barrage of ordnance.
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The bombings have been so relentless that reports from the capital said mosque loudspeakers were being used as air-raid sirens. An Associated Press reporter said the all-clear was now signaled by an announcement from minarets: "God is great, they are gone." Six Iraqi civilians were reported killed and dozens wounded in residential neighborhood, according to Kamal Askar, director of the al-Kindi hospital.
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U.S. Central Command said a Tomahawk cruise missile was launched at the Information Ministry near the Tigris River early Monday in an effort to reduce the Iraqi government's "command and control capabilities." Programs on Iraqi state television resumed at noon Monday, four hours later than usual, and showed singers dressed as soldiers waving assault rifles and singing songs in praise of Saddam Hussein.
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Later in the day, state television showed Saddam chairing a meeting of top aides, including his eldest son, Uday, who made his first televised appearance since the outbreak of the war.
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Missiles struck a presidential palace used by Saddam's other son, Qusay, who commands the elite Republican Guard. Bombs were also dropped on Republican Guard units on the outskirts of the capital.
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Iraqi and U.S. official traded accusations Monday in what has become a daily exchange of insults.
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Iraq's Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, told reporters in Baghdad Monday that only surrender could save coalition troops from a "holocaust." "We will turn this desert into a big grave for the Americans and British," he said. The White House, meanwhile, accused Iraqi forces of employing "Gestapo-like tactics." Outside Basra, British troops discovered a huge cache of weapons, including hundreds of small arms, grenade launchers and machine guns, as well as crates of tank shells and mortars. Television images showed crates of ammunition stamped with the words "Jordan Armed Forces." British soldiers told reporters that they allowed local residents to loot a Ba'ath Party headquarters outside the city filled with sacks of rice and grain. "Normally we would stop looting because it is a sign that things have got out of control and law and order has broken down," Captain Alex Cartwright, told reporters. "But in this case we decided that to allow it would send a more powerful message - that we are in control now, not the Ba'ath Party."
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British officials retracted a claim that they had captured an Iraqi general, saying they had received "feedback through the channel of command" indicating that the prisoner was a lower-ranking officer.
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