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Battle of Baghdad due to start soon
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| 23 March 2003 |
By Tim Ripley JDW Special Correspondent
US Central Command, Qatar
and Andrew Koch JDW Bureau Chief
Washington DC
US forces will "soon" be in the vicinity of Baghdad, a top US General at Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters told reporters on 23 March.
Lieutenant General John Abizaid, deputy commander at CENTCOM, said air strikes were already underway to soften up Republican Guard units holding positions south of the Iraqi capital. US troops have begun to encounter stiffer resistance as they approach Baghdad and US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged that resistance is likely to strengthen more as coalition forces close in.
One potential danger is the use of chemical weapons, which US intelligence reports warn are being distributed to Iraqi troops in places like al Kut for possible use as the US forces progress.
The Iraqi resistance, Abizaid said, has largely been by irregular forces in a spate of attacks. Those forces, primarily members of the Special Security Organization (SSO) and the Fadeyeen paramilitary group, have attacked US troops in southern Iraq but would not endanger the mission of toppling the Iraqi regime, he said.
Abizaid described a confused situation behind the lines of the US army's 60,000-man strong V Corps, which is closing on Baghdad. A series of skirmishes have taken place around the city of Nasiriyah between US Marines and elements of the SSO and Fadeyeen, who he said had infiltrated southern Iraq in the days before the US-led invasion. The Iraqi forces had faked surrender and then ambushed the US Marines, he said, and other US officials described the fighting locally as "heavy", including house-to-house in parts of the city.
In another incident, a large Iraqi group had attacked a column of Marines, killing an undetermined number of US troops, estimated at less than 10. Iraqi forces that were destroyed in that engagement included eight tanks, anti-aircraft weapons and artillery pieces, Abizaid said.
Iraqi irregulars had also ambushed a US Army supply convoy, in which 12 soldiers were believed missing. They are assumed dead or taken prisoner. Iraqi television has shown images of dead US soldiers and prisoners of war in the custody of Iraqi forces. Rumsfeld said that despite the apparent captures, the incident would not slow down or impede US war plans.
In other incidents, he added, the Iraqi irregulars had deployed in civilian areas to make it more difficult for US troops to engage them.
To date, the most significant progress seemed to have been made by the US 3rd Infantry Division, which pushed its advance guard, the 7th Cavalry, as far as Najaf. That city lies 100 miles south of Baghdad – less than a day's drive from the Iraqi capital. The force has since stopped, apparently to refuel and wait for reinforcements.
In its wake, the 101st Airborne Division is leap-frogging forward by helicopter into southern Iraq to bring its Apache gunships in range of Republican Guard units south of Baghdad.
The 3rd Infantry Division by-passed Nasiriyah yesterday after capturing Iraq's Talill airbase to the south of the city, leaving it to be mopped-up by the 5th US Marine Regiment. Several hundred determined Iraqi irregular forces backed by SSO personnel, tanks and artillery remained in the town and put up resistance to the advancing Marines. Reports from the region are fragmented but there are suggestions that more than 50 wounded Marines were evacuated by eight helicopters and that perhaps 10 US personnel may have been killed. Air strikes were called in to support the assault.
Overall it appears that the main battle still lies ahead, with the bulk of US and Iraqi forces yet to engage in a crucial battle.
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