It about to "blow up"
03-26-2003, 03:58 PM
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It about to "bow up"
I just read this on CNN.com
- Major column" of Republican Guard moving south toward Najaf, reports CNN's Walter Rodgers, with 3rd Infantry
- 1,000 armed vehicles in convoy, could reach U.S. troops tonight
Iraqi forces charge south from Baghdad
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Posted: 3:44 PM EST (2044 GMT)
KARBALA, Iraq (CNN) -- A column of up to 1,000 Iraqi military vehicles was reported moving south Wednesday night toward Najaf, the scene of an earlier battle with U.S. forces, U.S. Army officers told CNN.
The column is believed to be made up of troops from Iraq's elite Republican Guard. The forces were moving from Baghdad at a rate of 18 mph to 36 mph, toward the lead elements of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, CNN's Walter Rodgers reports.
Coalition military officials said they expect the Iraqi forces are heading south to try to retake a key Euphrates River bridge, captured by U.S.-led troops after fierce fighting this week.
U.S. commanders were calling in airstrikes to slow the Iraqi advance.
A persistent sandstorm is limiting the coalition's ability to protect its ground troops with helicopters and planes, Rodgers said. Apache helicopters haven't been able to fly for two days. However, the weather conditions have improved enough for some planes to fly close air support if needed, Rodgers said.
At nearly the same time, a column of 70 to 120 Iraqi armored vehicles poured out of the southern city of Basra, heading southeast in what reconnaissance intelligence said appeared to be an offensive charge. Coalition fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them.
Meanwhile, U.S. war planners may have miscalculated the strength and capability of paramilitary fighters in Iraq, a Pentagon official said Wednesday, as the first week of fighting came to an end.
Fighters of the Fedayeen Saddam, one of Iraq's most feared paramilitary groups, along with members of the ruling Baath Party and other security forces, have launched several attacks against U.S. and British forces for a week.
"We may have underestimated that they were dispersed to so many places across Iraq to enforce regime discipline," the Pentagon official said. "It's clear now they dispersed sometime before the war began."
Members of the group have caused problems for coalition forces in some areas, where they have disguised themselves as civilians to ambush troops or pretended to surrender and opened fire -- acts the United States have called "serious violations of the laws of war." (Full story)
The Pentagon is looking seriously at a report that Iraqi soldiers may have shot U.S. soldiers as they were surrendering, sources said Wednesday. Iraqi forces ambushed a supply convoy Sunday, killing seven soldiers and taking five others as prisoners.
Fighting was reported Wednesday in Karbala, Najaf, Nasiriya and Basra -- all cities south of Baghdad. There was no indication of when coalition forces might reach the Iraqi capital.
President Bush said Wednesday the "military is making good progress" but that the war is far from over in Iraq.
"As they approach Baghdad, our fighting units are facing the most desperate elements of a doomed regime," Bush told troops in a speech at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida -- the home of U.S. Central Command. (Full story)
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a CNN analyst and former NATO supreme allied commander, said the scenario of a quick victory is "not going to happen." (Full story)
Iraqi officials said U.S. munitions killed 15 Iraqi civilians Wednesday at a popular market in Baghdad. Following the report from the Iraqi Information Ministry, photographers from international news agencies confirmed seeing an undetermined number of dead and injured people, apparently civilians, and burned vehicles in the capital city. No further information was available.
Before that incident, Iraq had reported 78 civilian deaths since Monday as a result of bombing raids. CNN cannot independently verify Iraq's figures.
At the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal denied coalition forces targeted the marketplace and suggested the Iraqis firing at allied aircraft were responsible for the casualties.
"Another explanation could be the triple-A fire (anti-aircraft artillery) or surface-to-air missiles that missed their targets and fell back into the marketplace area," he said. (Full story)
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday he was "increasingly concerned" about civilian casualties in Iraq and urged the warring sides to take "all necessary steps" to protect civilians.
Other developments
• British Marines found a large cache of hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and Iraqi military uniforms stored in three classrooms of a school in the southern Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr, British pool reporter Bill Neely reported Wednesday. The uniforms, he said, may be an indication that the estimated 120 Iraqi troops there discarded their military clothes and "melted away into the civilian population."
• A survey by the Pew Research Center found that 72 percent of Americans believe that using military force in Iraq was the right thing to do. The poll was conducted March 20-24, and it found that support for the war has remained fairly steady, even though the percentage of people who said the war was going "very well" dropped from 71 percent Friday and Saturday to 38 percent Monday. Researchers interviewed 1,495 people for the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
• British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet Wednesday in the United States with Annan and discuss war strategy with Bush at Camp David, Maryland. (Full story)
• The U.N. Security Council was set to meet Wednesday at the request of the Arab League and nonaligned states, some of whom are expected to criticize the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
• Seven battered transport trucks pulled into the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr on Wednesday, carrying about 12 tons of food, medical supplies and other goods. The British are working with humanitarian organizations on the best ways to distribute the aid. More trucks loaded with food, water and other supplies were waiting at the entrance to the city for permission to continue their journey. (Full story)
• In Basra, a few Iraqi soldiers walked out of the city with their hands up and surrendered to British troops, a senior British officer told Richard Gaisford of the British television network ITN. He said he didn't know how many soldiers had turned themselves in to the British.
• "Massive resentment amongst the population" in Basra has led to an uprising against the Iraqi regime and its forces, British military officials said. However, reporters stationed in Basra -- from Abu Dhabi television and Al-Jazeera satellite network -- said they saw no signs of civilian unrest. (Full story)
• Intelligence information indicates that Saddam Hussein's regime may have rigged the bridges leading into Baghdad with explosives, according to U.S. Central Command spokesman Lt. Mark Kitchens.
• Coalition jets bombed bunkers in northern Iraq early Wednesday, CNN's Kevin Sites reported. One bunker was destroyed, and another remained intact, Sites said.
• A second U.S. soldier has died of wounds he suffered in a grenade and small-arms attack at his base in Kuwait. A fellow soldier is in custody in Germany in connection with the attack pending a pretrial investigation. (Full story)
• Forty-five U.S. and British military personnel have been confirmed killed since the conflict began. (Coalition casualties)
CNN Correspondents Christiane Amanpour, Jason Bellini, Tom Mintier, Karl Penhaul, Nic Robertson, Walter Rodgers, Brent Sadler, Martin Savidge, Kevin Sites, Barbara Starr and Alessio Vinci contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.
- Major column" of Republican Guard moving south toward Najaf, reports CNN's Walter Rodgers, with 3rd Infantry
- 1,000 armed vehicles in convoy, could reach U.S. troops tonight
Iraqi forces charge south from Baghdad
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Posted: 3:44 PM EST (2044 GMT)
KARBALA, Iraq (CNN) -- A column of up to 1,000 Iraqi military vehicles was reported moving south Wednesday night toward Najaf, the scene of an earlier battle with U.S. forces, U.S. Army officers told CNN.
The column is believed to be made up of troops from Iraq's elite Republican Guard. The forces were moving from Baghdad at a rate of 18 mph to 36 mph, toward the lead elements of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, CNN's Walter Rodgers reports.
Coalition military officials said they expect the Iraqi forces are heading south to try to retake a key Euphrates River bridge, captured by U.S.-led troops after fierce fighting this week.
U.S. commanders were calling in airstrikes to slow the Iraqi advance.
A persistent sandstorm is limiting the coalition's ability to protect its ground troops with helicopters and planes, Rodgers said. Apache helicopters haven't been able to fly for two days. However, the weather conditions have improved enough for some planes to fly close air support if needed, Rodgers said.
At nearly the same time, a column of 70 to 120 Iraqi armored vehicles poured out of the southern city of Basra, heading southeast in what reconnaissance intelligence said appeared to be an offensive charge. Coalition fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them.
Meanwhile, U.S. war planners may have miscalculated the strength and capability of paramilitary fighters in Iraq, a Pentagon official said Wednesday, as the first week of fighting came to an end.
Fighters of the Fedayeen Saddam, one of Iraq's most feared paramilitary groups, along with members of the ruling Baath Party and other security forces, have launched several attacks against U.S. and British forces for a week.
"We may have underestimated that they were dispersed to so many places across Iraq to enforce regime discipline," the Pentagon official said. "It's clear now they dispersed sometime before the war began."
Members of the group have caused problems for coalition forces in some areas, where they have disguised themselves as civilians to ambush troops or pretended to surrender and opened fire -- acts the United States have called "serious violations of the laws of war." (Full story)
The Pentagon is looking seriously at a report that Iraqi soldiers may have shot U.S. soldiers as they were surrendering, sources said Wednesday. Iraqi forces ambushed a supply convoy Sunday, killing seven soldiers and taking five others as prisoners.
Fighting was reported Wednesday in Karbala, Najaf, Nasiriya and Basra -- all cities south of Baghdad. There was no indication of when coalition forces might reach the Iraqi capital.
President Bush said Wednesday the "military is making good progress" but that the war is far from over in Iraq.
"As they approach Baghdad, our fighting units are facing the most desperate elements of a doomed regime," Bush told troops in a speech at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida -- the home of U.S. Central Command. (Full story)
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a CNN analyst and former NATO supreme allied commander, said the scenario of a quick victory is "not going to happen." (Full story)
Iraqi officials said U.S. munitions killed 15 Iraqi civilians Wednesday at a popular market in Baghdad. Following the report from the Iraqi Information Ministry, photographers from international news agencies confirmed seeing an undetermined number of dead and injured people, apparently civilians, and burned vehicles in the capital city. No further information was available.
Before that incident, Iraq had reported 78 civilian deaths since Monday as a result of bombing raids. CNN cannot independently verify Iraq's figures.
At the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal denied coalition forces targeted the marketplace and suggested the Iraqis firing at allied aircraft were responsible for the casualties.
"Another explanation could be the triple-A fire (anti-aircraft artillery) or surface-to-air missiles that missed their targets and fell back into the marketplace area," he said. (Full story)
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday he was "increasingly concerned" about civilian casualties in Iraq and urged the warring sides to take "all necessary steps" to protect civilians.
Other developments
• British Marines found a large cache of hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and Iraqi military uniforms stored in three classrooms of a school in the southern Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr, British pool reporter Bill Neely reported Wednesday. The uniforms, he said, may be an indication that the estimated 120 Iraqi troops there discarded their military clothes and "melted away into the civilian population."
• A survey by the Pew Research Center found that 72 percent of Americans believe that using military force in Iraq was the right thing to do. The poll was conducted March 20-24, and it found that support for the war has remained fairly steady, even though the percentage of people who said the war was going "very well" dropped from 71 percent Friday and Saturday to 38 percent Monday. Researchers interviewed 1,495 people for the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
• British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet Wednesday in the United States with Annan and discuss war strategy with Bush at Camp David, Maryland. (Full story)
• The U.N. Security Council was set to meet Wednesday at the request of the Arab League and nonaligned states, some of whom are expected to criticize the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
• Seven battered transport trucks pulled into the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr on Wednesday, carrying about 12 tons of food, medical supplies and other goods. The British are working with humanitarian organizations on the best ways to distribute the aid. More trucks loaded with food, water and other supplies were waiting at the entrance to the city for permission to continue their journey. (Full story)
• In Basra, a few Iraqi soldiers walked out of the city with their hands up and surrendered to British troops, a senior British officer told Richard Gaisford of the British television network ITN. He said he didn't know how many soldiers had turned themselves in to the British.
• "Massive resentment amongst the population" in Basra has led to an uprising against the Iraqi regime and its forces, British military officials said. However, reporters stationed in Basra -- from Abu Dhabi television and Al-Jazeera satellite network -- said they saw no signs of civilian unrest. (Full story)
• Intelligence information indicates that Saddam Hussein's regime may have rigged the bridges leading into Baghdad with explosives, according to U.S. Central Command spokesman Lt. Mark Kitchens.
• Coalition jets bombed bunkers in northern Iraq early Wednesday, CNN's Kevin Sites reported. One bunker was destroyed, and another remained intact, Sites said.
• A second U.S. soldier has died of wounds he suffered in a grenade and small-arms attack at his base in Kuwait. A fellow soldier is in custody in Germany in connection with the attack pending a pretrial investigation. (Full story)
• Forty-five U.S. and British military personnel have been confirmed killed since the conflict began. (Coalition casualties)
CNN Correspondents Christiane Amanpour, Jason Bellini, Tom Mintier, Karl Penhaul, Nic Robertson, Walter Rodgers, Brent Sadler, Martin Savidge, Kevin Sites, Barbara Starr and Alessio Vinci contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.
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