wrbones
03-26-03, 05:04 AM
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml
(CBS) U.S. troops shot their way closer to Baghdad Wednesday, inflicting heavy casualties on Iraqi troops in fierce fighting at Najaf, as British forces fought on the fringes of the beleaguered city of Basra, where at least some citizens rebelled against Iraqi forces.
The people of Basra - Iraq's second largest city, and a stronghold of a different Muslim group than the one dominating Saddam Hussein's government - are struggling with war-caused water and food shortages.
British troops - while awaiting an opportune moment to enter the heart of Basra - have been telling residents over loudspeakers that aid is waiting outside the city. Relief officials say many of the 1.3 million residents are drinking contaminated water and face the threat of diarrhea and cholera.
Coalition forces at least once Wednesday scored a hit on Iraqi TV in Baghdad - knocking it off the air for several hours - but the station eventually regained its signal.
Amnesty International warned that the bombing of the television channel could be a breach of the Geneva Conventions.
The U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division has moved as close as 50 miles from Baghdad, with other American forces expected to join soon in pressuring the capital from several directions. Allied bombardments over the past two days have pounded positions of Iraq's Republican Guard, the elite divisions assigned to defend the city.
The 3rd Infantry is believed to have killed about 500 Iraqis in its march towards Baghdad over the past three days.
En route to Baghdad, units from the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment fought a fierce running battle Tuesday and Wednesday with Iraqi forces near the central city of Najaf. According to preliminary reports from American military officials, U.S troops killed up to 500 Iraqi fighters, suffering the loss of two tanks but no casualties.
Far to the south, British forces on the edge of Basra waged artillery battles with more than 1,000 Iraqi militiamen, who reportedly also faced an insurrection by civilians opposed to Saddam Hussein.
A British military spokesman, Group Capt. Al Lockwood, says that the uprising became such a threat that the militiamen fired mortars to try to suppress it. Lockwood said British forces then shelled the Iraqi mortar position and also struck the local headquarters of the ruling Baath party.
Maj. Gen. Peter Wall, second in command of British troops, said civilians had taken to the streets in large numbers and were being "less compliant with the regime than they are normally."
"We don't know what has spurred them, we don't know the scale, we don't know the scope of it," he said.
The London Times says Basra - populated mainly by Shia Muslims - has been continually bombarded with leaflets urging locals to rebel against the Sunni Muslim-dominated government of Saddam Hussein.
However the Times also reports that U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is cautious in his reaction on possible rebellions in Basra, and appears wary of encouraging a popular revolt.
"We know there are people ready to shoot them if they try to rise up, we know there are people who will kill them if they try to leave," said Rumsfeld, reports the Times. "I hope and pray they'll do it at a time when there are sufficient forces nearby to be helpful to them."
British forces staged a raid on a suburb of Basra, capturing a Baath party leader and killing 20 of his bodyguards, officials said.
The Iraqis denied there was any uprising in Basra. "The situation is stable," Information Minister Mohammed al-Sahhaf told the Arab satellite television station Al-Jazeera.
Assigned to bring aid to another battle-scarred southern city, a seven-truck relief convoy loaded with food and water set out from Kuwait early Wednesday, destined for the port of Umm Qasr.
"We planned for 30 trucks but we only got seven loaded because of the severe sandstorm," said E.J. Russell of the Humanitarian Operations Center, a joint U.S.-Kuwaiti agency.
The sandstorm Tuesday reduced visibility at times to about five feet. CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts, traveling with the Marine 7th Regiment on the road to Baghdad, reports at one point commanders were forced to order all vehicles - tanks, armored personnel carriers, Humvees, trucks - to come to a full halt because of the storm.
Despite the adverse weather, the U.S. still fired about 90 cruise missiles Tuesday, and Navy and Air Force jets were scheduled to fly 1,400 missions.
The sand hasn't been the only problem. The effort to get relief supplies to Iraqi civilians has been stalled for days because of fighting across southern Iraq. Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the United States is legally responsible for providing relief aid.
U.S. officials have blamed Saddam's regime for slowing the flow of aid by placing mines in Umm Qasr's harbor, which serves much of the south. U.S. Navy helicopters have flown two dolphins into Umm Qasr to help locate mines.
The allied strike on Iraqi television and other government communications facilities followed assessments by U.S. officials that Saddam's government had been able to rebuild control of military and security forces around Iraq.
U.S. strategists are operating on the assumption that Saddam is alive even though intelligence on his fate remains inconclusive. Some Bush administration officials say Saddam may have been wounded in an air strike a week ago; others say information about his status is inconclusive.
(CBS) U.S. troops shot their way closer to Baghdad Wednesday, inflicting heavy casualties on Iraqi troops in fierce fighting at Najaf, as British forces fought on the fringes of the beleaguered city of Basra, where at least some citizens rebelled against Iraqi forces.
The people of Basra - Iraq's second largest city, and a stronghold of a different Muslim group than the one dominating Saddam Hussein's government - are struggling with war-caused water and food shortages.
British troops - while awaiting an opportune moment to enter the heart of Basra - have been telling residents over loudspeakers that aid is waiting outside the city. Relief officials say many of the 1.3 million residents are drinking contaminated water and face the threat of diarrhea and cholera.
Coalition forces at least once Wednesday scored a hit on Iraqi TV in Baghdad - knocking it off the air for several hours - but the station eventually regained its signal.
Amnesty International warned that the bombing of the television channel could be a breach of the Geneva Conventions.
The U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division has moved as close as 50 miles from Baghdad, with other American forces expected to join soon in pressuring the capital from several directions. Allied bombardments over the past two days have pounded positions of Iraq's Republican Guard, the elite divisions assigned to defend the city.
The 3rd Infantry is believed to have killed about 500 Iraqis in its march towards Baghdad over the past three days.
En route to Baghdad, units from the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment fought a fierce running battle Tuesday and Wednesday with Iraqi forces near the central city of Najaf. According to preliminary reports from American military officials, U.S troops killed up to 500 Iraqi fighters, suffering the loss of two tanks but no casualties.
Far to the south, British forces on the edge of Basra waged artillery battles with more than 1,000 Iraqi militiamen, who reportedly also faced an insurrection by civilians opposed to Saddam Hussein.
A British military spokesman, Group Capt. Al Lockwood, says that the uprising became such a threat that the militiamen fired mortars to try to suppress it. Lockwood said British forces then shelled the Iraqi mortar position and also struck the local headquarters of the ruling Baath party.
Maj. Gen. Peter Wall, second in command of British troops, said civilians had taken to the streets in large numbers and were being "less compliant with the regime than they are normally."
"We don't know what has spurred them, we don't know the scale, we don't know the scope of it," he said.
The London Times says Basra - populated mainly by Shia Muslims - has been continually bombarded with leaflets urging locals to rebel against the Sunni Muslim-dominated government of Saddam Hussein.
However the Times also reports that U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is cautious in his reaction on possible rebellions in Basra, and appears wary of encouraging a popular revolt.
"We know there are people ready to shoot them if they try to rise up, we know there are people who will kill them if they try to leave," said Rumsfeld, reports the Times. "I hope and pray they'll do it at a time when there are sufficient forces nearby to be helpful to them."
British forces staged a raid on a suburb of Basra, capturing a Baath party leader and killing 20 of his bodyguards, officials said.
The Iraqis denied there was any uprising in Basra. "The situation is stable," Information Minister Mohammed al-Sahhaf told the Arab satellite television station Al-Jazeera.
Assigned to bring aid to another battle-scarred southern city, a seven-truck relief convoy loaded with food and water set out from Kuwait early Wednesday, destined for the port of Umm Qasr.
"We planned for 30 trucks but we only got seven loaded because of the severe sandstorm," said E.J. Russell of the Humanitarian Operations Center, a joint U.S.-Kuwaiti agency.
The sandstorm Tuesday reduced visibility at times to about five feet. CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts, traveling with the Marine 7th Regiment on the road to Baghdad, reports at one point commanders were forced to order all vehicles - tanks, armored personnel carriers, Humvees, trucks - to come to a full halt because of the storm.
Despite the adverse weather, the U.S. still fired about 90 cruise missiles Tuesday, and Navy and Air Force jets were scheduled to fly 1,400 missions.
The sand hasn't been the only problem. The effort to get relief supplies to Iraqi civilians has been stalled for days because of fighting across southern Iraq. Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the United States is legally responsible for providing relief aid.
U.S. officials have blamed Saddam's regime for slowing the flow of aid by placing mines in Umm Qasr's harbor, which serves much of the south. U.S. Navy helicopters have flown two dolphins into Umm Qasr to help locate mines.
The allied strike on Iraqi television and other government communications facilities followed assessments by U.S. officials that Saddam's government had been able to rebuild control of military and security forces around Iraq.
U.S. strategists are operating on the assumption that Saddam is alive even though intelligence on his fate remains inconclusive. Some Bush administration officials say Saddam may have been wounded in an air strike a week ago; others say information about his status is inconclusive.