Bagdad/Republican Guard being bombed

[wrbones]

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentSe...=1012571727088



US begins battery of forces guarding Baghdad
By Mark Nicholson at US Central Command in Qatar
Published: March 24 2003 19:41 | Last Updated: March 24 2003 19:41


A devastating arsenal of US aerial weapons has begun a sustained battery of the "backbone" of Saddam Hussein's forces guarding Baghdad in a confrontation with Iraq's elite troops that will decide the war's outcome.


With the most advanced US armour now just 50 miles from the Iraqi capital, military sources said the US strategic aim was to destroy or force the surrender of three entrenched Republican Guard units protecting southern approaches to the city.

"Before we move forward, these people have got to capitulate or be destroyed," said one military source. "This is the start of the push towards Baghdad."

B-52 bombers using guided JDAM 2,000lb bombs, along with Tomahawk cruise missiles, AH-64 Longbow Apache attack helicopters, Harrier GR7 close-support attack jets and A-10 Warthog anti-tank aircraft began the intensive assault overnight on Sunday.

One Apache made a forced landing and its two-man crew were described as "missing" during a an attack in which General Tommy Franks, commander of US Central Command, said between 30 and 40 such attack helicopters attacked Republican Guard positions north of Karbala.

Military sources said the strikes, backed by surface-to-surface missile raids from US positions, were precision attacks against air defence targets using radar-activated air-to-ground missiles and JDAM attacks on command and control positions.

"They have been hit, they will continue to be hit at points and places and times that make sense to us," Gen Franks said. The effect so far had been "very positive for us".

But the US warned that the Iraqi forces were deeply set in their positions and well defended by a "missile engagement zone" of anti-aircraft and missile defences. Sources said the battery "could go on for days" before any advance on Baghdad. "It will go 24/7 until it finishes," said one.

US forces have pushed north 300 miles from the Kuwait border to Karbala, around two hours' drive from the Iraqi capital, where military officials said arriving forces had already met a "fair amount" of resistance.

Officials said, however, that "masses" of heavy armoured reinforcement were rolling north in support, with more A1 Abrams tanks being shipped towards the front line both on transporters and under their own steam.

The US had already established some advanced logistical bases south of Karbala to speed the re-supply of advanced units.

The aerial bombardment is targeting three Republican Guard divisions, each of which is believed to have 10,000-12,000 troops and hundreds of T-72 tanks.

Ranged in a protective crescent known by US forces as the "red zone" around 30 miles from Baghdad, the Republican Guard units are the Medina division, protecting road access from the west, the Baghdad division covering approaches from the south and the al-Amara division dug into the plains on the city's east.

"These are the forces that we would not expect to give up - it's the backbone of their forces," said a military source.

Reports from "embedded" journalists with the most advanced US units near Karbala quoted senior US officers as saying that the three Republican Guard divisions were believed to be close to full strength and with their command and control systems still intact.

Military sources suggested that US attacks may focus intensively on one of the three Republican Guard units, expected to be the Medina division, while dropping leaflets among the others, urging them to leave their weapons or face attack, to try to persuade an early capitulation.

Gen Franks said US forces continued to make "rapid and in some cases dramatic" progress through Iraq, dismissing continued reports of resistance led by irregular Iraqi forces as "sporadic".

xref www.ft.com/tactics

[wrbones]

(CNN) -- With soldiers from the U.S. Army's V Corps poised to take on an elite Iraqi Republican Guard division less than 60 miles from Baghdad, coalition planes and helicopters pounded Iraqi positions to clear a path toward the Iraqi capital.

Large explosions and anti-aircraft tracer fire lit the night skies over Baghdad early Tuesday morning, with at least five bombing waves hitting the Iraqi capital since darkness fell.

Among the buildings destroyed Monday was an Iraqi air force complex. Saddam International Airport was also being targeted.

Pentagon officials said about half of the airstrikes made in the last 36 hours were directed toward Republican Guard units.

"I am sure that [the Medina Division] has been degraded significantly in the last 48 hours or so. I couldn't judge its current strength," said Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal at a news briefing Monday. He called the division "a linchpin to the consistency of the Republican Guard defense."

Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command, said Republican Guard units "will continue to be hit ... at points and places and times that make sense to us. The effect has been very positive for us."

But Franks warned: "We will see casualties in the days ahead."

Thirty-nine U.S. and British military personnel have been confirmed killed since the Iraqi conflict began. (Coalition casualties)

Coalition forces early Tuesday also shelled Nasiriya, home to key bridges across the Euphrates River in southern Iraq. The city has been the scene of the most intense fighting to date: Ten Marines were killed in combat there Sunday, 12 were injured and 16 are considered missing, a senior commander in the battle told CNN.

They blew up anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades and thousands of rounds of ammunition left by the enemy -- explosions that shook the earth and turned the sky black with smoke.

The fierce resistance from Iraqi troops in the south also resulted in the first British combat death of the war, a soldier killed in action Monday near Basra in southern Iraq. Two British soldiers are missing after an attack Sunday on their vehicles in southern Iraq.

U.S. and coalition planes also struck the northern Iraqi city of Mosul for the third night in a row early Tuesday. Large explosions and anti-aircraft fire could be seen by a CNN crew in Kalak, about 28 miles east of Mosul.

Helicopters fly in 'hornet's nest'
Before dawn Monday, the V Corps, 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment, targeted Iraqi positions between the cities of Hillah and Karbala. U.S. Apache attack helicopters fought a fierce battle with Iraq's Republican Guard units.

One U.S. pilot described the situation as a "hornet's nest," with Iraqis peppering helicopters with small arms and anti-aircraft fire from "all sides." Most pilots said they sustained 15 to 20 rounds, including a rocket-propelled grenade in one instance. (Full story)

Later Monday, Abu Dhabi TV aired video shot by Iraqi TV in Baghdad of two U.S. pilots Iraq claims it captured after their Apache attack helicopter went down near Karbala. The footage shows Chief Warrant Officers Ronald D. Young Jr. and David S. Williams, wearing flight suits and appearing to be in good condition. (Full story)

Iraq's top diplomat said Monday in New York that the U.S.-led war against Iraq could last for years.

"I don't think it'll be a short war," Ambassador Mohammed Aldouri told CNN. "If the Americans will not stop this aggression, the war will continue for years."


The first injured U.S. troops arrive at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Throughout Iraq, he said, Iraqi civilians have joined the fight. "We'll see a unified society, a unified army," he said.

But in Qatar, Franks said coalition forces have taken 3,000 "enemy prisoners." Coalition officials have said thousands more Iraqi troops have put down their weapons and gone home, following U.S. and British instructions.

At least seven members of the U.S. military have been taken prisoner. Franks said he is sure the Red Cross will be able to visit the captured Americans "very soon" to make sure "they're well cared for."

On Sunday, Iraqi television aired footage showing dead U.S. soldiers and interviews with four members of the U.S. 507th Maintenance Company at Fort Bliss Texas, including Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, Pfc. Patrick Miller, Spc. Shoshana Johnson and Spc. Edgar Hernandez. (Full story)

Other developments
• The deaths of five Syrian civilians in a U.S. airstrike on a bridge in northwestern Iraq were "regrettable," a U.S. military spokesman said Monday, adding the bus they were on came into view only after a bomb had been released. (Full story)

• British Prime Minister Tony Blair will come to the United States this week for talks with President Bush at Camp David, sources told CNN Monday. (Full story)

• President Bush Monday gave key lawmakers the administration's first estimate of the cost of war with Iraq -- about $75 billion, officials said. (Full story)

• The ambassadors of the Arab group at the United Nations Monday called for an urgent meeting of the Security Council to address "the aggression against Iraq." (Full story)

• Coalition warplanes on the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the eastern Mediterranean are switching strategy from bombing missions with set targets to missions where they are authorized to attack targets of opportunity in "air interdiction zones" and to supply close air support to ground forces if they are summoned, sources said.

• Iraqi television aired a defiant speech by Saddam Hussein early Monday in which the Iraqi leader rallied his troops and promised victory. "They are in a dilemma; they are in trouble now," Saddam said of the U.S.-led coalition. "Hate them and strike them." (Full story)

• U.S. officials have intelligence reports suggesting the Iraqi Republican Guard may have been ordered to use chemical weapons against U.S. forces if they cross a "red line" drawn around Baghdad, they told CNN Monday. "That doesn't mean they will do it," said one official, "but there have been reports such orders may have been issued."

• U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Henry Pete Osman, in charge of military coordination and liaison for Iraq's northern front, arrived in the area Monday, signaling the much-anticipated opening of a second front. The development came amid discussions between U.S. and Turkish officials on how to deal with northern Iraq. (Full story)

• The first group of wounded U.S. troops arrived Monday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Their arrival was broadcast live, showing 12 injured people being carried off a C-141 cargo plane by stretcher and placed onto waiting medical evacuation buses. (Full story)