** Day 15 of the war
Jordan Times, 4/4/03.
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Baghdad Braced for Final Showdown BAGHDAD, 4 April 2003 — All day, I had asked myself about the supposed American assault-to-come on Baghdad. Where were the panicking crowds? Where were the food queues? Where were the empty streets? True, the motorway to the airport was a spooky, lonely journey. But the center of Baghdad was more lively than for many days. The city authorities have put more of their Chinese double-decker buses back on the streets — normal service, as they say, has been resumed — and the railway company claimed its trains were still leaving for northern Iraq. At lunchtime, I dropped into the Furud Takeaway for my daily fix of chicken ‘shish-taouk’, tomatoes and green beans. It was packed with Shiite families, the ladies in black chadors, the men largely bearded, chomping through giant ‘mezzes’ of ‘hoummus’ and ‘tabouleh’ and lamb and rice. The television was showing an Iranian channel, a musical in the Persian language — Iranian TV has two Arabic channels whose signal can be picked up without a satellite dish — and many Baghdadis trust their news service more than that of Kuwaiti or other Gulf television. Near the Rafidiyeh Bridge, in a canyon of traffic, I caught sight of a middle-aged man staring at the great monument to Saddam’s “victory” in the 1980-88 war with Iran. At the base of a column, iron, helmeted soldiers stand behind iron sandbags, firing an iron machine gun at their Persian enemies, an iron soldier throwing an iron grenade in the same direction. There is this monument to military victory in Baghdad, a monument to the “martyrs” of that victory — perhaps half a million of them — and a monument to the unknown soldier of that same war. Ex-prisoners asked for a monument to their suffering — in eight years, there were 60,000 of them — but their request was officially turned down. Was that to emphasize the humiliation of surrender? Is this a lesson for the young Iraqi soldiers of today whose combat troops I saw on the road south of Baghdad on Wednesday, jumping from their trucks in steel helmets and flak jackets? Each night, I can hear the drumbeat of explosions and cluster bombs west of the city. Who is dying there? The Chief of Staff of the Republican Guards’ Baghdad Division announces that he has suffered only 17 dead and 35 wounded. Every morning, the newspaper ‘Qaddisiyeh’ carries a detailed battle report from the front lines — always supposing there is a front line — which includes unit numbers and brigades. On Wednesday, for example, the newspaper informed its readers that the Americans failed to cut the Al Kut to Baghdad highway, that Iraqi forces destroyed 14 US tanks in the province of Diwaniyeh, that the 704th, 424th and 504th Brigades of the Iraqi Army’s 3rd Army Corps prevented a US thrust near Suq El-Shuqh. And so on and so forth. Whether this represents anything like the battles which the Iraqis believe they are fighting will await the inquiries of historians. Thus another long day, peppered with the rumble of faraway detonations, closed at Baghdad airport last night, dusk falling over the grimy terminals with their painted exhortations of “Down, Down America” and the airport’s director, Wafa Abdullah Jabbouri, announcing that “there is no-one at the airport, you can see it’s completely safe, even the workers still turn up each day.” No doubt they do. And while there’s a large complex of buildings blown to pieces by missiles a mile away and the airport radar system is ‘hors de combat’ after an early raid by American or British jets, Jabbouri appeared to be correct. Had the Americans found themselves miles away on the edge of the old RAF airbase at Habbaniyeh, one wondered, and confused it with the airport outside Baghdad? Had they sent a patrol up to the far side of the Saddam airport for a few minutes, just to say they’d been there? Back in 1941, a German patrol briefly captured the last tram-stop on the line west of Moscow, collecting the discarded passenger tickets as souvenirs — and then got no further. But few here believe the Americans cannot bash their way into Baghdad if they really want to. After all, Napoleon got to Moscow in the end. I guess it’s the same old question. The Russians
could hold Stalingrad because they loved Russia as much as they feared
Marshal Stalin. Does that equation of patriotism and dictatorship apply
to the Iraqis? Messers Bush and Blair must hope it does not. http://www.aljazeerah.info/4%20news/Baghdad%20Braced%20for%20Final%20 US Takes Baghdad
Airport as World Awaits Republican Guard Response BAGHDAD, 4 April 2003 — The battle for the control of Baghdad began in earnest yesterday as US forces captured the Iraqi capital’s airport after earlier racing to the outskirts of the city. US troops captured the airport with tanks and armored units against almost no opposition from Iraqi forces, the ABC television network said. On its website the network said its correspondent, Bob Schmidt, with the 3rd Infantry Division, was standing on the tarmac of Saddam International Airport when he filed his report. “US forces encountered very little Iraqi resistance, said Schmidt, although some units of the 3rd Infantry Division did encounter scattered firing by Iraqi foot soldiers and men in pickups,” the network said. US troops were within 15 kilometers of downtown Baghdad and controlled the southern approaches to the capital, said Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, commander of the 20,000-strong US 3rd Infantry Division. Saddam International Airport came under US artillery fire yesterday evening, leaving dozens killed and injured outside the capital, witnesses reported. An Iraqi TV cameraman returning from the airport around 9:45 p.m. (1845 GMT) told correspondents in central Baghdad that he had seen incoming artillery shells and dozens of dead and wounded. At around 8 p.m. (1700GMT), artillery fire was heard for the first time in the two-week war on the southern outskirts of the city, most of which was plunged into complete darkness following a power cut 30 minutes later. The continuous barrage of pounding fire seemed to be coming from the southwestern Iraqi defense line, and no sounds of exploding shells were heard. Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf remained defiant however, saying that US forces were even at the gates of the capital. They were “not even 100 miles” from the city and were trapped in combat with Iraqi troops in every major town, he said. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Baghdad would inflict a “resounding defeat on the aggressor” and called on Arabs and Muslims across the world to defend Iraq. The sustained offensive saw US ground troops move to within striking distance of the capital on different fronts, with twin assaults from the Third Infantry and the Marines closing in from the south and southeast. Blount said his troops controlled a key intersection south of here after heavy fighting earlier yesterday and had blocked access to the capital from the south. US Marines were meanwhile pushing cautiously toward this city from the southeast. A correspondent with the Marines said they were in high spirits as they prepared for a decisive battle. “We have accomplished every objective quickly and easily. I don’t think it’s a trap by the Republican Guards — they’re still trying to fight but they have no training, poor equipment and they’re very sloppy,” said one soldier. US special forces also raided a palace used by Saddam 90 kilometers outside of here, capturing no regime officials but seizing documents. At US Central Command in Qatar, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said the Iraqi leadership appeared unable to control its forces and population throughout much of the country. “We can’t tell who’s in charge. I don’t think the Iraqi people know who’s in charge. We have indications the Iraqi forces don’t know who’s in charge,” he said. As fighting continued to the south of here, the bombing of the capital intensified yesterday, killing 27 civilians according to Al-Sahaf. A hospital source said that in one incident, eight people were killed and five wounded when a missile hit a vegetable market on the edge of the city. The US casualty toll also continued to mount yesterday, with US Central Command saying it was investigating reports of a fresh friendly fire incident involving US troops that left one soldier dead and several others injured. A US Patriot missile may have brought down a Navy F-18C Hornet fighter on a mission over central Iraq on Wednesday, the US military authorities said. Meanwhile, a US officer said that about 500 Iraqi troops were killed as US forces pushed back an Iraqi bid to retake a key bridge over the Euphrates River about 30 kilometers southwest of here. Despite the tantalizing proximity of US forces to this city, US/UK political and military leaders remained cautious, warning that “there likely will be difficult days ahead” for the coalition forces. The whereabouts and intentions of Saddam’s elite Republican Guards remained clouded by mystery yesterday, with US officials unable to specify the amount of damage inflicted on the most loyal of Saddam’s units. In northern Iraq, coalition air raids targeted Iraqi positions near the town of Khazer on the road to the key city of Mosul, a correspondent reported. In the south of the country, British forces made little progress toward capturing Basra, advancing only one kilometer into the southern half of the city. But officials said that the British forces have no immediate plans to launch an all-out offensive on the city, where 1,000 Iraqi militiamen were still holding out. — With input from Agencies
Day 15 of the war Jordan Times, 4/4/03
* Electricity down in most of Baghdad for first time in war. * US troops advance to within 10 km of Baghdad's southern limits, prepare to fight for capital's airport, US military says. * Artillery fire heard from Baghdad's southwestern outskirts, US troops fire rockets towards capital. * Republican Guard units from four divisions head south from Baghdad to tackle US advance, US military says. * Powell says US and Britain must play leading role in Iraq's future, says NATO willing to consider postwar role if appropriate. QUOTES Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri: “The UN secretary-general has done nothing to stop the war, in fact the UN secretary-general has done something in the opposite direction.” Powell on postwar Iraq: “When we have succeeded, and when we look down the road to create this better life for the Iraqi people...I think the coalition has to play the leading role in determining the way forward. This is not to say that we have shut others out.” UK Shiite group spokesman on Najaf leader's edict: “Until now the Shias of Iraq and the followers of Sistani were confused on whether to take up arms against the Americans, whether to fight.” CASUALTIES * US: 55 killed, 12 missing; up to seven more killed in helicopter crash. * Britain: 27 killed. * Iraqi military: No confirmed figures. * Iraqi civilians: 1,250 killed, 5,103 injured. MILITARY ACTION BAGHDAD: US drops “smart bombs” on targets in Baghdad and on control centre southwest of the city. Iraqi Republican Guards head south to block US troops who have advanced to within 10km of capital. CENTRAL IRAQ: US says American troops destroy the Baghdad division of Republican Guards near Kut, southeast of capital; Iraq denies US Marines secured a key bridge over Tigris. SOUTHERN IRAQ: F/A-18 Hornet fighter bomber shot down, fate of pilot unknown; US says investigates possibility of friendly fire by Patriot missile. US Marines tighten grip on Nassiriya after breaking Iraqi resistance from the Fedayeen who had control over past week. US Black Hawk helicopter crashes near Karbala late Wednesday. Conflicting accounts on number of dead. NORTHERN IRAQ: Kurdish fighters battle towards Mosul. US planes bomb Iraqi troops in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, forcing them to retreat in several areas; Turkish-registered trucks with US escort head towards Iraqi frontline. http://www.aljazeerah.info/4%20news/Day%2015%20of%20the%20war%20aljazeerah. ******************************************************************************** Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.
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