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Al-Kut: Baghdad Division of Iraqi Guard Destroyed
American forces, which crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi capital, destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday. U.S. forces had entered what U.S. commanders call a "red zone" near Baghdad, and Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks warned that it might be an area where the Iraqis would consider using chemical or other weapons of mass destruction. "There may be a trigger line where the regime deems (there is a) sufficient threat to use weapons of mass destruction," he said. "It's a conceptual line across which there may be a decision made by regime leaders." He said U.S. forces seized the strategic town of Kut and routed the Republican Guard division force that had been guarding the highway leading to Baghdad. "The Baghdad Division has been destroyed," Brooks said. Not degraded, not defeated, Destroyed! He said that two other Republican Guard divisions had been engaged around the city of Karbala and that coalition forces had seized control of a dam on Lake al-Milh. Some analysts had feared the Iraqis would try to destroy the dam and trap U.S. forces with the resulting flood. "They're in serious trouble, and they remain in contact now with the most powerful force on Earth," Brooks said, referring to the other Republican Guard units. Soon to join the former Baghdad division. Posted by: Steve 2003-04-02 |
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