| The Southern Iraqi oil city of Basra remained a battleground as hundreds of U.S. aircraft began dropping bombs and launching missiles at several hundred Iraqi military targets Friday, the leading edge of the furious air assault intended to "shock and awe" the enemy into surrender, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers said Friday. Saddam Hussein is losing control of his country, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, after three days of ground and air attacks that have yielded significant gains for the force of about 300,000 steadily moving toward Baghdad. "The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing. Their ability to see what is happening on the battlefield, to communicate with their forces and to control their country is slipping away. They're beginning to realize, I suspect that the regime is history," Rumsfeld said. Iraqi resistance has been "sporadic," according to Myers. "There have been tank battles. Generally limited, but there has been some fighting," he said. |