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| Iraq |
| 150 Miles from Baghdad |
| 2003-03-22 |
| Edging closer to Iraq's hard-core defenders, U.S. and British forces besieged the southern city of Basra on Saturday and rolled to within 150 miles of Baghdad. Diplomatic complications closed off the option of a heavy invasion from the north. Allies boasted "the instruments of tyranny are collapsing," and so, from all appearances, was the will to fight among thousands in the regular Iraqi army. U.S. forces crossed the Euphrates River and were halfway to Baghdad, two days after spilling from Kuwait in a dusty dash that has secured strategic oil fields, a seaport and towns. Near Basra, Cobra attack helicopters, attack jets, tanks and 155 mm howitzers fought ahead of the troops to clear Highway 80. The road was nicknamed Highway of Death during the 1991 Gulf War because of an American air assault so devastating and graphic it even gave U.S. officials pause. Officials said 1,000 to 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were in allied custody and many others gave up the fight. But six divisions of the Republican Guard, Saddam's best and most loyal soldiers, were still in the way. "So we must remain prepared for potentially tough fights as we move forward," Gen. Stanley McChrystal told a Pentagon briefing. "There's a long way to go." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 I hope they have enough air support.The soldiers' lives are more important than "shock and awe". |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-03-22 18:43:15 |